Time to END racism

[Eric the Green]

(07-12-2020, 10:27 PM)Tim Randal Walker Wrote: Something I've been wondering about...  Do black people tend to view the police department as a sort of Gestapo?

I would say that about covers it.

It varies of course to some extent, depending on the city or town....

[Bob Butler 54]

(07-13-2020, 12:21 AM)Eric the Green Wrote:

(07-12-2020, 10:27 PM)Tim Randal Walker Wrote: Something I've been wondering about...  Do black people tend to view the police department as a sort of Gestapo?

I would say that about covers it.

It varies of course to some extent, depending on the city or town....

Also European and American racism are different. They tend to build gas chambers or fight genocidal wars or ship people to Siberia. We do lynchings and beat people up. The oppressed respond slightly differently to different forms of oppression and terrorism.

But I imagine the basics are pretty similar.

[Classic-Xer]

(07-12-2020, 10:27 PM)Tim Randal Walker Wrote: Something I've been wondering about...  Do black people tend to view the police department as a sort of Gestapo?

Probably most, it's what they've been taught for years.

[Bob Butler 54]

(08-19-2020, 03:40 AM)Classic-Xer Wrote:

(07-12-2020, 10:27 PM)Tim Randal Walker Wrote: Something I've been wondering about...  Do black people tend to view the police department as a sort of Gestapo?

Probably most, it's what they've been taught for years.

The police using pistols and billy clubs as teaching tools.

[David Horn]

(08-19-2020, 07:09 AM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:

(08-19-2020, 03:40 AM)Classic-Xer Wrote:

(07-12-2020, 10:27 PM)Tim Randal Walker Wrote: Something I've been wondering about...  Do black people tend to view the police department as a sort of Gestapo?

Probably most, it's what they've been taught for years.

The police using pistols and billy clubs as teaching tools.

Think about it: every black male gets "the talk" in his teen years.  It's all about interfacing with the police.  It's embarrassing that anyone has to be as deferential to any person or groups as "the talk" teaches black men to be, but "the talk" has been necessary to keep them alive or at least not abused legally or physically.  How would any of us react to that?

[Anthony '58]

The best way to persuade people to abandon racism is to paraphrase the question that Dear Abby and Ann Landers routinely asked their readers, nearly all of them female, whenever they asked for advice about relationships:

Would this country be better off with all this racism existing - or without it?

[JasonBlack]

Ending racism is a wonderful idea. Unfortunately, when it comes to this, and many other hotly debated topics, people are more like to speak in terms of intended results than either
1) defining a clearer, more measurable goal
2) recommending specific strategies and actions to meet that goal

for example, some ideas to throw out there might be
1) The simplest thing you can do it...encourage normal ass white people and normal ass black people to have conversations and realize how much they have in common. Most people don't care about abstract, ideological constructs as much as experiences with flesh and blood people that let them know "hey! You aren't so bad. maybe it was wrong of me to distrust you on account of something so trivial".
2) Take a look at black people who were able to rise up and successfully break the cycle of poor treatment, and reverse engineer some of the strategies that worked for them which you could help other rising black talent implement. One easy example: black entrepreneurs are disproportionately more likely to life higher standards of living than their parents and provide well for their children, so you could help establish a seed fund and free financial educational materials to facilitate greater black independence, individual autonomy and community respect.
3) If you see someone who hates black people....actually debate them with statistics about how genetically similar we are (ex: analysis of mitochondrial DNA all dating back to Africa fairly recently), how black people and white people have similar IQs given similar upbringings (the average IQ of a black child adopted by middle class white parents is 106, implying they aren't inherently stupider than white people) or examples of how black people contributed to the music, clothing, culture, etc that they enjoy. Just brow beating them with rhetoric isn't going to help.

