You want to know what's racist?

THIS [dailymail.co.uk]!!!

This actually happened in my hometown, and (excuse my french) makes me fucking sick!

People like that should be hung!

The kinda racism and sexism I hate is when someone of a race or gender is being sexist or racist toward themselves.

1.Anybody here ever watch BET? I like the occasional informative short talks about important black people and historical figures, but the TV shows they have on it just cancel it out with brain-gooifying mind scum that If I was black I'd be absolutely horrified existed.
My second cousin watches it all the time.
And she's racist. You know why?

She only ever goes out with black guys. Won't even look twice at a white guy. I'm not saying she HAS to go out with white guys (Hell, her mum's going out with an afro-asian dude from London and I'm looking forward to meeting the bloke. I even recommended anime for him through his friend via a text from my cousin. *Gasp for air*), It's her attitude to the idea of being with them. She's also racist against asians. Insulting their big noses and how they look too white.
She won't even really look at mixed race guys. If they look or act too white she'll turn 'em down in BUCKETS.
THAT is racism. That's pure racism right there!

2.My sister watches a lot of Maury. And I'm wondering whether it's racist to quote somebody off that show if they just happen to be black. and a LOT of the sluttiest people shown on Maury in the UK have been black. Just because they cut the show to fit on UK time slots and end up leaving a lot of the (over) reactions of the black people in. One fat lady even ran into a corner and lay down on the floor and started blubbing "Oh god! Oh god!" and when Maury went over to see her she gasped for breath then looked up at him with puppy dog eyes and whimpered "Maury? Who mah babydaddy?". Because this was the LITERAL 15th time she'd been on the show for paternity tests.
Now I dunno if laughing and mocking is racist or just laughing at just how pathetic she was and how she was getting payback for sleeping around. I'm gonna need a bit of convincing of it being the former here, but I'm a little bit unsure and jsut need some confirmation.


3.I've uttered phrases that have been misinterpreted as racist. I was explaining the meaning of "Allahu Akhbar" to a friend one day when we were on a trip to Glasgow. And when I said it to him an Asian Couple (South Asian is classed as Asian in the UK) turned round in horror and gasped at us. Immediate facepalm ensued.

Later that night we walked past them again and they gave us one hell of a frightened look when we were taking the escalator in the cinema. I just sheepishly looked away. I felt like crying. Honestly! I'm ashamed I scared them. Even if it was unintentional. I'm also ashamed that I'm ashamed. I wasn't meaning anything BAD by it, I was just explaining the meaning and using it in context with that I was talking about. The reason I was explaining it was because I was twisting that phrase to make a title for one of my own music tracks "Alba Akhbar" that's about the dangerous levels I saw Scottish patriotism get to while I was growing up there. I told my friend it was play on the original Arabic expression and he asked what it meant. And then that thing happened. I told him he'd probably heard it before on TV and to try and refresh his memory I said it. I was heard by people other than the person I was talking to. Simple as that.

The only real reason I'm ashamed about what happened is because I scared people and didn't explain myself(They ran away before I could. And the second time I saw them they were with a group of people and I didn't want to start a scene.).
I'm an emotionally sensitive person. Wikipedia can say all the hell they want about my social disorder, but I'm extremely empathetic when I understand that there's empathy to be felt.

4.And I can relate to Aurora Moon. Being a (classed as) disabled teenager is tough. I lived in a country that systematically discriminates against teenagers. Even in police advertisements.
I won't be a teenager for very much longer now. I'll be 20 in just over a month. But a lot of people I tell my age to don't believe me because of how young I look. I still have to bring ID to buy 18 rated videogames and movies.

I've still to get my first proper job. I was put in a work placement scheme shortly before moving. But I'm still talked down to. And my estimated age and height (One photo I posted up somewhere of myself when I was 16 and weighed less was meeted with comments like "OMG! You look 12!". I'm also just under 5 feet tall. Actual 12 year olds tower over me!) don't help.

