OK, I really want to talk about racism from a personal level

a reply to: JackReyes

With respect, only a total dullard would expect anyone except a forensic anthropologist to be able to tell the difference between a person from one part of a continent, and another part of a continent. However, what DOES make a person racist, is when they cannot (read refuse) to tell the difference between two people of a different cultural and genetic background to their own, that they have met.

For example, I have a local pal called Lamin, who is from Nigeria. I have met him several times. We were out and about in town two years ago, when a skinhead came up to him and started calling him by another name, repeatedly throughout the evening. He was informed of his mistake, and eventually burst out to me,"But he MUST be Cojo, cos Cojo is the only black bloke who ever comes in here, innit?".

If you think that there are not people out there, so blinded by skin tone that they refuse to distinguish between two individuals of colour, preferring to either assume they are all the same dude, or merely fail to learn their face well enough to recognise later, then I am afraid you are dead wrong there. The other gag that never fails to make me want to tear a face off someone, is when someone comes up to a mate of yours, and insists that they must know such and such, because such and such is also black, a Jew, an Arab, or homosexual, or into guitar lead rock, or whatever.

People are out there, whose ignorance is so vast in width, and so crushing in depth, that it beggars belief. Luckily enough, that is fairly rare in my experience, but these people do exist, and if I have met them in the course of my life, I can only assume that statistically speaking, the chances are good that there are more of them out there, than I have met.

And while we are on the subject of people recognising faces... I am a metalhead. I have long hair, a pointy beard, I wear black, and listen to badass music. I was at a bar that I often frequent in town, and a fellow came up to me and spoke to me as if he knew me. I asked him where he knew me from, and he responded "Kev, you are one funny bastard, you know that?". This would not have been a problem, if my name was actually Kev, or Kevin, or Sir Kevalot the sodding fifth, but alas it is not. I pointed out his error, and he apologised and as he made to wander off to the other end of the bar, he said "All you lot look the same to me".

Just to be clear, that's a random white bloke, telling another random white bloke, that all folk who have the tiniest physical similarities in common, look IDENTICAL as far as he is concerned. Now, its true. I cannot tell at a glance whether someone is from the West Indies, or from the shores of the
Indus River. I sometimes have a decent shot at telling which area of the Far East a person might be from, simply because there are certain physical traits which are more common to one nation than another, and these can be spotted rather easily, especially if you happen to be as familiar with Asian film as I am. However, not being able to tell the difference, between two people you have actually met, because they share more than one common feature of appearance, is staggering ignorance, and ignorance born of casual disregard, which is tantamount to hate.

It's a fair cop to say that there is no way to tell the difference between an Egyptian and a Libyan. It is not fair to assume that a person is from one or the other, nor is it fair to suggest once you have met that person, that you might not recognise them again, because "all your lot look the same to me". That is utter filth, and it happens, and its a bloody shame.

Have you not played online poker before? I used to win a decent amount on tournaments before it became impossible to play in NY. It's the internet. I'll talk # when I play or will joke around if something is said to me but if somebody is an idiot ignore. It's the internet on top of a game where you want to get under somebody's skin so it's a trolling double whammy. Just ignore them. It sounds like you have a complexion most people would love, why get bothered by an troll online looking for a reaction or some miserable idiot?

originally posted by: GrantedBail
I am a white girl with olive skin...

In my studies, I have found that we are all racist, it is 'hard-wired'/'genetic'!
Atavistic!
We are either recovering, a lifelong healing, or we are practicing!
Denial = practicing!

a reply to: JackReyes

...there's lots of discussion on nationality in your racism test lol

Epic fail. Race, ethnicity, and nationality are different things.

Race is the color of skin. I like the 1920s list because it covers everything: white, yellow, red, brown, black.

As an example, African American is not a race...it is a nationality reference for a person born on the continent of Africa who immigrated to the USA. Alternatively...if African American refers to a US citizen with relatives from Africa, then all US citizens are African American because of the out of Africa theory (we all came from what is now Africa).

a reply to: GrantedBail

I think that people who make comments like that are either very old and come from a totally different upbringing or maybe have a learning disability.

Its hard to define stupidity bc my older sister has a high IQ but also a bit racist but tests have been done and stupidity does correlate with racism.

I would also say that racism also correlates with close-mindedness. Those who are close-minded limit how much they can learn and therefore come off as stupid.

a reply to: darkwarrior

.if African American refers to a US citizen with relatives from Africa, then all US citizens are African American because of the out of Africa theory (we all came from what is now Africa).

In a broader sense yes, but as is used by everyday common knowledge the term is referring to the most recent ancestors and relatives through genetics, yes most western Blacks do have living relatives in Africa..this however does not exclude them from having non African relatives and ancestors.

