However, I also have seen Americans looking down on Bosnian and Serb workers, Bosnian and Serbs that look down on East Indian workers, and East Indians that look down on Iraqi workers. Seems that within every race there are those that feel the need to build themselves up, by looking down on others.

While I was in China and Hong Kong it was the North looking down on the South as lower class, and bit of dislike for Koreans was evident, as well as pure contempt for the Japanese (though slightly understandable due to war crimes).

In Italy I was often told that they didn’t consider Sicilians to be true Italians, and many didn’t like or trust them. Who knew?

It does at times seem that the Black/White issue gets a great deal more attention than so many more horrible examples of racism (such as genocide). I think in many countries if the racism they had to deal with was on the same level as it is in America, they would be so happy (not to imply we can’t still do better).

I didn’t read the Buress article you mentioned so I can’t comment much on it, Banishment always seems harsh. Typically offensive post are simply deleted from websites along with a stern warning. However, Jon’s put a lot of effort into AR, so he can certainly run it as he see’s fit. Interesting article Barry.

Take care, sorry I didn’t get a chance to call the show before deploying.

Active Rain is what it is. People who gravitate toward New Media will adopt Active Rain, and those who don’t, won’t. Doesn’t matter what segment of society one inhabits, it’s more how aware people are of Social and New Media.

That said, is it implied that this is some sort of institutional racism, where people of color are not welcomed? I don’t think so. I think it is a matter of choice as to who participates.

Personally, AR has good points and bad points. As in any widely-distributed medium, there will be people who eschew common sense and/or who adopt thinking that undermines both the profession and society at large.

If the question is: Is racism alive and well in the US and in the RE industry? It likely is. Unfortunately I live in a town heavily tested by Fair Housing simply because it’s one of the most segregated cities in the US – Dayton, Ohio. I don’t mind being tested, but I do think it’s sad that this situation exists. Our company (Real Living Realty Services) is adamant about our agents learning about Fair Housing. From what I observe, we also prefer agents who are open-minded about civil rights and who consider people of color as worthy as themselves.

AR is a part of my life but I don’t see every post or blog or comment. That said, having missed the Burress mess doesn’t mean I don’t care about the issue. It does mean that AR is missing me with some of the stuff that happens there. If there are racist comments, xenophobic comments, things that fly in the face of rational thought about rights won and hope for people of color to gain equal footing on all sorts of levels must be addressed.

AR has leadership and I’d say that leadership took the right steps. Monitoring a large site means there likely should be scrambling bots looking for specific wording (kind of like what companies use to determine misuse of email, looking for certain words). Developing such a thing may help alleviate the load that some see as AR ignoring the situation until it blew up.

Wow…you have quite the story. I am so glad you are willing to share it. I read your story a while back about the guy you befriended who was shot.

I knew then that the guy I sparred with about real estate was indeed one of the good guys in life.

This comment underscores that!

If anyone can help right the ship at AR I am sure it will be you. That’s for a very thought provoking comment.

However, anyone that was familiar with Bill for any length of time, knows that his being removed from AR was about much more than his “lemming” comment. In my opinion Bill should have been removed a long time ago.

Barry, I grew up in the deep south MS, AL, LA and SC in the 60s. I have seen racism in all it’s ugliness. I have seen the men’s group of my Church in Saluda SC pass out KKK fliers after Church. I have watched a KKK cross burning while listening to them sing “Onward Christian Soldiers” as they were preparing to go on a “coon hunt”. It disgusted me when I was 13 and it still disgust me now.

And here I am 40 years later living in Polk county FL and I can assure you racism is alive in well.

I marched with Martin Luther King Jr in AL in the 60s as a child as my white “friends” called me a n……….. lover. I think they hated me as much as they hated you.

We live in a fallen world, my friend, and people are full of hatred. They were then, they are now and they will be tomorrow.

Not sure why I hadn’t seen this post earlier, and though I had promised not to comment on these posts anymore, I see it is outside of A/R, and really, I just need to throw my two cents in a bit.

Everytime I think about this topic, it really just inflames me, so I just stopped commenting. If I felt that it I was making a difference, I would ignore my own personal negative feelings and go on commenting and commenting ad nauseum, but it wouldn’t serve a purpose.

Why? Jonathan Washburn made it crystal clear as to the reasons for Bill Burress’s dismissal. The comment by Burress was against community guidelines. It was considered hate speech. I considered it hate speech as well.

I am a minority, my biological father was black, my mother is white, so that actually puts me in a minority pool that is the smallest dot under the microscope.