[pbrower2a]

(02-10-2022, 12:41 AM)JasonBlack Wrote: Ending racism is a wonderful idea. Unfortunately, when it comes to this, and many other hotly debated topics, people are more like to speak in terms of intended results than either
1) defining a clearer, more measurable goal
2) recommending specific strategies and actions to meet that goal

for example, some ideas to throw out there might be
1) The simplest thing you can do it...encourage normal ass white people and normal ass black people to have conversations and realize how much they have in common. Most people don't care about abstract, ideological constructs as much as experiences with flesh and blood people that let them know "hey! You aren't so bad. maybe it was wrong of me to distrust you on account of something so trivial".
2) Take a look at black people who were able to rise up and successfully break the cycle of poor treatment, and reverse engineer some of the strategies that worked for them which you could help other rising black talent implement. One easy example: black entrepreneurs are disproportionately more likely to life higher standards of living than their parents and provide well for their children, so you could help establish a seed fund and free financial educational materials to facilitate greater black independence, individual autonomy and community respect.
3) If you see someone who hates black people....actually debate them with statistics about how genetically similar we are (ex: analysis of mitochondrial DNA all dating back to Africa fairly recently), how black people and white people have similar IQs given similar upbringings (the average IQ of a black child adopted by middle class white parents is 106, implying they aren't inherently stupider than white people) or examples of how black people contributed to the music, clothing, culture, etc that they enjoy. Just brow beating them with rhetoric isn't going to help.

4) Recognize that racism usually exists for or because of nefarious purposes -- such as preventing workplace solidarity or social reforms that might improve the lot of all people, or facilitating wars. That racism can be completely unfounded, as is so with modern antisemitism (Nazi-style antisemitism is racist above all else), makes it no less deadly.  

On your points:

1)Denounce racism when you encounter it. One can be subtle, and much racism is subtle.  It's the subtler, more polite bigotry that is easiest and safest to confront.  You can express disgust at the vilest expressions of racism... you can say that that's how things started in Germany when one sees extremist racism (which includes antisemitism),

I have encountered antisemitism because I fit several Jewish stereotypes... no, I do not have a particularly large nose. One is to call to a Jew-haters' attention that Christian morality is really Jewish morality, and that Jews denounce their rogues to gentiles as a warning. 

Know that 'race' has little scientific support. Plenty of people are ambiguous based on appearance. The one-drop rule remains the legal standard, but enough people have passed. How black must one be to be obviously black? 

2) We have one recent, glaring example of an excellent President whom nobody will ever consider "white". It is obvious that Barack Obama did nothing that indicates inadequacy in his political role. Forget race and he falls in line among above-average Presidents. If you can vote for a white person with his virtues, then you are voting for someone who will solve far more problems than he creates. 

Give credit to black people who do succeed for education, skill development, enterprise, and character. Race has nothing to do with that. Trump claimed that he did more in four years for black people than in the four years of any other prior President (which is itself specious because he established no policies promoting such) but forgets to tell us that black people did much of that themselves, like commuting from black communities with few jobs to white communities where jobs go begging). One day in Greater Detroit I thought I could beat traffic by following the reverse-flow of the early-morning commute, but I found that the outflow from the city was just as large. Assuming that blacks have no particular proclivity to work the graveyard shift I could draw one conclusion. Most of my 'fellow travelers' were black, as I could tell. 

3)One little stat: black children of African-American GI's and white German mothers out of wedlock are indistinguishable in IQ from white Germans. Maybe this reflects the German education which is no lark but is the only reliable entry to the Good Life in Germany.  

And, yes, many people who consider themselves white 'have a little black in them'. I do genealogy as a hobby, and I have found some persons whose family tree gets very secret very fast. I have yet to take one of those genetic tests. I may have some myths bashed.   

Another fact: the black bourgeoisie does well, and if I had to choose between being part of it or being brought up in some of the most disadvantaged areas of America that are predominately white (Appalachia and the Ozarks), then white privilege just isn't worth it. White privilege is real, but it is not as good as being free of drugs or alcoholism.

[JasonBlack]

Quote:3)One little stat: black children of African-American GI's and white German mothers out of wedlock are indistinguishable in IQ from white Germans. Maybe this reflects the German education which is no lark but is the only reliable entry to the Good Life in Germany.

that was the other statistic I was looking for. thank you

Quote:Trump claimed that he did more in four years for black people than in the four years of any other prior President (which is itself specious because he established no policies promoting such) but forgets to tell us that black people did much of that themselves, like commuting from black communities with few jobs to white communities where jobs go begging)

Giving credit where credit is due is important, I'm not debating that, but it's hardly suspicious that a policy not specifically designed for a certain race may in fact do a lot to help them anyway. the policy you're looking for is Opportunity Zones, in which businesses are offered tax breaks for opening up shop in inner city areas that are struggling with employment.

