Are you racist?

[Max™]

Good lord what a random post.

Thanks, I think?

[Demosthenes]

Wow, this thread is filled with lulz, stupidity and ignorance, all the things I would expect from the internet. Good going guys.

[Mizango]

I'm the sterotypical white anglo-saxon male. I work in the inner city of Pittsburgh. I have no problems with anyone who is black, hispanic, jewish, etc. I like to think that I'm a fairly open minded individual about most things. But two nights ago I was playing Call of Duty 4 online and I had my headset on.

There was this kid on my team, judging by his voice he had to be 13-14 years old tops. The whole time we were playing he's shouting in the background calling his brother a nigger and calling his mother a fat whore. For ten minutes straight. At the end of the game I told him I hope his mother slapped the fucking taste out of his mouth. To which he promptly launched into a puberty induced profanity filled tirade about how he would come and find me with his "boys" and "fuck me up."

I think that's the type of person Mizango was referring to in his post above. This kid was on the quick path to becoming a statistic just with the way his attitude was. I would have been fine with him swearing, but you don't insult your mother. Have some fucking respect. This is the woman who gave you life and bought you that fucking game. Show her respect.

When I was young if I had ever said anything like that to my mother she would have slapped the shit out of me.

You sir, hit the nail right on the head. That is the EXACT type of person and scenario I was referring to.

[Howard Roark]

I'm a 6'0" 160lb caucasian male. I always felt privileged and treated better when interviewing for stuff like serving jobs or bartender jobs. I don't feel above anyone, I just know that's what restaurants look for. They look at me and say "Oh thanks God, this man is white, we don't have to worry about his 'bros' getting free meals."

It's stupid, but I recognize it

I showed up to a new location for a small chain of stores after being hired for their weekend stockperson position. Since I already worked for the company there was no real interview per se. This newer location was a very clean cut vegetarian/health food store catering to the yuppie/tourist crowd whereas the old location catered more to the birkenstock-wearing university students.

so...

the new manager, some prematurely white-haired yuppie with the most terribly insincere smile you could ever see in your life (basically a constipated grimace with teeth) gave a visible sigh of relief when he saw me in jeans a checked cowboy-ish shirt and a jean jacket, clean shaven and non-descript short hair (and looking decidedly less gay than i'm often misperceived to be)

fast forward 8 months i'm a white dude with a beard and dreads haha



spoiler: i later got wrongfully dismissed due to food poisoning from some food i ate the night before a sunday shift but that's a whole other story; god i hated that boss

[Woozie]

I remember when I was a teenager and cops used to harrass me and my brothers and friends and any other black people who were walking around my neighborhood (going as far as pulling guns on some occasions). They practically never touched the white kids even if they were with a group of black kids.

Now the cops wont bother me even when I deserve it (I'm a horrible driver and I should have been pulled over a billion times by now).

Other than certain cops, I guess I haven't really experienced too much racism, though I'd be lying if I said I experienced none at all.

I answered "No" to the poll. I don't really react differently to other races (or if I do I'm not aware of it).

Most of my old friends say that I've gotten "proper" because I went from being on the streets and hanging out with drug dealers etc to finishing high school and going to college. No one expected me to not become a sterotypical black gangster. I think I experience more racism from my old friends than I do from any other source. By that, I don't mean blatan racism where they dislike me because of my skin color, but I mean they say things about me contrasting my actions and my skin color.

For example, my friend Brandon keeps telling me to come to the studio to record songs with him. When I tell him I don't rap anymore, he says "but you black, how you gon stop rappin and you black?". I also get "How you gon stop smoking weed and you black?" and "how you gon try to get a Ph.D and you black?". It's funny because I rarely hear white people say things like this about me.
(Edit: I guess this is not "racism", it's "stereotyping", whatever)

One thing that bothers me about college is that people keep trying to make me join programs to discuss the problems black people specifically face at this college. Hmm, we get more aid, more scholarships, special treatment, better jobs, it's easier for us to get admitted to pretty much any program, and they think we're the one's who need support groups? Black people are still walking around campus like we're being victimized here when in reality we're being spoiled here. Maybe it's different on other campuses (although from what I've heard from friends at other Universities, it's not), idk.

