# Racism in the 21st century



## Agile (Sep 27, 2010)

I'm Jewish, so most of the racism I see is our own self loathing


If you just laughed you are racist.


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## Tridentus (Dec 14, 2009)

as a kid.. i haven't experienced much since i'm pretty much completely anglocised. 

interestingly there seems to be more of it in australia than in england- because there are few asians in england and i hang out with white friends anyway i just blend in most of the time- wheras in australia there are loads of asians and there is something of a racial divide where asians and whites keep to themselves so white people assume you are different. but in england i guess if you are indian/pakistani you get the same thing.

it is always people who are plainly stupid who are though.


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## The King Of Dreams (Aug 18, 2010)

Oh I've DEFINITELY experienced it. I've had racial slurs yelled at me. I've also seen cultural racism among my own race. African americans being prejudiced against Haitian americans! I've talked to Puerto Ricans who dislike Dominicans! We're all humans! That's the ONLY thing I'm proud of! Black, white, asian, middle-eastern, hispanic, aussie, european, anartican, etc. They are all beautiful! Just a thought question: Do any of you date outside of your own race? I think interracial couples are a beautiful sight. Plus the kids are gorgeous!


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## Agile (Sep 27, 2010)

The King Of Dreams said:


> Oh I've DEFINITELY experienced it. I've had racial slurs yelled at me. I've also seen cultural racism among my own race. African americans being prejudiced against Haitian americans! I've talked to Puerto Ricans who dislike Dominicans! We're all humans! That's the ONLY thing I'm proud of! Black, white, asian, middle-eastern, hispanic, aussie, european, anartican, etc. They are all beautiful! Just a thought question: Do any of you date outside of your own race? I think interracial couples are a beautiful sight. Plus the kids are gorgeous!


The first question the Jewish mother will asks is, "is she jewish?". So for my background there is a higher tolerance for being with your own. Not me - I don't want to have traditions holding back my happiness. However, it will be important for the SO to respect cultural differences - except for Antarcticans - they're too hot that they can do whatever they want.


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## The King Of Dreams (Aug 18, 2010)

I'm black, so I see the beauty in other races. I think it's partially the physical contrast between us that I find attractive but also the cultural differences that I think are great. (Don't get me wrong, I think people of my own race are beautiful too. But only when they respect and dignify other races)


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## nádej (Feb 27, 2011)

My parents are white, and my biological brother and I are white. As is one of my adopted sisters. My adopted brother and my other adopted sister are both black.

We adopted my brother in 1996 when he was 5 weeks old. I was six at the time, and I remember going to the grocery store with my mom and my two brothers, and people would make rude comments to my mom - asking why she had a black baby with her, and whose he was. When she would say that he was her son, the comments got even nastier, because "why would you want to adopt a black baby?" It was awful. A few years later we had my sister too, and we were vacationing in Florida. A long story made short: we had the police called on us by a black employee of the hotel, who lied and said that my parents were beating my black brother and sister...and she made it very clear that she didn't want black kids being raised by white parents. That was also awful.

More recently, my adopted brother (who is now 14) punched a kid on his basketball team because the kid said that my brother only was on the team because he was black. The coach called my parents, and said - "honestly I'm not mad. I would have punched that kid too."

Unfortunately, racism is still alive and well. But I do believe that it's been slowly getting better.


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## Agile (Sep 27, 2010)

Being Canadian living here, it has been an adjustment that's for sure. A lot better vibe north of the border.


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## pinkrasputin (Apr 13, 2009)

The King Of Dreams said:


> Oh I've DEFINITELY experienced it. I've had racial slurs yelled at me. I've also seen cultural racism among my own race. African americans being prejudiced against Haitian americans! I've talked to Puerto Ricans who dislike Dominicans! We're all humans! That's the ONLY thing I'm proud of! Black, white, asian, middle-eastern, hispanic, aussie, european, anartican, etc. They are all beautiful! Just a thought question: Do any of you date outside of your own race? I think interracial couples are a beautiful sight. Plus the kids are gorgeous!


