Uniting by color divides by color.
Where as uniting everything divides nothing.
God is not black or white.
One is simply everything,
Truth is most beautifully and equitably All.
=

我想我只是厌倦了这一切。平等权利。平等的机会。法律平等对待。这一切都没有真正发生，尽管存在种族问题。最低限度的或不合格的黑人、白人、亚洲人和所有其他类别的人仍然得到工作，而更适合的人则被拒之门外，以确保平等为幌子。问题是，当我们采取这些积极的(或积极的)步骤时，我们自动地确保了某种程度的平庸，从而确保了某些人的平等将抵消其他人的平等。当然，我们宁愿伸出援手，也不愿伸出援手。一些人说这很有效。有人说没有。 And this division creates another set of issues, which is where we are---in case no one has noticed-or wishes to admit that. Further affiant sayeth not...
Oh, there is another related matter I hope your blog may tackle. Job qualifications vs. unassociated education credentials, i.e. why is it that someone with a Doctorate degree in Art or Drama can out-point an individual who has years of experience in a non-related area of expertise, but lacks the phD? I suspect there are many who have experienced this enigma (it is rampant in state government) and would like to know why it seems to be SOP. (If I did not state this clearly, perhaps it is because I lack the phD---chuckle, chuckle...)

In a story similar to Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s arrest, I am the partner of an African-American high-level professional who was falsely arrested while going about everyday business (banking). Betrayed by the criminal justice system in which she has worked for 25 years, this devastating incident (now in federal appellate court) certainly affects her first and foremost - but I think those who intimately love also have "skin in the game" (I thought she was dead in a car accident when she was just disappeared for half a day for no reason other than her skin color). Our (adopted) African-American son also suffers the change in his mother - who since 18 months will register the pain even if he can't yet understand what happened, or if we had any, so would our white children. I don't think the despair in our society is reserved only for those who are directly affected. I can't think what we have if not solidarity against random acts of misplaced authority based on racial discrimination. I, as a white person, have suffered by anti-black racism my whole life (growing up in El Segundo - famous for refusing to sell a house to Red Foxx). An racist, all white town is a disgusting place to grow up. Moving to "liberal' San Francisco or Cambridge or reaching the heights of one's career does not remove one from the pain of the unchecked anti-Black racism whether you're white or black.

It is true that if you have not lived it, or seen it up close and personal, you cannot credibly write about it. Looks like Kathleen has lived it, on more than a racial level---she admits being white. She also implies she and her partner are homosexual...unless I have read her comment incorrectly. My sympathies are divided between Armchair Ph and the Kathleens in this world. And somewhere else in between, whereever that may be. But we have gone astray from your original post, haven't we? And, that may have been unavoidable, because there are many more issues today, beyond the matter of racial solidarity. The problems facing modern societies are mind-boggling. Much of the time, we have little time, energy and where-with-all to take it all in, much less concoct strategies that might resolve any of it.
A few years ago, I considered, with amusement, a number of the mission statements of charitable trusts and benevolent foundations---there are so many of them. I questioned several of these, via email inquiries, Bill and Melinda Gates changed theirs, as did the Melville Charitable Trust. I doubt that my inquiries, alone, had much of an effect. Still, it was, uh---affirming?, that the seeming self-serving and inane mission-aries might be transformed when someone like little me raised a question. Historionic effect is alive and flourishing, regardless of what anyone chooses to call it. I predict it will finally be distilled and rationally addressed-by someone with accepted credentials-before 2050. I'll be way dead by then. I'm already 64---so, there THAT is.
骆驼打了个呵欠，准备睡觉了。

So---why isn't there a white history month? Or a Hispanic history month? Asian history? American Indian history? Irish history?---you get this, right? Or maybe not. Sorry. This stuff gets tedious---quickly.

All thinking involves making distinctions and discriminations. The difference between the two is important (though many dictionaries treat them as synonyms). Making a distinction involves drawing a boundary that sets something apart from everything else; making a discrimination involves giving value to a distinction. The problem with racial discrimination is not in making a distinction and a discrimination but, as the term is usually applied, in doing so improperly through ignorance or malice. Thus, racial or ethnic solidarity is not improper if not carried to extremes whereas oppression on the same basis is wrong.

我们为什么还要操心种族问题?????好吧，我们为什么要再纠结于性取向的问题呢?或者有人称之为“文化顽固性”的问题?可悲的是，(或者不是)，我们必须为许多本应在我出生之前就解决的事情而烦恼。一些德国哲学家纠结于一种叫做“意志”的东西。他们的斗争,意见;经验和观察似乎没有受到重视。可是——总有更要紧的事;比我们15分钟前处理的紧迫/关键的事情更重要的事情。
The human will is an interesting enigma: it waxes and wanes with fad and fashion. And if you do not follow my story here---wait a bit. It took me four and one-half decades TO BEGIN to get it. I have just recently discerned why it is that people distrust or violently disagree with modern philosophers: they do not want to admit the truths that are being revealed. Why? Well, as Al Gore said, truth is sometimes, uh, inconvenient. Ain't that a bitch? AMG (Ach, Mein Gott) Ha, ha, hah. (yawn)
We have an incredibly short attention span for such intellectually advanced animals. Yeah. Pretty much.