Race is the color of skin. I like the 1920s list because it covers everything: white, yellow, red, brown, black.

No! as use of the term "Black" in America covers a variety of complexions within that ethnic universe,
From high Yella like Maria Carey, to blacker than Wesley Snipes.

The range looks like this all AA women, or if you like Black women,
plus one can talk of Black culture which is as meaningless as talking about yellow culture or red culture, Some Asian pacific people are Black with similar phenotype but are not close relatives of Africans in genetics or culture, and they themselves varies from each other.

not really racism unless she owns the site and can ban you from it, from a white perspective racism would be saying or doing mean things to other races. From and Africans perspective, racism is having power to stop a whole group of people economically and socially, those people where just prejudiced.

a reply to: TrueBrit

It was a fallacious argument. I know what you're talking about though, I was just watching that vid on YouTube and it cracked me up, when I saw this thread title and posted the video.

originally posted by: Murgatroid
If that isn't the definition of irony I don't know what is...

I wonder where she tells Native Americans to go?

Telling people to “go back to Mexico” is also totally ignorant of history since the entire southwest was stolen from Mexico...

Things get even more confusing when you look at the fact that Spain stole Mexico from the indigenous peoples who lived there.

I grew up in the same area BTW...

You do realize Mexico SOLD all of that land that is highlighted in your picture to the United States at the end of the Mexican American war right? A war in which Mexico fired the first shot?

I always find it funny when people claim "this land belongs to Mexico!" - all the while their ignorance of history is blatantly obvious.

a reply to: SprocketUK

No matter what you look like, someone will always be keen to not be around you.

I have had put-downs because:

I'm white
I'm a woman
I'm an American
I'm a Christian
I'm thin
I have a good salary.

a reply to: GrantedBail

............

On to the OP however:

No matter what your race, you are going to face discrimination.

My first 10 years, I grew up in a heavily Mexican neighborhood. I was jumped - at 8 years old, by 2 Mexican kids in a classroom as we were moving to art class. Because I was a "white boy". 8 freaking years old and these Mexican kids already hate White Boys. Forget the fact that me, my brother and my sister made up probably half the population of white students in the entire elementary school.

After we moved, we moved to a less, but still fairly Mexican neighborhood. There were more White families in the wider area, but in the immediate neighborhood, my family was one of maybe 5 or 6, the rest being fairly evenly divided between Black and Hispanic.

This time it was in Middle School, once again, because I was white, I was singled out by 2 Mexican kids that lived around the corner. Never once bothered them, just typical bullies. They may very well have bullied other kids, but they targeted me because I was white. You wouldn't believe the racism you hear against white people on a middle school bus in a neighborhood dominated by Mexicans and Blacks. Forget the fact that I was quiet and rarely talked to other people, I was singled out on numerous occasions for being "White" "Redneck" "Hillbilly" "Hick" you name it. The second time I was almost jumped by those two Mexican kids, I was walking by myself home from the bus stop and all of a sudden a football comes whizzing past my ear. I look back, and it is those two Mexican kids. I take the football, and throw it further down the street in the direction I was walking. I get home and about 5 minutes later, I'm outside just playing basketball and the two kids come walking around the corner like they are on a mission. I'm confident that had my brother not come out (he was 3 years older than us at the time), I would have been facing another 2 on one fight. All because I was a white boy in a minority neighborhood.

Now we go to my brother Josh. I don't know the entire story behind it, but my brother Josh was chased down and jumped by about 5 black kids, FOR NO REASON in the hallways of our high school which again, is mostly dominated with Hispanics and Blacks (I'd guess the school was about 25% White and 75% Black and Hispanic). The footage showed clearly that my brother was walking down the hall minding his own business (I think he was going to or coming from the bathroom) and these 6 black kids on the opposite end started staring hard at him, then chased him. As they got closer to my brother he looked behind him and saw them chasing, he tried to run, but not before they got him. My brother was knocked down and stomped. No reason, no words were exchanged, he didn't really deal with any of them. Of course they are not going to claim they did it because he was white, but one has to wonder if the roles were reversed, if 6 white kids went after a lone black kid and stomped him on the ground if they would be charged with hate crime status by default.

All this being said, I don't have a problem with Mexicans, Blacks, etc. In fact, I'd say I have more friends that are black and hispanic than I have White friends (though since getting out of the Marines and going to school in Orange County, CA, I have by default started to get more white acquaintances.) I grew up in Mexican and Black neighborhoods and am used to the atmosphere and culture. I'd be willing to bet I am more comfortable in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods than most members on this board ever will be. In fact, my current girlfriend is half Peruvian (mom was born and raised in Peru). She has told me on multiple occassions that she has seen more discrimination and racism aimed at her White father (Long Beach, CA) than she ever did at her very dark and heavily accented english, Peruvian mother.

