As Long as I'm Avenue Qing: Are You a Little Bit Racist?

[Jenny A]

I am a little. Once upon a time, long, long ago when I was freshmen in college a young woman described a good choice for our study group. He's wearing a red sweater she said. Well the student center had over a hundred people in it. Red was in. And the room was 95 % white. I couldn't see him. He was black.

Ah ha! Racist. But if color didn't matter, why didn't she just say he was one of the only three black men in the room.? I hate this gotcha. Race for identification isn't racist. Pretending you don't see skin color may not be racist either, but it's silly, because you do.

Anyone skin color blind? I don't believe you.

A little racist? How can you help it?

The moral question is how do you act?

[Jacob(smooth)]

Brave post.

I'm culturist. That is there are certain cultures I really don't like. The Muslim women who have to sit quiet while their husband's answer all the medical questions for them for eg. Some of those groups are tied to racial groups so yes, I do cringe slightly when I look at the names on my list sometimes, and that is prejudice. The thin end of racism to be sure but it's there. That said, one of my best friends at uni was / is black and he's cheerfully racist about white folks! Used to call me snowflake . I love that guy.

[Jenny A]

Even scarier than schadenfreude?

[Jacob(smooth)]

This explains it pretty well

http://youtu.be/g9Qu3iP3RYA

[Alex K]

I've got a little racist in me, too. When I come across someone on the street at night, skin color is definitely a factor in my reaction in that situation, and it annoys me every time. On average, before I think rationally about it, I don't expect POC to be as competent as yoghurt-colored people like me even though I know that it is nonsense (*). It's absolutely horrific. At least I know better, but it's hard to impossible to get out of the system.

(*) I've had this eye-opening experience which made me look like an idiot to myself: I was standing in line in Uni in NY, and I went to the undergrad food court that day because of reasons. Behind me in line at the pizza parlour stood two young black guys in what you'd call stereotypical outfits - hoodies, baseball caps, sagging pants, and were discussing something in an agitated fashion in a relatively thick dialect. Of course, my brain had some pre-formed opinions which I didn't even know I had until I caught myself idly listening to their conversation. As I listened, it took me by complete surprise that they were actually talking about the properties of a partial differential equation they were dealing with. I slapped myself silently and got my pizza.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I'm a member of a multiracial family. It feels shitty when I find myself profiling (which is just a fancy word for "stereotyping") -- but I've done it.

What do I do about it? I chastise myself and keep going.

[Brakeman]

Being non-racist does not mean being intentionally blind to trends and statistics, it means being cognoscente that it is not skin color that makes the the trends, but rather the social units and individuals.

[c172]

I hate the idea of affirmative action. Hate it. Also, when I am perusing the comments section of a story, I downvote any comment that blames whites in a blanket manner for anything. I also get bugged that people act like you should be disowned from society for being racist. It's really "fashionable" now to be "anti-racism".

[Alex K]

I hate the idea of affirmative action. Hate it. Also, when I am perusing the comments section of a story, I downvote any comment that blames whites in a blanket manner for anything. I also get bugged that people act like you should be disowned from society for being racist.

Good for you

It's really "fashionable" now to be "anti-racism".

I'm sure it's just a fad. We'll be back to lynchings soon enough.

[Chas]

Brave post.

I'm culturist. That is there are certain cultures I really don't like. The Muslim women who have to sit quiet while their husband's answer all the medical questions for them for eg. Some of those groups are tied to racial groups so yes, I do cringe slightly when I look at the names on my list sometimes, and that is prejudice. The thin end of racism to be sure but it's there. That said, one of my best friends at uni was / is black and he's cheerfully racist about white folks! Used to call me snowflake . I love that guy.

it doesn't actually matter that some cultures are tied to racial groups. Being against cultural practices is not at all the same thing as judging based on genetic make-up.

For instance, I despise the misogynist practices of several religions and cultures regardless of race.