I've seen people with severe autism. Writhing their hands, grinning insanely and shrieking. I'm nothing like that and the fact I'm lumped in with people that severe in the eyes of the general public both agitates and scares me. Yet I openly discuss my AS in some places because I feel that if I didn't talk about it I wouldn't help society learn (only slightly) that "disabled" doesn't mean slumped back and drooling in a wheelchair. And I think that if I do that then I'll help others do the same. Shutting down and hiding away never helped anyone. The only way that the US now has a mixed-race president is because of small acts by individuals that led to a revolution (Not all of them were black. There were white people working the gears of change too). Rosa Parks chose not to move seats. I'll choose to not be treated like a baby. I'm no infantalist! Maybe one day there'll be a diagnosed aspie PM. One can only hope, eh?

That is... If you believe it EXISTS... Which some people still need to aknowledge or at least understand why people can think it does.


Btw, I split this up just to make it easier to read. I have a bit of problems reading long stuff that isn't broken up. It's why I find it hard to complete novels these days.

The Author
You want to know what's racist?

THIS [dailymail.co.uk]!!!

This actually happened in my hometown, and (excuse my french) makes me fucking sick!

People like that should be hung!

I wonder.

Sometimes I suspect these "muslim" groups to be funded by MI5 or MI6 or the CIA.

But why will these groups be funded? Who benefits?

Its simple. It gives the government an excuse to create a police state and crack down on liberty.

Liberty is the enemy.

Freegurt

DAJB
The problem is that, in the rush to protect minority rights, the corresponding rights of the majority are often forgotten or even trampled upon.

That's the exact point I was trying to get across. Especially in the case of affirmative action. The whole point of it was to stop racism against minorities and help them in acquiring jobs, schooling, etc. But in the end, it is racist because it's preventing everyone else to get in. .... I'm completely fine with offering opportunities to people who didn't originally have them. But to completely blow over someone who is fully qualified with experience simply because he's a white male? That's racism thar.

I hear what you're saying, and philosophically I can relate. But to argue the other point, think of the study I quoted earlier, where the exact same resume with "black-sounding" names got fewer callbacks than resumes with "white-sounding" names. I imagine that no one at any of these businesses belongs or supports the KKK. I imagine they all have mission statements of diversity and equal opportunity. And I imagine that every one of them, if you approached them and told them what had happened in this study, would say that it might be true in other cases, but they had other non-racial reasons for rejecting the resume.

So what do you do if you're black and are getting less callbacks than your white friends? What do you do when you're faced with racism like this? Surely you'd want to protest, surely you'd want to point out to folks that maybe just maybe there are racial reasons for what's happening. And those folks would feel unjustly maligned, like the race card was being unfairly played against them when they were simply treating everyone equal.

I'm just trying to get people to try to see things differently. This is not an easy problem to deal with. When it comes to affirmative action, I do think an economic dimension should be added. But I'll tell you this, I will gladly stop arguing for affirmative action the day legacy acceptances are banned... y'know, where a school accepts a less-qualified C-student because their parents gave a million dollars to the school's endowment fund. Or a less-qualified person gets hired because someone owes their daddy a favor. Or the other occasions where unqualified folks get ahead because of family money, which tends to put minorities at a disadvantage. When those practices are outlawed, then yes let's end affirmative action. But I don't see that happening any time soon. Affirmative action is not perfect, but at least it's an attempt to put the thumb on the scales of justice to rebalance it just a *little* bit.

arteestx
So what do you do if you're black and are getting less callbacks than your white friends? What do you do when you're faced with racism like this? Surely you'd want to protest, surely you'd want to point out to folks that maybe just maybe there are racial reasons for what's happening.

Sure. When there is racism it should be flagged and the victims have every right to protest. No question.

The original point, though, was that it's too easy to blame supposed racism when the real reason may be that the person in question was less qualified or less capable to do the job.

"Affirmative action", if I understand your use of the term correctly, is what we would normally call "positive discrimination" in the UK. And, frankly, discrimination is discrimination no matter how many "positives" or "affirmatives" you use to qualify it. "Positive discrimination" in favour of blacks or women, for example, is simply ordinary common-or-garden discrimination against whites or men. As far as promoting an egalitarian meritocracy goes, it is therefore a step in the wrong direction. Using your example, you could easily argue there is no discrimination against blacks in those circumstances, just "positive discrimation" (or "affirmative action" ) in favour of whites.