Racism goes all ways. I know some progressive on here is going to claim "those aren't cases of racism, because racism = discrimination + power!!!" - to those of you who think that, I call bull# and am telling you you are ignorant. Not one of the times I, or my family was targeted because of our race did I feel any semblance of "power" over those who were targeting us. When I was getting jumped by those two Mexican kids in my fourth grade classroom, the only thing I felt was fear and "why are they doing this to me? I haven't done anything to them" I didn't plot to get them in trouble because I feared they would simply get more friends after the fact. The only thing on my mind in that instance was keeping my head low so as to not be targeted.

What proponents of the "Racism - Predjudice + Power, and White people are powerful" crowd fail to realize is that, contrary to your belief, White people are not all powerful. In my case, me and my family were the lowest on the totem pole. White families in both our neighborhoods I grew up in kept to ourselves (unless they knew each other prior to moving), however the Blacks and Hispanics were heavily befriended with each other. You would never be able to deal with just one family or group of kids. In our case, say I were to get into a fight with one Black kid, well he would have friends all through the neighborhood that would back him up. THAT is where this fabeled "power" comes from and it was used against me. I might not have a problem getting into a fight with those two Mexican kids, but it would never be just those two Mexican kids, it would be them plus their friends. I had no such luxuries. It was mostly me and my siblings, and we would hang around with other kids, but they would never go to bat for us if we ever were to get into a fight. That I am confident of.


I'll get off my soap box now. Just know that racism goes all ways. I have been told by many "minority" (particularly black friends) friends and acquaintances who have freely admitted that "black people are more racist than white people". Progressives always look at the overall numbers "oh, black people only make up 15% of the population so they are oppressed" - but black people aren't evenly mixed throughout the country. Like it or not, this country is still heavily segregated (mostly by choice, by people of all colors). The discrimination comes down to the local level. When there is a black family in a heavily white neighborhood (or vice versa). The discrimination and predjudice is done by all levels. If you want to claim that White people in heavily black neighborhoods don't face their own discrimination by their black neighbors, you are impressively ignorant, or have never been in that situation and shouldn't be commenting on it in the first place. I saw it first hand. I'm not denying that discrimination happens against people of color by communities of white people, but don't be an ignoramus and claim it doesn't happen the other way around. Each flavor of discrimnation has it's own distinctiveness. With black people who face discrimination, there is a good chance they are going to get the cops called on them. That is their distinctiveness. With White people who face discrimination, there is a good chance (like in me and all of my brothers who have all been attacked because we were white boys in heavily minority neighborhoods) they are going to be attacked by their neighbors, that is our unique distinct form of discrimination we face. Just because it doesn't involve the police or government doesn't lessen it's impact.

originally posted by: chuck258
I always find it funny when people claim "this land belongs to Mexico!" - all the while their ignorance of history is blatantly obvious.

According to who, history?

If you still consider that to be a reliable source, the jokes on you...

Historical 'facts' and TRUTH often have very little in common.

Most are unaware that history is a VERY effective form of mind control and has just as much credibility as the National Enquirer.

Finding the truth sometimes requires believing the opposite of what propaganda is telling us...

“There are two histories: official history, lying, and then secret history, where you find the real causes of events.” ~ Honoré de Balzac

"History is more or less bunk." ~ Henry Ford

"The falsification of history has done more to impede human development than any one thing known to mankind" - Rousseau

originally posted by: Murgatroid

originally posted by: chuck258
I always find it funny when people claim "this land belongs to Mexico!" - all the while their ignorance of history is blatantly obvious.

According to who, history?

If you still consider that to be a reliable source, the jokes on you...

Historical 'facts' and TRUTH often have very little in common.

Most are unaware that history is a VERY effective form of mind control and has just as much credibility as the National Enquirer.

Finding the truth sometimes requires believing the opposite of what propaganda is telling us...

“There are two histories: official history, lying, and then secret history, where you find the real causes of events.” ~ Honoré de Balzac

"History is more or less bunk." ~ Henry Ford

"The falsification of history has done more to impede human development than any one thing known to mankind" - Rousseau

Well if we are tossing history out the window why the hell is there ever an issue about Mexicans "owning the southwest" in the first place? 9/10 of the Mexicans in the territory THEY SOLD US IN PEACE NEGOTIATIONS CHOSE to receive US citizenship, they weren't evicted or tossed out.