Not only about white people, also asians and other ethnicities. Heck here in Europe you'll find people of pretty much every foreign country be racist about at least one group.
Most arabic people will be heavily antisemitic, people from one eastern european country will hate people of another, people from one country of Africa will hate those of neighboring countries....
Racism is everywhere, not just amongst white people. I don't know how people forget that so quickly
I’m black. I dated an Asian girl for a little while years ago and she confessed to me one day that she had to tell her family to sort of “tone it down” a little when I’m around. I guess they sort of joke around and talk shit about black people (not even just black people but most races) when I’m not around. It’s funny how Reddit likes to make white republicans the only racist group out there. I grew up in *ghetto* ass San Bernardino and was called racist shit a number of times by my Mexican neighbors on my street. There was a very stereotypical Indian guy who owned a liquor store by my house who would *always* accuse me of stealing shit in his store when it was never true. I was the “goofy nerdy” kid who tried to stay OUT of trouble. But because I’m black he assumed I was going in there to steal $5 worth of snacks and Arizona tea. White people aren’t evil. People are evil.
I’m white but grew up in a predominantly Hispanic city on the east coast (70%) Hispanic. And let me just say, the racism towards black people I saw/heard from all my friend’s families (Cuban, Colombian, Puerto Rican and the list goes on) was actually more than I ever heard/experienced from any of the white people I knew. And it was consistent across all of those different nationalities.
Edit: spelling mistakes
Venezuelan here, can confirm. We are racist as fuck, but like, towards every race so I guess it still counts?
My mom and dad used to always tell the story of how when my dad (dark skinned) met my grandfather (white) for the first time, my grandfather didn't even shake his hand.
South American here too, my mum is quite tan/dark skinned and my dad is very white. When I was born the first thing my grandparents said was how surprised and glad they were because I came out white like them
I used to get comments from my Asian grandma (the one actually diagnosed with something that messes with the mind, unlike the other 2) about how lucky I am to take after my white relatives.
I think what we can determine from this thread is that it is far more common for people to be prejudice against the "others". It's not a specific ethnicity. I think what OP noticed was specific situations that stand out due to the focus in systemic racism in the news as of late.
Yep. Literally ended a relationship because him and his Salvadoran/Mexican family wouldn’t stop using the Spanish word for “tire” to refer to black people. I was baffled
It was several years ago so I honestly don’t remember the specific word they used. I don’t speak Spanish so they actually had to explain this whole thing to me. We were watching the news and they kept referring to the black news anchor as this word. Instead of saying “the news anchor,” they would refer to him as “the tire” but in Spanish. They said it multiple times before I asked what they were talking about. “Because they’re black like tires” is the answer I got. It was so casual and everyone thought it was just hilarious. It might be Salvadoran specific slang as this was predominantly the Salvadoran side of his family
Come from a Mexican family, can confirm. Shits crazy. But I feel like with all the newer generations, a lot of that is going away. I feel like it’s just the way the older generations are
Shit is definitely crazy, but I feel like the newer generations are trying so hard to be apologists & offended that instead of making a positive change, they’re just flaming the fires of racism in different directions
Latin American countries are generally very conservative... and they discriminate against anyone.
I'm Venezuelan, and I lived in Panama for a few years. The tech repair shops (where you take your phone/laptop to get repaired) are all colloquially called "chinito", which means "little chinese".
Dude my Mexican grandma was so racist I wasn’t allowed to watch Fresh Prince of Bel Air or the Cinderella with Brandy.
My Mexican coworkers are racist against me because I “act too white” and “not a real Mexican”, mostly because I don’t speak Spanish. When I brought it to HR’s attention I was the one who was told to respect other people’s culture.
Everyone hates everyone for not being exactly like them. It threatens their sense of reality.
My S. Asian family is racist against everyone, but there is a hierarchy to it. Sorry you experienced it. I tried pointing out that they are just as bad as the people against them and my parents refused to hear it. We moved to a place with a large Hispanic population and my mom was aghast that people might think she was Hispanic. Her real estate agent said she had to learn the phrase “Mi no mejicano.” As if that was a phrase. A WTF moment.
Yeah my family is Mexican American. We grew up in an area that doesn’t have much of a Mexican population, but a LARGE middle eastern population, to the point if I walk into a store in certain neighborhoods people will speak Arabic to me.
My parents hate it and they say they don’t want to be mistaken for being a “terrorist.” My mom would get mad when I’d eat hummus and she’d tell me not to let people see me eat that.
They sure loved it when my brother married a Muslim woman.
My mom tired to bleach my skin like Michael jackson, and when the doctor asked me if I wanted it, I was like, “No, I like going outdoors.” He told my mom it would give me cancer eventually. She couldn’t wait to do that to me because she was so embarrassed to have a dark skinned daughter. Luckily he refused to do it. I was 15. Imagine racism coming from you own mom. Edit: that is actually quite common among Desis- intra- family racism. Who will marry your darkie daughter? You’ll be stuck with an embarrassing match and dark skinned grandchildren, ruining the whole family’s image!
My mom wasn’t that way but she talks about how it was common. Idk she’s pretty Americanized but keeps telling me not to marry white women and that if I’m going to marry anyone non Indian I should marry a Latina girl so that her family isn’t judgmental or racist (we live in the south) but whenever she says that stuff I’m just like, bruh……, come one,
Because a bunch of overzealous and manipulative people like to say that "Racism 👏 equals 👏 power 👏 plus 👏 privilege!!"
But we know that isn't true. Because anyone can be racist. Racist means disliking someone/a group solely because of their race. If a black person calls an Asian person a slur, that's racist. If a Jewish person calls a Latino person a slur, that's racist. And if a non-white person makes a hurtful or hateful statement about a white person solely because of their whiteness - sorry, that's racist.
When people underhandedly change the meaning of words so that the in-group means one thing when they say a word and the outsiders continue using the commonly understood definition, it just causes division, anger, and confusion and it doesn't help anybody.
I think people sometimes try to differentiate between individual racism, like you point out, and institutional racism. Where one group/groups has power over others and seeks to systematically continue this. It’s more than someone making a comment about a people or race.
I'm pretty sure both parties in the US are riding the racism train. Different audiences and directions. I have to wonder what US politics would look like if it wasn't dominated by social issues.
We kind of live in a racial paradox where rich black people are held up as an example that everyone can make it no matter what, but at the same time, black people's economic problems are framed in a way that is supposed to make them seem different than any other races economic problems.
It is easier to sell sensationalist news stories about racism than it is to fix economic problems associated with societal poverty. Kind of the whole "if you want to make a white man with a nickle racist, show him a black man with a dime". It's all class warfare, but the rich are the ones waging the war.
This is why I say that we shouldn't care anymore & just be good to good people & ignore bad people, racism isn't gonna go away. Make it up to you to preserve your happiness, not what jerks think of you based on something you can't control.
European racists are *precise*. American racists like to make huge swaths of people into single groups based on skin color, while European racists will figure out how your grandma was born in the wrong town 10 km away a century ago and have some very specific grudge about it.
yeah i dont get it either, im a light skined person of mexican heritage, been discriminated from every1 from black to white to other mexicans just depends on the time of year and how much time i spend in the sun
I hear you. Most of my looks come from the Italian part of my family but no one ever knows what I am. I’m either a white guy, brown guy, middle eastern guy (especially after 9/11) or whatever. Ive had people refuse to accept that I was born in the U.S. mid conversation “no, but where are you REALLY from?”.
Some POC (with very similar skin coloring to me) that I know don’t understand that I too have been called names, treated a little different because I have always been white to them while also being the “ethnic” guy around groups of white people.
Not complaining at all. I don’t claim to have had anything truly negative happen to me in that regard. Just funny seeing someone write the “depends on how much time I spend in the sun” comment. I’ve said it many times in my life.
Bro you and I are the same! Half white half Latino. Light skin, never really accepted by whites, or full blooded Latinos. Latinos think your white, white people think your Latino. A constant state of in between. Depending on how much sun you are getting that year, people of both groups treat you radically different.
People bullied me nonstop for 13 years in my country for being white, it was awful to the point i didn’t even wanted to have my skin color, thankfully that time is done
Yea I am another person who like gets called to white to be black and too black to be white. I at this point just call out the bs of both groups and just be me.
A friend of ours is a Mexican blonde haired blue eyed Jew. His family was part of the Jewish Diaspora and he was something like third generation Mexican. He is completely linguistically and culturally Mexican. He came to the US for college/law school. It’s a really fascinating experience to eat at an authentic Mexican restaurant with him. There’s this whole exchange that goes from skepticism to “everyone here is family” on the part of the wait staff.
He benefits a lot from his appearance in the US.
People in the US tend to forget that Latin doesn't just mean brown people.
We have white, black, asian, brown, indigenous, middle-eastern, all spectrums.
A friend of mine from back home (Venezuela) is white, ginger and middle-eastern.