Real racism and sexism is wrong and should be universally condemned. I don't think anyone here is arguing otherwise. Building a system which favours any group over another based on something other than merit/suitability, however, is just another form of discrimination and can only fuel tensions further.

The Author
You want to know what's racist?

THIS [dailymail.co.uk]!!!

This actually happened in my hometown, and (excuse my french) makes me fucking sick!

People like that should be hung!

I see nothing "racist" there. Nothing at all.
All you have there is tensions running high over situations to do with war and nationalism. No one wins. It's best not too react badly and contribute to the provocation and inflammatory remarks by reacting in kind. You become just another part of the problem.

kyupol

The Author
You want to know what's racist?

THIS [dailymail.co.uk]!!!

This actually happened in my hometown, and (excuse my french) makes me fucking sick!

People like that should be hung!

I wonder.

Sometimes I suspect these "muslim" groups to be funded by MI5 or MI6 or the CIA.

But why will these groups be funded? Who benefits?

Its simple. It gives the government an excuse to create a police state and crack down on liberty.

Liberty is the enemy.

Intelligence agencies can't match the funds available to Islam and all 1.2 billion of them. Why pay for it when if even 1% of them spout such hatred that is still 12 million. More than enough to go to mosques everywhere and spew lots of hatred. Then there's Muslim media which serializes The Protocals of the Elders of Zion and wholeheartedly believe many of the same conspiracy theories you do. They see Mossad, CIA and Mi6 everywhere too and they want to destroy our liberty.

Islam is not a race, it is a religion that like Christianity and Judiaism and so many others believes they have the monopoly on Truth. Their predujudice is just as dangerous as the worst skinhead who often clothes his hate speech in the clothes of Fundamentalist Christianity. Again maybe we're looking for our enemies in the wrong place.

The Author
You want to know what's racist?

THIS [dailymail.co.uk]!!!

This actually happened in my hometown, and (excuse my french) makes me fucking sick!

People like that should be hung!

hehhe ,
should be hung ???
for exercising their free speech ? the same freedom those soldiers are fighting for in Iraq ???
actually that article is more racist than the people protesting the war . i wonder if they would have used such powerful rhetoric if the protesters had been white .

and i'm pretty sure "fuck" is German

DAJB
The original point, though, was that it's too easy to blame supposed racism when the real reason may be that the person in question was less qualified or less capable to do the job.

So why did exactly the same resume with black-sounding names get significantly less callbacks than resumes with white-sounding names? That has nothing to do with less qualified or less capable. The ONLY thing that changed in the study was the name of the person. If this isn't racism, then what is it?

DAJB
Building a system which favours any group over another based on something other than merit/suitability, however, is just another form of discrimination and can only fuel tensions further.

But that's the system we have right now. Minorities and women are at a disadvantage, white males have the advantage. What's the answer? Do nothing? Sue individuals that don't hire a black person or woman? Seriously, what should be done to confront continuing racial and sex inequality? Do we allow this continue or not?

arteestx

DAJB
The original point, though, was that it's too easy to blame supposed racism when the real reason may be that the person in question was less qualified or less capable to do the job.

So why did exactly the same resume with black-sounding names get significantly less callbacks than resumes with white-sounding names? That has nothing to do with less qualified or less capable. The ONLY thing that changed in the study was the name of the person. If this isn't racism, then what is it?

DAJB
Building a system which favours any group over another based on something other than merit/suitability, however, is just another form of discrimination and can only fuel tensions further.

But that's the system we have right now. Minorities and women are at a disadvantage, white males have the advantage. What's the answer? Do nothing? Sue individuals that don't hire a black person or woman? Seriously, what should be done to confront continuing racial and sex inequality? Do we allow this continue or not?

I have to ask then, what can be done. Because as I said, everyone is racist to a degree, so long as there are ways to group people up and divide them. These kinds of incidents are so mundane they occur on a subconscious level. With all the media and exposure and what people grow up and are raised to believe, our very culture reinforces these norms because, let's face it, white men have the power. They hold the majority of the wealth and have since day one.

I'm not saying that we should just give up and live with the problem, I'm saying it's not a problem you can fix outright. I don't believe that any of those people thought outright, "Oh, this applicant sounds black, rejected," and I'm sure you don't believe that either. But when every aspect of society reinforces a way of thinking, it's hard to shake it.

