You guys scare me but I'm rather proud of this post that I made on Gaia Online so I'd like to share it.
I decided to come at this from the perspective of an economist and an anthropologist and a historian, meaning I want make sure I'm getting a full picture. I failed miserably because I don't have enough facts in the essay but I tried... ... ... ....
Yeah, so...
*takes a deep breath* I hope what I'm about to say is coherent.
First, I'll rant(?) on the question Why is there a separation between the races in America.
Let's break the issue down into some definite points as some have already begun to do.
What is "white" and "black"? If you want to go by color you are broad brushing so hard you might as well say "who has hair and who doesn't?" Color of the skin is by no means definitive in ANYTHING!!! An interesting note that I'd like to bring up a note about the first real slavers of Africans that I don't think a lot of people know. (I wish I had the textbook but I how wikipedia is sufficient.) It was the Spanish who started the slave trade of Africans in North America due largely to a suggestion of one monk Bartolome De Las Casas (Who by they way, felt like the native Americans were being treated rotten and thought Africans, who were used to European diseases would make better workers). Ultimately, he regretted the decision.
So should black people be more mad at people who are Spanish (not Hispanic, which I tend to relegate to the cultures and people of Latin America) and by auxiliary the Catholic Church because of the suggestion of one monk?! I'm sure there's more to that story but, no, those two key elements alone are not enough since other European countries and descendants continued and promoted the practice. All are guilty of a terrible slaughter and injustice to a people.
But it bring us to the point of what would the Africans ultimately think and transmit to their descendants who would pick up the heavy torch of racial oppression? They would only see color (white and black, free oppressors and fellow slaves) and they would only see the pain of their own people and this moment in history I believe is the beginning of the black/white dichotomy in America. Where people are judged, grouped, and classified only on the color of their skin and not by the cultural heritage that they belong to.
And so I believe that black culture has evolved under the light of this torch and it's not hard to see why as a people they would cling to his light. They find comfort in being together, understood, and not threatened by another culture or race, as ANY previously oppressed OR free people would want. But if we accept that black Americans come from a historically recent poverty trap with little resources to help them escape as a racial or cultural group, then we mush also accept that they are continuing to be oppressed under a legacy that ended not very long ago and is still continuing to be felt today. (If it is requested, I can actually give a brief summary or lecture of the concept of "poverty traps" and economic growth that might detail why there is an social disparity through economy between whites and blacks which fuels racial tension.)
That was just a possible explanation of the current mentality of blacks Americans. But what about asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, or first generation immigrants? Again, there is history of racism from "white" people in power against these races, Exploitation, discrimination, and inequality. So wouldn't it be natural or these groups to want to draw together to discuss things that others would not readily recognize? To be an island of similarity in the sea that is another culture? Is it right? Is it fair? I can't answer those kinds of questions but I DO believe that the sharing of cultures IS necessary and important. No cultural group should exclude a mind and heart willing to learn.
So what can we say about "White" pride groups.... Illusion. Africans from different tribes who came to American no longer could afford their tribal differences. If they were to survive they had to unify. First, they were slaves and eventually the became Americans with a common history that some other Americans did not share. The same goes with other minorities. But as others have mentioned, "white" Americans need not set themselves as one broad brush grouping that means the same thing to every person. There are Appalachian cultures among 'whites', strong Irish culture, German, Italian, Polish, Jewish, and British just to name A FEW and how many among those groups have ALSO felt the painful sting of discrimination maybe not based on color but one culture?
We all have something that we can learn from each other if we can let go of the pain of being different. However, we cannot forget that pain unless we strive not to hurt each other. If you belong to one cultural group LEARN ABOUT ANOTHER ONE! What do you have to lose but an uneducated stigma or stereotype. Will you become LESS of the group you belonged to before? Maybe but you will have become more of another part of the human myriad. Your singular puzzle piece with blend into another and isn't the ultimate goal to eliminate those unimportant differences such as who does what and how? It doesn't matter what side your bread is buttered on, what the bread is, or if it's even butter! Find sustenance in the wonder that is the human animal and it's differences.