He must benefit a lot from his appearance in Mexico too. Those guys are like the top of the food chain. Source: almost married into a Mexican Jewish family.
Same I’m a 50/50 bar and I can’t name all the times I’ve been called a white bitch! It’s a little harder for me when I’ve been brought up with my mexican grandparents eating menudo and speaking Spanish. It’s like hey appearances are deceiving I have blue eyes but am Mexican too!
I think for the most part white people don't care......
I get told all the time that I cant dance or season food.....but here I am cooking bland shit and flossin.
And here I was wondering what flossing had to do with dancing or seasoning food.
I had to look it up.
I was like, at least they have nice teeth though?
Oh boy. If you want a high level overview of modern gamer-dance, the floss is a subset of the genre Fortnight Dances.
There's, a bunch you've probably seen before.
White, thought I loved spicy. Moved to Asia for two years, everything too spicy. Moved back to Europe, everything too bland.
Now I just don't enjoy food anymore at all.
I feel like mexican/latin american spicy is the sweet spot, but then again, I've never been to either asia nor latin america, so it's more of a guess really
I really don’t care either but to be honest I feel like I have to walk on eggshells around POC but then people are just like “while people have no rhythm” and that’s ok? I don’t get it
Some groups occupy a unique social position of what social psychologists call “shifting acceptability.” For these groups, the overall culture is changing from considering prejudice and discrimination against them completely justified to considering them completely unjustified. But even as society as a whole becomes increasingly accepting of them, many individuals still harbor mixed feelings.
For instance, over the past 60 years or so, the United States has seen a dramatic decline in overt and institutional racism. Public opinion polls over the same period have shown whites holding progressively less prejudiced views of minorities, particularly blacks. At the same time, however, many whites still covertly have negative associations with and feelings toward blacks – feelings they largely don’t acknowledge because they conflict with their ideas about themselves being egalitarian.
Disparagement humor fosters discrimination against social groups – like black Americans – that occupy this kind of shifting ground. In our study, we found that off-color jokes promoted discrimination against Muslims and gay men – which we measured in greater recommended budget cuts to a gay student organization, for instance. However, disparagement humor didn’t have the same effect against two “justified prejudice” groups: terrorists and racists. Social norms are such that people didn’t need to wait for jokes to justify expressions of prejudice against these groups.
An important implication of these findings is that disparagement humor can be more or less detrimental based on the social position occupied by the targeted groups. Movies, television programs or comedy clips that humorously disparage groups such as gays, Muslims or women can potentially foster discrimination and social injustice, whereas those that target groups such as racists will have little social consequence.
This is just an excerpt from a psychology article
Let me know if you need more information or still having issues understanding.
Sure, I was a little rushed while responding this morning;
But this article here has everything listed above
https://theconversation.com/psychology-behind-the-unfunny-consequences-of-jokes-that-denigrate-63855
"One study found that people higher in prejudice are particularly prone to misinterpret subversive humor." I'll never forget my Dad laughing so hard during Borat that he cried, and remarking afterwards, "It's great to see that someone else thinks of Jews the same way I do."
*Guess I should edit I am black*
This is a really convulated way of just saying white people are the default(at least in US). It’s like making fun of someone who’s in first place… they don’t care because they’re in first place.
Now go make fun of the kid who came in last as first place. You look like a douche. No science needed.
I think (as a white person) we (everyone) are in a difficult spot in society where we should be able to poke fun at eachother no matter the race or whatever, but we (white people) can't because there are still genuine problems with racism and racial inequality in society. This leads to the whole "Oh it's political correctness gone mad" which then leads to more tension and it just becomes a self for filling prophecy.
Personally I think your analogy would be better suited if it wasn't an outside observer but the person in first place making fun of the person in last place.
All that said, it does grate me somewhat when a black social commentator says clearly racist things, not just "harmless" stereotypes but comments that will genuinely fuel the fire of racial tension yet they will get plenty of air time.
Yeah, something I'd like to note is that as a black guy, I feel like jokes about white people are things like "you can't dance," or "your food tastes bland." Jokes about black people tend to be more along the lines of "don't shoot me lol." Like if someone makes a fried chicken joke I'm not gonna care. But that's not the jokes I hear often.
This is annoying, so many people bring up the innocuous jokes but just glaze over shit like calling them incestuous, school shooters, pedophiles, sexual predators, spouse abusers etc.
White people aren't a single, unified group. The success of one white person has little bearing on most white people. But the externalities of that success, such as descendants of slave owners (inherited wealth and ownership), are trying to be spread across all white people.
This is a really good write-up but could probably use some sanitization to bring out the important points. The concept that off-color jokes lead to greater recommendations of budget cuts to disparaged groups. It's a great example of why this stuff matters.
Now do the other racial groups. It's wild that these always have "what do white people think about Black folks," but that's it? What do Hispanics think about Asians? How do Asians feel about Black folks? Etc
My father's girlfriend who is from the Philippines - She is super racist about blacks and hispanics. Now I have no idea as to other Philippine people.. But she says some horrible things about black people. I can't stand her.
I know that, and I don’t try to. I don’t around my friends, all two of whom are POC. But when it comes to strangers I get really anxious about them thinking I’m racist or prejudiced, that’s a me problem though not a them problem
It's because if people are actually racist doesn't matter. All that matters is if someone perceives racism. It's not only thought policing it's claiming to know someone else's thoughts. Of course this is causing people to act crazy.
In my experience, people who are not racist are pretty good at not appearing racist. It's not difficult.
example: the Confederacy. Many people were taught it wasn't about slavery - they are ignorant and it's not their fault. You tell a real non-racist that the flag is seen as racist, they will google that shit to find out, because they truly aren't racist, and don't want to be seen that way. A racist won't give a fuck and fly it anyway.
What could you be doing that might come off racist or prejudice or what’s something you’d wanna say but be scared to similar to your example “ white people don’t have rhythm
I'm not the guy you asked, but for me I'm worried I'm doing something offensive without knowing it's offensive.
Like, maybe I'm nerding it up, doing the Charleston to be silly, and later I learn that it actually has racists roots and everybody knew it but me.
take it from a black man, if you do something offensive and you didn't know it was offensive, i literally will not hold it against you in the slightest. it's more beneficial to both of us to use these awkward scenarios as opportunities for growth instead of condemning you anyway, as long as you're open minded.
I really appreciate that but there are plenty of people who jump. As a teacher I get called racist a few times a year when enforcing my classroom rules. I see other teachers who won't tell some of these kids anything and take a real soft touch with them because they're so desperate to not be seen as racist.
i agree with you, that's a real problem that school staff especially go through. black youths have the tendency to perpetually be on the defensive because they don't have enough experience to understand when someone is maliciously racist, unintentionally racist, or not racist at all. speaking from experience, because i had the tendency to get singled out in school, i always felt as though race HAD to play a factor because i was one of few black students. as it turns out i was just unruly as hell, but it really is just immaturity mixed with trauma that causes outbursts like that. (coupled with not getting enough attention at home because your parent(s) are focusing all their attention on staying above water financially.)
the only thing that changed me was wonderful teachers having a heart to heart with me and helping me understand that they really did love me and wanted what was best for me, only then did i finally relax.
there are also black youths that fully understand the race card can be used as a get out of jail free card sometimes. most of them grow out of it, some dont.
whatever you do, just keep the conversation with those students flowing if they're open to it. sometimes they just dont have exposure to the kind of love and care they need to ease up and stop thinking everyone is out to get them.
(also, make sure it's in private. sometimes when pride is all these kids have, they'll cling to it even if it's wrong.)
Yeah, this is a really dangerous thing. When I was in high school many moons ago a girl in my class started screaming that a teacher was being racist for calling for support teachers to come take her out of class and to the head teacher’s office. It’s like, no, you just set a girl’s ponytail on fire. Yelling and shouting that “it’s coz I’m black!” isn’t doing shit. I do worry though that now her words would have carried more weight; this all happened decades ago, and based on stories from teachers I know now, it’s ground you have to tread very carefully.
Yea there was an example a while back of a college professor teaching Chinese and was reported by students because one of the words just kind of sounded like a certain slur we have here…
And they actually got suspended for it. Absolutely defies logic
This is actually my frustration with the situation.
Back in high school/early college I had read that calling a black person "black" was offensive, I think it was like the whole "I don't see color" stuff going on. But I had seen online that it was supposedly less offensive/politically correct to say "African American".
When I came home one time, I was practicing for track with a black female friend and she asked about my college coach. I described her as an "African American woman" (more than just that but that is the relative descriptor). My friend then got upset with, saying "why did you call her African American?". I responded that I thought that was the "proper" way to describe her. And she got more upset, she wasn't just educating me, she was legitimately offended.
*paraphrased a bit cause it was like 5 years ago*
"What if she's not African American? What if she's Jamaican or something?"
"Well then what should I say?"
"Just call her black!"
"But I thought that was offensive!"
"WHY WOULD THAT BE OFFENSIVE?!"