Biased or not, everyone has preferences, and those preferences will take part in their decisions whether they mean to or not.

Hakoshen
Biased or not, everyone has preferences, and those preferences will take part in their decisions whether they mean to or not.

All decisions are based on preferences. Everyone discriminates, that is what decision making is; making a choice. Shouldn't we look at what influences that preference and through education enable the decision maker to have an informed opinion that is based on solid evidence as opposed to a whim.

Enable the decision maker to think critically and look beyond what is on the surface and judge others on their character according to ethical standards that benefit the human species.

Or just submit to Shira law. I can't help it I've been reading the Koran again. :(

Hakoshen
I have to ask then, what can be done.

To me, affirmative action is an imperfect, somewhat-unfair, reverse-biased way of trying to deal with the problem. Perhaps by having more minorities and women in professional jobs, or more business owners who get contracts, etc., that will over time change the perception of society. I think it's helped over the last few decades, and I'd like to see an economic-disadvantage dimension added to it in the future (after all, I doubt Obama's kids will have the same disadvantages as other minorities). I wish it weren't still necessary and I look forward to a day when affirmative action will be unecessary, but I don't think we're quite there yet. I'm not saying it's a wonderful or ideal system, but I see affirmative action as a way to put a thumb back on the scales of justice a *little* bit.

Faliat
4.And I can relate to Aurora Moon. Being a (classed as) disabled teenager is tough. I lived in a country that systematically discriminates against teenagers. Even in police advertisements.
I won't be a teenager for very much longer now. I'll be 20 in just over a month. But a lot of people I tell my age to don't believe me because of how young I look. I still have to bring ID to buy 18 rated videogames and movies.

I've still to get my first proper job. I was put in a work placement scheme shortly before moving. But I'm still talked down to. And my estimated age and height (One photo I posted up somewhere of myself when I was 16 and weighed less was meeted with comments like "OMG! You look 12!". I'm also just under 5 feet tall. Actual 12 year olds tower over me!) don't help.

I've seen people with severe autism. Writhing their hands, grinning insanely and shrieking. I'm nothing like that and the fact I'm lumped in with people that severe in the eyes of the general public both agitates and scares me. Yet I openly discuss my AS in some places because I feel that if I didn't talk about it I wouldn't help society learn (only slightly) that "disabled" doesn't mean slumped back and drooling in a wheelchair. And I think that if I do that then I'll help others do the same. Shutting down and hiding away never helped anyone. The only way that the US now has a mixed-race president is because of small acts by individuals that led to a revolution (Not all of them were black. There were white people working the gears of change too). Rosa Parks chose not to move seats. I'll choose to not be treated like a baby. I'm no infantalist! Maybe one day there'll be a diagnosed aspie PM. One can only hope, eh?

I can relate on that whole "looking like a different age" thing. When I was 12, I looked like I was 8. When I was 16, I looked 13... and so on.

I agree that it can get very tiring HAVING to prove that you're actually older than you look. I've had a few incidents where I was "talked down" to also because of this. one day when I'm an older lady I might love having the ability to look younger than I really am, but right now it's just an hassle at times.

And I know what you mean about Autism. I go though an simlar thing as an deaf person. There's so many misconceptions about being deaf, and at times those often work against us.
It's not like being deaf is difficult to live with or anything...it's only difficult for us in the way people act towards us. and contrary to popular belief, being deaf doesn't mean that you can't hear things via hearing aids, etc.
It often wears me out to hear : "Oh, I'm so SORRY!!" every time I happen to mention that I'm deaf. I'm a perfectly normal person who doesn't miss out on anything, really.
"But...you can't enjoy music or anything else that enriches a person's life!!"
Um,I do wear hearing aids and therefore I can enjoy music. I actually love classical music and jazz.