Lol. I never date inside my own race. It feels incestuous. Plus, I grew up being the oddball in school and in my neighborhood. So I was conditioned to be attracted to those different than me.


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## Nomenclature (Aug 9, 2009)

The King Of Dreams said:


> *Do any of you date outside of your own race?* I think interracial couples are a beautiful sight. Plus the kids are gorgeous!


Yeah, I grew up a few blocks north of 8 Mile Road and went to school where the student breakdown consisted of A LOT of African-Americans, comparatively few whites, and a significant number of Chaldeans (yes, I know that they're technically white, but still) and Hmong people. And then my household moved to a suburb where it was almost all white. So yeah, I really am color-blind-- I don't consider my race who I am and there never was a "them" and "us" in my mind.

If I'm surrounded by mostly white people, I'll associate mostly with white people. Growing up, I didn't understand why anybody would think interracial dating was an anomaly-- people are people, right?

But ugh, it's just a little disillusioning when I realize that many people don't or can't see it the same way.


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## Nymma (Apr 24, 2010)

Well, I haven't personnally experienced racism, but there are three black girls in my university who glare at every white women they see. Oddly enough, they don't seem to have a problem with white men... And one girl of my acquitance got told by an international student that "all girls here(I live in Canada) are anti-social, too reserved" because she didn't want to accept a stranger on facebook. My Asian friend was told that she was "different" by whites when she was six years old. 

But honestly, apart from that, I actually haven't seen people being racist or heard about situations in which racism occured. Except on youtube, that is... Terms like "******" and "white trash" are casually thrown...

Another thing that bothers me is how races are stereotyped in movies. Movies always made black women loud and oxnobious, black men made as rappers, red-hair people as hot-tempered, blond with blue eyes as dumb and vain, asian people as IN_Js...

*"Do any of you date outside of your own race?" *Well, I've dated one white and one black, so of course race isn't a factor for potential dates.


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## InexorableAsDeath (Aug 12, 2010)

I'm white and therefore a "racist." :frustrating:

Racism develops in the unconscious of every individual. No one is free from it. Acting upon these unnameable urges and thoughts, or choosing not to, is the journey of every human being toward enlightenment--recognizing this is the beginning.


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## Paragon (Mar 15, 2011)

InexorableAsDeath said:


> I'm white and therefore a "racist." :frustrating:
> 
> Racism develops in the unconscious of every individual. No one is free from it. Acting upon these unnameable urges and thoughts, or choosing not to, is the journey of every human being toward enlightenment--recognizing this is the beginning.


You're only racist if you do oppressive acts. But being white puts you in a position of privilege. So, as long as you aren't using your privilege to marginalize another ethnic group, you aren't racist.


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## InexorableAsDeath (Aug 12, 2010)

Paragon said:


> You're only racist if you do oppressive acts. But being white puts you in a position of privilege. So, as long as you aren't using your privilege to marginalize another ethnic group, you aren't racist.


White privilege entails that I receive benefits from others. I have no control over how people construct first impressions. Also assuming I'm privileged for being white is an injustice to struggling whites, ergo racism. I always found white privilege an interesting term seeing as there is no way to describe it from a legal perspective without undergoing racist constructs.


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## Paragon (Mar 15, 2011)

InexorableAsDeath said:


> White privilege entails that I receive benefits from others. I have no control over how people construct first impressions.


Indeed, I acknowledge that not all whites are wealthy and some struggle just as much as poor non-whites. I also won't deny the fact that discrimination against whites does exist. The way the system is set up today pits minority against majority, man against woman, boy against girl, specialized vs. non-specialized, homosexual vs. heterosexual, etc. The wealthy class creates propaganda ploys to create conflict amongst these groups (i.e. xenophobic ads against immigration so that the working class will blame those "illegals" instead of the wealthy perpetuating scarcity) to keep them fighting amongst each other. However, poor whites are still going to have a slight edge over non-whites, because inequality of pay exists just on the basis of skin and gender; minorities get paid less income per year on average. Also, minorities have faced severe forceful repression in the past (i.e. Japanese internment camps in WWII, Trail of Tears, Slavery, Segregation, Racial profiling, detaining, and torturing of innocent Arabs) that have set them back in terms of opportunities. While there was the occasional immigration or exclusion act against certain sub-sects of whites and pejorative racial slurs against Irish, German, and Italian immigrants, there has been no record of whites suffering from the same degree of forceful repression as non-whites have endured, or at least not enough to cause a major setback in opportunity. Also, there are social and cultural passive benefits that whites receive that are plain as day. While other minorities also can reap positive benefits from racism (i.e. people being scared of Asians in fear of them retaliating with a form of martial arts), again, this is a matter of degree. 



