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Originally Posted by nfotiu
Charles Barkley talking to CNBC about law in front of a golf course. How is that for 4 things that don't go together! Although, I don't really disagree with anything he said and found his comments pretty thoughtful.
Race is such an issue of everything in a lot of parts of this country, that of course it is a big part of this case. Of course in a lot of cities there is a lot of racial profiling going on, and it is not just by white people, and not entirely by skin color either. I had a black, female cop come to by door once and told me there was a lot of gang activity starting up in the all-black neighborhood a few blocks away, and told me if I saw anyone from that neighborhood in my all-white neighborhood to call the police.
It seems there has become two distinct classes of black people in this area at least. In the office, and in the suburbs, black and white people more or less live happily together. There is not a whole lot of racism in the workplace, or the suburban schools, etc. In those instances, it is not a whole lot different than Canada. But I've talked to numerous black people who state that they have to be very careful about how they dress out in public. Can't wear sweat pants etc without being taken as being a thug. It is sad they feel that way, and I'd say more of them place more blame on their own race than they do on the white people. I think this country has at least progressed to the point where skin color doesn't hold you back. But growing up in a poor black community, with crappy schools, and all the cycles of violence, and father's abandoning kids, etc. definitely does not give you a good chance of a good life.
There is a lot of blame to go around on all sides for how we got to this place, but I think too many Canadians, (and to some degree Northerners) see the answer as just don't be racist. It just is much more complex than that.
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It's really the product of ghettoization.
When you have extremes in wealth based on geographical lines and race, that's the exact kind of attitude you'd expect. The concept is a little foreign to us as Canadians. We have bad neighbourhoods and classes, but we don't have a situation where on one side of the street you have an upper class neighbourhood and the other you have ghetto. People are not allowed to cross that street. The police and infrastructure is still based in many ways on keeping people in the ghetto, because it's easy to have the attitude that no one should cross that street except to commit a crime.