Racism!

[Shiny Grimer]

Time to start this up again!

So, how do you feel about racism? Do you think it's 'over' or is it still alive and strong? How strongly would you rate any prejudiced tendencies/thoughts you might have? Have you ever experienced racism or prejudice because of race/ethnicity?

Personal experience: My mom told me this since apparently I was too young to remember, or hadn't noticed: I was once at a McDonalds. I was speaking with this kid. My mom called me over, and spoke to her (in Spanish). The kid made this face and said "Spanish?!" and went to his dad. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, your first language tells you all you needed to know about your personal character!

I look pretty "white" and I live in an area full of Hispanic people, so I can't say I've experienced any to-my-face racism. I get quite angry witnessing racist acts or hearing people say racist things, even if they don't think it's racist. Ugh.

 

[nothing to see here]

I'd say racism is definitely still around... it just isn't quite as "out in the open" as it used to be. You still have the occasional violence or big discrimination lawsuits that you hear about in the news, but most people know that racism isn't tolerated as much as it used to be, and they'll usually try to keep it quiet unless they're sure that everyone else around them is just as racist as they are (or if they're drunk or think they can get away with it--I've see a lot of racial stuff in bathroom stall graffiti around here.) Not sure about other parts of the world, but that's about the way it seems where I live.

I don't really care much about race myself... I've had white, black, Arab, Japanese, Indian, Native American, and Latino friends/teachers/etc. in the past, and what race any of them belonged to never really made much of a difference except occasionally generating something interesting to talk about (one Native American guy knew some old stories that his family passed down to him, the two Arab girls had seen parts of the world I've never really even thought much about, and so on.)

I figure if I'm going to hate someone, it's going to be because of who they are, not what language they speak or what skin color/hair color/eye color/random-string-of-DNA-that's-different-than-mine they have.

 

[ultraviolet]

Racism is still pretty strong in Australia, particularly between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

 

[J.T.]

Still alive; a friend of mine (black) said she once asked a person to move so she could get to the back of the bus, and was told she "belonged there anyway".

Luckily, there's a lot racist people around, and they're less vocal.

 

[see ya]

My family was pretty much disowned by both of my sets of grandparents, people that I had trusted and loved, because my dad has a black girlfriend. Racism is definitely, definitely not dead. It's fun to see your kindly, almost stereotypical grandma start frothing at the mouth.

So yeah, fuck racism. And fuck the Southern United States.

 

[Storm Earth and Fire]

My family was pretty much disowned by both of my sets of grandparents, people that I had trusted and loved, because my dad has a black girlfriend.

My dad's family would do the same thing. They'd also shun us if it turned out we were gay, but that's a different discussion.

Not because we're Southerners, though. First-generation Chinese immigrants typically don't trust black people.

Interestingly enough, my dad calls them negros sometimes, but the way he pronounces it makes me think he derived it from Spanish.

Racism is just one of those unavoidable parts of living in a multiracial community not long after legal racism was abolished. I don't like it, but I think it is fading, slowly but surely.

I grew up in a white neighborhood, but also never experienced any to-my-face racism. And now I'm going to a uni that's almost entirely whites and Asians, so being racist here is a bit silly.

Just about any prejudice I draw is purely in jest, as I tend to make racist jokes a lot.

I also stereotype the contrasts between mainlanders and Taiwanese all the time, and sometimes between Northern and Southern Chinese. Sometimes I think we might as well be considered different ethnic groups.

 

[Aobaru]

So yeah, fuck racism. And fuck the Southern United States.

I live in South Carolina!~

My first cousin (female) is dating a black guy. So when my family gets together for Thanksgiving or another holiday, she's not allowed to bring him. My grandpa said "he wouldn't let him darken his house", and he would shoot him if he set foot on the property.

But, yeah, too many racists here to count. I need to get the hell out of here.

