Majority Of White Americans Say They Believe Whites Face Discrimination

  • Thread starter Thread starter Maxirad
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
This is problematic from a number of standpoints. I’ll get blasted for saying this, of course.

I doubt many white Americans have really been adversely affected by racism in a tangible way. Some might have not gotten the job they wanted or the slot in a school that they wanted because of affirmative action, and I don’t much doubt that does happen here and there, just as real racism is exercised against non-whites here and there.

But on the whole I would say racism against whites is more a visceral thing among some minorities, particularly blacks. There are places in this country I really couldn’t safely go as a white person, but could as a black person. My greater threat level would be because of my race.

But racism in a much broader sense is absolutely there. “White privilege” is a racial claim itself, just as assertion that “all blacks have an advantage” does. I am said to be privileged solely because of my race, and there isn’t a thing I can do to dispel the negative feelings some have because of that assertion, because I can’t help being white.

I will add, though, that at least in my mind, true “racism” is based on what we do, not on visceral reactions. If, say, a black person has a negative reaction to my presence because he thinks I’m "privileged’, “probably a racist” or because my accent is a bit southern-sounding to a northern black, or any of the things some of them think, I’m not really harmed by that if that’s all it is. It’s when he takes action on it that I’m potentially harmed.

And the same thing is true on the other side of it. I might have a negative reaction to a black person in some circumstance. I might think a potential employee is more likely to work out because he’s white. I might expect a higher literacy level simply because a lot of blacks’ English is idiosyncratic. But if I resist the temptation to act on it and really do look at both candidates as objectively as I possibly can, no harm is done. I might, for example, have each give me an impromptu writing sample in order to dispel my admittedly racist concern. And I don’t for a second doubt black people don’t want to walk into an urban “hillbilly ghetto”.

Personally, I don’t think it’s possible to totally get rid of racism in its very mildest and visceral sense. But I think for the most part we can resist acting on it.
 
“Notable, however, is that while a majority of whites in the poll say discrimination against them exists, a much smaller percentage say that they have actually experienced it.”
Click to expand...
What a clever word game that the author has played here. Does anyone else see it?

The poll says that 55% of whites believe that discrimination happens to whites, not necessarily to themselves, but to some people in the white population in general. Why would such an obvious fact make the author use the words, “Notable, however…”, and “actually”? Not to mention the loose usage of “them”, and “they”. And that’s just from one sentence of his article.
 
Last edited:
I got the impression that the author was saying that it was notable that few whites said they had experienced discrimination personally,… but still believed it existed.

I agree that he should have witten “discrimination against white people” instead of “discrimination against them.”
 
TI’ve never faced discrimination for being Caucasian.

I’ve gotten ignorant comments about being Sicilian though. Mostly when I was younger. I’ve had to answer things like "yes we are considered Italian ". “No I don’t have any Mafia connections”. “Why does your grandmother dress like that?” When she was wearing black for mourning.

I’ve also had scenario that men just don’t have. For example, crossing a parking lot I always have my keys in my hands ready to go. I am cautious about getting on to elevators. Being wary of salesmen at the door, or repair men.

My husband commented on that. He never took that into consideration as a man. He never felt unsafe in those scenarios.
 
Last edited:
Ridgerunner said:
I doubt many white Americans have really been adversely affected by racism in a tangible way. Some might have not gotten the job they wanted or the slot in a school that they wanted because of affirmative action, and I don’t much doubt that does happen here and there, just as real racism is exercised against non-whites here and there.

But on the whole I would say racism against whites is more a visceral thing among some minorities, particularly blacks. There are places in this country I really couldn’t safely go as a white person, but could as a black person. My greater threat level would be because of my race.
Click to expand...
Not getting a job, not getting admitted to a school, paying higher rates to offset artificially better rates given to minorities (here I mean insurance or loans) are all pretty tangible forms of racism.

Whites are the ones who have more to fear being assaulted on account of their skin color. It happens to Blacks but it more often happens to Whites.

