News-Record.com

Hmmm...Looks like discrimination, or in this case; "extreme prejudice" based on skin pigmentation, is not unique to any one race.

Potentially shattering to the N&R's house-of-cards position on recent G-Boro PD history. Are you sure you should have posted on this, Doug?

Just trying to show that people have problems everywhere, not just in Greensboro.

Tanzania's government is trying to put an end to the killing of albinos for their body parts ...*Doug

Its just a matter of the collection effort by the state

You Know Your Living in a Depression-Era Police State When...

"a friend gets handcuffed and arrested for not paying a $10 seat belt ticket from two years ago! No written notices, no phone calls, just a knock at the door on a Sunday evening. He had to pay more than $500 in fines and fees,"

Savage, this kind of prejudice the same as racism. This is the product of a world where few are educated so the only explanation they have for people of their tribe or close relatives looking so different is it must be something magic. Without an understanding of genetics it would be pretty hard to explain how two dark skinned parents could have a light skinned baby. This breeds fear and hatred, and the belief that the albinos have magical powers makes people want to use those powers. There was a time in parts of Tanzania when the skin of white people (as in Caucasians) was viewed as magical and people were killed for it, but once people understood that it was just the nature of people of European descent it became demystified. As long as the population remains uneducated they'll rely on magic with the killings (for body parts or to execute a "witch") that go along with it. This isn't even the most dangerous thing witch doctors do by a long shot, though it's perhaps the most brutal. Every year thousands of people go to witch doctors to "cure" their HIV. They then think they won't pass it on to others leading to predictably disastrous results.

I think this is probably only happening in certain parts of Tanzania. Where I lived most of the time I'd hear a lot about supposedly magical things and albinos were never mentioned. There are over 100 tribes in Tanzania and they have widely varying beliefs and practices when it comes to magic.

This is a terrible thing and it's true that albinos lead extremely difficult lives there. Being sensitive to the sun is a horrible burden when you're near the Equator.

Andrew, all racism begins as fear of the unknown.

I can't say I agree with that, Savage. It's not that simple, and doesn't explain how racism could still exist.

I'm not saying racism is not maintained by other factors, many of them circular and perpetual in nature.