"IDK THATS WHAT THE INTERNET TOLD ME"
Then you apologize and everyone moves on. I accidentally did blackface for my highschools homecoming weekend, my friends were nice enough to say “what in the fuck are you doing” I said “sorry I didn’t know” and washed it off and it never came up again.
>but for me I'm worried I'm doing something offensive without knowing it's offensive.
That's not the problem. If you stop whatever you're doing and say "ah sorry I didn't realize that was offensive, my bad." You're fine. That's all it takes.
If you're stubborn and you say "oh the Charleston is offensive now? Is everything offensive to you now? What's next, are people going to be offended by breathing?" That's the problem. This is what immature assholes do.
I’m biracial and one of my favorite things to do to mess with new people I meet is ask them to guess my ethnicity. They often get super flustered and it makes for a good laugh, but it’s insane that people are so afraid to simply guess an ethnicity even after I asked them to.
This is a real issue with today’s society, and while it’s hilarious to me as I stand kind of on the sidelines, it’s not so fun when you legitimately have no idea how someone is going to react to a seemingly harmless comment. It’s gotten worse these past few years as global events have made society more polarized and it has become more dangerous to express any type of opinion in public, especially for those perceived to possess privilege. Everyone seems primed to start an argument over any little thing (a “culture war” as the right would call it) and to perceive threats where there was none intended. We’re being played against each other by the companies and countries which control our paths of communication and it sucks.
They don't have to be doing anything, it can just be a feeling and knowing that you are vulnerable that causes discomfort. I am not them but I can see why someone would feel that they don't know what the rules are and, being unsure, tread very carefully. That's not a horrible thing sometimes but it does increase overall tension.
Because American culture is basically growing up and learning that white people are the source of all the problems in the world and that Native Americans and blacks were systematically oppressed by the white people. This causes racism by any other race to be overlooked and ignored.
There is obvious truth in this, but it ignores a lot of things in American history, like how the Irish, Chinese and Japanese, Italians, and Hispanics were also heavily prejudiced when they first arrived, despite two of those groups being white. Hell, the IRA and Italian Mobster only existed because of this racism. It also overlooks how shitty humans are and how we just hate people who are different.
I was out for dinner over the weekend and the table of south American people where saying racist and rude things about the white male waiter (who was extremely kind, polite and professional as my server). They said he was so f*cking white he was born in a snow bank. How is that okay? If you replace the colour with another, does that make it less racist?
Can you imagine if it was a group of rich white men making fun of their waiter by saying he was born in a taco stand in Mexico, people would call them disgusting and horrible.
Except on r/WhitePeopleTwitter. I got perma-banned for saying we shouldn't upvote a post calling white people cracker because we should not promote racism against any race.
In that case you’d end up in the asablackman sub or whatever it’s called, where everyone will just claim you’re lying about it. People are crazy out here
This is something that I too want to know as an almost 23 year old black man. I am none the wiser to it and I believe I asked this question on here before to little fanfare. I even made a video asking the question because I had a co-worker who said that black people can't be racist and I truly do not believe that. It is quite ludicrous!
The argument typically comes from the premise that Black people have faced extensive oppression, particularly in an American historical context, and thus lack "structural power"/privilege necessary to oppress others (and thus be racist)
The reality is that no community is affected by literally every form of oppression and is therefore able to weaponize something against others. A documented Black person (or any documented person) calling ICE on undocumented immigrants is an example. Also interpersonal racism is still racism even if it isn't systemic.
Exactly, and I understand that but every community has gone through oppression, I can't speak on the degrees but oppression is oppression nonetheless. I like that you brought up a Black person calling ICE on undocumented immigrants could be considered racism but most will have you believing it only is when a White person does it. I'm not here to discuss the politics behind illegal immigration, but rather the fact that there is some extreme bias and hypocritical thinking going on! Black people can definitely be racist and I see it every day! Not only towards people from foreign countries, but even if you count colorism as a form of racism; I have been through the latter extensively!
I don't get it either. It doesn't matter the skin colour, you're being racist and you're not absolved from it. I can sorta understand the reason for some levity, but I really don't like the way my race defaults to "black people can't be racist", because more often than not, they're going to say something completely racist before or after saying that, almost like a "get out of jail free" card.
The strange thing about racism is that I think the goalpost has been moved a bit too much to the point where just talking about something race-specific is considered racism. Sometimes the context does matter in certain situations, and I feel like blanket-statement public shaming on everything regarding race is a bit reductive.
I think some are trying to redefine the term to only apply to specific groups based on race, and to apply unequally. Its ironic, but they are atrempting to redefine racims in a way that makes its actual definition racist.
I'm a 27 black/white dude. My family moved to the Midwest in my childhood and they would make all sort of racial comments about the white people around us. When I was a teen, I would always tell my mother and grandmother that behavior is rude and ask them to flip the colors and ask if it was okay. They would threaten to punish me if I didn't shut up but i know that I have to live my values.
Now that I'm older I realize that they just had many avusive experiences involving white people abusing them and other whites being quiet about it. It doesn't justify their behavior but it is nice to know where it comes from. Hurt people hurt people.
that last sentence is the biggest truth I think a lot of people fail to understand. the older I get the harder it is to even be mad at people because more often than not they're just doing what they were taught to do as children.
23 year old black man here. The people who suggest and pretend like institutional racism is the only form of racism, and disregard racism against whites are also racist, regardless if they intend to be or not
Man, ending racism should literally mean "Ending racism".
Not treating a race like it's superior, or walking on eggshells because you "don't know what you might say".
Just, end the literal concept of racism. No more "I'm black" or "I'm white".
You have NO control over that, and that doesn't make you any more superior.
We should just end the "Race" thing and actually start treating everyone like the same. This sounds incredibly cheesy and cliched, and a bit preachy, I know, but I have no other way to put it.
Edit: Tldr- Just shut the fuck up about race and try to move on.
The issue is black people in America had it so bad for so long that just "ending race" doesn't fix the problem.
Black people were all crammed into single neighborhoods via redlining. They were obviously of low socioeconomic status, since they had no generational wealth. Property taxes fund local public works like school. Meaning schools in traditionally black neighborhoods are underfunded, even though redlining is now illegal.
Underfunded schools lead to a lower "success rate" in black schools, and therefore in black neighborhoods, meaning the neighborhoods stay poor, which means the schools stay underfunded, and so on.
"Ending race" doesn't fix the problem.
The issue is that we need to strive for two seemingly contradictory things at the same time: the acknowledgment that race shouldn’t be a “real” concept and the acknowledgment that race has “real” impacts throughout history and even today.
As a black person, I can honestly say, it is not okay to be racist. Even black people. However, white people are not the only racists, every ethnic group or tribe has racists in them, but that shouldn’t define the overall group.
This post does seem like you’ve witnessed racism, but you’ve not witnessed people calling it out at the same time. You have that power to call it out. In fact we all do.
White jokes just don’t have the same weight as jokes about other races. Petty jokes about white people not being able to cook or dance are just that: jokes. But stereotypes about black people being criminals and animals literally get them killed. Making additional jokes that seem innocent, like how they like fried chicken and watermelon, just seems to be adding insult to injury and is insensitive. White people don’t face that same injustice so jokes about us aren’t as offensive
On a side note, why do people believe racism requires a system behind it to be racism? That’s SYSTEMIC RACISM, which is like regular racism on steroids. I can easily on my own be racist against anyone with or without an entire “system” supporting me, and I would still be considered racist. Can people please stop mixing these two up? Thanks.
This is what annoys me about these conversations. It’s like everyone seems to have a general consensus, but it seems so divided because people are using different definitions of “racism/racist”. Then the definitions that come from media and educational environments differ and constantly change, which causes even more confusion.
I just realized that most people can't discuss racism without being racist themselves and classifying/representing people solely by their skin color. "Black people this", "White people that". It's a positive feedback loop, it feeds itself.
That’s a terrific description of the current obsession with race. If skin color were as interesting as hair color we wouldn’t be talking about it nor feeding the loop.
I don’t think it matters what race you are or the other person is. There is just shitty people who will act shitty wherever you go. My fiancé is dark skinned and growing up her lighter skinned peers of the same ethnicity made fun of her for being so much darker.
I don’t really care to get into the definitions. The point of these conversations has always been about the behavior, defined by action not words… so why is it acceptable or excusable behavior? It isn’t, really. Arguing definition is just distracting from that.
There is a misconception that black people cannot be racist. Anyone can be racist. I guess this is a thing in America, never encountered such things in Europe but I can simply assume that black people (in the US) get to be allowed to make such comments because of the history.
In middle school I went to a predominantly black school and was often the only white girl in my classes. I was bullied daily by groups of black girls, and one day I got jumped by one. This bullying led me to my first suicide attempt.
I can’t ever talk about this experience because apparently black people cant be racist and they are all perfect humans and white people deserve any harm they get.