The major difference is Blacks act as if an act of racism against one is an act against them all. And all of the offending race share in the guilt. Whites treat them as isolated instances which impart no group guilt. It goes without saying the Black attitude is itself racist.
 
As a “White” person I agree that discrimination against whites does exist and I have experienced it personally. For example I have been told before that I probably wouldn’t do well in a certain position because I am white.

In a more generic form I have been continuously assured over the years that because I am white I am racist. Why I am automatically assumed to be racist because I am white is completely beyond me. I was also told I didn’t qualify for some financial aid when I was in college because I am white and my parents should be able to pay for it. This despite the fact that I worked my way through college by cleaning at night.
 
redbaron162 said:
As a “White” person I agree that discrimination against whites does exist and I have experienced it personally. For example I have been told before that I probably wouldn’t do well in a certain position because I am white.

In a more generic form I have been continuously assured over the years that because I am white I am racist. Why I am automatically assumed to be racist because I am white is completely beyond me. I was also told I didn’t qualify for some financial aid when I was in college because I am white and my parents should be able to pay for it. This despite the fact that I worked my way through college by cleaning at night.
Click to expand...
Possibly I owe you an apology, then. I’ll admit I live in a region of the country that is almost totally white. If discrimination against whites is more pervasive elsewhere, I would not likely experience it.
 
Depending on when you went to college, I suspect this was more a result of administrators deciding that parents with homes could take out loans on their equity to pay for children’s colleges. No matter if the parents wanted to go in debt or had equity. Why do you think the FAFSA asks for parent’s income information?
 
The crud-fest known as “affirmative action” and the broad, “white is bad” brush that most of the media now paints white people with is enough proof to me. Personal, everyday racism against whites isn’t really a thing for most people, I think, but there are certainly well-entrenched forms of systemic racism against whites now.

The fact that we have people in the BLM movement calling for things like “white genocide” and getting away with it consequence-free should be very, very telling.
 
I don’t disbelieve that there individual cases of (gasp) “reverse racism”. But as a whole, study after study shows bias against minorities.

For instance, black borrowers with similar finances tend to recieve high interest mortgages. A study of transcripts found that police were less respectful to minorities. And I could go on.

But the coming bias will not be racial, but fiscal. There’s a systematic burden on poor people that’ll become a larger and larger burden soon.
 
HerCrazierHalf said:
I don’t disbelieve that there individual cases of (gasp) “reverse racism”. But as a whole, study after study shows bias against minorities.

For instance, black borrowers with similar finances tend to recieve high interest mortgages. A study of transcripts found that police were less respectful to minorities. And I could go on.

But the coming bias will not be racial, but fiscal. There’s a systematic burden on poor people that’ll become a larger and larger burden soon.
Click to expand...
Years ago, when I lived in St. Louis, there were these large supermarkets by the name of “Bettendorf’s”. They have another name now. Anyway, I used to go to a Bettendorf store in Clayton, one of the many suburban towns surrounding the City of St. Louis itself, and a very nice one. There was nothing a person could possibly want that was not in the Clayton Bettendorf store. And it was the best of the best.

I lived in a changing neighborhood myself, at some distance from Clayton, and one night I found myself out of food. I knew there was a Bettendorf not too far from where I lived. So I went there. It was in a black neighborhood. The merchandise was utterly and totally different from the merchandise in Clayton. Off brands I had never heard of, produce that was probably past its sale date in Clayton if it was sold there at all. But the real marvel was the meat counter. Instead of steaks, roasts, chops and so on, it was full of tripe, snouts, pig tails and some things I couldn’t recognize.

Now, it’s possible, of course, that the black Bettendorf inventory was mostly reflective of the tastes of the clientele. But it was also much different stuff, and the prices didn’t reflect the “low end” nature of a lot of the food as near as I could tell. There might have been something there I could have bought, but I couldn’t see anything, so I left the store and drove to Clayton.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top