As a whole, most people don't have trouble acknowledging that racism exists. What gets them is
1) a tendency toward guilty-until-proven-innocent type thinking
2) a "sins of the father" approach to dealing with things
3) specific attributions to racism that make zero sense (ex: Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons....what?)
4) attempts to cancel any kind of historical work that doesn't fit modern sensibilities of ethics
5) focus on symbolic gestures (ex: taking down statues, putting more black people on bills) at the expense of more tangible courses of action. personally, I don't have super strong opinions on either, I'm mostly saying that it's not the best place to be focusing our attention on.
6) relying on threats, accusations, getting people fired, etc and then wondering why their goal of "spreading tolerance and love" isn't going well.

I could go on. I'm not necessarily accusing you of any of this, but I think one needs to be cognizant of when worthwhile ideas aren't being implemented in practice in a manner that serves their ends effectively.

[Eric the Green]

(02-11-2022, 12:16 AM)JasonBlack Wrote:

Quote:3)One little stat: black children of African-American GI's and white German mothers out of wedlock are indistinguishable in IQ from white Germans. Maybe this reflects the German education which is no lark but is the only reliable entry to the Good Life in Germany.

that was the other statistic I was looking for. thank you

Quote:Trump claimed that he did more in four years for black people than in the four years of any other prior President (which is itself specious because he established no policies promoting such) but forgets to tell us that black people did much of that themselves, like commuting from black communities with few jobs to white communities where jobs go begging)

Giving credit where credit is due is important, I'm not debating that, but it's hardly suspicious that a policy not specifically designed for a certain race may in fact do a lot to help them anyway. the policy you're looking for is Opportunity Zones, in which businesses are offered tax breaks for opening up shop in inner city areas that are struggling with employment.

As a whole, most people don't have trouble acknowledging that racism exists. What gets them is
1) a tendency toward guilty-until-proven-innocent type thinking
2) a "sins of the father" approach to dealing with things
3) specific attributions to racism that make zero sense (ex: Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons....what?)
4) attempts to cancel any kind of historical work that doesn't fit modern sensibilities of ethics
5) focus on symbolic gestures (ex: taking down statues, putting more black people on bills) at the expense of more tangible courses of action. personally, I don't have super strong opinions on either, I'm mostly saying that it's not the best place to be focusing our attention on.
6) relying on threats, accusations, getting people fired, etc and then wondering why their goal of "spreading tolerance and love" isn't going well.

I could go on. I'm not necessarily accusing you of any of this, but I think one needs to be cognizant of when worthwhile ideas aren't being implemented in practice in a manner that serves their ends effectively.

I'm not sure I understand all your points, but let's look at some of them as I see them. And I am not sure who the "them" is ("most people") refers to.

1) what is certain is that police are presumed innocent, and even if proven guilty are usually exonerated for their crimes of overstepping their authority and hurting or killing people unfairly, often people of color. Also what is certain is that many blacks and even others today are unfairly put in prison for crimes they didn't commit, or are afflicted with punishments too severe for their crimes. Our jury system seems to me an anachronism, and many times they get it wrong. The innocence project and equal justice intitative by Mr Bryan Stephenson is an ultra-heroic service in our times. I feel that those who venerate Kyle Rittenhouse are promoting vigilante justice, an abhorrent crime.
2) Although I support reparations, I understand why some are likely to reject the calls for reparations for the crimes committed by those who might be their great grandfathers or their contemporaries. However, when given for specific remedies of more-recent injustice I think they are great and fair and more likely to be approved.
3) no opinion
4) what is abundantly clear is the abhorrent attempt these days in the name of stopping "critical race theory" and making white people "comfortable with their country" to denude our education and suppress our history of repression and abuse of people of color, and other grave injustices and errors in our past. Even George W Bush spoke out well against this whitewashing, saying a strong and confident people can afford to look squarely at their past and what still needs correction now.
5) I agree the focus needs to be mostly on real concerns like the wealth gap and racial profiling/police brutality etc.. Obsession with symbolism and correct speech sometimes goes too far and is irritating to people. But it depends on the case. African-Americans having to look so often at statues to those traitors who enslaved their ancestors is degrading, and celebrates their tyranny and ignorance which can perpetuate it today.
6) well said, even if I disagree, depending on the case.