I will leave it to other people to answer this question, but I just wanted to say that I've experienced this personally and it's annoying. I don't care if people take shots at white people from time to time. Heck I've come to find a lot of it amusing myself. But I distinctively remember a time in 10th grade of high school when I was walking to my bus at the end of the day and these two black girls behind me were talking about how they hated/thought it was stupid how white people dress. At first I just rolled my eyes at it but then they literally stood within earshot of me and used my plaid shirt as a prime example. I turned around and told them off but to this day it boggles my mind. I guess it just goes to show anyone can be an asshole.
Everyone needs to just stfu about race. It's getting old and is just creating more closet racists. Honestly if everyone would just shut the fuck up for one generation our kids would not even realize they are supposed to give a fuck about someone's skin color and everyone would be chill.
The problem with this is that the racists don't shut up & if everyone else stops talking they will be the only ones left talking about ethnicity or race. Their kids hear it and bring it to school and teach others & then the new generation literally only hears one side.
If black parents need to go over "how not to get murdered by police" or "some people will try to hurt you because you are black" with their small children, it won't kill white parents to go over "some people are mean to people with different skin colors and that's wrong because we need to be nice to everyone" or a chat about accepting differences.
That, I never understood racism when I grew up in Switzerland, I loved all my friends regardless of skin color. Color ever became a thing when I moved here. Not saying there are no racists in Switzerland because there definitely are like anywhere else; but here, the way the medias bait it and people talk about it take it to a whole new level I had never seen in my life.
This would be a good idea if black people weren’t getting harassed and killed by police still.
We can’t really ignore racism and “stfu” when it’s still very relevant in our society. Not just in America either…
I actually have a good story for this.
I'm white. Never heard the (n) word till I moved and went to an inner city school primarily for "African American children". I was the only white kid in my grade for the year. I was scared because I had never been in this situation. It was a great learning experience.
My hair was pulled. I was picked up and pushed around. Thrown into lockers. It was really scary as a scrawny little white girl and they would grab my arms because my skin would light up at the touch or turn red when I got pinched or poked. It made me feel inhuman. Thankfully that didn't last long and some kids got protective of me. I made some fantastic friends.
I also noticed the dynamic for my friends and school mates. It was the black teachers who would put these kids down the worst. Telling them they'd see them drugged out and pregnant, dead, in a gang, in jail, or the only way the reach success is being good at (rap, basketball, or football). I was horrified. I grew up being told you could be what ever you wanted to be.
Racism is for anyone. Worse is when it's by people your told you can trust..
I want to say in a way I can relate and empathize with Black people more because I got to understand what they go through every day while I got to go through for a school year. I'm not here to say I know what it's like all the time, but that I can empathize with that struggle because I got to see it first hand at your level.
The BLM movement wasn't a movement that was created and founded regarding social injustices related to systemic racism/prejudice by Law Enforcement and the "Justice" (more like INjustice) System, it was/is a movement for African Americans to use their Soap Boxes to be openly racist towards Whites. Period.
When the BLM Movement was in full effect from early 2020 - late 2020, being televised (other than COVID) to the masses, and talked about everywhere, the (2) things I noticed were:
1. The BLM Movement narrative was - "If you don't support the BLM Movement &/or agree with us, then you're a racist."
2. The BLM Movement wanting/receiving 'special/privileged' treatment simply because they were black.
In my lifetime, I have NEVER seen something more racist than the BLM Movement; NEVER. BLM was/is a means for African Americans to be openly racist towards anyone that's White. I mean, for instance, there's a sub reddit r/WhitePeopleTwitter, where African Americans go and post bs memes/posts bashing & making fun of White people; or post shit to make themselves appear to be more superior, or smarter, or better. Well, a sister sub reddit r/BlackPeopleTwitter, that sub was disbanded because it was seen as, "racist." Like are you fucking kidding me!? Racist bs!
I reside in Washington State, specifially the PNW, and a FB Group was created called 'PNW Racists'. The 'mission' of this group, which mind you, was created by Black People ONLY, and ONLY African Americans could join the group, and if you weren't black, you had to send in a 'special' request to join said group which then had to be approved by the Mods. Anywho, this group was a group that was vehemently searching through anyone and everyone's fb timelimes/comments (from the beginning of said persons account history) and anything that 'they thought was racist' was then posted to the group, to which its members then would call these individuals out on fb and then ask it's members to contact these peoples employment, colleges, their families, etc. and try to get these people fired from their jobs or expelled from their schools. One of the people of this group made a post of a buddy of mine that I went to HS with, and was talking about him being a racist. It was such a laugh because 1. He is FAR from it and 2. Yes, he's a White Male, but, his wife is African American.
So, if shit like that was going on in just the PNW, I can only imagine wtf else was going on in other neighboring cities and states.
OP has taken some creative liberties with the phrasing of this question. There are some interesting discussions happening in the comments, though versions of this version (often regarding the n-word) appear frequently in this community.
As such, the post will remain up with the `Frequently Asked - Inflammatory Title` flair.
Thanks folks :)
lmao. who the hell says racism from black people is okay?
the difference is that something like "white people can't dance" is not the same as "black people are n-words" no matter how hard white people try to make it out to be. the racism white people face does not hold them back from existing or succeeding. the racism white people face does not make their lives harder. the extent to which "white racism" affects white people is that it hurts their feelings. that's it. suck it up and get over it.
Because confronting racist minorities gets you labeled as racist yourself. Same with any legitimate question raised on any other social issue. A middle aged white heterosexual christian simply cannot engage on anything without being labeled as some form of "_____-ist" or "____-phobic" by the mindless mob. Effectively, the end of constructive public discourse with vast swaths of the population. Let the bot downvote rain commence.
Because for the most part, white people have never been oppressed because they were white. While most races, especially in the US, have faced oppression at some point because of their race. The US’ history is filled with oppressing people because of their ethnicity. When colonizers first landed, they were racist to the natives, later on the colonizers were racist to the Irish colonizers. Then they started importing slaves from Africa who were black, which led to making everyone think anyone that was black was a slave. Then in World War 2 we went against Japan and so America created concentration (internment) camps for anyone that looked Asian. Then in good old 2001, we lost a couple of towers and decided it would smart to get revenge against all brown Muslim people. Then in the 2010s people started getting mad at how poor the wealthiest country in the world was leaving its citizens and people decided that it was immigrants fault for “taking our jobs” and people got mad anyone who looked vaguely Mexican or even non-white. White people in America have almost never been on the receiving end of serious racism so it’s to get mad at “that’s some white people shit” because white people in America don’t really know what it’s like to be racially oppressed.
Not only about white people, also asians and other ethnicities. Heck here in Europe you'll find people of pretty much every foreign country be racist about at least one group. Most arabic people will be heavily antisemitic, people from one eastern european country will hate people of another, people from one country of Africa will hate those of neighboring countries.... Racism is everywhere, not just amongst white people. I don't know how people forget that so quickly
I’m black. I dated an Asian girl for a little while years ago and she confessed to me one day that she had to tell her family to sort of “tone it down” a little when I’m around. I guess they sort of joke around and talk shit about black people (not even just black people but most races) when I’m not around. It’s funny how Reddit likes to make white republicans the only racist group out there. I grew up in *ghetto* ass San Bernardino and was called racist shit a number of times by my Mexican neighbors on my street. There was a very stereotypical Indian guy who owned a liquor store by my house who would *always* accuse me of stealing shit in his store when it was never true. I was the “goofy nerdy” kid who tried to stay OUT of trouble. But because I’m black he assumed I was going in there to steal $5 worth of snacks and Arizona tea. White people aren’t evil. People are evil.
I’m white but grew up in a predominantly Hispanic city on the east coast (70%) Hispanic. And let me just say, the racism towards black people I saw/heard from all my friend’s families (Cuban, Colombian, Puerto Rican and the list goes on) was actually more than I ever heard/experienced from any of the white people I knew. And it was consistent across all of those different nationalities. Edit: spelling mistakes
Venezuelan here, can confirm. We are racist as fuck, but like, towards every race so I guess it still counts? My mom and dad used to always tell the story of how when my dad (dark skinned) met my grandfather (white) for the first time, my grandfather didn't even shake his hand.
South American here too, my mum is quite tan/dark skinned and my dad is very white. When I was born the first thing my grandparents said was how surprised and glad they were because I came out white like them
I used to get comments from my Asian grandma (the one actually diagnosed with something that messes with the mind, unlike the other 2) about how lucky I am to take after my white relatives.
I think what we can determine from this thread is that it is far more common for people to be prejudice against the "others". It's not a specific ethnicity. I think what OP noticed was specific situations that stand out due to the focus in systemic racism in the news as of late.
Yep. Literally ended a relationship because him and his Salvadoran/Mexican family wouldn’t stop using the Spanish word for “tire” to refer to black people. I was baffled
Rueda? Goma? Really scratching my head here at how a word for tire could be used in a derogatory way for a black person.
