American minorities and spirituality (not religion): why do you think this happens?
Why are so few African Americans, Latinos and other minorities present at spiritual conferences where people like Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, Dr. Wayne Dyer and others are speaking? I'm a Latina woman by birth and I must say it was a little disheartening to observe the small numbers of minorities in attendance at most spiritual gatherings. Why do you think this happens? Are minorities more inclined to follow mainstream religions? And why is it that it's mostly "white" people (I don't like categorizing, but I find no other way to explain this) the ones who are seeking to awaken at this point in time? I know there are some, very few, minorities who are also leaving old dogmas and beliefs behind. But it saddens me to see that a large portion of our population in America is still trapped by old traditional religious beliefs. Nothing wrong with that, of course, since it's the path most natural to them at this particular point in their evolution as souls. However, I wonder why the disparity in numbers. Every time I go to a spiritual gathering or watch a video of one online, the audience always seems to be 99.9% white... I hope my question doesn't offend anyone. I just want to understand what's happening and why it is the way it is. What do you think? I would especially love to hear from our African American brothers and sisters.
I have a question for white Americans that are voting for Barack Obama or where unsure of voting for him?
I am a white American who will be voting for Obama in Nov. I am also a Rep. I am voting for him because I believe in CHANGE! He's right about everything in Washington being the same old thing. If I were to vote for Hillary, I would be getting the same old thing. As far as John McCain is concerned, I think he's just another George Bush. I also don't agree with his views on immigration, or the Iraq war. The comments made by Rev. Wright are just that. His comments. I don't think that ones religion should have any bearing on their political aspirations. If we had Mitt Romney to choose from then someone would surely be critisizing him for his Mormon faith and I think that is just wrong to do in a free society. I think there is still a chance for Obama to win this nomination. The only reason Rep. want Hillary is because they know she can't beat John McCain. Obama can!
Is there anything more hypocritical than a racial minority (Obama) NOT supporting civil rights for gays?
What you say makes sense, and some of the answerers to your question need a lesson of history. It is the height of hypocrisy for a minority group who has been oppressed for over 200 years, and, arguably, is still being oppressed in some ways today to turn around and tell another minority group that they are not deserving of equal rights. African Americans and other racial minorities have had to fight tooth and nail for equal rights in America, so it flies in the face of common sense and reason that they could justify oppressing and obstructing another groups desire for equal protection under the law. It's disgraceful that a Black, constitutional law professor who is clearly well-educated and intelligent could be against civil rights for ANY minority group, gays included. I personally believe that Obama personally would have no problem with gay marriage, but he takes the political stance against gay marriage because it appeases and placates social conservatives, making Obama more easy to swallow for some Christian conservatives on the right. There's currently two wedge issues for social conservatives: abortion and gay marriage. Obama is pro-choice so he took a calculated risk by being pro-choice and anti-gay marriage because he knew he had to choose an issue that social conservatives could rally around. It is very hypocritical, but he's a politician so he had to think about his political aspirations in context of this issue. Unfortunately, that means the GBLT community gets the short end of the stick.
Officially, yes.Even in the university city of Tartu, I rarely see non caucasians.There are no Chinese stores here, hardly a Chinese restaurant.Same goes for Indian/Pakistani.If there are Thais, very thin on the ground. I think I know of 1 Thai restaurant in Tallinn.There was recently a news story about some Sudanese swimming across the river Piusa from Russia. It is unfathomable that they could ever pass unnoticed in southern Estonia.I think African Americans would do fine here, so long as you avoid the drunks. The disapproval comes from the older members of society who don't speak English and with whom you're unlikely to interact. With the deployment of US Army troops in Estonia (based in Rakvere), things should get interesting in Tallinn. If you are military, your hair cut is very much the fashion here. You'll see a lot of guys, both Estonians and Russians, who look like paratroopers but who are not.
WWII provided an opportunity for minorities to show their worth. The contributions of black regiments, black pilots, indian (Navaho) code talkers, and even Japanese Americans in the European theater showed the majority Americans that minorities were just as smart, valuable, brave and patriotic as they were. A similar thing happened in the war factories, with minorities working side by side with whites.In all, the war increased acceptance and respect for minorities and boosted the progress of civil rights by several decades. In many households in the north, the civil rights marches and riots of the 1960s decreased acceptance by making blacks appear dangerous and ungrateful.The only minorities that saw a decrease in acceptance were Japanese and German Americans. The Japanese Americans were put in concentration camps, not to be killed but to be separated from the rest of America. Because of Pearl Harbor, and the difficulty other Americans had in reading Asian facial expressions, it was feared that spies and saboteurs existed among the Japanese Americans. However, many young men volunteered for service right out of the camps. Just to be safe, they were only allowed in the European theater. While the fear was understandable, the camps caused great hardship both during and after the war.German Americans saw some discrimination in the form of boycotts and insults. But it was far easier for a German descendant to "pass" as another ethnic group. In many cases, just changing the name of a shop stopped boycotts. For Example: In Wichita, the German Beer Garden became the Keep 'Em Flyin' Bar for the duration of the war.Strangely, even though Italy was an Axis power, Italian Americans saw a boost of acceptance along with the other minority groups.