Also, not aimed at anybody in particular, ignorance is rampant in this thread. The wordt kind of ignorance in fact: That of people that think they do good...
It's easier to deal with a straight up Nazi than it is to deal with this. But trust me when I say that unless you have a firm grasp of what it means to be part of a minority (yes I know I'm white), you should not engage in this discussion. And having a few minority mates does not make you legit...
No matter how you put it, ignorance is ignorance, one way or the other.
I spent nigh on 30 years of my life living in Germany within the German backpatch biker community as an Auslander (Outsider, foreigner) which has given me a sense of what it's like to be different. I could of course shut my mouth and blend into the background without having to change my skin colour. The only time it bothered me was when someone took the p*ss out of my Grammar or accent!
There are still a hell of a lot of Nazi's in Germany (or at least there were 18 years ago)
When I came to England to live I was branded a Jerry and was treated with more prejudice then I had ever encountered abroad! But to hell with it! I survived and when it got too much on either side of the channel, someone got a bloody nose!
The Germans had a better system with regard to foreigners though. You learned to speak German or life was tough! That helped people to integrate!
I'm afraid I find it difficult to sympathise with anyone in this truly diverse and multicultural society playing the Ethnic minority card when all Ethnic groups are so well represented with their own communities and support systems.
There was a time it wasn't so but in my opinion, Just like other dark periods in history when whites had slaves, Arabs kidnapped thousands of Cornish kids to use as concubines and very young kids went down mines and up chimneys, in Britain at least, that time has mercifully passed. Now we have an education system, flawed, two tier, archaic and post code related though it may be, whereby anyone and everyone is presented with an opportunity to lift themselves out of the filth. Sometimes you've just got to stop moaning and make things happen for yourself!
This is kind of my opinion on the whole thread not just in response to Buddha's post which I appreciate was aimed at no-one in particular!
Down in the West Country we refer to all low life thieving scum as "Pikey's"
So if the cap fit's