The Help
discussion
Is racism still alive?
I live in Canada. Racism isn't a very big problem in this country as it is or once was in the states. But there are a few jackasses trying to attract some attention by throwing a racial slur here and there. We always turn the other eye when it happens, though. Compared to what racism in The Help, I'd say it's improved dramatically.
Sadly, racism is alive and well in parts of the South--especially rural areas. I grew up in a small Southern town and found this book to be an accurate depiction of those times.
We are so "sheltered" by the environment where we were raised. I was raised in a white, rural midwestern area and racism was pretty much unknown there. When I became aware of it, though, I realized that we did have segregated schools, even in the 40's, 50's and 60's. Now, the schools are integrated, but churches are really not. It has been said that 11:00 AM on Sunday is the most segregated hour of the week. I believe it.
Scarlett wrote: "Sadly, racism is alive and well in parts of the South--especially rural areas. I grew up in a small Southern town and found this book to be an accurate depiction of those times."It's alive and well everywhere. Native Americans get a lot of crap in the West and south west. Muslims get treated like crap in just about every country in the Western world lately. Black people are mistreated in some parts of the US still. There are black people who are racist against white people. I've recently encountered someone who decided they couldn't tolerate my presence because I'm catholic, which according them makes me a pedophile, Satan worshipper and a whore.
I've even encountered discrimination from people over seas for being American. Especially with my cousin's friends from England. They were rude to me the entire visit. They thought that I had to be an ignorant, xenophobic, racist slob just because I was from America and they spent most of the time trying to pick a fight with me to prove it.
Racism exists, but don't take the comments you read online seriously. A good 80-90% of those are trolls looking for attention or a bored teenager who thinks it's funny to be an idiot.
Racism/Discrimination is and, sadly, will always be alive. Truth is, you see it everywhere around you. You just gotta be able to recognize it. I'm only 18, but it was only a year ago that began to recognize when someone was making a racism comment toward me or towards/about someone else. Once I recognized it, I realized that I had actually been I'd been discriminated againist pretty much my whole life.It's a combination of ignorance and (young) people today being too tolerant. Ignorance because people are very sheltered and don't know everything about the other "group" and too tolerant, because you are constantly hearing about equality and things the world today is so different from the '60s, '70s, and '80s, so kids think it's okay to throw racial slurs around at one another.
What too many people fail to realize is that, ultimately, we are all one race: the human race.
People are still on earth so, yes there is racism.Tolerance is accepting each other. Ignorance is huge problem.
I think thing is that people are different, and weather we like it or not we all have the right to feel and believe what we want. Its like when the floods hit japan, there were people who were quick to help, those who felt it wasn't there problem, people who didn't take the matter for how serious it was and tried to make light of it. In each case you will find people who fit in each section and some who fit in none. Which ever the case maybe if you view a controversial subject one way it becomes hard to accept others views. There are comics out there who make fun of there race or religion and you have people who laugh and you have people who find no humor in it what so ever, you also have people fighting for civil rights and you have supporters and protesters. So will there always be racism, most likely in some form or another.
Racism is still alive and it's not just in the South and it's not just against blacks. Blacks arre just as racists towards whites.
It's seems to be an ingrained part of human nature. I have lived around the world, and every culture seems to need some group to pick on, some group to dehumanize. In Guatemala it was the indigenos, in Saudi Arabia,it was the Western tribes, in India it the Untouchables, in Germany it's the Turkish, in Norway it's the Pakistani, and in California its the Hispanics...Many people learn that life is not as simple as "we're better then them because ____" (insert reason here, skin color, place of origin, language spoken).
But there are many who do not care to learn better, who feel safer when they can degrade and dehumanize others. So, to make a long story short, yes, racism is alive and well in America.
I absolutely agree with all of you. Living in California, it's fairly easy to see the, oh, what's the word.... brain cloud. Well, there's a nice bit of whatever it is against the Hispanics here in Calfornia.
I think racism is definitely alive. This same story is being played out in homes using "domestic" servants who may be illegal aliens. The southern Blacks from the 1960's have been replaced by Hispanics from Mexico and Central America.
All that anyone needs to do to know that racism never left is to go to any juvenile court in any major city in the USA and look at the skin color of the kids who are in trouble. Just do that and you will know that the legacy of slavery remains very much alive.