[Remyo]

For example, my friend Brandon keeps telling me to come to the studio to record songs with him. When I tell him I don't rap anymore, he says "but you black, how you gon stop rappin and you black?". I also get "How you gon stop smoking weed and you black?" and "how you gon try to get a Ph.D and you black?". It's funny because I rarely hear white people say things like this about me.
(Edit: I guess this is not "racism", it's "stereotyping", whatever)

One thing that bothers me about college is that people keep trying to make me join programs to discuss the problems black people specifically face at this college. Hmm, we get more aid, more scholarships, special treatment, better jobs, it's easier for us to get admitted to pretty much any program, and they think we're the one's who need support groups? Black people are still walking around campus like we're being victimized here when in reality we're being spoiled here. Maybe it's different on other campuses (although from what I've heard from friends at other Universities, it's not), idk.

^awesome post.

[Khamsin]

For example, my friend Brandon keeps telling me to come to the studio to record songs with him. When I tell him I don't rap anymore, he says "but you black, how you gon stop rappin and you black?". I also get "How you gon stop smoking weed and you black?" and "how you gon try to get a Ph.D and you black?". It's funny because I rarely hear white people say things like this about me.
(Edit: I guess this is not "racism", it's "stereotyping", whatever)

One thing that bothers me about college is that people keep trying to make me join programs to discuss the problems black people specifically face at this college. Hmm, we get more aid, more scholarships, special treatment, better jobs, it's easier for us to get admitted to pretty much any program, and they think we're the one's who need support groups? Black people are still walking around campus like we're being victimized here when in reality we're being spoiled here. Maybe it's different on other campuses (although from what I've heard from friends at other Universities, it's not), idk.

^awesome post.

Conspiracy theory alert!

I bet "slavery" was a plot all along by black people to get good benefits for their future generations. White people didn't kidnap black people from Africa, they volunteered. Once they got over here, they willingly did all the white people's work for them so they'd get a taste of luxury, and then resisted and threw a big fit with the intention of being whipped into submission. They were martyrs. They knew that if they were kept as slaves and did degrading things, that the world would sympathize with their future generations for the horrors their ancestors went through as slaves.

And it all went . Today, black people get all the benefits they had hoped for, and more... while still being perceived as disadvantaged. The accomplishment is second only to the devil convincing the world he doesn't exist.

I also suspect Lincoln had a hand in the plot, involving the use of a time machine and a trip to the beginning of the enslavement of black people to work out his role in the scheme and learn the right time to stop it so they could start reaping the rewards.

Next on the Guartz channel: The Jews and the Germans... in cahoots?

[Shuemue]

I believe that when I'm in a normal, rational state of mind, I'm not racist. I think I'd be naive to assume I would never let my temper get the better of me and I'd blurt something out to provoke a reaction, but I'm very rarely short of ammunition about the individual rather than their creed or colour.

I've lived in London for over 30 years. It's a very multi-cultural society, so I've dealt extensively with a wide range of humans and so far I've concluded that every race, religion, gender, sexuality and so on has roughly an equal number of decent and loathsome people proportionately.

Thus, I hate without bias.

[Elcura]

There's no way you can live in England and not hate chavs more than anything else.

[Shuemue]

There's no way you can live in England and not hate chavs more than anything else.

You're probably right, therefore I'm now racist toward fucking whitey.

[Darus Grey]

For example, my friend Brandon keeps telling me to come to the studio to record songs with him. When I tell him I don't rap anymore, he says "but you black, how you gon stop rappin and you black?". I also get "How you gon stop smoking weed and you black?" and "how you gon try to get a Ph.D and you black?". It's funny because I rarely hear white people say things like this about me.
(Edit: I guess this is not "racism", it's "stereotyping", whatever)

This is actually one of the biggest problems (imho) facing the black community in America today. In many parts of the country they've built a popular culture that de-emphasizes education(i.e. educated blacks are "sellouts", "Proper" as you put it, and actively ridiculed for rising above their situation).

Any social movement/revolutions theorist will tell you that relative deprivation is always first noticed by the educated elite among a given faction of society(you have to know and understand what you don't have, and why you don't have it, before you can attempt to take it).

