It’s hard to see racism, when you’re white

[Baneis8feettall]

Seeing people as white or black and trying to stop racism : Mission Impossible.

 

[Lunar_Wolf]

The Un-Fair Campaign wants me to feel guilty because I'm white??????

The site is telling me I can't see racism because I'm white? Really? REALLY? REALLY???

How about attack all racists instead of isolating one race.

 

[roach]

Racism effects everyone...the minute we stop feeling that one race has an exclusive claim on racism will be the minute we overcome the problem

 

[Mace Bloodstone]

I still segregate my laundry. It may not be the "politically correct" thing to do, but we all know it just works out better in the end that way.

 

[Mistah K88]

^I did hear it was wrong to mix white and black knickers together.

 

[Thundercrack85]

I've found white people to be the least openly racist. Emphasis on openly. Because everyone is expecting them to be racist and ready to accuse them of racism. Now some other people, they can say stuff that's so offensive (usually about white people, but also about other minorities), that if any white person said it, even old white people would be taken aback.

 

[terry78]

We're all racist to an extent, but white people have to do it behind closed doors pretty much. If you guys could spout it in public, don't deny you wouldn't.

 

[Lunar_Wolf]

Question: Are blind people racist?

 

[DarkSovereignty]

^especially so.

 

[Mistah K88]

Older people tend to be racist, as they seem to be stuck in the past. Every now and then my parents will say something about white people (we all criticize black people...but heck what can you do). Of course they don't say stuff all of the time...However while I don't necessarily agree with some things they say, I understand where they come from... If I was a black person growing up during the period of segregation and Jim Crow I'd become bitter as well.

 

[Maximum Carnage]

Racism, homophobia, sexism.. all the same **** - the stuff will never go away.

 

[Cannikin]

I live in Arkansas. I grew up here. I've heard racist remarks my entire life. They had died away for the most part, except in the most redneck of people. But since Obama has been in office, they've "come out of the closet" and I realized I've been very wrong about racism fading away. And I guess since I'm white, they think I wont mind hearing it, but it bugs me in a big way. And they always preface it with the same disclaimer: "I'm not a racist or anything, but...(insert something REALLY racist here)."

 

[random_havoc]

"I don't see race. People tell me I'm white and I believe them because I get my drugs from a pharmacist." -Stephen Colbert

 

[roach]

Racism, homophobia, sexism.. all the same **** - the stuff will never go away.

and we wonder why the people in the Marvel universe hate mutants still

 

[SuperFerret]

Xenophobia is an instinctual thing, and is a survival instinct at that, the key is to counteract that with logic.

 

[moviedoors]

"I am able to drive a car in any neighborhood without being perceived as being in the wrong place or looking for trouble."

That's flat out untrue. There are many neighborhoods where, if you're white, you might as well just have a bulleyes on your chest.

More than that, I think I understand some aspect of the fear minorities face when it comes to getting pulled over. I have long hair and my mother's eyes, and my mom has squinty stoner eyes. People have been assuming I was stoned for like half my life now. I got pulled over for a busted tail light once and that ended with me getting searched and field tested. Those cops were sure I was baked and were itching to arrest me. I got a taste of what it feels like to face incarceration based on nothing but a snap judgement of my appearance. Scary ****.

My experience has nothing to do with race, but I think it's analogous.

 

[bell110]

I don't know what's worse, white guilt or white victimhood.

 

[random_havoc]

I don't know what's worse, white guilt or white victimhood.

White chocolate. White chocolate is the worst.

 

[raybia]

Wow this thread is still open?!


Raybia
"A black man and a Muslim to boot."

 

[Shemtov]

2) Whites can experience racism too.

Exactly.
I'm sick and tired of this attitude that prejudice against whites isn't racism it's "reverse-racism".
It's basically a philosophy of "whites were ****** to other races, therefore they deserve **** from other races".
If this goes on it could go so far as too mean that white people are treated the same as blacks were in the 50s in the south, which means that the whole thing could be counter-productive.

 

[Maximum Carnage]

^ this

 

[Schlosser85]

The very title of this thread is racist.

 

[knowsbleed]

It's the title of the article.

 

[RichardMoore]

The article is written in such a way to deride this campaign. It's making the claim that the intent is to "demonize white people". I don't think that's the case.

White people do have more economic and cultural advantages than other races. That, in itself, creates a problem. If all races were on a truly equal playing field, then it would be different. But they're not. I'm not saying that a white person has to feel any type of guilt about it, provided they acknowledge that this privilege is not due to any inherent superiority but rather circumstance and the prejudice of their ancestors (or, if they're immigrants, the preference towards those with white skin).

Why these racial discussions are not good for all parties involved: Let's say that Nazi Germany had not been overthrown, but certain members of the Nazi Party said "We shouldn't put the Jews in concentration camps, but they can't have all the same rights as Germans." and then, as time progressed, the Jews got more rights until eventually the institutionalized racism faded away. The prejudices still remain...it's just taboo for people to say anything derogatory against Jews. The Jews still have to worry about being harassed by officials, stereotyped, and being looked down upon in the community. They still have that history of being herded into gas chambers and forced into concentration camps, but they're told by Germans "That's such a long time ago. Forget that! It's the past. I didn't put you in a concentration camp." They might even get a half-Jew Fuhrer. It's a very similar situation. Jews would certainly not feel like being chastised by Germans for pointing out the obvious privileges that Germans possess.

The proof that a lot of people (and I'm not even going to say any particular race of people, I'm just going to say people) are oblivious to the details of the racial dichotomy is whenever somebody points out something about the lingering effects of a time when whites were viewed as the master race and blacks were viewed as animals, numerous people step forward to assert that "whites experience racism too" and "other races are racist against white", which is ignorant and really there is no point other than to discredit any serious discussion about the remnants of white privilege. Nobody said that black people can't be prejudiced against whites, but to be honest, that really DOES NOT matter. We don't live in a country where blacks used to enslave whites or treated them as inferiors and it was law. White people do not get automatically incensed when they hear words like "cracker" whereas blacks still cringe hearing the N-word in certain contexts. And any neighborhood where a white person would have to be in fear for their life, I'd say that most black people would be reluctant to enter. Matter of fact, just in the past year, the Trayvon Martin case and the case of the man who was ran over by a truck in a Mississippi hotel parking lot show the danger of being in certain spots if you're black. Black-on-black crime, many times fueled by drugs and money, is a much bigger problem than black-on-white crime and is another cancerous result of a traumatic and disenfranchised past.


I think it's hard many times for PEOPLE to see racism since they're under the delusion that we're all on an equal playing field. Simply not the case.

 

[Mandalore464]

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