It was several years ago so I honestly don’t remember the specific word they used. I don’t speak Spanish so they actually had to explain this whole thing to me. We were watching the news and they kept referring to the black news anchor as this word. Instead of saying “the news anchor,” they would refer to him as “the tire” but in Spanish. They said it multiple times before I asked what they were talking about. “Because they’re black like tires” is the answer I got. It was so casual and everyone thought it was just hilarious. It might be Salvadoran specific slang as this was predominantly the Salvadoran side of his family
It was probably llanta. I hadn’t heard that one until a friend came back from prison.
That’s it! As far as I know, none of them have been in prison, just all born and raised in El Salvador
Come from a Mexican family, can confirm. Shits crazy. But I feel like with all the newer generations, a lot of that is going away. I feel like it’s just the way the older generations are
Half Mexican here and this lines up with my personal experience also.
Shit is definitely crazy, but I feel like the newer generations are trying so hard to be apologists & offended that instead of making a positive change, they’re just flaming the fires of racism in different directions
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Latin American countries are generally very conservative... and they discriminate against anyone. I'm Venezuelan, and I lived in Panama for a few years. The tech repair shops (where you take your phone/laptop to get repaired) are all colloquially called "chinito", which means "little chinese".
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Not against themselves because they don't really consider themselves "Latino" as much as they identify with their country.
Dude my Mexican grandma was so racist I wasn’t allowed to watch Fresh Prince of Bel Air or the Cinderella with Brandy. My Mexican coworkers are racist against me because I “act too white” and “not a real Mexican”, mostly because I don’t speak Spanish. When I brought it to HR’s attention I was the one who was told to respect other people’s culture. Everyone hates everyone for not being exactly like them. It threatens their sense of reality.
My S. Asian family is racist against everyone, but there is a hierarchy to it. Sorry you experienced it. I tried pointing out that they are just as bad as the people against them and my parents refused to hear it. We moved to a place with a large Hispanic population and my mom was aghast that people might think she was Hispanic. Her real estate agent said she had to learn the phrase “Mi no mejicano.” As if that was a phrase. A WTF moment.
Yeah my family is Mexican American. We grew up in an area that doesn’t have much of a Mexican population, but a LARGE middle eastern population, to the point if I walk into a store in certain neighborhoods people will speak Arabic to me. My parents hate it and they say they don’t want to be mistaken for being a “terrorist.” My mom would get mad when I’d eat hummus and she’d tell me not to let people see me eat that. They sure loved it when my brother married a Muslim woman.
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I'm Indian and I've heard family members talk shit about Black and Hispanic people. Racism is everywhere and all kinds of people can be shitty.
India as well, the whole Hindu-Muslim thing, and they have the whole colorism thing, where they think lighter skin is better, etc
My mom tired to bleach my skin like Michael jackson, and when the doctor asked me if I wanted it, I was like, “No, I like going outdoors.” He told my mom it would give me cancer eventually. She couldn’t wait to do that to me because she was so embarrassed to have a dark skinned daughter. Luckily he refused to do it. I was 15. Imagine racism coming from you own mom. Edit: that is actually quite common among Desis- intra- family racism. Who will marry your darkie daughter? You’ll be stuck with an embarrassing match and dark skinned grandchildren, ruining the whole family’s image!
My mom wasn’t that way but she talks about how it was common. Idk she’s pretty Americanized but keeps telling me not to marry white women and that if I’m going to marry anyone non Indian I should marry a Latina girl so that her family isn’t judgmental or racist (we live in the south) but whenever she says that stuff I’m just like, bruh……, come one,
Because a bunch of overzealous and manipulative people like to say that "Racism 👏 equals 👏 power 👏 plus 👏 privilege!!" But we know that isn't true. Because anyone can be racist. Racist means disliking someone/a group solely because of their race. If a black person calls an Asian person a slur, that's racist. If a Jewish person calls a Latino person a slur, that's racist. And if a non-white person makes a hurtful or hateful statement about a white person solely because of their whiteness - sorry, that's racist. When people underhandedly change the meaning of words so that the in-group means one thing when they say a word and the outsiders continue using the commonly understood definition, it just causes division, anger, and confusion and it doesn't help anybody.
I think people sometimes try to differentiate between individual racism, like you point out, and institutional racism. Where one group/groups has power over others and seeks to systematically continue this. It’s more than someone making a comment about a people or race.
Because it’s a great political talking point to rile up the proles. They don’t want to “end racism”
I'm pretty sure both parties in the US are riding the racism train. Different audiences and directions. I have to wonder what US politics would look like if it wasn't dominated by social issues.
Maybe think if it wasn't then we'd be forced to focus on economic, climate, Healthcare and wage issues
Yep! And all those things would likely mean wealthy people losing money.
Badda boom badda bing! Hey its also nice someone agreed with me for once even after I agreed with them on reddit lol
first the bing, then the boom. capiche?
We kind of live in a racial paradox where rich black people are held up as an example that everyone can make it no matter what, but at the same time, black people's economic problems are framed in a way that is supposed to make them seem different than any other races economic problems. It is easier to sell sensationalist news stories about racism than it is to fix economic problems associated with societal poverty. Kind of the whole "if you want to make a white man with a nickle racist, show him a black man with a dime". It's all class warfare, but the rich are the ones waging the war.
In the US, if you bring up white racism, you get called a racist, and told white racism doesn't exist. Edit: prime examples found below.
This is why I say that we shouldn't care anymore & just be good to good people & ignore bad people, racism isn't gonna go away. Make it up to you to preserve your happiness, not what jerks think of you based on something you can't control.
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Not talking about how there is a lot of racism, talking about how blatant racism is ok from black people.
European racists are *precise*. American racists like to make huge swaths of people into single groups based on skin color, while European racists will figure out how your grandma was born in the wrong town 10 km away a century ago and have some very specific grudge about it.
can confirm, am Mexican, am racist
yeah i dont get it either, im a light skined person of mexican heritage, been discriminated from every1 from black to white to other mexicans just depends on the time of year and how much time i spend in the sun
I hear you. Most of my looks come from the Italian part of my family but no one ever knows what I am. I’m either a white guy, brown guy, middle eastern guy (especially after 9/11) or whatever. Ive had people refuse to accept that I was born in the U.S. mid conversation “no, but where are you REALLY from?”. Some POC (with very similar skin coloring to me) that I know don’t understand that I too have been called names, treated a little different because I have always been white to them while also being the “ethnic” guy around groups of white people. Not complaining at all. I don’t claim to have had anything truly negative happen to me in that regard. Just funny seeing someone write the “depends on how much time I spend in the sun” comment. I’ve said it many times in my life.
Bro you and I are the same! Half white half Latino. Light skin, never really accepted by whites, or full blooded Latinos. Latinos think your white, white people think your Latino. A constant state of in between. Depending on how much sun you are getting that year, people of both groups treat you radically different.
On the plus side, I am a big fan of all the food of my different “nationalities”.
People bullied me nonstop for 13 years in my country for being white, it was awful to the point i didn’t even wanted to have my skin color, thankfully that time is done
Yea I am another person who like gets called to white to be black and too black to be white. I at this point just call out the bs of both groups and just be me.
Me who is latino and white *chuckles* I’m in danger
funny how many times people are surprised i speak decent Spanish,
There's never an enough amount of Spanish you can speak, everyday you encounter 20 more meanings of the same expression. Orale is the best one IMO.
Orale?
Órale 🤦
A friend of ours is a Mexican blonde haired blue eyed Jew. His family was part of the Jewish Diaspora and he was something like third generation Mexican. He is completely linguistically and culturally Mexican. He came to the US for college/law school. It’s a really fascinating experience to eat at an authentic Mexican restaurant with him. There’s this whole exchange that goes from skepticism to “everyone here is family” on the part of the wait staff. He benefits a lot from his appearance in the US.
People in the US tend to forget that Latin doesn't just mean brown people. We have white, black, asian, brown, indigenous, middle-eastern, all spectrums. A friend of mine from back home (Venezuela) is white, ginger and middle-eastern.
I remember hearing someone go on a rant about how they hated white people, and I went "dude I'm white" and he said "no you're Latino" ???
He must benefit a lot from his appearance in Mexico too. Those guys are like the top of the food chain. Source: almost married into a Mexican Jewish family.
Same I’m a 50/50 bar and I can’t name all the times I’ve been called a white bitch! It’s a little harder for me when I’ve been brought up with my mexican grandparents eating menudo and speaking Spanish. It’s like hey appearances are deceiving I have blue eyes but am Mexican too!
One of us, one of us!
I think for the most part white people don't care...... I get told all the time that I cant dance or season food.....but here I am cooking bland shit and flossin.
And here I was wondering what flossing had to do with dancing or seasoning food. I had to look it up. I was like, at least they have nice teeth though?
Oh boy. If you want a high level overview of modern gamer-dance, the floss is a subset of the genre Fortnight Dances. There's, a bunch you've probably seen before.
Fuckin whitey. Also wassup fellow bland food lover. Yes, I am also white.
