I live in a part of a city where I'm in the racial minority, and black Americans are the racial majority.

The problems here are self-inflicted. The schools in this area are new and expensive, paid for by the taxes of the city as a whole. So even though this locale is poor, they have great schools. We have Orlando police and Orange County Sheriffs everywhere, so the crime is not a result of a lack of police presence or protection. Response times are good for actual crimes. There are plenty of businesses which are hiring, which is WHY I came to Orlando in the first place, so it's not a lack of jobs.

The problem is self-inflicted. The people we hire don't want to work and are irresponsible. People hang out in front of the store selling drugs and begging for change for 8, 9 hours a day, when they obviously could hold down a job. How hard is it to fold boxes, wash dishes, or answer phones? It's not, but they'd rather not answer to someone else. The crime and the violence is black on black, it's not roving gangs of white people hurting the community. It's roving gangs of youths of the same race, who don't give a about who they hurt. That's not racial, that's just lack of discipline.

But I can feel the racial tension, because even in an area that is predominantly black, "being black" is a big thing. It's what they talk about and what they're concerned with. It doesn't matter that the hiring manager of the store is the same race, it doesn't matter if the local businesses are owned by others of the same race, it doesn't matter if the homes are owned, and sold, and purchased by people of the same race. It doesn't matter if other races are there at all, some folks are still so obsessed with the idea of race that it becomes a cultural thing.

Now let's be clear- there are disadvantages to being in the racial minority, even under ideal circumstances. For one, it's harder to date folks of your own race, because they are fewer and further between. It's harder to fit in, culturally, if you have strong ethnic differences in what you like and who you choose to associate with. It doesn't matter if there's no intentional discrimination, you'll feel like an outsider.

Then, there are racists out there and people who treat you like a second class citizen unintentionally. Heck, I can deliver all night and make nothing in tips, and I know a lot of that is probably due to people not wanting to be generous toward a white person. It's possible they think I have it better than they do, even though I can plainly see that their apartment is stocked with expensive goods I could never afford, and I make at most, half as much as they do, no matter how little they get paid.

Racial tension is very real, even in these progressive times. That said, some people are professional victims. They blame race for everything, and go out looking to perpetuate racial tension, and have racially-motivated politics that involve only doing whatever is good for my race, and screw everyone else.


Marion Barry is a blowhard, not taken seriously by me, at the very least, and probably not taken very seriously by anyone who considers themselves liberal.

That said, Vuk, your obvious contempt for "leftists" is the same kind of prejudice that racists feel toward everyone of a different race, so you might not want to feel too superior to mister Barry. It's the same kind of condemnation of an entire group of people, indiscriminately, except it is political instead of racial.

What's the difference? Explain how saying all leftists are racists is any different from saying all Black people are (fill in the blank).

If there's no difference, and there isn't, then maybe you should keep your prejudices on a tighter leash.