 

[Adriane]

It is quite bad here. Wasn't the capitol building still flying the Confederate flag on top until Spurrier got involved?

At any rate, there are too many people who can't give up the past, and these peoples' children are taking it to heart. The "Heritage, not hate" bit is a load of you-know-what.

 

[see ya]

The "Heritage, not hate" bit is a load of you-know-what.

Oh God I am so sick of that bullshit. You know what their precious fucking "heritage" is? Poor white folks fighting a war so the aristocratic upper-class could have the right to treat humans like cattle under some stupid "state's rights" excuse. Some asshole at my work tries to pull this on me to try to justify why he has a Confederate flag stuck on his truck. Ugh...

 

[Valerunner]

It's been dead for years.

The only racism I get is the "British Rivalry" type. Like how this new girl often gets called out for being English, or how the "AZNZ (Middle Eastern)" call out the Far-Eastern Asians and stuff.

It's mostly banter, and the new girl's quite popular with everyone. It's just that culture where we're supposed to hate the English for no apparent reason.

 

[goldenquagsire]

eh, London seems pretty unracist. generally the only people who are open about their unsavoury views are the BNP and some crusty old folks who no-one listens to.

I kinda like it. you can just walk down the street and see at least three or four different races. you get on a bus and hear Polish, French, Urdu, loads of stuff. and it's not just simply multiculturism - there genuinely seems to be a move towards social inclusion. in the City, you'll see people of all kinds wearing the same suits, going to work together. also, inter-racial marriage is basically a non-issue. sure, there's still much that can be done, but it's nice to see that we're making progress.

it's a shame that the situation in the capital isn't representative of the country as a whole. ):

 

[Minish]

I think it's not as much of an issue here in the UK. Mainly because lots of people here don't give a crap about anything much though, mind. Seriously. On the street or in school people will make the occasional racist, sexist or homophobic remark but don't actually care all that much. Not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing...

Anyway, my county is apparently the less ethnically diverse one in the entire country (around 98% are white), and I barely even see anybody of a different race. There are maybe around ten non-white people in my school, out of about 1700 or something? And still nobody's really that racist. I would think if they're not around people of a different race they'd be worse, but not really. The most we get is people sort of mini double-taking whenever they have to talk face-to-face with a black person. I do that too, I'm so unused to seeing a dark face that I'm a little... I wouldn't say wary, but like, sort of jittery in an effort not to be racist. I know it sounds dumb and might even sound racist, but hey. I'm not.

It's like smoking. Used to be cool but now people know even popular, accepted kids at school will think they're dumb if they're racist (I know I've just been talking about in school, but whatever, like I said this county has hardly anyone of other races).

Now, if we're talking about the Polish... since we've basically been told we have to hate people 'coming over here for jobs all the time', if you mention the word Polish you'll probably get some idiot ranting about how British jobs are for British people and they're ruining the country and whatever, even though they'll probably never have met a Polish person and will know nothing about the situation.

 

[goldenquagsire]

I think it's not as much of an issue here in the UK. Mainly because lots of people here don't give a crap about anything much though, mind. Seriously. On the street or in school people will make the occasional racist, sexist or homophobic remark but don't actually care all that much. Not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing...

apathy and strongly-worded letters to the Guardian is the British way. it's why I love this country so much. :D

Now, if we're talking about the Polish...

fun, slightly-depressing bit of irony: my mum says that when she was doing outreach work, she discovered that first- and second-generation black immigrants from the Caribbean, who had to endure some pretty nasty abuse back in the day, are among the most violently anti-Polish groups around. ):

I do that too, I'm so unused to seeing a dark face that I'm a little... I wouldn't say wary, but like, sort of jittery in an effort not to be racist. I know it sounds dumb and might even sound racist, but hey. I'm not.

eh, that's prolly just inexperience. I think if I ever met a mixed-race Chinese/African kid, I'd be all "woah dude" simply because I've never met anyone like that before.