This schism between educated and inner-city black American's means that the incentive for the educated to help the un-educated(willfully ignorant may be more appropriate) is almost non-existent, and is in-fact actively discouraged at times.

This is a rather unique situation in political history that we don't have a real answer to, history has shown time and time again that education is the number one factor in advancing a section of society, the leaders of virtually every successful revolution or social movement has been lead by the educated elite of that faction(the everyman-hero revolutionary is a nice movie/game plot but doesn't happen in reality).

But a society that does not value education cannot be advanced.

You can see some notable examples of this Schism comparing MLK to Malcom X.

You can also see it within the Black Panther Party juxaposing Bobby Seele to Huey Newton.

IMHO the black community is at a cross-roads where we've opened the door but the majority of the faction is unwilling to step through. I think a lot of this is the misconception on culture.

The idea of America as a melting pot means we take idea/concepts from other cultures and incorporate them into our greater culture, not that you get to keep your culture(this is just self-imposed segregation and I think we've proven that separate but equal is not-so equal. As a Muslim this is also a major factor in our community within America). The inner city culture has developed into something that people actively revile (including the educated black class, and white/latin/asian who assimilate into the inner city culture), and until they're willing to give it up they will be unable to join mainstream society. The misconception is many think they shouldn't have to give it up, when there isn't a single case of this with any other minorities, they have all assimilated into the greater American culture. Places like little Italy/china/toyko/etc are exceptions, and even then, when you leave the confines of those cultural districts, you're expected to act/dress appropriately.

I'm not saying the black community brought about these circumstances(no, that's definetly whitey's fault, see Cuba for an example of a country filled with African slaves who assimilated fine into mainstream culture after it was abolished). But at the same time theres a line of personal responsability (vs false sense of entitlement).

I.e. No ones gonna give it to you, you gotta take it(See: All of history, for examples).

[Kaliden]

One thing that bothers me about college is that people keep trying to make me join programs to discuss the problems black people specifically face at this college. Hmm, we get more aid, more scholarships, special treatment, better jobs, it's easier for us to get admitted to pretty much any program, and they think we're the one's who need support groups? Black people are still walking around campus like we're being victimized here when in reality we're being spoiled here. Maybe it's different on other campuses (although from what I've heard from friends at other Universities, it's not), idk.

This sums up pretty much the last few years for me. But no, it's like this all over the place.

As for going against stereotypes, since I've been going to college I've been getting comments that "congratulate" me but at the same time seem to have a double meaning. As if they were happy, but at the same time surprised a black person could get into college as if it's impossible. All of these comments came from other black people.

[Maguspk]

One thing that bothers me about college is that people keep trying to make me join programs to discuss the problems black people specifically face at this college. Hmm, we get more aid, more scholarships, special treatment, better jobs, it's easier for us to get admitted to pretty much any program, and they think we're the one's who need support groups? Black people are still walking around campus like we're being victimized here when in reality we're being spoiled here. Maybe it's different on other campuses (although from what I've heard from friends at other Universities, it's not), idk.

This sums up pretty much the last few years for me. But no, it's like this all over the place.

As for going against stereotypes, since I've been going to college I've been getting comments that "congratulate" me but at the same time seem to have a double meaning. As if they were happy, but at the same time surprised a black person could get into college as if it's impossible. All of these comments came from other black people.

Yep, another interesting phenomenon is when a "white" person is in school they're just understood to be smart or belong there, etc. But a minority in college will usually get the "you must be smart" idea attached to them as if they are somehow surprised that you are intelligent, like it has to be qualified or noted. Totally agree.

[Deejay]

Um, it's kind of expected that you go to college in my family. It might not be like that in most black homes but it is in mine. None of my immediate friends or people that I know are surprised that i'm getting higher education.

[Charla]

Yep, another interesting phenomenon is when a "white" person is in school they're just understood to be smart or belong there, etc. But a minority in college will usually get the "you must be smart" idea attached to them as if they are somehow surprised that you are intelligent, like it has to be qualified or noted. Totally agree.

Remember to make an exception for Asians there.