News Item about Germany

Very disturbing.  I have heard of all the right-wing related violence/crimes happening in Germany for a while now,  I never realized it was so bad though.  Will people never learn? 

On the contrary, I'm pretty proud of how most people in the US held in check xenophobic tendencies in the wake of 9-11.  A marked contrast to the hysteria after Pearl Harbor.  I guess I just don't feel the need to apologize and feel bad about the country all the time.

Ah, you mean that there are actually AMERICAN CITIZENS that don't like the President? Go figure.

No matter whose in office.

But I didn't take your comments to be about the President but the way the American public reacted to 9-11. Specifically to the comments about the German woman who killed a woman of Middle Eastern dissent.

I've not seen that a single time where, here in the US, someone was KILLED for simply being of Middle Eastern ethnicity, since this whole thing started. In fact, I see the exact opposite. I think that the general American public is bending over backwards to make sure that kind of knee jerk reaction isn't taking place.

Yes, I hear about people being stupid all the time. I don't hear of a national prejudice towards any "foreigners" here though. Not in the context you put your post in.

There are very much stronger regional prejudices here in the US at play than any national ones I've ever seen. As a single example, go to Utah and try to get a job if you're not Mormon.

Now if you want to talk about the President and all the King's Men, that's a different discussion. Are there conspiracies here in the US against the US Government? Of course there are. Could they shoot the President? Of course they could and it's likely that if things don't improve in the country his chances of someone trying to shoot him increases as well.

Again, that's a completely different subject than the one you brought into this thread. Strawmen or not.

Good Hunting.

MR

Having lived in the UK, which I guess you could say is a part of Europe,  And being very familiar with both Canada and the US, AND speaking as a person of color, these are my observations:

I found that certain people in the UK were MUCH more prejudice then anyone I have ever come across in the US.  Yes,  I do remember the story of the turbaned Indian man who was killed by a skinhead in New York.  A total tragedy, I know,  but compare that to what was happening in the UK between 2003 and 2005 (when I was living there). There is a reason I choose to live here and not in the UK or Germany or France come to that.

When I was there, the police were warning people of color and minorities not to venture out to night clubs or late at night as so many of them were being attacked by racists.  Minority shop owners in the town that I was living in had their windows constantly smashed in. A young South Asian man was murdered by skin heads about 20 miles from where I lived,  they were convicted and sentenced. Racial attacks were COMMON.  I could carry on and on...but I think you get the picture.

 After 9-11 these kind of attacks and prejudice accelerated and closet racists started coming out of the woodwork like crazy.    It was very hard living in the UK anyway, but after 9-11, thing were getting out of hand.  The thing is that some  'white'  English people see England as 'their' country and can be very hostile towards anyone who doesn't look or sound like them. 

Although the US (and Canada), are not perfect by any means,  at least we can say, that, (maybe apart from Native Indians), we are ALL foreigners here,  some have just been here longer then others. So it's kind of hypocritical to select certain people to hate.  Although it happens ofcourse.

I can see how 'whites' will be a minority in the US soon enough,  and I think that's a step in the right direction.  Like Martin Luther said in that famous speak of his, (notice bold):

''In spite of the difficulties of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama...will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls...I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight...
...From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
When we let freedom ring,...we will be able to speed up that day when all God's children...will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we're free at last!"

It will still be a long time before racism and hatred of others who are 'not like us' is irradiated. I hope that day will come,  I am forever the optimist. 

FACman,  thanks for making this thread,  we should never  become blind or try and brush 'under the carpet' which is still, a very big problem in this world.

In this case I was referring more to the taciturn acceptance by our cultures, of that which our Fathers and Grandfathers paid such a high price in blood to rectify. I suppose I was attempting to remind us all, of our not so distant past, in the hope that my Granddaughter will not have to refight that battle...

Not only that, after 9-11 I have tried to discuss with  Morrocans dancing in the street.
They were bringing the Hitler salute......

So I asked them why, and they replied, dead to all jews and Hitler was a friend of the arabs and more.
Well, I went back into my house and returned with Sydnors book about the 3rd SS division.
They were shocked to read that the first Morocan soldiers the SS encountered in France were all shot because they were racially inferior (for whats that worth....) according to the German racial laws.

Most of these views are brought forth out of ignorance and unknowing history.