 

[glitchedgamer]

It's my belief that it is in our genes to hate other people. Why? Because they're competition. Obviously, things have changed a lot since our primal days, and the whole survival of the fittest thing means nothing to modern man, but I still think it affects us today.

Racism is still here today and will always be around. People will continue to hate those who are different. That's just how it is. Luckily, it is less wide spread than in the past, and any remotely intelligent person realizes racism is pointless.

If you mean national, 1960's America style racism, yeah, that's dead.

 

[Vladimir Putin's LJ]

Now, if we're talking about the Polish... since we've basically been told we have to hate people 'coming over here for jobs all the time', if you mention the word Polish you'll probably get some idiot ranting about how British jobs are for British people and they're ruining the country and whatever, even though they'll probably never have met a Polish person and will know nothing about the situation.

I'm white and non-Polish, can I come steal a job in a few years
Help me Brits

 

[Jolty]

It's mostly banter, and the new girl's quite popular with everyone. It's just that culture where we're supposed to hate the English for no apparent reason.

I KNEW IT
we don't mind you guys!!! sheep related insults aside! but those bloody Scots, don't get me started

and er I still see a bit of racism about, mostly people complaining about "bloody foreigners" everywhere but that's all I can think of

 

[Yarnchu]

It's natural for people to mock, fear, and/or hate something that's different from them. They can grow beyound that stage as children, but if they were raised to feel that way....racism spawns. What really bothers me is how "nigger" has become a slang term used by black people in my area, and probably the rest of the US. It's like they don't care about the history of the word. :(

Something regarding racism and Europe: well, in Middle School I started to read some of Agatha Christies' novels. Great books, but thats besides the point. Anyways, I was very suprised to see the various races found in some of the novels(particular the ones about Poirot) because in the era they are set in, America was really racist. Almost the opposite seems to be true in the novels, but I think there were some mentions of racism. It's been a while since I've read them.

 

[H-land]

What really bothers me is how "nigger" has become a slang term used by black people in my area, and probably the rest of the US. It's like they don't care about the history of the word. :(

I don't believe that that's a problem, that they want to use that word. That they use it in lieu of "man", "guy", and "dude" is a minor issue.
I think that the real problem is that if anybody who isn't black says the word "nigger", then they're labeled a racist. I don't believe that it's an intrinsically bad word. I think that I'm in the minority here, though, and I'm not in the mood for writing a well worded argument, so I'll just leave it at that.

 

[opaltiger]

It's my belief that it is in our genes to hate other people. Why? Because they're competition. Obviously, things have changed a lot since our primal days, and the whole survival of the fittest thing means nothing to modern man, but I still think it affects us today.

...

I hate to be rude. I really do. But.

Do you know anything about evolutionary theory? More specifically, sociobiology? The field of biology that attempts to explain social behaviour in animals, one of the most common and widespread being altruism?

There is nothing more annoying than people with only a cursory understanding of the concepts involved trying to explain things like racism in terms of evolutionary theory. I'm sorry, but please don't make statements like that unless you're immediately ready to back them up.

If you mean national, 1960's America style racism, yeah, that's dead.

America != the world.

 

[Tailsy]

but those bloody Scots, don't get me started

I HEARD THAT

In Scotland we're just like \o/ uhhhh oh right immigrants er well we don't actually have very many jobs left because we accidentally a post-industrial nation but we're busy being hated for releasing prisoners with terminal cancer sooo

I don't see very many people being racist, anyway. Maybe it's all the posters screaming WE'RE A DIVERSE NATION!!!!
Of course we're bloody diverse half the nation isn't even Scottish
We're all arsing Irish!

There's a lot of Polish kids coming into our school, now! They don't speak very much English which is a shame :( One of my friends is half-Polish and speaks it fluently so it's a huge stress on her, basically, because she's TRANSLATOR WOMAN and she's also taking four Advanced Highers so yeah.