[JasonBlack]

(02-15-2022, 01:54 PM)Eric the Green Wrote:

(02-11-2022, 12:16 AM)JasonBlack Wrote:

Quote:3)One little stat: black children of African-American GI's and white German mothers out of wedlock are indistinguishable in IQ from white Germans. Maybe this reflects the German education which is no lark but is the only reliable entry to the Good Life in Germany.

that was the other statistic I was looking for. thank you

Quote:Trump claimed that he did more in four years for black people than in the four years of any other prior President (which is itself specious because he established no policies promoting such) but forgets to tell us that black people did much of that themselves, like commuting from black communities with few jobs to white communities where jobs go begging)

Giving credit where credit is due is important, I'm not debating that, but it's hardly suspicious that a policy not specifically designed for a certain race may in fact do a lot to help them anyway. the policy you're looking for is Opportunity Zones, in which businesses are offered tax breaks for opening up shop in inner city areas that are struggling with employment.

As a whole, most people don't have trouble acknowledging that racism exists. What gets them is
1) a tendency toward guilty-until-proven-innocent type thinking
2) a "sins of the father" approach to dealing with things
3) specific attributions to racism that make zero sense (ex: Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons....what?)
4) attempts to cancel any kind of historical work that doesn't fit modern sensibilities of ethics
5) focus on symbolic gestures (ex: taking down statues, putting more black people on bills) at the expense of more tangible courses of action. personally, I don't have super strong opinions on either, I'm mostly saying that it's not the best place to be focusing our attention on.
6) relying on threats, accusations, getting people fired, etc and then wondering why their goal of "spreading tolerance and love" isn't going well.

I could go on. I'm not necessarily accusing you of any of this, but I think one needs to be cognizant of when worthwhile ideas aren't being implemented in practice in a manner that serves their ends effectively.

I'm not sure I understand all your points, but let's look at some of them as I see them. And I am not sure who the "them" is ("most people") refers to.

1) what is certain is that police are presumed innocent, and even if proven guilty are usually exonerated for their crimes of overstepping their authority and hurting or killing people unfairly, often people of color. Also what is certain is that many blacks and even others today are unfairly put in prison for crimes they didn't commit, or are afflicted with punishments too severe for their crimes. Our jury system seems to me an anachronism, and many times they get it wrong. The innocence project and equal justice intitative by Mr Bryan Stephenson is an ultra-heroic service in our times. I feel that those who venerate Kyle Rittenhouse are promoting vigilante justice, an abhorrent crime.
2) Although I support reparations, I understand why some are likely to reject the calls for reparations for the crimes committed by those who might be their great grandfathers or their contemporaries. However, when given for specific remedies of more-recent injustice I think they are great and fair and more likely to be approved.
3) no opinion
4) what is abundantly clear is the abhorrent attempt these days in the name of stopping "critical race theory" and making white people "comfortable with their country" to denude our education and suppress our history of repression and abuse of people of color, and other grave injustices and errors in our past. Even George W Bush spoke out well against this whitewashing, saying a strong and confident people can afford to look squarely at their past and what still needs correction now.
5) I agree the focus needs to be mostly on real concerns like the wealth gap and racial profiling/police brutality etc.. Obsession with symbolism and correct speech sometimes goes too far and is irritating to people. But it depends on the case. African-Americans having to look so often at statues to those traitors who enslaved their ancestors is degrading, and celebrates their tyranny and ignorance which can perpetuate it today.
6) well said, even if I disagree, depending on the case.

1) I have little argument here. I've been wary of police brutality since long before the George Floyd riots. How much police brutality is motivated by racism, I'm not really sure, but one reason why I think this is a better focus is that it helps everyone regardless if the cause is racism or more generalized sadism/lack of accountability.
2) In some sense, I'd argue that the welfare state is already designed as a kind of "reparations" for people who were screwed over by the system. Racial injustice is just one such way one can be screwed over (indeed, you do see a disproportionate number of welfare. that's likely a big reason why), but not the only one, and the black people who have made it to the middle class and rich have typically been helped in other ways in order to get there.
4) Speaking for myself, I'd much rather just go back to the source and read older historical accounts myself. It is important to look at the dark side of your own country's history (I started doing this at like age 9), and I realize not every child is going to do what I did, but the current ideological interest group in charge of this issue is one which has a checkered track record of some egregious actions and claims, and is not one which has done a lot to show they're trustworthy to give unbiased accounts ("getting rid of the bias" is supposed to be the main goal in all this, but I'm not confident they will be able to do that. They will just reverse that bias).
5) My biggest issue is....don't destroy historical artifacts. I'd have less objection to, say, putting them in a museum or selling them to a university.


