Well, on an individual level, it is sometimes paranoia and made up. On a societal level, these things definitely exist.

Whatever the case may be, the validity of this issue doesn't depend on people like Tom Earp's opinion.

I am surprised to hear you say "Well, on an individual level, it is sometimes paranoia and made up" When you say individual level do you mean 'generally' or you specifically. SOMETIMES yes but for the most part I don't think that is the case. Why do you feel that way?

Why would one not feel that way? On the individual level it can be quite hard to tell why you might be treated differently. If you're always looking through the lens of racism, it could be easy to mistake sexism, ageism, classism, lookism, or whatever other -isms that are out there for racism. -Isms aside, it might just be your demeanor or personality.

Don't be surprised.

Anyone who really knows me knows that I don't give 100% credibility and validity to anything. I know you don't know me. :)

Individual-level is the opposite of society-level. A lot of this stuff is based on perception of prejudice as opposed to materialized outcomes of discrimination like educational and economic deprivation. At the individual-level, people do imagine things or make assumptions so we can't pretend that every claim will be valid. At the society-level, we have millions of people from which to generalize so we don't have to rely on more individual-level accounts. It's one thing to say that 10 people are imagining things or just have bad personalities (as Dionysus pointed out). But, chances are millions of people can't have such an active imagination or just bad personalities (as Dionysus pointed out) on a semi-regular basis.

I believe that there is a clear difference because people will say things like can you be more urban (to an female actress, which means neck rolling gum poppin' etc). Perfect example recently on Oprah the actress who played Terrance Howard's wife in the movie Crash said that she went to a reading; the part was for a highly (I cannot remember if it was a black woman or woman in general) intelligent woman with a degree, etc, etc. Someone raised the question as to if that was realistic to have a "black woman" in the role

I have spoken openly and honestly in groups and had panel discussions with people of all backgrounds to help highten awareness when it comes to race issues. Many people of the "Majority" have said things like we can be too aggressive and sometimes intimidating. The feeling was that the majority of black women that they had encountered were this way.

When I made the earlier post it was not because I am paranoid. Although, honestly speaking I have had to question my own thoughts and reactions to certain things. I ALWAYS think first before reacting or responding. The statment was made because I have had discussions and read articles and from my encounters that seems to be how people felt and that is my "belief" based on my encounters with others.

This is the only part of your post that even remotely addresses what Dionysus and I posted. However, I am still wondering how it really addresses what Dionysus and I typed. :)

ETA: "Individual-level" is a construct and it doesn't necessarily pertain to YOU. Everyone has the potential to be paranoid and imaginative. This doesn't mean that all of YOUR experiences are based on paranoia and imagination.

I'm not really talking about more blatant instances, such as the one above. I'm talking about instances when you know that you're being treated differently, but don't have much concrete evidence that points to why.

I agree with that. I do not think that we disagree on this issue at hand. I think that my original statement was misinterpreted. As I previously stated SOMETIMES yes.

I am not always looking through the lens of racism. Maybe the better term would have been racial prejudice when I was referring to "Black women".

Well then in that case that is paranoia. Concrete evidence is the operative word here. As I said in an earlier post evidence is crucial before making such a judgment.

:confused:

Then why did you ask me why I felt this way?

The issue of paranoia and imagination isn't unique with the issue of race. It also applies to sexism, ageism, etc. Dionysus and I are basically saying that whatever lens you are looking through will shape your perception. This does not automatically make your experiences invalid as far as racism or sexism are concerned. It means that these issues aren't 100% black or white (no pun intended).

Lacking concrete evidence automatically makes something paraonia? :confused: Racial prejudice and sexism are often very subtle and without concrete evidence. Even discrimination based on race, age, gender, sexual orientation or disability are difficult to prove because most institutions don't keep record of their discriminatory practices.

I just wanted some clarification on what you meant when you said "individual level" if you meant you specifically, me specifically, or generally an individual. Then Dionysus went on to make a statment that said "your" demeanor and your "personality" so then that is when I went on an on about the examples to clarify explain my encounters. Sorry for the confusion :) In short, I just wanted you to expound on what you were talking about when you said individual. Thanks ma'am. :)

Yes, that may very well be true, but before you can call somebody out on it evidence would be key otherwise you could be finding yourself picking your face up off the floor. They may not keep record (of course not), but a person can keep their own records of the goings-on that you may view as discriminatory. Once that is done you can look at the evidence (the bigger picture) and then make the judgment.

I agree with that! Maybe I am just not doing a good job of communicating my thoughts. :confused:

We are talking about individuals, in general.