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If we accept that racism is a spectrum, though, we have to determine where on that spectrum someone (the government, each individual) must intervene.
Abraham Lincoln and most other Abolitionists believed that Africans were "lesser" people morally and intellectually to whites, but that they should not be enslaved because slavery was a sin. They wanted to save the souls of white people. Most believed that the solution was to deport the Africans back to Africa (blacks were not considered American at the time, regardless how many generations they'd been in America). So, that position is somewhere on the spectrum of racism, but not at the far end of the slaveholders.
How do we deal with that? Do we pull down the statues of Lincoln because he didn't believe blacks are equal to whites, or do we continue to respect Lincoln for at least siding with the Abolitionists? Where do we put in pin in the spectrum?
Many black people my age distinctly remember Jim Crow. We remember the time when any random white person could murder or rape any black person, even a child, and would never be convicted of a crime.
That's not true today. Today we have "microaggressions," but even that term explicitly indicates that racism has dwindled to the point that it takes a college course to be taught that they exist. White people used to know when they were being racist...now we have to point it out to them, and they're genuinely surprised.
Where do we put a pin on the spectrum? Where on the spectrum does government have to intervene?
And where on the spectrum is the point that racism is no more a detriment to an individual's success than being overweight or short or unattractive or introverted?
The bolded...what time period are you talking about?
I'm not sure how that translates to whites knowing they were racist. I would say the opposite.
They certainly knew they believed whites were superior to blacks and that they believed black people should be kept both segregated and suppressed both socially and financially. They certainly didn't care that black people were being harmed both directly and indirectly. They certainly knew they did not consider black people equal to white people or that black people should enjoy the same American rights as white people. They knew they were ready to kill a black person who did not follow their rules. They knew all those beliefs were based on race.
They knew all that. They knew that they knew all that.
Are you going to argue that they didn't know they were racist in the same way of a white person who says, “Your hair is so interesting! Can I touch it?”
They certainly knew they believed whites were superior to blacks and that they believed black people should be kept both segregated and suppressed both socially and financially. They certainly didn't care that black people were being harmed both directly and indirectly. They certainly knew they did not consider black people equal to white people or that black people should enjoy the same American rights as white people. They knew they were ready to kill a black person who did not follow their rules. They knew all those beliefs were based on race.
They knew all that. They knew that they knew all that.
Are you going to argue that they didn't know they were racist in the same way of a white person who says, “Your hair is so interesting! Can I touch it?”
I think we are getting too far off the topic of movies for me to continue here.
After all -- the actual definition of being woke is: "a broader awareness of social inequalities such as racial injustice, sexism, and denial of LGBT rights".
And what "rights" are LGBT people being denied exactly?
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