GMA race discussion

Hey folks! Just wanted to sign on for a quick discussion and to add my contact info.

I saw an interesting clip on Good Morning America today. Robin and Diane had talked to a group of youngsters 10 years ago and went back to their hometowns recently to talk to youngsters again about race. I'm not sure where they were 10 years ago. There was a remarkable difference in the attitudes of the kids regarding race and their attitudes in general. It was lovely to see. Of course, not a scientific or even unbiased discussion in the least but I think it did show that some attitudinal change has occurred in 10 years. (its on their website today, 4/2/09) The down side is, I think that it would give most the idea that there is nothing to work on, that since kids are not sounding racist, then we've solved the problem. Maybe so, but I don't think so. I do think that things are better but that institutional bias is there and we must continue to work on that less obvious stuff. Its the same in every area of institutional bias. Let s not stop now!!!

so that's my little soapbox for the morning. Now my email is ladyhawksoars@gmail.com.

my pledge on Saturday was to watch for my white privilege and look at the race mix around me. I had to get xrays at UTMC on Monday. I noticed that there was a good mix of people in the patient category. I spent a bunch of time there a couple of years ago with an accident victim and did see a great diversity of patients. That's a plus. There are a great many on staff that are diverse too. I know that there have been issues around homophobia on the campus and there are inequities in what is offered to gay employees and their partners. It would be interesting to really see the numbers of the employees and their racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. Maybe we can learn something from this site....

more later!
peace out!