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Why is there so much separation in the USA between people who identify as "black" or "white" compared to other regions like South America? in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

At least Trump seems to be against cultural racism. He said multiple times he wants a leadership that doesn't see color. Even his wife is foreign so you can tell that he's better in that regard compared to the previous administration who constantly made a thing about people's skin color.

Trump seems to just employ people based on their character and won't praise it for being "the first black person in X position" like it has been done previously which I think is a good step in the right direction of getting rid of these racist stereotypes. Because it truly doesn't matter how dark or bright someone's skin is, what hair or eye color they have and before this seemed to have been indoctrinated into people's minds which was very weird.

Why is there so much separation in the USA between people who identify as "black" or "white" compared to other regions like South America? in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That's a good point. I just hope that we can let go of the past soon and fix these issues

Why is there so much separation in the USA between people who identify as "black" or "white" compared to other regions like South America? in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That's exactly the point if you continue to separate people as "black" and "white" people and make only certain groups use a racial slur word something isn't right. This is the exact reason why there is racism. No one should be racist independent of their ethnicity. If "black people" would've enslaved "white people" it would've been the exact same thing!

Why is there so much separation in the USA between people who identify as "black" or "white" compared to other regions like South America? in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

That's an interesting point. I think the sheer fact that Americans with darker skin might be the descendents of slaves might do something psychologically to some people and shape their identity in a different way.

But I also think that probably many Americans including the ones from European ancestors are probably quite far detached from that culture anyways. And I wonder if Americans with unknown origin couldn't just do a DNA test if they wanted to know their ancestry and get in touch with the specific country be it from Africa or partly European if it was really that meaningful for them.

I for example don't really care about my ancestors. I might come from slaves but I don't really care as I mainly focus on the present. But every person is different in that regard.

Why is there so much separation in the USA between people who identify as "black" or "white" compared to other regions like South America? in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] -2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (3 children)

I just don't think it's morally good to use a word that has been used as a racial slur and to radically devalue and enslave people and make it socially accepted for people with a specific ethnicity to say. Imo this is the essence of racism and exactly what went wrong in the past with exactly that word. It doesn't matter if a word is only used by people considered "white" or "black", it's the same thing and just not right.

For example in Germany they have a slang called "Digga" (used instead of "bro" or "dude") which confusingly kinda sounds like the N-Word but it has nothing to do with it and has no racist or negative connotation at all and is used by everyone no matter their ethnicity. If Americans would use a similar slang that also has no racist background let's make one up and call it "Brazz" and not make it exclusive to a skin type I wouldn't see any problem. For example they already have "dude" and "dawg" which are perfectly fine. But the n word is just not okay if you asked me.

Why is there so much separation in the USA between people who identify as "black" or "white" compared to other regions like South America? in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Yes I agree it's really weird. And the fact that some people would see a person as "white" and others see the same person as "black" just shows how absurd this concept is and that there isn't such a thing as distinct human races (also skin tones can change depending on how much sun exposure someone gets). All that is made up racism to artificially help humans deal with hate, self-worth issues and finding belonging. But the reality is we're all the same race who naturally look different which should be cherished. The only aspect a human should be judged by is personality.

Honestly all this obsession with ethnicity is making me pretty sick as growing up I never had a concept of this and just saw people as people but nowadays it's so strongly forced on you especially by the internet.

Why is there so much separation in the USA between people who identify as "black" or "white" compared to other regions like South America? in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (7 children)

I also wonder why so many Americans still casually use the N-Word. It feels kinda surreal to use this considering all the weight and suffering that was connected to that word.

Imagine Jews or Germans with different ethnicity would be casually using the Hakenkreuz and slurs that Nazis used, as a slang in every day conversation in Germany. That would be unthinkable.

Why is there so much separation in the USA between people who identify as "black" or "white" compared to other regions like South America? in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (5 children)

I did a quick Google search and it seems like there are many South American countries with a bigger Caucasian percentage than the USA. As of the 2022 Census, USA is 60.9% . Uruguay having 90.7%, Argentina 97% and Costa Rica has 82%.

In Europe for example the percentage of people identifying as black is even smaller and they're an even smaller minority but even they still mostly aren't separated and are culturally the same.

Why is there so much separation in the USA between people who identify as "black" or "white" compared to other regions like South America? in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

But didn't South America also enslave "black" people?

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Why is there so much separation in the USA between people who identify as "black" or "white" compared to other regions like South America? (lemmy.world)
 

Since I haven't found a sub for sociology I decided to post this question here looking for a scientific answer. I'm looking for a more empirical answer rather than opinion based since I think this is critical in understanding such a complex and nuanced topic.

So I noticed that in the USA people are often strongly divided based on whether they identify as being "black" or "white". Basically many people there make this a big part about their identity and separate communities based on it to the point where they developed different cultures and even different ways of talking and behavior solely based on whether they identify as "black" or "white".

As far as I understand it's based on the brightness of their skin color because of slavery but it's not quite clear to me who is considered "black" or "white" since I've seen many people who for example have very bright skin and seem to have almost no African ethnicity but they still identify and talk/behave as "being black".

I wonder why they still have this culture and separation since segregation ended in 1964.

Because in other regions like South America such as Brazil for example this culture doesn't seem to exist that much and people just identify as people and they talk, behave and connect the exact same way no matter the skin brightness. People such in South America seem way more mixed and seem to not have this type of separation like in the USA based on external features like skin, hair or eye color.

To me it kind of feels like this is a political and economic reason in the US that they purposefully want to divide people for their gains. Because the extent to which this seems to have been normalized in Americas every day conversation both in private and in public/commercial spaces feels like brainwashing. And I wonder if this will ever improve since it seems to go as far as people being proud about these racist stereotypes and think this is completely normal. But considering the broader global context and America's historical background it doesn't seem normal. Especially with America's context of slavery you would expect there to be strong efforts of fighting these stereotypes and having a political leadership that doesn't see "color" and only judges based on an individual's personality.

81
Why is there so much separation in the USA between people who identify as "black" or "white" compared to other regions like South America? (lemmy.world)
 

I noticed that in the USA people are often strongly divided based on whether they identify as being "black" or "white". Basically many people there make this a big part about their identity and separate communities based on it to the point where they developed different cultures and even different ways of talking and behavior solely based on whether they identify as "black" or "white".

As far as I understand it's based on the brightness of their skin color because of slavery but it's not quite clear to me who is considered "black" or "white" since I've seen many people who for example have very bright skin and seem to have almost no African ethnicity but they still identify and talk/behave as "being black".

I wonder why they still have this culture and separation since segregation ended in 1964.

Because in other regions like South America such as Brazil for example this culture doesn't seem to exist that much and people just identify as people and they talk, behave and connect the exact same way no matter the skin brightness. People such in South America seem way more mixed and seem to not have this type of separation like in the USA based on external features like skin, hair or eye color.

To me it kind of feels like this is a political and economic reason in the US that they purposefully want to divide people for their gains. Because the extent to which this seems to have been normalized in Americas every day conversation both in private and in public/commercial spaces feels like brainwashing. And I wonder if this will ever improve since it seems to go as far as people being proud about these racist stereotypes and think this is completely normal. But considering the broader global context and America's historical background it doesn't seem normal. Especially with Americas context of slavery you would expect there to be strong efforts of fighting these stereotypes and having a political leadership that doesn't see "color" and only judges based on individuals personality.