Of course there's still racism in the world. It's something we will never get rid of, but we can get close. A main thing is don't generalize. Don't believe stereotypes. Yeah, there might be five people who are like that, but there are dozens more people who aren't like that.I really recommend going to the Tolerance Museum in LA.
so hang on...according to gdg's logic...the reason that the majority of the kids in juvenile court are black is because of racism...it isn't because they are the ones who are doing the crime and getting caught...
i'm not saying they aren't doing the crime. of course they are. the issue is why are they doing the crime. what i am saying is that the reason that the kids at the juvenile court are there is because our culture of bootstraps has people believe that everyone has the same chance when this is clearly not the case. why are the middle class white kids who are also breaking the law not there. this is all part of the legacy of slaver and oppression that favors those in power (the white kids) and punishes those that are not in power. seriously, go to the juvenile court and think about how those kids got there, what their home lives are like and what kind of schools and opportunities they have had.
I am glad to see people talking about this issue. I am of course aware that racism still exists. I guess the real question is to what extent and have we really come that far from where we were in the pre civil rights era?
I didn't grow up in the US, my family wasn't well-off by any means, but I had a relatively good childhood...I worked my ass off for everything that I have earnt. the schools where I grew up weren't that good - I busted my ass and got a scholarship to a private school that covered tuition. I wanted to go to school in the US, it was my goal, I looked at my options (being a US citizen born abroad), and decided that I wanted to pursue the military commissioning option - I worked hard, I earnt as scholarship through that program, I now make more than my dad earns in a year by a significant amount.
any person can achieve goals in life if they set them - shouldn't we be encouraging them to do so rather than saying, they have a hard life and they don't have the opportunities that others do...
that being said - I think programs like no child left behind and performance based awards do not work, because they end up penalizing the kids who don't eat a proper meal every day, who's parents cannot afford to buy simple things like books to read. I read a study a few years back - the average AMERICAN (not black, not white, not asian) reads only 1 book a year...shouldn't we be trying to concentrate on issues like that...
@ Dee FYI I am not an advocate of No Child Left behind. All of my sisters are teachers, my husband is a teacher and my brother in law as well. There are certainly many downfalls with the educational standards set by No Child Left Behind. However as a social service worker I have run many grants in schools that offered free meals, parenting training, tutoring and character education that were all funded by money in the No Child Left Behind program. So however, flawed the program is, it does target to help those kids who are not receiving a proper meal.
Unfortunately, racism will always be alive. We have drastically changed over the years though. The Help does a great job depicting how bad racial profiling was in the late 50's and early 60's. We would be considered a Utopia (a perfect society) if racism and other issues of the world wern't alive. And that my friends, is simply the truth. It is impossible to live in a Utopian society. Racism will never go away and neither will and other the other problems the world has still to deal with today.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but racism is not only in the south. The north has its fair share also. I visited a relative in Binghamton New York last year. He shared stories of his experience when he moved there from New York City.
re: my comments IRT No Child Left Behind...in theory, I think it is a great idea...however, in practice, I have yet to see any benefits of it. My mom and aunt are teachers, as are many of my college friends - I hear stories on a regular basis about how they are told to tell lower performing kids to stay home during the standardized testing for fear of lowing the schools scores...I see 18 and 19 years who have joined the military who can barely write a coherant sentence, because they have just been pushed up through the gradesI'm sure there are people who work hard for it - but it is my opinion (and we are all entitled to them) that it hasn't worked and that our education system in general needs a huge overhaul
Anne wrote: "Unfortunately, racism will always be alive. We have drastically changed over the years though. The Help does a great job depicting how bad racial profiling was in the late 50's and early 60's. ..."
I agree...unfortunately racism will never go away...we will always have some people thinking they are better than others. If you think about it though...a utopian society isn't truly better...
I had a hard time getting through the book, "The Help," because of the racism. Racism still lives in all parts of the country, and world for that matter, in those who have very small, microscopic minds.
Heavyreader wrote: "I had a hard time getting through the book, "The Help," because of the racism. Racism still lives in all parts of the country, and world for that matter, in those who have very small, microscopic..."
the book is really good though...there is humour in it...if you think about it..some of the characters are not so bright( and I'm talking of the white women)
Dee wrote: "re: my comments IRT No Child Left Behind...in theory, I think it is a great idea...however, in practice, I have yet to see any benefits of it. My mom and aunt are teachers, as are many of my colle..."Unfortunately there are schools that have done such things. That says a lot more about the district though then anything else. Again it is a flawed program however, you stated that the act penalizes kids who are not getting a proper meal. I thought you might like to know that the 21st Century Community Learning grants that are aimed towards lower income families in providing them social services in the school are funded by federal money that is tied in with the No Child Left behind grant.
