The End Of Racism? You Can't Be Serious!
I'm not sure where you guys (Spall & Think) live, but there is a HELL of a lot of racism going on everyday. I think it might be easy to think not, if you live in an affluent community, or if you have no contact with poorer Blacks or Latinos. Discrimination in the hiring of Blacks & Latinos is VERY prevalent, and is only kept in check by anti-discrimination laws. It's just gotten harder to prove because the racists have learned the laws, and know ways around them. Those laws only apply to the most blatant discrimination, in the first place. It's real easy to say racism is not a major issue, if you're not a minority person of lower-middle to low income.
I do agree that hate laws are not necessary, since intent is used to determine the severity of a crime NOW, plus there are many staes (like CA.) who have "special circumstances" laws such as "lying in wait". I would think that a racially motivated crime could be prosecuted under these laws, resulting in a harsher penalty, but without the divisive label of "hate crime".
As I have said, I volunteer working with the mentally ill homeless, and I live in a predominatley Black & Latino neighborhood. I am exposed to incidences of racism everyday. I have accompanied Black And Latinos to job interviews, and seen them turned down for a less qualified white applicant.
I have argued with both of you about your philosophies as they relate to real life, and this is just another case of you believing propaganda put out by the Republicans, instead of going out and doing research in the actual communities affected. Just like you didn't know that Jews were discriminated against, at all, perhaps you don't know what is REALLY happening in this country, as regards racism. I don't believe either of you are racist, at all, just uneducated, and unexperienced. For one thing, if you never LOOK for racism, or expect to see it, you won't find it. Of course we have to teach people who have been discriminated against most of their lives to not see racism when it isn't there. Like I keep saying, you guys are ready to throw a lot of things out, without realizing ALL the implications. This is now a far too complex society to start "experimenting" without at least SOME reassurance that the thing will even WORK. Of course, I fully expect you to refer me to web pages produced by your favorite philisophical gurus, but I can't put any more stock in THEM than I put in Limbaugh, Drudge, Carville, etc. When you get truly INDEPENDENT studies that back up your claims, I will consider them, and I means studies that don't just lead to more questions.
If most people believe, as you two do, that racism is only a minor issue, it's no wonder that it's not getting better, but worse.
