I agree, racism still very much so exists. Blacks can have enormous issues getting into a good college simply because of their race. However, I don't at all agree to such separations and all-black colleges. Simply having all-black colleges is racist in itself. Special attention directed towards blacks because of their skin color, or anyone for that matter, is ludicrous and highly hypocritical.
I also hate the term "African-American". Unless a black person is actually from Africa, as in, moved to the US from Africa within their lifetime, the title shouldn't be flaunted around so effortlessly. I don't see whites being called "European-American". :o

I'm called Romanian-American. Because that's what I am, my brother and I are the only ones in our immediate family that was born in America. Our parents and grandparents are all from Romania or have Romanian nationality.

I hate it when I look at the papers and I have to put Caucasian. Because this is the correct definition of Caucasians:

Quote:

Cau⋅ca⋅sian  /kɔˈkeɪhttp://sp.ask.com/dictstatic/diction...una/thinsp.pngʒən, -ʃən, -ˈkæʒhttp://sp.ask.com/dictstatic/diction...una/thinsp.pngən, -ˈkæʃ-/

Obviously the first definition is no longer in technical use, I guess that means that particular definition doesn't apply anymore? It also said Caucasians are non Indo-European. Well I'm Indo-European, my paternal grandparents are from Turkey and Armenia respectively, and people have argued that Armenians are considered Indo-Europeans.

So I don't really know what to put anymore, I've thought of putting "Other" but I put Caucasion anyways even if it means generally people from Western Europe, from what I've been told.

Racism still exists in the US. And for the record, I have experienced it firsthand.
I'm a Salvadorian female and I live in New Jersey. Do you know how it feels to be driving down town one day, only to come across some protesters, who are yielding signs that are telling those "smelly, stupid Mexicans" to go home are they'll be "driven out"? Yes, I know I'm not Mexican, but I'm still a Hispanic whom is CONTINUALLY mistaken as one. And even if I'm not Mexican, it still GREATLY offends me that there are people here who are willing to force me out, just because of the way I look. Do you know how dangerous that is? To be mistaken as a possible illegal HISPANIC immigrant? There are LITERALLY dozens of reports of Hispanics being ATTACKED by people IN THE NORTHEAST. And most of these attackers range from the ages of (early) 20s to mid-40s.
And don't even get me started how African Americans are treated here....it's just a horrible and despicable idea.

So assuming that most racists are elderly folk and that racism has diminished in the US is a load of bull. And trust me, even if our president is African American, segregation is still going to exist.
I don't even think inequality will diminish....as long as there are a variety of ethnicities and cultures, there is bound to be one individual who will extremely favor their race over the other. Sad but true.

How can anybody believe that there's no racism out there? Just because most people stopped running around with bed sheets over their head - and instead turned to simply discriminating people with a skin colour other than their own (and this goes either way)?

As to the original topic, while I understand that reverse racism/sexism/whatever is the only way to make sure more members of minorities come to their rights, I still think that it's incredibly wrong. Not only don't two wrongs automatically make a right, but it's also a fact that reverse racism is actually fostering racism, as "special rights" are shoved into the faces of potential racists, telling them: "Look, those black guys get something just for being black. They have more rights than you have. Isn't that unfair of them?"

So, in the end, a few members of the minority get their special rights, and the rest has to pay the price.

What's really amazing is how you keep making blanket statements about people you perceive as disagreeing with your opinion.

Obama has gone against those comments. When he went on the Late Show, he commented that "I was black before the election". He doesn't agree that the opposition against him is racist, because he knows what racism is.

It is not "group A hates group B! they said something mean to them!"; that can be prejudice, but prejudice and racism are not the same thing. Racism is a structure within a society, not law, but society, which works against a group or groups of people based on their race. This phenomenon, which is prevalent in the US, is called "institutionalized racism".

This is why we have scholarships for blacks; even if they are good students, even if they are the best, there are these invisible hands gripping them, trying to get them to stay down. These hands are made up of preconceived notions about a person's race or culture. These hands are made up of the fact that, even if a person does not mean to, they will treat people differently based on race. White people, in this country, still have advantage to help them. When your name is "Tom Smith" and you are of European descent, you will not be followed through stores or denied jobs.

Why does this happen? This is a good question. We have to look back at history in order to find the answer. It began when Africans were brought to America and lived in slavery. When they were freed, they had nothing: no money, no power, and no rights. They were still very much second class citizens, and because they were struck with such horrid poverty, they became indentured servants. They stayed like this for generations, and the poverty barely improved. Many of them were finally able to live on their own and move to the North, but that didn't make their troubles go away. Through things like Jim Crow Laws and the poverty which was impossible for them to break out of, they were forced to live lives which whites at the time could not fathom.

As they lived in poverty and were stuck in situations to work for horrid wages, the stereotypes and racism against them began to set in; they were seen as inferior, stupid, ugly, etc. This made it very hard for them to be hired. Even when the Civil Rights Act passed, this did not change the views of the society. It still hasn't changed; sure, it may be getting a bit better with every generation, but we have far from broken away from it.

Now it's not in our laws, but it is in our government. If you haven't noticed, the government is disproportionately white males. As much as we do not like to admit, in this country different races have different cultures. Our law-makers represent one culture, but this is not the prevalent culture in the US. The wealth is so abhorrently distributed even today, and cycles of poverty are nearly impossible to break out of.

This is where the institutionalized racism comes from. When someone talks about white advantage, they are not trying to attack us. When an organization creates a scholarship for black students, they are not trying to keep the white man down. White people, all of us, tend to look at life through our advantage. This is not our fault, as we aren't told we have it. We don't think we do; we think that racism is "he doesn't like that guy because of his skin color", but there is so much more to it than that.

No one, as far as I can tell, knew that you were necessarily white or male, so I'm not sure why you're bringing that up now. No one called you racist for that.