It's also left me slightly paranoid in accepting any form of help.
By that, I mean that I feel like I absolutely have to prove myself by doing everything myself, even when I need help. I can't help but feel like if I accept any form of help, no matter how tiny it might be , then that could somehow destroy everything I've worked towards in being accepted as just an normal, capable human being, instead of being seen as "Deaf and dumb". (god, I hate that saying so much. :p the "dumb" part is actually what they used to refer to mutes in the old days, but of course it's changed in it's meaning slightly. )

So when I DO accept help, it's usually after I've taken my sweet time trying to do it on my own... then another long while for me to admit to myself, that I DO need help with something after all.

self-pride can be rather difficult in that regards, especially if you've got a lot of it.

arteestx

DAJB
Building a system which favours any group over another based on something other than merit/suitability, however, is just another form of discrimination and can only fuel tensions further.

But that's the system we have right now. Minorities and women are at a disadvantage, white males have the advantage. What's the answer? Do nothing? Do we allow this continue or not?

No. You challenge it. Absolutely. But replacing one form of discrimination with another is short-sighted and counter-productive, no matter how much you try to dress it up with nice-sounding, politically correct terminology.

DAJB

arteestx
Minorities and women are at a disadvantage, white males have the advantage. What's the answer? Do nothing?

No. You challenge it. Absolutely.

How do you challenge it? Do you sue each individual business? Do you cast aspersions at all of society ( and "unfairly play the race card" ) ? I don't like affirmative action in principle, but if not that, then what's the other plan? How do we challenge covert forms of racism?

arteestx

DAJB

arteestx
Minorities and women are at a disadvantage, white males have the advantage. What's the answer? Do nothing?

No. You challenge it. Absolutely.

How do you challenge it? Do you sue each individual business?

Yup. Most modern Western societes have all sorts of tribunals, watchdogs, government agencies, lawyers and ombudsmen to deal with this kind of thing. They're not perfect and they won't always reach the correct decision. Injustice is a part of life and there are, in fact, more avenues open to victims of racism and sexism than to victims of other types of prejudice (wrong accent, wrong class, not sufficiently attractive, etc etc).

If you're serious about wanting to solve a problem like discrimination, the prejudice has to be confronted, not just replaced by another.

Aurora Moon
I can relate on that whole "looking like a different age" thing. When I was 12, I looked like I was 8. When I was 16, I looked 13... and so on.

Actually, that's different for me. I looked older when I was 12.
And when I was 15 people thought I was elderly since trauma I was experiencing everyday made me overweight and frail with hair that was frizzy, light and falling out. As well as the fact that my peers had all gone through growth spurts and I was barely growing at all and was spending day after day hunched over and hobbling about like Igor just trying to survive.
Once I got a new haircut, the sores healed and I stopped bashing my head off walls, It took MORE then 50 years off me.

I'm actually worried that losing weight'll make me look even younger. I'm classed as obese right now, but if I was my ideal weight I'd be nearly proportioned like I was when I was 10. I don't wanna grow up, but that's ridiculous!

Faliat

Aurora Moon
I can relate on that whole "looking like a different age" thing. When I was 12, I looked like I was 8. When I was 16, I looked 13... and so on.

Actually, that's different for me. I looked older when I was 12.
And when I was 15 people thought I was elderly since trauma I was experiencing everyday made me overweight and frail with hair that was frizzy, light and falling out. As well as the fact that my peers had all gone through growth spurts and I was barely growing at all and was spending day after day hunched over and hobbling about like Igor just trying to survive.
Once I got a new haircut, the sores healed and I stopped bashing my head off walls, It took MORE then 50 years off me.

I'm actually worried that losing weight'll make me look even younger. I'm classed as obese right now, but if I was my ideal weight I'd be nearly proportioned like I was when I was 10. I don't wanna grow up, but that's ridiculous!

whoa. yeah, looking like an 10-year-old would be too much. that would certainly create a lot of problems in the work force...nobody would hire somebody who looked underaged, for one. and maybe less in the dating area, etc. I don't even want to think about what sort of person would want to date somebody who looked 10 years old. nobody wants to date an closet pedophile. :p

I was actually slightly underweight for a fair amount of my life because of the fact that I had an super-fast metabolism that would burn the fat completely off anything I was eating. it was only when I started to have snacks in between did I get my weight to be more of an normal weight.

