[MNBoxster]

Hi,

I think the race issue is waaay too complicated to sum up in a single thread on this forum.

But, I also think that PC stifles proper debate, you can't be for some issues and not for others (as an example, one could be for Affirmative Action in education, but oppose favored status for job applications) because PC encompasses the whole Pkg., you cannot pick and choose or you're prejudiced or not PC. I do believe that some minority leaders try to put a collective guilt on all people not of color.

While 4th generation American, I was raised overseas in the '50s, '60s. Race wasn't an issue where I lived, even though there were plenty of non-whites.

Only when we moved back to the States was Race an issue. I was blamed, chided, or discriminated against on numerous occasions because of an assumption of what my people did to Blacks (no racial profiling there of course, associating my skin color with that of the Slave Owners). Certain words which cannot be used by non-minorities, can be used freely by minorities in speech and music, as if the words are non-discriminating so long as they pass through a pair of colored (Black, Red, Brown, anything but non-white) lips.

My ancestors immigrated from Ireland to the US in 1887. In other words, my Great Grandaddy never owned anyone else's Great Grandaddy, so where's the fairness in blaming me and my family for the plight of the Blacks? Or are minorities only interested in achieving Color-Blindness so long as they retain an advantage in doing so?

The Irish were discriminated against horribly when they first arrived in this country, it is well documented. No redress has ever been made of this injustice. The Irish, through the course of a generation, learned to assimilate into the society and rose themselves up out of poverty as have the Germans, Italians, Jews, Poles, Scandinavians and other immigrant groups including many Asian and African immigrants today - through education and hard work. Many Immigrant groups who arrived here, long after many minorities have had their barriers removed, have made much greater strides in a shorter period of time, primarily because they understood and embraced these basic principles.

Society did not accept these groups developing their own subcultures of Language, Dress, mores and still allow them to succeed. Assimilation has always been the doorway to the American Dream. Cultural rites and differences were still retained, revered, and celebrated by these groups within their cultures, such as Columbus Day, St. Patrick's Day, Svenskarnistag Day, St. Stanislaw Day and others.

I could not score less on my SAT and acquire admission to a University. I cannot get low-interest loans for housing, or to start a business, merely based upon the color of my skin, regardless of whether I meet the qualifying standards. I cannot receive favored status on Government or Civil Service job applications. Yet, my people did nothing to subjugate those African ancestors of today's Black population, why am I treated as though they had?

And if, as many people have stated to me over my life, today's preferential treatment of minorities is to make up for past issues of discrimination, when does it end? When will restitution have been made, especially since today's minorities weren't the ones who were actually enslaved?? When will minorities, and Blacks in particular, be responsible for their own lives whether they be a success or a failure?

When a Minority person succeeds in life (regardless of whatever Helping Hand they may or may not have received), they are often commended for having achieved so much, in spite of any barriers.

But, if a Minority person fails, it is Society which is blamed, not the poor judgement or actions (or non-actions) of the individual.

Someone said that if the majority of the population of inner-city jails are minorities, that's not Racial Profiling, it is the Law of Averages (especially if one considers the Inner-city demographics in the US's largest cities).

As I said, too complex a subject to properly delve into here. I'm just disappointed that the Race issue ever came up at all because I never considered anyone on this Forum to merit any more, or less, attention because of their ancestry. I measure a member by the content of their message.

I guess we've lost some of the purity of just being Car Guys and Boxster Owners, and that is disappointing.

But, I believe that if you want something like discrimination to end, you eventually gotta let it go...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99