> Also assuming I'm privileged for being white is an injustice to struggling whites, ergo racism. I always found white privilege an interesting term seeing as there is no way to describe it from a legal perspective without undergoing racist constructs.


As I have outlined above, being white does put one in a position of privilege, as Caucasians receive the better end of treatment in terms of pay. This is not to trivialize whatever suffering that some whites have gone through in terms of socioeconomic status. However, it is fact that pay inequality exists on the basis of ethnicity, and being white puts one in the higher end of that strata. It is fact that whites receive passive cultural benefits from racism, and to a greater degree.

Also, you cannot, by definition, be "racist" against white people. Minorities do not have the power to put their beliefs in to practice to hurt people; Caucasians, however, do have that power.

Honestly, I blame the capitalist system in general more than "white vs. non-white"; racism is only an indication of economic scarcity. We wouldn't even be having this conversation in the first place if there weren't social antagonisms inherent in our society due to the dog-eat-dog nature of capitalism that pits us against each other. Both race and class are artificial social constructs that have been created to maintain the unjustified hierarchy of wealth.


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## Ozymandias (May 6, 2011)

When someone makes a racist comment to me or even hints towards it and they aren't on friendly terms... I CRUSH THEM


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## Fizz (Nov 13, 2010)

The King Of Dreams said:


> Do any of you date outside of your own race?


Yes. I find people of other races and ethnicities to be very attractive. I usually pursue people outside my own ethnic background.



The King Of Dreams said:


> I think interracial couples are a beautiful sight. Plus the kids are gorgeous!


I definitely agree.




pinkrasputin said:


> Lol. I never date inside my own race. *It feels incestuous. *Plus, I grew up being the oddball in school and in my neighborhood. So I was conditioned to be attracted to those different than me.


I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels that way sometimes.


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## pinkrasputin (Apr 13, 2009)

InexorableAsDeath said:


> *Racism develops in the unconscious of every individual. No one is free from it.* Acting upon these unnameable urges and thoughts, or choosing not to, is the journey of every human being toward enlightenment--recognizing this is the beginning.


Um what??? I would have to disagree. This might be the case for you, but not for all.


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## The King Of Dreams (Aug 18, 2010)

I feel fortunate to be raised around multiple races at one time. So I don't see so much color. I just see qualities.


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## InexorableAsDeath (Aug 12, 2010)

Paragon said:


> Also, you cannot, by definition, be "racist" against white people. Minorities do not have the power to put their beliefs in to practice to hurt people; Caucasians, however, do have that power.
> 
> Honestly, I blame the capitalist system in general more than "white vs. non-white"; racism is only an indication of economic scarcity. We wouldn't even be having this conversation in the first place if there weren't social antagonisms inherent in our society due to the dog-eat-dog nature of capitalism that pits us against each other. Both race and class are artificial social constructs that have been created to maintain the unjustified hierarchy of wealth.


To the first part, sure you can: Affirmative Action and the quota thinking that has developed because of it in the education and work forces.

I appreciate your post, much of what you speak about has been brought up in my Feminisms course. I'm writing a paper based on Patriarchy/capitalism as we speak as my final.


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## InexorableAsDeath (Aug 12, 2010)

pinkrasputin said:


> Um what??? I would have to disagree. This might be the case for you, but not for all.


It's human. It's only bad if you act upon those fears. The reason I posted that is because of the numerous psychology and the ethnic studies courses I have taken: we all have our biases--race is not safe from this.


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