Does Racism Exist In All Social Classes And All Races?

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maria_rose

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In the Popular Media forum we have been discussing “The Birth Of A Nation” and “Song Of The South” movies and their supposed racist background.
Okay , here is a threat for all of you.
How has racism impacted you and/or your ancestors?:eek:
Does it still exist in all societal classes and races?😊
Please share your stories!
 
I will only answer the Title Question and that is definitely Yes.
 
When I was growing up, my Slovak grandmother and her sisters would say all sorts of things about Russians, Italians, Poles, Greeks, etc.–and those weren’t the terms they used for those ethnicities. The way I see it, a culture whose name means “slave” has no right to be racist.

One of my all-time favorite political cartoons had two guys sitting on a bench. Guy #1 says, “All this Native America, African American, Hispanic American. . … I’m glad I’m just a good, old-fashioned White Anglo-Saxon Protestant.”
Guy #2 says, “You look more like a Jute to me.”
 
maria_rose said:
Does it still exist in all societal classes and races?😊
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As I’ve usually heard it defined, racism is institutional oppression based on racial prejudice. Racial prejudice exists in all classes and races. Racism is only possible in a class/race that is dominant within a specific society. Of course, others may disagree with this definition. But I think it’s a good one, because there is something seriously wrong with the apparently “fair” position that Rev. Wright is just as “racist” as someone who insulted black people in similar terms. That’s just not how it works. History matters. It is not good for the historically oppressed to hate their oppressors. But it is not the same thing as hatred of the oppressed by the oppressors.

Edwin
 
Two real-life (from the Life of Maxply) incidents:

(1) I was walking from my car in a major city, and had railroad ballast rocks thrown at me by several African-American teens, who shouted “honky” at me (yes, it’s curious, but this is the word they used). I’m white, so it felt, or at least had the feeling, of a racist action.

The rocks didn’t hit; I skedaddled away.

(2) Many years back I worked as a dishwasher in a Chinese restaurant. During a break, the two Chinese operators pointed at a pair of black African American women walking across the parking lot and asked me if I would date them. I replied in the negative; they nodded their heads as well.

They then asked me if I would consider dating a Chinese waitress at the restaurant: a pretty sweet girl, nice. I said yes, and received an instantaneous freeze-out. Abrupt. They didn’t like that. It was pretty clear that they saw a racial scale there: Asians, whites, blacks; with Asians/Chinese at the top.

So my conclusion? Racism is a pretty common thing.
 
Contarini said:
As I’ve usually heard it defined, racism is institutional oppression based on racial prejudice. Racial prejudice exists in all classes and races. Racism is only possible in a class/race that is dominant within a specific society. Of course, others may disagree with this definition. But I think it’s a good one, because there is something seriously wrong with the apparently “fair” position that Rev. Wright is just as “racist” as someone who insulted black people in similar terms. That’s just not how it works. History matters. It is not good for the historically oppressed to hate their oppressors. But it is not the same thing as hatred of the oppressed by the oppressors.

Edwin
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Racism is possible by both the oppressor and the oppressed. The oppressor has the power to be more overt while the opressed will be more subtle.
And no, racism is as individual as you and me. Every person knowingly or not, has prejudices usually learned from older grown ups and from experience.
“Reverend” Wright, sir, is a racist . Like it or not!
Even Obama realized that he can’t afford this guy in his life.
No, it is deplorable to give hate for hate. That is childish and stupid. Especially now when we are way beyond racism to the other extreme of political correctness.
Nobody can say anything anymore without being hassled for it.

Ican give you several examples where I as a white German person suffered because of racism.
  1. I worked in a little post office in LA,CA. It was run by a Hispanic lady and had two other Hispanic employees.
    As you can see, I was the token white person there.
    The music played was ALWAYS in Spanish and any dialogue between employer and employees was ALWAYS in Spanish. I don’t speak Spanish and found that very rude.
    A black lady came to see the boss on business and I went back to get her. It old the boss that a black lady was there to see her.
    After business was conducted , and the lady had left, I was chastised and attacked because I had said “black lady”. I was told that it was the same as someone calling me “a tall German girl” . so I answered. That is exactly what I am. So where is the problem?
    Needless to say an excuse was found a few days later (unjustified) to let me go.
  2. an ex roommate during an argument about her sloppyness called me a "NAZI’.
    3… how many times have I been in the line at a cash register with other American customers only to listen to the cashier and bagger rudely conversing in Spanish like we didn’t exist. That is a form of racism as well.
  3. How many times did qualified and better educated people of white origin not make it into college because a quota had to be filled with minority students whether they were capable or not.
    That is racism in action as well.
    C’mon people share your stories.
    Don’t be shy!
 