Now that I think of it, when I started gaining weight to regain my normal weight, I started getting mistaken for an young adult (17-18 years old), instead of just a plain teenager (15-16) in my 20's. I actually never thought that there could be a link between that and my weight. interesting.

but yeah, I think we should stop talking about this... this is kinda getting off topic. ^^;;

Here's the deal if say Superman had the ability to tune into the phantom zone and see General Zod acting a fool and you couldn't beacause your vision was only that of a human does that mean that Superman was imagining seeing Gen. Zod that he was crazy, That his extra sensory perception made him too sensitive. I'm saying all this in an analogy to say this.... If you've never been black how can you possibly see what I've seen lived how I've lived ,felt what I felt ,when you know you can't The times they are a changing but there are some things that change at their own pace.So just try to love your fellow man as well as you can and don't get bent out of shape over how much you hate people whining or using the race card or sex or money card to advance. And I know it's hard after all we're all JUST HUMANS.

I'm a mixture of everything (french, hispanic, black, etc...)

Its kind of funny to me. Racism is almost like a fad to most of my friends. I think most people now or days even use it as a joke, rather than a discrimination.


But, who ever invented the word is a complete Jackass no doubt :p...

I agree that using the race card all the time is annoying, but being a black person there have definitely been situations at work and school where I knew that race was the reason why I was treated negatively.

(I guess it doesn't help that I live in southern Texas XD).

And you know, it didn't help that I was always a bit of a nerdy girl, so I was always stuck in a funny place: a lot of the black kids hated me because I was trying to act "white", and a lot of the white kids hated me because because physically I didn't meld with them.

One of the worst experiences I had in high school was when a white kid in my class said that he couldn't believe I was in the top 10 percent because black people aren't that smart. Whatever, my brother goes to MIT :P. Whenever I have to deal with racism, it's always someone assuming that because I'm darker then them I must be stupid. It's ridiculous sometimes.

Oh well, I don't think there'll ever be a solution to discrimination or reverse discrimination. I think you just have to try to be the best at anything you do, work three times harder than anyone else, so no one will have an excuse to treat you wrongly.

Nicotine
Oh well, I don't think there'll ever be a solution to discrimination or reverse discrimination. I think you just have to try to be the best at anything you do, work three times harder than anyone else, so no one will have an excuse to treat you wrongly.

Well, that's a bit unfair. Forcing someone to work that much harder just to be treated like an equal.

How bad is the southern part of the states today, when it comes to racial issues? I was amazed when it dawned to me that less then 40 years ago segregation was still a common thing over there.

Racism is a sad thing. I've experienced it on few occasions and it goes both ways. I remember riding a bus in London where this African woman was screaming in, trying to convince everyone the the white race was stagnant and that it was the efforts of black scientists that progress was being made today except that they didn't get any credit for it. She yelled about allot of other things and the only person who could shut her up was the bus driver who happened to be the only other black individual in there. At the time I was very unused to stuff like that.

Product Placement

Nicotine
Oh well, I don't think there'll ever be a solution to discrimination or reverse discrimination. I think you just have to try to be the best at anything you do, work three times harder than anyone else, so no one will have an excuse to treat you wrongly.

Well, that's a bit unfair. Forcing someone to work that much harder just to be treated like an equal.

Unfortunatly, that's how everything's been for me, pretty much. :/
I always made sure I got good grades and didn't slack off at work or school, because I knew if I did I'd be the first one to be called incompetent. It's sad, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

Product Placement
How bad is the southern part of the states today, when it comes to racial issues? I was amazed when it dawned to me that less then 40 years ago segregation was still a common thing over there.

Well, at least in this part of Texas (Houston and the surrounding area), things are a little 50/50 to me. A lot of areas are actually racially mixed (there are very large Hispanic and Vietnamese communities here, for instance).

Other areas (like where I live in a little place called Cypress, a suburb of Houston) there's a lot of blatant racism. The standard purse-clutch thing I see when I walk by a white women, like I'm going to jump her and steal her purse or something >_>. Or that KKK ralley that happened a couple years ago close to me house. <_<

Product Placement
Racism is a sad thing. I've experienced it on few occasions and it goes both ways.

I agree; it's very sad and it's very, very hurtful. Sometimes it's like people are blaming you for who you are. D:

And another thing about playing the race card: I agree that playing the race card is annoying sometimes, like I said before, but it's also really annoying when people blame you for doing it when you aren't.