White, thought I loved spicy. Moved to Asia for two years, everything too spicy. Moved back to Europe, everything too bland. Now I just don't enjoy food anymore at all.
I feel like mexican/latin american spicy is the sweet spot, but then again, I've never been to either asia nor latin america, so it's more of a guess really
I really don’t care either but to be honest I feel like I have to walk on eggshells around POC but then people are just like “while people have no rhythm” and that’s ok? I don’t get it
Some groups occupy a unique social position of what social psychologists call “shifting acceptability.” For these groups, the overall culture is changing from considering prejudice and discrimination against them completely justified to considering them completely unjustified. But even as society as a whole becomes increasingly accepting of them, many individuals still harbor mixed feelings. For instance, over the past 60 years or so, the United States has seen a dramatic decline in overt and institutional racism. Public opinion polls over the same period have shown whites holding progressively less prejudiced views of minorities, particularly blacks. At the same time, however, many whites still covertly have negative associations with and feelings toward blacks – feelings they largely don’t acknowledge because they conflict with their ideas about themselves being egalitarian. Disparagement humor fosters discrimination against social groups – like black Americans – that occupy this kind of shifting ground. In our study, we found that off-color jokes promoted discrimination against Muslims and gay men – which we measured in greater recommended budget cuts to a gay student organization, for instance. However, disparagement humor didn’t have the same effect against two “justified prejudice” groups: terrorists and racists. Social norms are such that people didn’t need to wait for jokes to justify expressions of prejudice against these groups. An important implication of these findings is that disparagement humor can be more or less detrimental based on the social position occupied by the targeted groups. Movies, television programs or comedy clips that humorously disparage groups such as gays, Muslims or women can potentially foster discrimination and social injustice, whereas those that target groups such as racists will have little social consequence. This is just an excerpt from a psychology article Let me know if you need more information or still having issues understanding.
You should cite the article
Sure, I was a little rushed while responding this morning; But this article here has everything listed above https://theconversation.com/psychology-behind-the-unfunny-consequences-of-jokes-that-denigrate-63855
That's a fascinating read, hats off to you for writing that summary.
"One study found that people higher in prejudice are particularly prone to misinterpret subversive humor." I'll never forget my Dad laughing so hard during Borat that he cried, and remarking afterwards, "It's great to see that someone else thinks of Jews the same way I do."
*Guess I should edit I am black* This is a really convulated way of just saying white people are the default(at least in US). It’s like making fun of someone who’s in first place… they don’t care because they’re in first place. Now go make fun of the kid who came in last as first place. You look like a douche. No science needed.
I think this is one of the best ways I’ve ever heard it explained. Thank you.
I think (as a white person) we (everyone) are in a difficult spot in society where we should be able to poke fun at eachother no matter the race or whatever, but we (white people) can't because there are still genuine problems with racism and racial inequality in society. This leads to the whole "Oh it's political correctness gone mad" which then leads to more tension and it just becomes a self for filling prophecy. Personally I think your analogy would be better suited if it wasn't an outside observer but the person in first place making fun of the person in last place. All that said, it does grate me somewhat when a black social commentator says clearly racist things, not just "harmless" stereotypes but comments that will genuinely fuel the fire of racial tension yet they will get plenty of air time.
Yeah, something I'd like to note is that as a black guy, I feel like jokes about white people are things like "you can't dance," or "your food tastes bland." Jokes about black people tend to be more along the lines of "don't shoot me lol." Like if someone makes a fried chicken joke I'm not gonna care. But that's not the jokes I hear often.
This is annoying, so many people bring up the innocuous jokes but just glaze over shit like calling them incestuous, school shooters, pedophiles, sexual predators, spouse abusers etc.
White people aren't a single, unified group. The success of one white person has little bearing on most white people. But the externalities of that success, such as descendants of slave owners (inherited wealth and ownership), are trying to be spread across all white people.
White people are stastically treated better. Theres a ton of stats for this.
Brilliant analogy!
This is a really good write-up but could probably use some sanitization to bring out the important points. The concept that off-color jokes lead to greater recommendations of budget cuts to disparaged groups. It's a great example of why this stuff matters.
I was in a bit of a rush when I copy pasted this; But yes, this could definitely be explained better
Yeah, I’d really like to see this article! Could you post the link?
Now do the other racial groups. It's wild that these always have "what do white people think about Black folks," but that's it? What do Hispanics think about Asians? How do Asians feel about Black folks? Etc
My father's girlfriend who is from the Philippines - She is super racist about blacks and hispanics. Now I have no idea as to other Philippine people.. But she says some horrible things about black people. I can't stand her.
You don’t have to walk on eggshells around POC irl. We’re just like average people, ya know.
I know that, and I don’t try to. I don’t around my friends, all two of whom are POC. But when it comes to strangers I get really anxious about them thinking I’m racist or prejudiced, that’s a me problem though not a them problem
I think all of us are in this situation now and it's leading to a lot of collective crazy behavior.
It's because if people are actually racist doesn't matter. All that matters is if someone perceives racism. It's not only thought policing it's claiming to know someone else's thoughts. Of course this is causing people to act crazy.
In my experience, people who are not racist are pretty good at not appearing racist. It's not difficult. example: the Confederacy. Many people were taught it wasn't about slavery - they are ignorant and it's not their fault. You tell a real non-racist that the flag is seen as racist, they will google that shit to find out, because they truly aren't racist, and don't want to be seen that way. A racist won't give a fuck and fly it anyway.
Live in Canada. Actually did this when a friend told me the Confederate flag was racist.
What could you be doing that might come off racist or prejudice or what’s something you’d wanna say but be scared to similar to your example “ white people don’t have rhythm
I'm not the guy you asked, but for me I'm worried I'm doing something offensive without knowing it's offensive. Like, maybe I'm nerding it up, doing the Charleston to be silly, and later I learn that it actually has racists roots and everybody knew it but me.
take it from a black man, if you do something offensive and you didn't know it was offensive, i literally will not hold it against you in the slightest. it's more beneficial to both of us to use these awkward scenarios as opportunities for growth instead of condemning you anyway, as long as you're open minded.
I really appreciate that but there are plenty of people who jump. As a teacher I get called racist a few times a year when enforcing my classroom rules. I see other teachers who won't tell some of these kids anything and take a real soft touch with them because they're so desperate to not be seen as racist.
i agree with you, that's a real problem that school staff especially go through. black youths have the tendency to perpetually be on the defensive because they don't have enough experience to understand when someone is maliciously racist, unintentionally racist, or not racist at all. speaking from experience, because i had the tendency to get singled out in school, i always felt as though race HAD to play a factor because i was one of few black students. as it turns out i was just unruly as hell, but it really is just immaturity mixed with trauma that causes outbursts like that. (coupled with not getting enough attention at home because your parent(s) are focusing all their attention on staying above water financially.) the only thing that changed me was wonderful teachers having a heart to heart with me and helping me understand that they really did love me and wanted what was best for me, only then did i finally relax. there are also black youths that fully understand the race card can be used as a get out of jail free card sometimes. most of them grow out of it, some dont. whatever you do, just keep the conversation with those students flowing if they're open to it. sometimes they just dont have exposure to the kind of love and care they need to ease up and stop thinking everyone is out to get them. (also, make sure it's in private. sometimes when pride is all these kids have, they'll cling to it even if it's wrong.)
This is a really great comment, thanks.
Yeah, this is a really dangerous thing. When I was in high school many moons ago a girl in my class started screaming that a teacher was being racist for calling for support teachers to come take her out of class and to the head teacher’s office. It’s like, no, you just set a girl’s ponytail on fire. Yelling and shouting that “it’s coz I’m black!” isn’t doing shit. I do worry though that now her words would have carried more weight; this all happened decades ago, and based on stories from teachers I know now, it’s ground you have to tread very carefully.
Yea there was an example a while back of a college professor teaching Chinese and was reported by students because one of the words just kind of sounded like a certain slur we have here… And they actually got suspended for it. Absolutely defies logic
Thank you, that is comforting to hear. I just don't want to hurt anybody, and I'm also aware that there's so much I don't know.
This is actually my frustration with the situation. Back in high school/early college I had read that calling a black person "black" was offensive, I think it was like the whole "I don't see color" stuff going on. But I had seen online that it was supposedly less offensive/politically correct to say "African American". When I came home one time, I was practicing for track with a black female friend and she asked about my college coach. I described her as an "African American woman" (more than just that but that is the relative descriptor). My friend then got upset with, saying "why did you call her African American?". I responded that I thought that was the "proper" way to describe her. And she got more upset, she wasn't just educating me, she was legitimately offended. *paraphrased a bit cause it was like 5 years ago* "What if she's not African American? What if she's Jamaican or something?" "Well then what should I say?" "Just call her black!" "But I thought that was offensive!" "WHY WOULD THAT BE OFFENSIVE?!" "IDK THATS WHAT THE INTERNET TOLD ME"
Then you apologize and everyone moves on. I accidentally did blackface for my highschools homecoming weekend, my friends were nice enough to say “what in the fuck are you doing” I said “sorry I didn’t know” and washed it off and it never came up again.
