From Chief Justice Roberts, today -- hinting that the key
section of the U.S. voting rights act will be overturned:

>"Is it the government’s submission that citizens
> in the South are more racist than citizens not
> in the South?" Roberts asked.

I'm not specifically here about political opinions, or
about how voting should be conducted. I'm more interested
in this guy's notion, that racism is uniform across the
nation -- or, perhaps that it is no longer a factor in
the lives of modern Americans.

Investigations looking into the source of hostile racist
Internet articles/graphics/e-mails/postings, DO show a
definite geographic distribution. Percentage-wise, far
far fewer come from my home state (Hawaii) than from the
state of a friend that I exchange comments with (who
now lives in Mississippi, but who previously was in Kansas)

But... Perhaps Chief Justice Roberts is right to make
such suggestions in his questioning. Maybe my perception
is wrong.

What about where you live? Less hostile racism in Alabama
than in Vermont? More discrimination in Oregon than in
Oklahoma? I'm curious to know the answer.

But... Especially I'd like to hear from the Morridor.
UD

This is purely anecdotal, but there was a map created that measure racist tweets by state (using an algorithm of keywords including common racial slurs, based on population and number of twitter users). The week following the last election, when the map was launched, put Utah at number 5 among the most racist states:

Alabama
Mississippi
Georgia
North Dakota
Utah
Louisiana
Tennessee
Missouri
West Virginia
Minnesota

That's obviously a very small sampling, but I found it interesting.

judyblue Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
...

>
> That's obviously a very small sampling, but I
> found it interesting.

I am surprised to see Utah THAT high up on the list; but
as you say, it doesn't necessarily represent the full
picture of American racism. People make unkind remarks
for all sorts of reasons -- one of which is peer pressure.

Just to be clear, I define racism as the attempt to
separate folks out from the larger community, denying
them equal rights, equal respect, equal opportunity,
etc. in any community -- local, state, federal, private
club, marketplace, etc., based upon a group's physical
features and/or ancestral origin.

I am not convinced that "race" is a properly scientific
anthropological term. Nor do I necessarily condemn
people's natural inclinations to associate with and to
promote others from their own "tribe."

It doesn't bother me, that my haole neighbor would never
kiss a Hawaiian gal -- but I would judge it to be wrong
if he taught his kids never to allow Hawaiians into
high paying job positions or into leadership positions.

UD

Considering it took Mississippi 148 years to FINALLY ratify the 13th amendment, I would say racism is still fairly rampant across the US, especially in the south.

Then there was this interesting tidbit in the news last week: http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2013/02/no-black-nurses_lawsuit_agains.html

Racism against the Dine is rampant here in the corners and subjectively, Utah is the only time I have experience racism first hand multiple times.

We've come a long way, but we still have quite a ways to go as a nation when it comes to race relations.

I grew up in an almost exclusively LDS community, very
near the Shoshone-Bannock reservation in S.E. Idaho.
My neighbors exercised their racism in a most peculiar
way. Outwardly they praised the native tribes and had
all sorts of compliments to hand out about their supposed
ancestry, future role in the world, etc.

But, when it came to paying out fair wages, or promotions,
or even seeing justice done in cases involving church
property bordering Fort Hall.... well, then not so much.

UD