At the end of the day, my argument is still that the best thing you can do to stop racism is facilitate greater black financial literacy and providing better means of starting businesses where they will not be beholden to whites. We can argue about the how to reign in the excesses of corporatism, but small businesses are pretty much the grass roots foundation of the entire economy, and should be supported whenever possible.

[David Horn]

Here's the problem in a nutshell. When racism is actively addressed and attempts ae made to end it, the backlash by traditionalist whites has stopped progress in its tracks. Doing too little or even nothing allows those same individuals to continue bad practices without guilt. It's damned if you do and damned if you don't. This is a highly intractable problem that will get fixed eventually, but I don't see "eventually" being very soon.

[Eric the Green]

(02-15-2022, 03:11 PM)JasonBlack Wrote:

(02-15-2022, 01:54 PM)Eric the Green Wrote:

(02-11-2022, 12:16 AM)JasonBlack Wrote:

Quote:3)One little stat: black children of African-American GI's and white German mothers out of wedlock are indistinguishable in IQ from white Germans. Maybe this reflects the German education which is no lark but is the only reliable entry to the Good Life in Germany.

that was the other statistic I was looking for. thank you

Quote:Trump claimed that he did more in four years for black people than in the four years of any other prior President (which is itself specious because he established no policies promoting such) but forgets to tell us that black people did much of that themselves, like commuting from black communities with few jobs to white communities where jobs go begging)

Giving credit where credit is due is important, I'm not debating that, but it's hardly suspicious that a policy not specifically designed for a certain race may in fact do a lot to help them anyway. the policy you're looking for is Opportunity Zones, in which businesses are offered tax breaks for opening up shop in inner city areas that are struggling with employment.

As a whole, most people don't have trouble acknowledging that racism exists. What gets them is
1) a tendency toward guilty-until-proven-innocent type thinking
2) a "sins of the father" approach to dealing with things
3) specific attributions to racism that make zero sense (ex: Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons....what?)
4) attempts to cancel any kind of historical work that doesn't fit modern sensibilities of ethics
5) focus on symbolic gestures (ex: taking down statues, putting more black people on bills) at the expense of more tangible courses of action. personally, I don't have super strong opinions on either, I'm mostly saying that it's not the best place to be focusing our attention on.
6) relying on threats, accusations, getting people fired, etc and then wondering why their goal of "spreading tolerance and love" isn't going well.

I could go on. I'm not necessarily accusing you of any of this, but I think one needs to be cognizant of when worthwhile ideas aren't being implemented in practice in a manner that serves their ends effectively.

I'm not sure I understand all your points, but let's look at some of them as I see them. And I am not sure who the "them" is ("most people") refers to.

1) what is certain is that police are presumed innocent, and even if proven guilty are usually exonerated for their crimes of overstepping their authority and hurting or killing people unfairly, often people of color. Also what is certain is that many blacks and even others today are unfairly put in prison for crimes they didn't commit, or are afflicted with punishments too severe for their crimes. Our jury system seems to me an anachronism, and many times they get it wrong. The innocence project and equal justice intitative by Mr Bryan Stephenson is an ultra-heroic service in our times. I feel that those who venerate Kyle Rittenhouse are promoting vigilante justice, an abhorrent crime.
2) Although I support reparations, I understand why some are likely to reject the calls for reparations for the crimes committed by those who might be their great grandfathers or their contemporaries. However, when given for specific remedies of more-recent injustice I think they are great and fair and more likely to be approved.
3) no opinion
4) what is abundantly clear is the abhorrent attempt these days in the name of stopping "critical race theory" and making white people "comfortable with their country" to denude our education and suppress our history of repression and abuse of people of color, and other grave injustices and errors in our past. Even George W Bush spoke out well against this whitewashing, saying a strong and confident people can afford to look squarely at their past and what still needs correction now.
5) I agree the focus needs to be mostly on real concerns like the wealth gap and racial profiling/police brutality etc.. Obsession with symbolism and correct speech sometimes goes too far and is irritating to people. But it depends on the case. African-Americans having to look so often at statues to those traitors who enslaved their ancestors is degrading, and celebrates their tyranny and ignorance which can perpetuate it today.
6) well said, even if I disagree, depending on the case.