It is one of the few programs providing social workers to schools as typically those positions are not funded by districts. So it is a catch 22.....This really has nothing to do with the topic at hand though.
i mentioned the not eating real meals as an in conjuncton with...not tied to, there is a difference...it was part of a whole list of things that need to be improvedand my comments were not just about one district but multiple ones.
I have read none of the other posts and won’t. The question alone seems pointless and redundant! What virtual vacuum prompts one to assume that it DOES NOT exist? Some racism is not as blatant, in your face as it was. Some racism is still the same as it ever was. Bottom line racism is alive and well and living whether under the surface or riding on waves every day all over the world. Sad as it may be, it’s the truth. To believe anything else would be living in the clouds. You think it may be gone and then you experience it and think “Oh… wow…ok, I get it…you didn’t just experience me, you’ve stereotyped me, you’ve given me your preconceived hateful notions… ok. I get it.” Good thing I know who I am. Good thing I accept, tolerate and love myself so that I have the ability to accept, tolerate and love others. Racism, a selfish excuse brought on by self hate. Sadly, it’s not dead.
Debbie wrote: "I have read none of the other posts and won’t. The question alone seems pointless and redundant! What virtual vacuum prompts one to assume that it DOES NOT exist? Some racism is not as blatant, in ..."Debbie, I am sorry you feel that way. The point of the question was to raise the obvious and stimulate thought about a subject.
Gretchen wrote: "Debbie wrote: "I have read none of the other posts and won’t. The question alone seems pointless and redundant! What virtual vacuum prompts one to assume that it DOES NOT exist? Some racism is not ..."Must not have read my full post. I'm sorry the point wasnt comprehended. I was stimulated and that was my response. Some dont want to hear that it is alive.. it is. We must handle the truth, even when it doesnt feel good.
No point in responding to Debbie, she won't read it. Brenda... Huge generalization about college and grad school. I've been to both. To say that those people are undereducated and unable to think critically is false. Please post data to support your assertion, not anecdotal evidence.
pretty sure that no one on this thread has doubted that racism still exists - in fact, everyone has acknowledged it in one way or another...but rather it turned into a discussion on what can be done to counter it
Ummm so confused. The thing I dislike about chat blogs is that so much gets lost in translation. Sometimes things are read one way when they are meant another....Oh well. What can you do.I pretty much think the whole time I have been saying not only is racism still alive, but contrary to what I used to think in my bubble world, we may not have moved as far from the mentality of the 60's as we would like to think.
Mary wrote: "No point in responding to Debbie, she won't read it. Brenda... Huge generalization about college and grad school. I've been to both. To say that those people are undereducated and unable to think c..."I don't think that is what she meant...I think she was generalising about it....it is true, though....alot of people take for granted the education, and are not thankful for it...and it is true, that SOME of the people are graduated without actually having the booksmarts or common sense to go with it...
I've seen people in my grad school program (as we use a blackboard type program for posts) who can barely write a coherant response to a question; who think that wikipedia is a valid reference for information and who think that a substantive response to another learner is "yes, I agree"...
Mary wrote: "No point in responding to Debbie, she won't read it. Brenda... Huge generalization about college and grad school. I've been to both. To say that those people are undereducated and unable to think c..."Complete misunderstanding via chat blog as the other poster mentioned... I was only meaning that I wanted to respond from the initial question vs reading other responses and allowing them to shape my response. That was my initial response to the question. I pray I'm understood now. ;o) I respect the right to someone elses view..that was just mine.
Brenda (Lansdowne) wrote: "I also admit there are many many intelligent people out there...some college grads and some not!"I agree with you...I think it is hit or miss...but the education system in this country has really gone to the pits!
Brenda (Lansdowne) wrote: "It was my opinion.I will revise. Most of the college graduates I have met are not critical thinkers and do not seem to be employed in the fields that they were educated in.
I am basing this..."
Brenda, I love that you said "I'm basing" and "It was my opinion" because those are the keys to any "discussion". We all have a point of view which in this country we are entitled to voice. We all stand by our opinions but they are only opinions, respectfully. I thank you for making that clear. Interesting point. ;o)
Catherine wrote: "Heavyreader wrote: "I had a hard time getting through the book, "The Help," because of the racism. Racism still lives in all parts of the country, and world for that matter, in those who have ver..."