maria_rose said:
In the Popular Media forum we have been discussing “The Birth Of A Nation” and “Song Of The South” movies and their supposed racist background.
Okay , here is a threat for all of you.
How has racism impacted you and/or your ancestors?:eek:
Does it still exist in all societal classes and races?😊
Please share your stories!
Click to expand...
Okay Racism. Those who state that Racism here in the U.S. no longer exists haven’t taken a look backward to their formative years in the home of their parents. If the parents were defensive in regard to another race, if the parents unspoken racism was evident to the child and it usually is, Children are honest and perceptive if given the chance, racism , however slight, will exist.

As hard as we try to fight our own racism, words we have heard, slurs against people of another race, some of the tainted information seeps into our skin. Those become part of who and what we are. As long as we don’t try to excuse racism and try to find out just why we feel the way we do about others, we have heads up on people of forty or fifty years ago, who knew only their own culture, because they were either not allowed “to mix”, or in their ideas of their own superiority, chose not to.

There are some areas, both North and South which are imprinted with racism. Fortunately some try to overcome such evil, but some do not.
 
Let’s just say that if it wasn’t for racism, I’d still be speaking perfect Spanish. 😉

Racism is definitely around, but I’ve grown to accept that. The only thing I can do about it, as a person, is to just be kind and hope for the same treatment. :o

Ironically Yours, Blade and Blood
 
I was raised in a place and at a time where there were no minorities other than Catholics. So, I suppose I should not have any racism in my makeup. But I know I do. Nor have I ever met anyone who didn’t have some element of racism in their thinking, no matter how hard they fought against the notion.

I think racism in a sense, is inherent to human beings. From our earliest days, we form patterns of thinking. We get bitten by a bug when we are children, and we think all bugs bite. We see some group of people that tends to hold certain things in common (Say, many Italians and pasta, Frenchmen and wine, Irish and pugnacity) and we tend to think in patterns about them, realizing the whole time that there are differences among them. Maybe they’re positive patterns, maybe they’re negative and maybe they don’t matter at all. It’s part of the way people universalize, but for which process we wouldn’t be able to think anything through.

I think what’s much more important is how we treat individuals. I recall, long ago, being told by a priest that “You don’t have to like people, you have to love them.” Love is wanting the good of that person, and has nothing to do with whether something about him or her is not at the top of my list of attractions, or even grinds against some pattern I have seen repeated and tend to think of as having universal application.
 
Ridgerunner said:
I was raised in a place and at a time where there were no minorities other than Catholics. So, I suppose I should not have any racism in my makeup. But I know I do. Nor have I ever met anyone who didn’t have some element of racism in their thinking, no matter how hard they fought against the notion.

I think racism in a sense, is inherent to human beings. From our earliest days, we form patterns of thinking. We get bitten by a bug when we are children, and we think all bugs bite. We see some group of people that tends to hold certain things in common (Say, many Italians and pasta, Frenchmen and wine, Irish and pugnacity) and we tend to think in patterns about them, realizing the whole time that there are differences among them. Maybe they’re positive patterns, maybe they’re negative and maybe they don’t matter at all. It’s part of the way people universalize, but for which process we wouldn’t be able to think anything through.

I think what’s much more important is how we treat individuals. I recall, long ago, being told by a priest that “You don’t have to like people, you have to love them.” Love is wanting the good of that person, and has nothing to do with whether something about him or her is not at the top of my list of attractions, or even grinds against some pattern I have seen repeated and tend to think of as having universal application.
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👍 👍
 
Does racism exist in all social classes and all races? Yes.

Does it exist in all people? No.

Should it exist at all? No.
 
maria_rose said:
How has racism impacted you and/or your ancestors?:eek:
Does it still exist in all societal classes and races?😊
Click to expand...
My background, other than English, is Irish, with some Roma, and some Jewish blood, so it is fair to say that my ancestors were fairly heavily impacted by racism. When my mother first came to England in the 70s she found it hard to get a job or place to live because of the ‘‘No blacks, no pets no Irish’’ and ‘‘No Irish need apply’’ signs which existed longer here than they did in the States.
 
