Hi:
I've read all of the Ferguson reader bits on this topic of Race and Ethnicity as well as the E&Z text.

I just am so outraged that people receive inferior treatment because of their Race & Ethnicity. It's always unbelieveable to me that people could be treated wrongly or poorly because of the color of one's skin and for other people's preconcieved ignorant notions of different cultures.
I just can't believe it. It is so unrealistic and unreasonable to treat people wrong or poorly because one can't relate to another's skin color. I can understand having differences which may take some time to understand or I can understand persons respecting one another and still agreeing to disagree on issues but for people to show outright prejudice and hatred to another for Race or Ethnicity is so awful, it makes me sad and angry at the same time. Why aren't people taught more respect and understanding for eachother? People need to be respectful and understanding of eachother!
Sometimes I think white people have a hard time relating to Black people or people of other cultures because they don't want to offend them and either over compensate or under compensate in an attempt not to be racist or offensive, and make sure a Black person feels comfortable, at ease, and respected in their presence. Maybe sometimes these extra measures of courtesy or respect are called for or maybe they are percieved as being awkward. I wonder sometimes.
Some Black people seem to see themselves as just another person and don't seem to be effected by race, others seem to make a definite effort to show they are Black and respectful of being Black, but White people do this too, I guess it's just human nature.
One thing I've noticed a lot is that Black people on the whole do seem to need to be more aware of police presence or criminal activity occuring around them etc.
Black people are targeted as likely criminals more than white people. If I was Black or another "minority" I would want to vacate the scene of possible suspected criminal activity like if there were a bunch of people in a park and there was a drug deal going on and the police got phoned about this, that when the police arrive on the scene, they will be more likely to suspect the Black people and minorities than the White people. I've seen this occur.
Also, if a Black person is wearing a sweatshirt with it's hood up, while walking down the street, they will be seen as more suspicious as a White person. They will be stopped asked to remove the hood or stopped and questioned before a white person would be, if at all. I've seen two t.v. shows about racism. One where a white male and a black male well dressed went into a department store seperately, different days, to see what kind of service they'd get. Every time, or nearly everytime, the white customer would get attended to politely and quickly while it took much longer for the Black man to get service, or the Black man was overlooked entirely. This is outright prejudice, proven.
Another t.v. show showed two well dressed men, one white, and one Black, trying to get a cab. The white man always got a cab more quickly, if at all, than the Black man. This is outright prejudice again!
Prejudice like this definitely does exist!!
There is no reason to assume that a Black person is mentally inferior or deficient to a White person. I can't believe that there was a theory contrived called the Biological deficientcy theory! What an outrage. To suppose that Whites out to categorize Blacks this way and exclude them or mark them as poor inferior souls who need pity and sympathy because they are lesser and deficient biologically. Persons who are poor victims of errant biological genetic maladies. I just can't believe these people did this! I'm really appalled at this indignation and ignorance.
I think people need to treat eachother as individuals and not as Whites or Blacks etc. People aren't merely homogenized statistics.
What bothers one person may not bother another and what makes one unhappy may make another happy not because of skin color and ethnicity but because of the uniqueness of the individual. I think that race & ethnicity, class, gender, occupation, dress, style, mannerisms, language, cultural capital, human agentcy, habitus, etc. all may play a part in understanding the total person, but that negatively, inaccurately discriminating against a person because of these aspects is so absurd.
Where is good sense, respect, good judgement & discernment, understanding, acceptance, tolerance, love, working together?
I guess our system needs to teach this then it would be reflected in our society.
We still have a long way to go to structurally and personally eliminate prejudice. I guess we may have made some progress in some ways over the years but we still have a long way to go.
Perhaps the best thing to do is to evaluate situations first before responding to best determine how to respond well. Like the dean in one of the Ferguson reader stories.
He seemed to take a good appraoch to handling racism. He didn't seem to be prone to overacting, being overwhelmingly offended, or taking things to personally, he just seemed to see things as they were, know the history of racism and the current existance of racism and use this knowledge to handle racist situations well, choosing his battles well, leting things go sometimes, checking himself and environment to make sure of the racism he was percieving or experiencing, then most importantly, taking action to expose and resolve racism in his life, in different situations, in ways that were appropriate for himself, in the different racist situations he found himself in.
I like this dean's style. I think that middle class and professional class Blacks have managed to positively influence & educate people not to be racist and to eliminate racism more like one of the Ferguson reader stories on this subject spoke of.
Thanks, Shaunasi