If you want to be a lover, you've got to be a fighter!
A bully, or anyone so inclined to take advantage of another, will most likely consider cooperation only after you have them on the ground with their arm behind their back.
On the societal level this means laws to protect people. On the personal level it means both 'solidarity' of people of good will, and public displays of courage by strong charactered individuals, to keep the many 'weak charactered' people from being swept up in momentum created by dominant people of ill will.
Of the two aspects of racism that get the most attention i.e., superficiality, and ill-will, ill will is the perennial challenge that always threatens the vulnerable whenever there is an opportunity. And this is the key.
I have not read the guests book, but I suspect the problem he is trying to address is the knowledge that no matter how much progress we make, there are still lots of people, in any majority, who would take advantage of a minority if they could get away with it. [The tables could be turned racially and it would be the same problem.] A few 'bullies' and a vast pool of weak charactered people - in any majority - always pose a threat. You need allies. The natural allies are other members of the minority, hence 'black solidarity'. BUT, it is the people of good will in the majority that can often be most effective at taking on the bullies in their group and influencing the many people that can be swayed by them.
恃强凌弱的问题不可能一劳永逸地解决。善意的人，....总是有工作要做。

Confirming Ken's claim that President Obama really has not helped to usher us into a post-racial age, Kevin Alexander Gray, civil rights activist, in an interview I watched this morning, while drinking coffee, and smoking, addressed the GOP?s use of racial-politics, in this years election. It is obvious the Far-Right is on the rise...so these racial-politics are working...very alarming! Both Newt and Santorum made blunt racist metaphors, and John King never called them out on this. For example, Jimmy Crater said on CNN: ?Now, Gingrich, in the South Carolina debate?I watched part of it, watched the first half of it. I think he has that subtlety of racism that I know quite well and that?He knows, as well, the words that you use, like "welfare mamas" and so forth, that have been appealing in the past in those days when we cherished segregation of the races.? CNN is then compliant in racist speech! CNN is airing bigotry out in the open and no one even cares...except me...I was the only one pointing these facts out on twitter while watching the debate! Governor of Texas Rick Perry said before he existed the election, "It?s important that we construct a campaign in which we have a sharp, bright contrast to Barack Obama." And then he went on to say, "We don?t need a lighter version of Obama?"
此外，一个失控的监狱系统，其种族主义明显如下。黑人有很多理由团结在一起，与99%的人团结在一起。最近一篇关于非洲裔美国人被大规模监禁的分析。现在有更多的非裔美国人被关进监狱?无论是在监狱还是监狱，在缓刑还是假释?比1850年的奴隶还多。在美国被监禁的非裔美国人的百分比，比种族隔离最严重的南非还要多。

Harold G.;
I agree, I think, that we tend to chase our tails - round and round - when trying to deal with the perennial aspects of abuse done to others, with race as an associated element. Would you critique my comment specifically? Thanks.

Folks like Wittgenstein are irrelevant in the dialogue regarding race. Neuman (or some other crackpot) said something about living a truth before one might know it. Yes, I think that is, itself, true. The thing that annoys me is the ongoing pot-boiling, stew-stirring that goes on regarding certain hot buttons of civilized man. A few of those, itemized are as follow:
Race; racism; racial injustice; racial inequality etc: Those Black folks who have wanted to do well and be successful in American society, have somehow succeeded; against seeming insurmountable odds. Many of them, some highly-placed, railed against the concept and application of affirmative action. That policy, though now effectively dead, helped deserving Blacks, as well as some who were not so much. I have opined on this before, so, there need not be further opinion from me. But, just for perspective, think: Clarence Thomas.
Aside: I lost seven years of my own future because of a war I in which I refused to participate. Never got those years back. There are thousands like me...others were better prepared---or luckier.
Abortion; the Catholic Church; Right-to-Life; Planned Parenthood: Why can't we simply make our own decisions about our lives, without seeking APPROVAL from someone, some body, or some other nebulous force, er, farce, er force? Can it be that adults are so naive, so as to believe they have no control over their own lives, or is it true that they have given up their autonomy to institutions they themselves have sanctioned? Chasing our tails appears to be a perverse (masochistic?) trait----brought on by? (historionic effect?)---hmmmmmm.
同性恋和其他性别混淆的问题:如上所述，这个难题几乎和前者一样普遍。保守的爱管闲事的人如此确定，厌恶将破坏人类的(基因)生殖动力，他们只是受不了自己。这一点，再加上越轨行为的存在在政治舞台上发挥了如此大的作用。现在来吧。这一切有那么可怕吗?不。它不是。它只是政治和神学上的绝望、哀嚎和咬牙切齿的素材。
长大了,美国人。偏执狂、堕胎主义者和同性恋者不会让美国崩溃。还有更糟糕的事情在发生。但是，你真的需要我来告诉你吗?你做了吗?哦，天哪——我们迷路了。

Small comment: If you have not, read Stephen J. Gould's little book: Rocks of Ages, science and religion in the fullness of life, LOCT, 1999. It says a lot about us and the war between science and religion, in very few words.
NOMA makes a lot of sense. Well, to me anyway.