To respond to the title question -
Yes. And there is scientific proof of it - at least according to a PBS Scientific American Frontiers TV episode I saw recently on the net.

They seemed to support a position I have held. Or at least I took it as support for my theory. We survived as a species in community. Being part of a group greatly enhanced our chances of survival. As such, it was very important that we be able to recognize instantly the difference between “like me” and “not like me.” “Like me” was safe and good. “Not like me” was dangerous. We don’t even think about it.

The scientist who devised the test, took it himself - for the hundredth time and despite considering himself quite liberal, open minded and fully aware of the technique the test used - he scored as a racist. They did a similar test for sexism and Alan Alda - who hosts the show and who prides himself on being a feminist - failed it.

The good news is - as they pointed out in the episode - that once we know it, we can learn other responses to that stimulus. The military trains for that change in response.
 
maria_rose said:
In the Popular Media forum we have been discussing “The Birth Of A Nation” and “Song Of The South” movies and their supposed racist background.
Okay , here is a threat for all of you.
How has racism impacted you and/or your ancestors?:eek:
Does it still exist in all societal classes and races?😊
Please share your stories!
Click to expand...
Racism is made worse by the lie of evolution. There is only one race, the human race.

But to be quite honest I don’t mind racism much when one of the Presidential candidates is a social Marxist. Occasionally there is some benefit to an evolution mentality in the masses.
 
Steve40 said:
Racism is made worse by the lie of evolution. There is only one race, the human race.

But to be quite honest I don’t mind racism much when one of the Presidential candidates is a social Marxist. Occasionally there is some benefit to an evolution mentality in the masses.
Click to expand...
No habla englais? I said nothing about evolution.
 
Part of the racism equation in modern times has to be economic.

Meaning by this that only in recent times has it been possible to move large populations between various parts of the world.

Not just in slave ships, but also in regular transport! So we’re faced not with a lone individual who seems different, but a large group of different-looking (to us) persons doing things differently than we would.

ALSO some portion of what is termed “racism” is merely cultural clash. I’ve had friends of different races, and those who acted like I did, I treated no differently from other friends. Those from very different subcultures put you at a loss at how to deal with them; they may be very in-your-face, etc.
 
i laught when people call “that one” a socialist marxist… it’s like they never even read a book by marx or any of the other leading commies… lol.
anyway, racism exists. even with my generation and i’m 25. it’s sad to see. the thing that get’s me is that most racists i know cliam to be christian! so, what God had made in his own image they consider less which is downright blasphemy. also, to them, if you aren’t down with segregation you must be a Red! people crack me up.
 
maria_rose said:
  1. How many times did qualified and better educated people of white origin not make it into college because a quota had to be filled with minority students whether they were capable or not.
    That is racism in action as well.
Don’t be shy!
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I think that racism here can go both ways. One way is the one which you just mentioned, and I agree with you on this (and I myself am part of one of those minorities). On the other hand, if you think about it, the very idea of the quota that a certain amount of minority students are needed implies that minority students are just not capable enough of making it into college on their own like caucasian students and need help.

I saw a situation like this at a magnet program in my school. When I entered, I had to turn in my test scores, write an essay, and get interviewed. The grade after me however was put into a lottery based on standardized test scores alone. I talked to many of my former teachers and all have told me the same thing, that this class was no where near the level of my grade and the grade above me. Another catch? it seems as if the selection of students was way more racially “balanced” than ours (and my class is already very diverse).

I have noticed also that some people are prejudiced towards another group and against their own. Even though I am Hispanic, I do not look like it (pale and freckled with light brown hair vs the stereotypical black-hair and dark skin image). I went on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic and worked in a Salesian all-girls school. I saw how the people there almost seemed to idolize light-skinned people (I got quite a bit of attention), especially but not limited to Americans. As some of the girls who lived in the school and I watched a few novelas at night, occasionally a comment about the actor’s or actress’s supposedly beautiful skin would pop up. For most of them, the idea of a good looking man would be blond-haired, white skin, and clear eyes. I felt as if they viewed us as higher up than themselves, which saddened me because the people I met in this country were also wonderful kind people worth just as much as us Americans.
 
quasimodo said:
No habla englais? I said nothing about evolution.
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Racism implys that there are different races of humans. There are not. The theory of evolution supports this idea that there could be separate races of humans.

It helps to think in English while you speak it. Words mean something. Are you sure you uderstand what the word racism means…comprende?
 
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