Racism innate or taught

D...you say "it comes from a need to feel superior". 

I agree with that...and I call this "need"........ "innate", "inborn", "inbred", "natural", "hereditary", "in the blood", "inherent", "indwelling", "immannent", "engrained", etc, etc...

You also say that "discrimination based on color is relatively new, within the last 300 years, or with the advent of slavery in the Western Hemisphere." 

I'll have to respectfully disagree because I don't think it too hard for one to search history and find racism quite a few thousand years ago.

(The story of Moses in the Bible when his sister Miriam and his brother Aaron spoke at odds with Moses because he had married "that Ethiopian woman" is an example.  This story definitely had "racism" as an overtone flowing through it.)

 

I think you'd have to be blind to not notice the difference in races, cultures, colors-however to make a quality assessment based on those differences is a taught habit.  Unfortunately so many of us are so vested in trying to maintain our African American heritage/ Latino heritage? whatever, that in order to place a higher value on ourselves we knock others.  Many times we forget that children learn what they see.

It's funny you bring this topic up because I was having this same conversation with my therapist.  She is white and has two black adopted children and she said that her black daughter wanted a beautiful white doll for Christmas.  Now, it that innate or taught?  I think its both.  We are so inundated with what is right or wrong within the media its ridiculous.  I know I have somewhat taught my boys to be racist because I told them I only want them to marry a black woman.  But I have explained to them why that is.  But to answer your question, I think its both.

I commend your therapist for adopting out of her race. We need more people who are willing and can afford to adopt.  My girlfriend is black and she adopted two Mexican children, and married a Chinese Jamaican. 

The remarks, questioons, and attitude's that I have endured since having these children in my home are a huge learning process and part of God's plan.

I think it's taught... what is innate is noticing a difference but attaching a negative or positive connotation to it is taught. 

I used to be a foster parent and we did not foster caucasian kids because of what they were probably taught in their homes. This is Georgia so I'm into being real about what is being said behind closed doors.   Now that didn't mean we didn't have kids who didn't have a white parent.  

I have been amazed at how much a 4 year can know about the way of the world. 

I'm still learning about the ins and outs of GA. I have been here for a year and seven months. The agency that I am with has a no discrimination policy so they never real during placement the race of the child which I was never bothered by.

I was directly with the county and we were expected to facilitate visits at certain times.  I live in one of the meth lab areas so I was really more concerned about dealing with the parents not the child.  Some parents are angry that their children were taken and we were not going to be verbally abused if we didn't have to. 

The CW's can't volunteer the race of the child but you can ask.  The majority of the foster parents where I live do not take black kids.  There were maybe 5 homes out of 100 that took black kids.  So there were already plenty of homes who were open to white kids.  I got upset everytime a black child got sent out of the area because no one would take him/her.  The CW's used to throw that guilt on me everytime they called.  One of the CW's really broke it down for me.  She said we are taking suburban or country black kids and sending them down into the hood in Atlanta if we can't find a place for them out here.  The kids wouldn't have the skills to survive in a more urban setting. 

I am sorry to hear about the Suburban/Country black kids being moved out of their environment. I have kids from Urban settings and they dislike the Suburban setting of where I live. I'm going too hit you up on the BL.