What drives racism in the USA?

Two thoughts:
Half of the US was effectively running an apartheid system when we were younger. They called it segregation. You don't get over that in a couple of generations.
The other is that if you have a like minded peer group then it is acceptable to express the views that you assume this group share. I'm sure it is not socially acceptable to express racist views in a multi ethnic office in, say, Washington. But it will be in small town midwest/south. Social pressure has a lot of influence on what views people think it acceptable to express. For instance, when in Wales, I would not feel it was acceptable to publicly question the bilingual policy, although I might when I was with close friends or family.

I agree with you both, Joan and Jess. I think that legislation sometimes has to lead the way in changing attitudes. Certainly Britain seems to have become much more accepting of various minorities with the introduction of anti-discrimination laws. It took courage for governments to introduce them - I think it was David Steel who brought forward the law to make homosexual acts between consenting adults legal. Good for him.

I get a tad annoyed when people talk about being politically correct as if it were a bad thing to be!

It can be a bit overdone, though, the PC thing....IMO of course.

yes I agree pc a good thing and that it can overdone.

You are both right of course - we have all read about 'elf 'n safety ' rules being applied in a stupid fashion so that emergency services have claimed they cannot save lives if it would break some rule.

And children being taught to sing 'Baa baa, rainbow sheep...'

Political Correctness & Health & Safety are much maligned phrases in my opinion.

To me, in its original meaning, PC is just about good manners ..... it's not PC to refer to a black person as a N*****, or a disabled person as a SPA**.

As for H&S .... this has come about, in its most extreme form, as a result of ambulance-chasing lawyers. Companies/organisations have to protect themselves against litigation by warning the public that this bag of peanuts 'may contain peanuts'.

Have just returned from a couple of weeks in the U.S....a trip through 'Gone with the Wind' territory. Having re-read Margaret Mitchell's book about 'The Cause' i.e. the beliefs inherent in the South in the middle 19thC, to put me in the mood, I prepared myself for a lovely bit of romantic reminising about a time that had well and truly past. How wrong I was! We witnessed a ceremony in Savannah that marked the end of the American Civil war and were shocked to hear speakers talk as if they would be quite ready to fight all over again. It soon became apparent to us that some people in the southern states of US feel very bitter about the northern states. They spoke in bitter terms about the perceived in balance, both politically and monetarilly. Somehow they managed to justify their points of view without mentioning slavery and I found the whole thing very uncomfortable to witness. This attitute cannot help racism at all and it was very noticable that at this big gathering in the main park in Savannah, there were very few African Americans.

anagram think many of the myths about race PCness in schools e.g.songs , were not often found to be true but were usually journalistic exaggeration.

I did change the words to some songs but that was for gender!

e.g. 'Five little men in a flying saucer'.

we always sang

'5 astronauts (or aliens) in a flying saucer' so the girls got a chance!

You may be right about journalistic exaggeration, nanaej, but the discouragement, if not outright banning, of terms such as 'blackboard' and 'whiteboard' seems absolutely ridiculous to me. They're just descriptions of objects of a certain colour - not race!

I never experienced that in all my time in teaching in inner London. Think that there may have been some crazy individuals whose ideas were picked up and became urban myth..but possibly were never anyone's official policy!

I suppose that avoiding words like blackboard could itself be seen as a form of racism, as the implication is that the prefix 'black' is somehow embarrassing and to be avoided!

HildW that is an interesting first hand observation.
My unfavourite all time PC thing was the idea that "brainstorm" was insulting to those with epilepsy. Seeing as it is not a bad thing, how can it be insulting?
I was reading in the paper about fears of racism in forthcoming soccer european thing, specifically in eastern europe. Nearer home too, there are hardly any black managers in professional football (i think it it 2) Referees apparently have considerable powers in this area, but I can see why they might hesitate to p* off a stadium full of fans. Suspect though that once might be enough. What do you think referees should do, and what would be the effect?

Racism and white supremacists/KKK in the USA - now on BBC3

So the first amendment lets them get away with it, granjura.

Auschwitz a summer camp? Where do they get their history from?

They are not human. There's nothing about these people that is human, said one of the Klan.
Someone yesterday said if we leave the EU, we will end up being the 51st state of the US. Better make sure we do not leave, then.

What a dangerous mad lot!

The reporter was brave.
How come they were not breaking any laws?
I am sure that would not be tolerated here so openly. I know some people are racist here, but we do not see it to that extent.

Is that the programme in which they have a safety talk because their 'costumes' aren't flameproof?

No, it was a different one.
I thought it might be that one at first.