I remember in high school when I would make a little comment expressing how I didn't know why I got a certain grade on something, or something else along those lines, people would jump on me and say "OH! Your just saying that because your black!"

URG!

If you've never been black how can you possibly see what I've seen lived how I've lived ,felt what I felt ,when you know you can't

I don't think that's true. One may not have experienced being discriminated against because of one's skin colour (which may not actually be true, because whites have the capacity to be racist about other whites just fine, from skin tone to tanning and lack thereof. Just try being milk white amongst copper-tanned whites when this copper tan is actually a status symbol), but everyone has been discriminated against about something they can't do too much to change: for one thing, money. There is always someone who flashes more in your face and tells you that you are no better than a coolie. (and this is a word I use to make my point)

And there is also discrimination based on appearance from high school cliques to availability for finding boyfriends.

The point is how much one can generalize this experience to understand why one must not do it, and that this is how it feels for everyone regardless the reason for the discrimination.

I, for one, am not going to pretend to be oblivious of race. I'm not going to pretend not to notice the difference between an african face and an asian one. I just won't. I also won't pretend to know all about someone's culture and traditions just by looking at 'im. I'll still say "Merry Christmas" to people every year. But I will treat people based on how they treat me. (Though, most times I treat everyone courteously anyway... owo;)

And another thing, I know being sensitive is nice and all, but being overly sensitive is racism too. Feeling for someone isn't a bad thing, but when over-done it's just... not so good anymore. ): I've seen people who freak out just because someone mentions the color black or white, and that's just not good. ):

But, of course, if something is taken the wrong way it is good to appologize. That's just the polite and courteous thing to do, ya know? :)

I remember a story that someone once told me. It was this person from England who long time ago traveled to America to attend some convention or something like that(the story is not fresh in my head so I'm forgetting allot of details.) I remember that he ended up needing to stay in this seedy hotel in a run down part of a city that's somewhere in the south. He asks the person by the desk if there are any pubs around and he's informs him that the closest bar is couple of streets away but that he wouldn't want to got there because it's a "colored" bar. The people at the hotel were quite serious about it and insisted that he shouldn't go there because it was dangerous for his kind. Despite the warning he decides to go there anyways. When he opened the door to the place he felt like he had stepped into a moment from a wild west movie where all activities stopped on the spot and you could hear a pin drop. Everyone inside was black and were now looking at him with a not to friendly face. At this point he became a bit nervous but carefully walked up to the bar and asked if they'd serve him a drink. As soon as he opened his mouth and his heavy British accent was heard the whole mood of the place chanced back to pleasant and he spent the entire evening there with no complications.

I assume from that story that many racist issues some people in the states have are derived from old chips on their shoulders. Since my British storyteller was an not from around there he must have been exempted from any misplaced anger since he was viewed as someone who had nothing to do with their past.

All in all I found it to be an interesting story.

Skullbie
People who write vampire novels are probably racist since right now i cannot think of one non-white vampire in the history of ever(except Blacula but...yeh)

What about
BLADE!!!!!!!!!?

White, black, asian, mexican, etc. have their own style (I'm white, just putting that out there), but whites is just the race that is condescending to every other race, no matter how pristine you may be.

Biskit Comics
but whites is just the race that is condescending to every other race, no matter how pristine you may be.

Right because if you're black or mexican or asain you can't possibly be racist. It's hypocrisy and against their moral core. (whites don't have a moral core)

I think what people become, and this goes for all people, especially when times are hard are opportunists and survivalists. People will use whatever they can to give themselves an advantage. It's small and petty but that's what a lot of people become because they don't have the conscience or moral backbone to make it on their own merits. I am an American of Mexican descent, a woman, and a lesbian but I have never used any of this as a way to make people feel sorry for me. I was raised to do things the honest way. I couldn't stand tall if I knew that everything I've worked hard for, my education and my career, were only obtained in any other way but my own hard work and perseverence. But i have seen people pull their victim bullshit and it's really upsetting that people have to stoop to that because they feel entitled to something they didn't earn. In America, we also have this rescue the victim mentality which gives people this feeling of entitlement and moral superiority. I feel that no one has the right to make another person feel low because everyone has a different set of circumstances. You will never know exactly what another person has been through in their lives so there is not a one of us that can judge the other.