Is your city on the verge of an epic race war?

[JACKAZZTJM]

Recently in Philadelphia a white man was beat to death by 5 black kids. Authorities refuse to call it a hate crime saying it was a random act of violence which has triggered an outcry from the white community. Philly papers are now flooded with racial issue columns and letters from the public are overflowing with racially charged rants. I feel something big is about to happen and when it does i hope im nowhere near it. Is your city suffering from this problem as well? Im just wondering if this is a national dillema about to boil over or is Philly the only city rite now where a race war is inevitable?

[Frigidus]

Not particularly. There's violence in Chicago, but only as much as you'd expect from your typical American city. I figure that either way I'm safe in the suburbs, so no worries there. The violence that some people display is more of a concern for me than what the color of their skin is honestly. What happened to these people that they can be so brutal? Surely there's something more to it than poverty?

[reminisco]

dude, as a fellow Philadelphian, i don't think we're going to have any race riots. or a major race war.

the guy that got beaten to death at 13th and Market was probably randomly chosen for a robbery. or the kids were reprising that "boxing gang" that was made up of about 5 teenage boys roaming the streets and beating people to within and inch of their lives a few years ago... maybe as many as five. remember that?

so while part of me thinks it should be prosecuted as a hate crime (after all, white people are the minority in Philly, fully 50% of the population is black), i'm not entirely convinced the kids were out looking for a white guy to kill. i think they were out looking to beat someone up, and went too far. could have been a gang initiation.

either way, i think they should throw the book at them, but i don't think we're on the verge of a race war. this kind of shit happens every summer. the weather gets warmer, and fools go out looking to get into trouble. and since they're cowards, they do it as a crowd. this is all part of why i ride a bicycle instead of using SEPTA, and i don't wear headphones in public places (except the library, but that's different).

you know, i got shot at during a botched mugging attempt in South Philly a couple years ago. when i tell the story, i generally prefer to leave out the race of the people who did it, but it was two black kids trying to stick up me (white) and two of my white friends. it was certainly the most harrowing brush with death i've faced, but i don't think it was a hate crime. i think it was two dumb kids trying to rip us off, and failing at it.

but absolutely SOMETHING has to happen to our city. this crime epidemic is completely out of hand.

and part of the problem is that we don't have enough prisons to hold these degenerates. the revolving door for Philadelphia has been very pronounced for the last 5 years. they don't have the room for the convicts and that's been leading to a lot of dangerous people getting out, and teaching/influencing the idiot kids who idolize them. it's such a perverted romanticism, and the beating at 13th and Market is the result.

[JACKAZZTJM]

come on man a gang intitiation? The guy was 35 and worked at starbucks nothing was taken from him so robbery is out, random my ass if me and friends killed a 35 year old black guy who worked at starbucks it would be charged as a hate crime you cant deny that.

[savant]

To me, race wars have been going on ever since caveman days when conscious thought emerged and hasn't stopped yet. And it won't stop until everyone fully understands the age-old idiom of "we all bleed red".

People, in general, are always proud of their ethnic backgrounds. I was always under the impression that pride is based on personal accomplishments and achievements. Since when is a random, genetic incident of being born to two random people something to be truly proud of? It's not like you get to choose what race you want to be.

Personally, I'm of Asian descent. If Mao Zedong wants to be proud of his accomplishments in China, let him be. But if other people want to bestow their prejudices onto me because his actions or anyone else's, simply because I'm of Asian descent, then let their ignorance be their own demise because it doesn't affect me one bit.

I'm proud to hold a well paying full-time job. I'm proud to be the father of two. I'm proud to provide food and a roof over my family's head every day.

I live in the Philly/Trenton area and see the racial divide on a daily basis. It saddens me to know that people can't understand the simple concept of working together for the overall improvement of mankind rather than paving the way for the destruction of it.

[Harijan]

Nothing in Phoenix. The blacks stick to South Phoenix, the Hispanics stick to Queen Creek, South Tempe, Guadalupe and Central Mesa.

Whits stick to East and North Phoenix, Scottsdale and Glendale.

We do just find with our little voluntary segregation plan. Other than the random illegal immigration protest, we all get along fairly well.