I am very verbal in those posts. The majority of members spoke in favor of Jon’s action. FACT not FICTION.

However, I am not going to have any more headbashing dissertations with the folks on A/R who want to define the word Lemming for me. Uh…no thanks, I’d rather polk pins in my eyeballs.

If you google Bill’s name, as one member said, this incident rears its head promptly on Page 1. That’s justice for sure. What also shows up is the many petitioners who advocated for Bill…..so one way or another their dirty laundry hangs in the public eye for all to see.

Anyone not real estate related or an A/R member who I mentioned this incident just shakes their head or sucks in their breath. These will be the reactions of those just people in the world. For those who don’t see others equally, it’s not worth my bother.

I refuse to add fuel to these people’s fire, and everytime another post is written on this subject, or, regretably, another comment like mine is made, it just adds fuel to their fire. I’d love to see this die on the vine.

There are better things to do with time.

You know how I feel about the events of the past week on ActiveRain. The problem won’t go away simply because of the removal of one individual. And it’s extremely unfortunate that ActiveRain winds up getting a bad rap on the Web because of the intolerant and provocative actions of a small minority of its members.

I also believe it’s unfortunate that some on AR chose to sit on the sidelines rather than speak up about the controversy. The silence of some members reminded me a bit of the famous quote by Pastor Martin Niemöller,

“When the Nazis came for the Communists. I remained silent because I wasn’t a Communist.
When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent because
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists. I remained silent because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews. I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.
When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.”

Honestly, I think there needs to be a serious discussion on racism v. bigotry v. prejudice v. hate speech and how they are not all the same, and present different dangers. But even though i post political topics on A|R, I won’t touch that one there because of HUD EHO issues.

Gecko – You aren’t making it any better. Blacks “as a group, not a race” base their voting preferences on group mentality rather than issues? I’ll agree that the Democrat Party assumes they will get the black vote by a wide margin, but instead of assuming that they just will, you might consider that there is a shared reason that they vote similarly. Are Christians lemmings for voting primarily Republican? Or is it that the candidates better reflect their values?

I would also argue that if the conversation is structured the right way, most people I know regardless of color have similar opinions, and would vote conservatively (please don’t confuse that with current GOP candidates)… but they vote a variety of ways for a variety of reasons.

Bill’s comment wasn’t inappropriate because he said a group votes a certain way as a group, but rather because he said they did it without reason or thought… and the inference is that they are doing because they lack reason or thought.

Barry – Like i said, we probably agree on more than we disagree on…

Chris

Gecko: Your definition of lemming is one of several and I read one contributed in a comment that implied a racist undertone. Does that mean Bill Burress is racist? I don’t know him well enough to judge. I can tell you this much, if you walked up to every jovial person you saw and said, “Hi, I’m The Gecko…you sure look gay!”, you probably wouldn’t get the best response each time. But I bet you could find a definition in the dictionary to support your comment.

His remarks were “prejudice” in nature not racist.

Racism is a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular racial group.

Barry – I can’t defend that post… but I haven’t defended Bill’s either… you keep inferring that I am defending the people that are posting inappropriate posts and comments.

Tchaka – Between your picture and one of the comments that you made I would have assumed you were black… but the bottom line is that REGARDLESS of your race, the statement would border on inappropriate. What you are saying is that there is an acceptable level of racial bias. I certainly can’t argue that it doesn’t happen, I can argue that it isn’t right. If I am hiring an assistant, their color should have NO bearing on the decision… only their qualifications. Whether they are white, black, Asian, Jewish, Slavic, Latin… you are getting the idea… those aren’t qualifications. Even if I need a Spanish speaking assistant… if the best qualified person happen to be black and Jewish, but fluent in Spanish, then they are the best qualified.

My point is that there may be an assumed level of racial preference, and there most likely is racial preference in many circumstances… but that is exactly what we need to get rid of, not label as acceptable.

In the case of Obama, I don’t like him. It isn’t because he is black, it is because I don’t like where he stands (or doesn’t stand) on issues. I don’t like Clinton… not because she is a woman, but because of her positions on issues. I don’t like McCain, not because he is old, but because of his stances.

They need more people working behind the scenes monitoring posts and removing those that fall within the above list. I also believe they have to start getting a handle on this now as it’s getting worse and many people I know are considering leaving AR.
The latest post in question, as referred to by Frank above, was flagged by myself as soon as it appeared and brought to the attention of management at AR. Whether or not it gets removed remains to be seen.
Jo