If inviting them to our community bothers you, maybe you should take it up with the moderators, and owners.
I hope you never need a organ transplant and the only one available is from a person from that "culture".
Maybe I missed something, but I didn't see any racism Turbod`1. Accusing racism in the absence of racism is an intellectual lazy way to shut down discussion, as opposed to learning from each other.
I like how you used the word culture instead of saying black, that is the kinda stuff that signals a problem. We are all humans, we share the same organs, our only difference is our outward appearance. The culture/black is not the way you assume because they are black, there are factors that have affected their culture for decades. Most politicians are Caucasian, and they were the biggest factor in their culture. WE elected these politicians.
WalkingWolf is still butt-sore over me exposing some of his prejudices and internal inconsistencies a while back and so won't deign to respond. Just as well because what follows is intended for those who don't cry "racism" or "bigotry" at the first hint of disagreement. Those willing to read something longer than a tweat might find something to think about. Those who find anything beyond 100 characters taxing, can stop reading now.
Not a lot of blacks in Utah. Utah never had any significant number of slaves, and it was never a major industrial area in need of cheap labor. And stereotypes notwithstanding, not much racism, very little hate. Some ignorance and political incorrectness, to be sure. But not much real hatred. My high school history teacher told us of two interesting accounts from his younger days.
He related seeing the buses from California coming through our Southern Utah town full of American citizens of Japanese ancestry who were being forcibly "relocated" to the Topaz internment camp. The two families of Japanese descent who lived in our town, however, were left entirely unmolested. One, they were outside the sensitive areas covered by FDR's relocation order. Two, it was a small town, everyone knew everyone else, and there was no question as to the loyalties of this family.
He also mentioned an incident in the 50s or 60s when the KKK came through town attempting to recruit members. Lots of leaflets. Not any success. The homogenous Utah hicks just didn't have any interest in being hateful or keeping anyone down.
That said, I recently had a very interesting and enlightening discussion with a colleague who happens to be black. He is a well educated, very competent engineer with an upper middle class income a lovely family. His extended family are primarily in one of the large, northern industrial areas. In discussing the conditions there he said simply and starkly, "They want to have the same lifestyle and results I have, but they are not willing to make the changes to their culture that would bring about those results. You can' choose to live like they choose to live and have a good job and live in a safe neighborhood. It takes work and education, and more work."
He then went on to say something else, "But in some ways, the culture is their identity. The white man forced us out of his culture so we made our own. We have our own dialect, we name our children differently than white folks name theirs. And a lot of is all about a big 'F you' to the culture that segregated us and kept us down for so long."
It wasn't the words so much as the intensity, even anger, with which he said these final statements that took be back.
Intellectually, he recognizes that his extended family members and others living in the black culture could choose to work hard, get an education and job skills, and live the American dream like he has done. Emotionally there is still anger that justifies not making those choices but instead living in a culture that defines identity separate from the white man.
I do not accept responsibility for the problems within the poor inner-city (or "black") culture. I wasn't alive in 1700, or 1860, or even 1960. Nobody in my family owned slaves or pushed for Jim Crow laws.
But after listening honestly and without judgment to someone with a different perspective, I think I have a little better understanding of the challenges and dichotomy those in that culture face.
It strikes me as very similar to the challenges of the American Indians in this part of the nation. Their identity is often wrapped up in the Reservation system. It is a false identity in that the Reservation lifestyle was imposed by force of the US Government / Military in the late 19th and early 20th century. It bears very little resemblance to the hunter/gatherer, nomadic lifestyle that the tribes of the Great Basin region. But it seems to be the only identity they have.
Sadly, in most cases, the culture of the reservation is one of living on the dole, alcoholism, drug addiction, unwed pregnancy and birth, and a shunning of eduation and literacy and most anything else associated with the "white man's ways". The resulting poverty, health problems, violent crime, and other personal and social ills are easily predicted and heartbreaking.
Like blacks living in the inner city, Navajos (and Apaches, and Utes) living on the Reservation are perfectly free to make different choices, to leave the reservation and live the American dream. There are scholarship programs a plenty and outreach from Universities begging these kids to stay in school and then come to college.
But when academic success in grade school is reason to be shunned, when getting pregnant at 15 and formally dropping out of high school is the norm, when alcohol and drug abuse and violence are a normal part of life, a lot of choices can be foreclosed long before a kid reaches the age when he might be expected to start making choices for himself.
I've repeatedly written here and said elsewhere that it is greatly to the advantage of the RKBA community to have members who are not middle-aged, white, Christian, heterosexual men. Women in fear of or who have survived a rape are much harder to dismiss than are healthy middle aged men. Racial minorities facing potential hate crimes or living in high crime neighbors make a more powerful case for personal ownership and carrying of self-defense guns than do popular majorities living in gated communities. Homosexuals subject to bashing can appeal to left-leaning politicians far better than I can. We should not only welcome, but actively recruit anyone we can to the RKBA community. That goes double for anyone who looks different than does the stereotypical "redneck" gun owner.
It would be good for our nation if we could figure out how to solve inter-racial challenges. Such would tremendously good for individuals living in cultures--that often correlate strongly with or are even defined by racial or ethnic demographics--whose mores result in poverty, violence, addiction, and other ills.
I don't claim to know how to do that. I'm pretty sure it will require being willing to listen to some things with which we disagree, and which make us uncomfortable, without trying to shut down the conversation by resorting to claims of "racism", bigotry, or laziness, stupidity, or any other character flaw. That is as true for racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities as it is for white men.
Charles