1) I have little argument here. I've been wary of police brutality since long before the George Floyd riots. How much police brutality is motivated by racism, I'm not really sure, but one reason why I think this is a better focus is that it helps everyone regardless if the cause is racism or more generalized sadism/lack of accountability.
2) In some sense, I'd argue that the welfare state is already designed as a kind of "reparations" for people who were screwed over by the system. Racial injustice is just one such way one can be screwed over (indeed, you do see a disproportionate number of welfare. that's likely a big reason why), but not the only one, and the black people who have made it to the middle class and rich have typically been helped in other ways in order to get there.
4) Speaking for myself, I'd much rather just go back to the source and read older historical accounts myself. It is important to look at the dark side of your own country's history (I started doing this at like age 9), and I realize not every child is going to do what I did, but the current ideological interest group in charge of this issue is one which has a checkered track record of some egregious actions and claims, and is not one which has done a lot to show they're trustworthy to give unbiased accounts ("getting rid of the bias" is supposed to be the main goal in all this, but I'm not confident they will be able to do that. They will just reverse that bias).
5) My biggest issue is....don't destroy historical artifacts. I'd have less objection to, say, putting them in a museum or selling them to a university.


At the end of the day, my argument is still that the best thing you can do to stop racism is facilitate greater black financial literacy and providing better means of starting businesses where they will not be beholden to whites. We can argue about the how to reign in the excesses of corporatism, but small businesses are pretty much the grass roots foundation of the entire economy, and should be supported whenever possible.

I think facilitating "greater black financial literacy and providing better means of starting businesses" is part of the solution, although I think the restoration of greater class equality by ending neoliberalism would go a long way toward helping African-Americans and almost everyone else in the bargain. I view the welfare state as simply an advance and progress over the previous eras, and that it should be fully restored from the Reaganomics neoliberal diversion from history, even if some Clinton-era neoliberal reforms should be kept to a more minor degree. I don't know what you mean by the "current ideological interest group in charge" of the issue of history and their "untrustworthiness"; I don't know how untrustworthy they are. History is written by many voices. Yes, by all means put historical artifacts in museums.

[Anthony '58]

(06-28-2020, 01:01 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: Slavery was greater and lasted longer in the USA than elsewhere. Great white people including my great-grandfather fought for their freedom, and continue to do so, and the black people fought and demonstrated beside them and more-recently led the way. Meanwhile, white people rebelled against ethics and morality and fought to keep their slaves, causing the most bloody conflict in our history, and continued to oppress and lynch black people. Comparing non-authorities who were black who committed crimes against whites to many cops (not one) who disobeyed the law and murdered unarmed, innocent black people, shows lack of sympathy for those who continue to be oppressed in our country. White cops who commit crimes against blacks and latinos get away with it, while blacks who commit crimes (mostly against other blacks) are punished, and should be, but many blacks are picked up and harassed just because they are black. This rarely happens to white people in the USA, though it does sometimes.

This earth belongs to all of us. If people want to move here, they should be treated fairly. Perhaps indeed we can't take them all, all at once. Regulated borders are fair. However, our statue at our greatest port proclaims the truth that the USA is a nation of immigrants, even though it has always been non-whites who have often been excluded. Immigrants face oppression in their countries greater than what happens here, and those seeking asylum should have it granted and be given prompt attention and good treatment, not the torture and injustice inflicted on them by our white supremacist fake president. Immigrants to the USA contribute to our economic well-being.

They are in no way inferior to those already here. If they can improve their own countries, more power to them. But you ignore the level of oppression and murder that happens in their home countries, which have suffered at the hands of USA imperialism and exploitation and failure to provide aid.

I sympathize with people who are oppressed or murdered by tyrants in other countries. This has gotten worse in recent years, whether in China/Hong Kong, North Korea, Syria, Saudi Arabia/Yemen, Turkey, Hungary and Poland, Brazil, Philippines, Venezuela, Central America, the USA; so many places have gone backward in recent years. Russians who speak out and seek greater expression and distribution of prosperity are murdered by their leader, who seeks to extend his oppression beyond his current borders and disrupt democracy in The West. It's too bad that the Russians have not been able to see this, and to rise up and throw out their cruel new tsar, when there seemed so much promise there after the Cold War ended such a short time ago. Russia is just a very horrible and sad story, lasting centuries. It will last decades more. It is a cold place, with leadership that has almost always been cold-hearted. Even in spite of that, it has some great traditions and arts, and has made scientific and tech advances. It is a great country in spite of everything. I wish it were free.

Brazil did not abolish slavery until 1888.