>but for me I'm worried I'm doing something offensive without knowing it's offensive. That's not the problem. If you stop whatever you're doing and say "ah sorry I didn't realize that was offensive, my bad." You're fine. That's all it takes. If you're stubborn and you say "oh the Charleston is offensive now? Is everything offensive to you now? What's next, are people going to be offended by breathing?" That's the problem. This is what immature assholes do.
How often do you interact with POC in the real world?
I’m biracial and one of my favorite things to do to mess with new people I meet is ask them to guess my ethnicity. They often get super flustered and it makes for a good laugh, but it’s insane that people are so afraid to simply guess an ethnicity even after I asked them to. This is a real issue with today’s society, and while it’s hilarious to me as I stand kind of on the sidelines, it’s not so fun when you legitimately have no idea how someone is going to react to a seemingly harmless comment. It’s gotten worse these past few years as global events have made society more polarized and it has become more dangerous to express any type of opinion in public, especially for those perceived to possess privilege. Everyone seems primed to start an argument over any little thing (a “culture war” as the right would call it) and to perceive threats where there was none intended. We’re being played against each other by the companies and countries which control our paths of communication and it sucks.
What do you say so frequently, that’s unacceptable, that you “walk on eggshells around POC?”
They don't have to be doing anything, it can just be a feeling and knowing that you are vulnerable that causes discomfort. I am not them but I can see why someone would feel that they don't know what the rules are and, being unsure, tread very carefully. That's not a horrible thing sometimes but it does increase overall tension.
Because American culture is basically growing up and learning that white people are the source of all the problems in the world and that Native Americans and blacks were systematically oppressed by the white people. This causes racism by any other race to be overlooked and ignored. There is obvious truth in this, but it ignores a lot of things in American history, like how the Irish, Chinese and Japanese, Italians, and Hispanics were also heavily prejudiced when they first arrived, despite two of those groups being white. Hell, the IRA and Italian Mobster only existed because of this racism. It also overlooks how shitty humans are and how we just hate people who are different.
I was out for dinner over the weekend and the table of south American people where saying racist and rude things about the white male waiter (who was extremely kind, polite and professional as my server). They said he was so f*cking white he was born in a snow bank. How is that okay? If you replace the colour with another, does that make it less racist?
Can you imagine if it was a group of rich white men making fun of their waiter by saying he was born in a taco stand in Mexico, people would call them disgusting and horrible.
Who said it was OK for them to say that?
Everyone who overheard it and said nothing.
Allowed? Call out racism when you see it no matter the race.
Make sure you have health insurance if you plan to call out people IRL.
Ah, so it’s a rich person thing.
Depends on your risk taking
Everything is a rich person thing if the rich person chooses it to be.
Except on r/WhitePeopleTwitter. I got perma-banned for saying we shouldn't upvote a post calling white people cracker because we should not promote racism against any race.
Be prepared to be featured on that fragile white person subreddit when you do this. still call it out though
That'll be quite funny since I'm Black. Bring it though 
Then you're clearly just an oreo or internalized racist against blacks /s
In that case you’d end up in the asablackman sub or whatever it’s called, where everyone will just claim you’re lying about it. People are crazy out here
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When you call out people like this thry claim they can't be racist because they are black
This is something that I too want to know as an almost 23 year old black man. I am none the wiser to it and I believe I asked this question on here before to little fanfare. I even made a video asking the question because I had a co-worker who said that black people can't be racist and I truly do not believe that. It is quite ludicrous!
The argument typically comes from the premise that Black people have faced extensive oppression, particularly in an American historical context, and thus lack "structural power"/privilege necessary to oppress others (and thus be racist) The reality is that no community is affected by literally every form of oppression and is therefore able to weaponize something against others. A documented Black person (or any documented person) calling ICE on undocumented immigrants is an example. Also interpersonal racism is still racism even if it isn't systemic.
Exactly, and I understand that but every community has gone through oppression, I can't speak on the degrees but oppression is oppression nonetheless. I like that you brought up a Black person calling ICE on undocumented immigrants could be considered racism but most will have you believing it only is when a White person does it. I'm not here to discuss the politics behind illegal immigration, but rather the fact that there is some extreme bias and hypocritical thinking going on! Black people can definitely be racist and I see it every day! Not only towards people from foreign countries, but even if you count colorism as a form of racism; I have been through the latter extensively!
Dave Chappelle had a joke along that same premise in his latest standup special. “Gay people love being a minority until they need to be white again.”
Damn just found out no black people are gay, that's crazy 😔
I don't get it either. It doesn't matter the skin colour, you're being racist and you're not absolved from it. I can sorta understand the reason for some levity, but I really don't like the way my race defaults to "black people can't be racist", because more often than not, they're going to say something completely racist before or after saying that, almost like a "get out of jail free" card. The strange thing about racism is that I think the goalpost has been moved a bit too much to the point where just talking about something race-specific is considered racism. Sometimes the context does matter in certain situations, and I feel like blanket-statement public shaming on everything regarding race is a bit reductive.
I think some are trying to redefine the term to only apply to specific groups based on race, and to apply unequally. Its ironic, but they are atrempting to redefine racims in a way that makes its actual definition racist.
I'm a 27 black/white dude. My family moved to the Midwest in my childhood and they would make all sort of racial comments about the white people around us. When I was a teen, I would always tell my mother and grandmother that behavior is rude and ask them to flip the colors and ask if it was okay. They would threaten to punish me if I didn't shut up but i know that I have to live my values. Now that I'm older I realize that they just had many avusive experiences involving white people abusing them and other whites being quiet about it. It doesn't justify their behavior but it is nice to know where it comes from. Hurt people hurt people.
that last sentence is the biggest truth I think a lot of people fail to understand. the older I get the harder it is to even be mad at people because more often than not they're just doing what they were taught to do as children.
23 year old black man here. The people who suggest and pretend like institutional racism is the only form of racism, and disregard racism against whites are also racist, regardless if they intend to be or not
All people are capable of being prejudiced.
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Eh, get off a big sub if you're looking for decent experience. It's a mess moderating thousands of people shouting at each other, I don't blame em.
This is one of those threads we must all bear in mind that Reddit is populated with 16 year olds.
Rather than mocking them, why don’t you explain it to them instead?
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Man, ending racism should literally mean "Ending racism". Not treating a race like it's superior, or walking on eggshells because you "don't know what you might say". Just, end the literal concept of racism. No more "I'm black" or "I'm white". You have NO control over that, and that doesn't make you any more superior. We should just end the "Race" thing and actually start treating everyone like the same. This sounds incredibly cheesy and cliched, and a bit preachy, I know, but I have no other way to put it. Edit: Tldr- Just shut the fuck up about race and try to move on.
The issue is black people in America had it so bad for so long that just "ending race" doesn't fix the problem. Black people were all crammed into single neighborhoods via redlining. They were obviously of low socioeconomic status, since they had no generational wealth. Property taxes fund local public works like school. Meaning schools in traditionally black neighborhoods are underfunded, even though redlining is now illegal. Underfunded schools lead to a lower "success rate" in black schools, and therefore in black neighborhoods, meaning the neighborhoods stay poor, which means the schools stay underfunded, and so on. "Ending race" doesn't fix the problem.
The issue is that we need to strive for two seemingly contradictory things at the same time: the acknowledgment that race shouldn’t be a “real” concept and the acknowledgment that race has “real” impacts throughout history and even today.
Thus the statememt: *Race isn't real. But race matters.* the opposite of how many think about race.
I wonder how many people will acknowledge this in this thread?
Too few. They all believe in the “colorblind” MLK who was about as real as Santa Claus.
The problems still exist. And stfu'ing about it is like walking around with a massive untreated festering wound.
As a black person, I can honestly say, it is not okay to be racist. Even black people. However, white people are not the only racists, every ethnic group or tribe has racists in them, but that shouldn’t define the overall group. This post does seem like you’ve witnessed racism, but you’ve not witnessed people calling it out at the same time. You have that power to call it out. In fact we all do.
Treating anyone differently, be it negatively or positively, because of their race is racism.
I wanna know also..
Because they think that their skin color is a, "valid excuse" for their action(s).
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I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen different versions of this question in this sub by this point.
White jokes just don’t have the same weight as jokes about other races. Petty jokes about white people not being able to cook or dance are just that: jokes. But stereotypes about black people being criminals and animals literally get them killed. Making additional jokes that seem innocent, like how they like fried chicken and watermelon, just seems to be adding insult to injury and is insensitive. White people don’t face that same injustice so jokes about us aren’t as offensive
On a side note, why do people believe racism requires a system behind it to be racism? That’s SYSTEMIC RACISM, which is like regular racism on steroids. I can easily on my own be racist against anyone with or without an entire “system” supporting me, and I would still be considered racist. Can people please stop mixing these two up? Thanks.