I agree. The characters where hilarious! ;o)
Darlene wrote: "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but racism is not only in the south. The north has its fair share also. I visited a relative in Binghamton New York last year. He shared stories of his exper..."It's like a disease.
I think generalizations hurt everyone. It's the trait humans have that allows us to discriminate against each other and allows racism to exist. Each of us has individual qualities. Each person acts, learns and behaves in the way they choose. Many aspects if our current culture does not value critical thinking. Instead we value reality tv, shock jocks, instant messaging and opinutainment. You I've had the opposite experience from Brenda. I've met great doctors ( often the ones from othercountries are educated here) lawyers, teachers and other professionals. It has been my experience, that blogs, no matter the topic, give some people a forum to say angry, inaccurate things to others with a perceived anonymity.
Thank you for clarifying your comments. As an educator I find we are constantly under attack, usually by people using large sweeping generalization that cause an emotional reaction in the listener, but are rarely backed up with facts, data, or any other evidence. The USA public education system attempts to do what very few countries attempt: to educate all comers regardless of social or economic status, ability or desire to learn, language spoken at home, or behavioral or emotional issues. Some countries, like Germany, track students for college
or vocational training, or have a largely homogeneous population who all speak the same language, like Norway, or weed out behavioral problems and have separate systems for minorities, like Israel and India.
When you measure our tests scores with like students in other countries we are very competitive. We do an amazing job with the challenges we are presented with. I am a parent and I know that if I'm involved in my child's education that where they go to school will not affect their success as much as my expectations and support. This is true whether you go to private school, public school or are home schooled.
@ Brenda you stated "It watered down the problem, and made many people feel good by being able to shake their head at the problem that was instead of acknowledging the problem that IS!"That is how I felt too! Don't get me wrong I like the book as a general read, I will probably Netflix the movie when it comes out, it was funny at times and made good points. (I did only give it a three though and my average book rating is 4)However, it did feel like something that just failed to reach the mark.
I think that is why I have a disappointment and unsure feeling about the book. I want to really like it jump on the bandwagon and praise it but something about it just doesn't sit well. I wouldn't tell someone not to read it because I think it can get a young person, a person with no racism experience a point to start thinking at and asking questions. I am guessing the movie can do that as well.
When it comes down to it though I have to view it as the book ended. Skeeter left to pursue a great life and the ladies who had actually risked something were left to face who knows what. I think most people leave the book only focusing on the good and not realizing the turmoil that would continue.
Hi. I beieve racism is still around.It is quite sad that in this day and age.We should have learnt by now from the past.Everyone eats, sleeps and bleeds the same. That is what makes the world go around.I love all people. It doesnt matter what color, religon,etc,we can learn from one another.WE can all make this world a better place to live in!
Lisa S wrote: "Racism is still alive and it's not just in the South and it's not just against blacks. Blacks arre just as racists towards whites."not all blacks are...my best friend is white for ur info.
Fatimah wrote: "Lisa S wrote: "Racism is still alive and it's not just in the South and it's not just against blacks. Blacks arre just as racists towards whites."not all blacks are...my best friend is white for ..."
Yep, I know that. I have a black friend that is just like a sister to me.
Most of us have friends from different ethnicities and nationalities I have friends from Turkey, Saudia Arabia, Lebanon, France, Scotland, Sweden, Norway, Guatemala and Mexico. I teach in a school with 90% Hispanic children and I love them like my own... Racism exists in all of us but we learn to overcome it, but in times of severe economic, political and social threats people take sides and polarize against our differences. It's what allowed us to place Japanese Americans- many US citizens- in camps during WWII, allow Jim Crow laws to exist in the South and demonize illegal immigrants. It is not a uniquely American trait, it is a human trait and it exists everywhere.
Having always grown up in the suburbs of major cities (L.A, Chicago, D.C) I grew up in diverse communities with people from all nationalities and various cultures and countries.
I have always found it shocking that the baby boomer generation grew up in a much different culture, much different time, however, based upon the comments in the King article I realize that maybe we have not come as far as I thought we had. Does racism still have a stronghold on our country or was I privy to just reading a bunch of isolated idiots comments? Is it isolated to various areas of the country or is it everywhere and what still needs to happen in our country to change people's attitudes?