[reminisco]

come on man a gang intitiation? The guy was 35 and worked at starbucks nothing was taken from him so robbery is out, random my ass if me and friends killed a 35 year old black guy who worked at starbucks it would be charged as a hate crime you cant deny that.

oh, i think in many ways you're right. they even said they were "fooling around", and the actual cause of death was a severe asthma attack, not the beating.

and i did say in my post that i think it should be charged as a hate crime, but i'm not convinced they targeted the guy BECAUSE he was white. i think they went for the easy target, who happened to be that guy. who knows their real motivation... i can't really understand their fucked up logic, but i don't think it's indicative of a violent racial tension spreading through the city. i think it's very similar to the kinds of things that go on every summer in Philly. maybe the guy threw them out of the Starbucks he managed or something, and they were going after him because of that...

remember, there was that woman who got beaten up in the Gallery recently too, and survived. whatever motivated that attack is probably the same thing that motivated the attack at 13th and Market. that's all i'm saying. i'm just not convinced there's a city wide violent racial tension. i've spent too much time in the most violent parts of the blackest of black neighborhoods... they're wary of strangers, but once they got to know me i was alright. my being white was less a concern than their concern over who i was and what i was doing there.

[khazalid]

interesting. i'd conjecture that the improvement and the destruction of mankind are probably the same thing, however.

[khazalid]

and we dont have the history that you guys do, but for what its worth racism is very much alive and well in the uk. there were some black on white killings in glasgow a couple years ago and some reprisals and talks of it all escalating but it never really ignited like everyone thought it would, thankfully

[muy_thaiguy]

Nope. Not many blacks in the state to begin with, and in my town at least, most people get along. Except for the occasional fist fight in High School. But that rarely if ever has anything to do with race. More of a respect issue.

[savant]

interesting. i'd conjecture that the improvement and the destruction of mankind are probably the same thing, however.

touché

[JACKAZZTJM]

ahh rem your lawyer side is in full affect lol good points tho actually every1s got good points

[the_lion]

ahh rem your lawyer side is in full affect lol good points tho actually every1s got good points

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA


HAHAHAHAHAHAHA


You said Lawyer!

[diddle]

I couldn't care less.

[reminisco]

ahh rem your lawyer side is in full affect lol good points tho actually every1s got good points

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

You said Lawyer!

i don't think he got the memo...

[AnalistSkream]

In my fair port city, we are mostly of the pasty variety.

Got a small bangladeshi and chinese community, but they're alright.

[the_lion]

In my fair port city, we are mostly of the pasty variety.

I detect a hint of self loathing. Just a hint...

[got tonkaed]

I blame some of the more recent stuff in an abstract way on globalization.

[AnalistSkream]

In my fair port city, we are mostly of the pasty variety.

I detect a hint of self loathing. Just a hint...

You detect wrong, lionel.

Wouldn't have it any other way...I mean, sure, I need indian restraunts, jap's for the local electronics industry and the odd funding to bangladeshi's to breed like bunnies and to blaim terrorism on...but really, I'm quite happy living in a 90%+ white locality.

In fact, I was go as far as to say that I would feel uncomfortable in anything less than 80% white, and cannot see why any paste-nigga would actively live in an area like this....horses for courses methinks.

[Curmudgeonx]

First reading of the title . . . and I thought it was about some sort of epic space battle . .

Much to my surprise it was some 14 year old alarmist seeing the boogeyman in any person with a shade darker melanin quotient in his epidermis.

Then the thread kinda degraded from there. I am willing to wait for discussion of laser wielding space aliens battling above the skies of Texas, just in case.

[btownmeggy]

The degree of racial harmony in my city is pretty astounding. It's almost literally 30/30/30 white, black, latino (maybe 40/20/40). It's fairly segregated, but not absurdly so. I ride public transportation and live in the city center, so I'm probably more subject to multiracial day-to-day interaction than most people, and I've never felt any tension whatsoever.

[Fircoal]

The degree of racial harmony in my city is pretty astounding. It's almost literally 30/30/30 white, black, latino (maybe 40/20/40). It's fairly segregated, but not absurdly so. I ride public transportation and live in the city center, so I'm probably more subject to multiracial day-to-day interaction than most people, and I've never felt any tension whatsoever.

where do you live?

[btownmeggy]

The degree of racial harmony in my city is pretty astounding. It's almost literally 30/30/30 white, black, latino (maybe 40/20/40). It's fairly segregated, but not absurdly so. I ride public transportation and live in the city center, so I'm probably more subject to multiracial day-to-day interaction than most people, and I've never felt any tension whatsoever.

where do you live?

Austin, Texas.

[Curmudgeonx]

I knew we would get to a Texas reference sooner or later, but that was quick.

Seriously, race means nothing. It is cultural and economic distinctions that cause the friction.

I live in a near-downtown urban area with a rapid growth in my specific neighborhood of the hispanic population over the last 5-10 years, and I have more trouble with people my color in terms of crime, noise and overall quality of life, then anything.

[khazalid]

oo austex. great local bands:

ws burn
peter and the wolf
the weird weeds


see them all, you have a lucky lo-fi locale