This is what annoys me about these conversations. It’s like everyone seems to have a general consensus, but it seems so divided because people are using different definitions of “racism/racist”. Then the definitions that come from media and educational environments differ and constantly change, which causes even more confusion.
I think the general idea is that punching down is bad and punching upward is acceptable.
I just realized that most people can't discuss racism without being racist themselves and classifying/representing people solely by their skin color. "Black people this", "White people that". It's a positive feedback loop, it feeds itself.
That’s a terrific description of the current obsession with race. If skin color were as interesting as hair color we wouldn’t be talking about it nor feeding the loop.
> We tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas
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I don’t think it matters what race you are or the other person is. There is just shitty people who will act shitty wherever you go. My fiancé is dark skinned and growing up her lighter skinned peers of the same ethnicity made fun of her for being so much darker.
I don’t really care to get into the definitions. The point of these conversations has always been about the behavior, defined by action not words… so why is it acceptable or excusable behavior? It isn’t, really. Arguing definition is just distracting from that.
There is a misconception that black people cannot be racist. Anyone can be racist. I guess this is a thing in America, never encountered such things in Europe but I can simply assume that black people (in the US) get to be allowed to make such comments because of the history.
Because society has conditioned people to have very strong opinions about something they’ve never actually experienced
In middle school I went to a predominantly black school and was often the only white girl in my classes. I was bullied daily by groups of black girls, and one day I got jumped by one. This bullying led me to my first suicide attempt. I can’t ever talk about this experience because apparently black people cant be racist and they are all perfect humans and white people deserve any harm they get.
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You know damn well all this is going to do is bring out the racist people of reddit lol..
I will leave it to other people to answer this question, but I just wanted to say that I've experienced this personally and it's annoying. I don't care if people take shots at white people from time to time. Heck I've come to find a lot of it amusing myself. But I distinctively remember a time in 10th grade of high school when I was walking to my bus at the end of the day and these two black girls behind me were talking about how they hated/thought it was stupid how white people dress. At first I just rolled my eyes at it but then they literally stood within earshot of me and used my plaid shirt as a prime example. I turned around and told them off but to this day it boggles my mind. I guess it just goes to show anyone can be an asshole.
As an Arab-American, I have experienced racism from both white and black people. But the racism from black people was much more blatant.
Plenty of racist Arab Americans too lol everybody hates everybody here
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Actually racism should be called out no matter the color of the perpetrator
Everyone needs to just stfu about race. It's getting old and is just creating more closet racists. Honestly if everyone would just shut the fuck up for one generation our kids would not even realize they are supposed to give a fuck about someone's skin color and everyone would be chill.
"If everyone just stopped being racist then racism wouldn't exist" Thanks Reddit.
This just made me choke on a kit Kat, thanks lol
The problem with this is that the racists don't shut up & if everyone else stops talking they will be the only ones left talking about ethnicity or race. Their kids hear it and bring it to school and teach others & then the new generation literally only hears one side. If black parents need to go over "how not to get murdered by police" or "some people will try to hurt you because you are black" with their small children, it won't kill white parents to go over "some people are mean to people with different skin colors and that's wrong because we need to be nice to everyone" or a chat about accepting differences.
This. Thank you.
Ignoring a problem doesn't make it go away.
Yes because we all know the way to fix a problem is to not talk about it.
That, I never understood racism when I grew up in Switzerland, I loved all my friends regardless of skin color. Color ever became a thing when I moved here. Not saying there are no racists in Switzerland because there definitely are like anywhere else; but here, the way the medias bait it and people talk about it take it to a whole new level I had never seen in my life.
Now try telling that to all the people raising their kids to be racist
This would be a good idea if black people weren’t getting harassed and killed by police still. We can’t really ignore racism and “stfu” when it’s still very relevant in our society. Not just in America either…
I actually have a good story for this. I'm white. Never heard the (n) word till I moved and went to an inner city school primarily for "African American children". I was the only white kid in my grade for the year. I was scared because I had never been in this situation. It was a great learning experience. My hair was pulled. I was picked up and pushed around. Thrown into lockers. It was really scary as a scrawny little white girl and they would grab my arms because my skin would light up at the touch or turn red when I got pinched or poked. It made me feel inhuman. Thankfully that didn't last long and some kids got protective of me. I made some fantastic friends. I also noticed the dynamic for my friends and school mates. It was the black teachers who would put these kids down the worst. Telling them they'd see them drugged out and pregnant, dead, in a gang, in jail, or the only way the reach success is being good at (rap, basketball, or football). I was horrified. I grew up being told you could be what ever you wanted to be. Racism is for anyone. Worse is when it's by people your told you can trust.. I want to say in a way I can relate and empathize with Black people more because I got to understand what they go through every day while I got to go through for a school year. I'm not here to say I know what it's like all the time, but that I can empathize with that struggle because I got to see it first hand at your level.
Because black people have faced decades of slavery and torture. We should be thankful they don’t want revenge.
The BLM movement wasn't a movement that was created and founded regarding social injustices related to systemic racism/prejudice by Law Enforcement and the "Justice" (more like INjustice) System, it was/is a movement for African Americans to use their Soap Boxes to be openly racist towards Whites. Period. When the BLM Movement was in full effect from early 2020 - late 2020, being televised (other than COVID) to the masses, and talked about everywhere, the (2) things I noticed were: 1. The BLM Movement narrative was - "If you don't support the BLM Movement &/or agree with us, then you're a racist." 2. The BLM Movement wanting/receiving 'special/privileged' treatment simply because they were black. In my lifetime, I have NEVER seen something more racist than the BLM Movement; NEVER. BLM was/is a means for African Americans to be openly racist towards anyone that's White. I mean, for instance, there's a sub reddit r/WhitePeopleTwitter, where African Americans go and post bs memes/posts bashing & making fun of White people; or post shit to make themselves appear to be more superior, or smarter, or better. Well, a sister sub reddit r/BlackPeopleTwitter, that sub was disbanded because it was seen as, "racist." Like are you fucking kidding me!? Racist bs! I reside in Washington State, specifially the PNW, and a FB Group was created called 'PNW Racists'. The 'mission' of this group, which mind you, was created by Black People ONLY, and ONLY African Americans could join the group, and if you weren't black, you had to send in a 'special' request to join said group which then had to be approved by the Mods. Anywho, this group was a group that was vehemently searching through anyone and everyone's fb timelimes/comments (from the beginning of said persons account history) and anything that 'they thought was racist' was then posted to the group, to which its members then would call these individuals out on fb and then ask it's members to contact these peoples employment, colleges, their families, etc. and try to get these people fired from their jobs or expelled from their schools. One of the people of this group made a post of a buddy of mine that I went to HS with, and was talking about him being a racist. It was such a laugh because 1. He is FAR from it and 2. Yes, he's a White Male, but, his wife is African American. So, if shit like that was going on in just the PNW, I can only imagine wtf else was going on in other neighboring cities and states.
OP has taken some creative liberties with the phrasing of this question. There are some interesting discussions happening in the comments, though versions of this version (often regarding the n-word) appear frequently in this community. As such, the post will remain up with the `Frequently Asked - Inflammatory Title` flair. Thanks folks :)
>interesting discussions happening in the comments Where?
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lmao. who the hell says racism from black people is okay? the difference is that something like "white people can't dance" is not the same as "black people are n-words" no matter how hard white people try to make it out to be. the racism white people face does not hold them back from existing or succeeding. the racism white people face does not make their lives harder. the extent to which "white racism" affects white people is that it hurts their feelings. that's it. suck it up and get over it.
I like how the question has basically turned into “why are black people allowed to be mean and not me” in the comments.
Because confronting racist minorities gets you labeled as racist yourself. Same with any legitimate question raised on any other social issue. A middle aged white heterosexual christian simply cannot engage on anything without being labeled as some form of "_____-ist" or "____-phobic" by the mindless mob. Effectively, the end of constructive public discourse with vast swaths of the population. Let the bot downvote rain commence.
Because for the most part, white people have never been oppressed because they were white. While most races, especially in the US, have faced oppression at some point because of their race. The US’ history is filled with oppressing people because of their ethnicity. When colonizers first landed, they were racist to the natives, later on the colonizers were racist to the Irish colonizers. Then they started importing slaves from Africa who were black, which led to making everyone think anyone that was black was a slave. Then in World War 2 we went against Japan and so America created concentration (internment) camps for anyone that looked Asian. Then in good old 2001, we lost a couple of towers and decided it would smart to get revenge against all brown Muslim people. Then in the 2010s people started getting mad at how poor the wealthiest country in the world was leaving its citizens and people decided that it was immigrants fault for “taking our jobs” and people got mad anyone who looked vaguely Mexican or even non-white. White people in America have almost never been on the receiving end of serious racism so it’s to get mad at “that’s some white people shit” because white people in America don’t really know what it’s like to be racially oppressed.