Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Diet Racism
Today, I am in shock. I never thought that racism was dead, but I thought it was at least weakened or dying, but lately I have been completely slapped in the face. I am going to tell you about two incidents that involve people I know. One grew up with me and I am very close to the other is an adult that I respect very much, but let me down with their words. I was at Sonic with my friend we were getting something to eat, and their were a lot of people their. My friend said soon after we got there "I am nervous, there are a lot of white people here" I was in shock I thought I knew this person. There words hit me hard how can a young person in 2007 say something like this. I didn't speak to them the entire time we were in the car together. I shrugged it off, and went on. I knew that racism still existed, chances are that I would encounter it. Days passed and today I was watching TV with someone and there was two men who were hugged up and this person assumed that one of them was gay and was wondering about the other. This person just kept show their frustration with the one that was gay. The gay man did cry a lot. I will admit the excessive crying was a bit much. For me it had nothing to do with the fact that he was gay, he is a grown man. The person I was Watching TV with spewed the word(forvive just quoting) fag and faggot a couple of time. Then the man began to cry again and she said "he is such an fag" I responded not all gay people cry all the time or act that way. She responded "yes they do". Shameful at least in my eyes. This is 2007, that is the same as saying that all black people eat watermelon and chicken. That is not all she had to say either. The show was about a family they were yelling a lot and she said that "they must be Italians". It is shameful to hear this out of an educated person's mouth. So now that you see the situation I am in. I want to address racism and prejudices in America. Like I said I Know that racism is not dead, but I never expected to hear it come from where it did or does. I know these people very well. They would never treat any one different based on anything like that, but they do think that way so that is what I am saying. We have racism, no one is treated different, but are looked down. I was raised that everyone is equal and you don't prejudge people based on outside things. What is inside their personality is what make a person good or bad. Or so I thought I guess that what all the adults around me were really saying was if you approve of who or what they are do you judge them on their personality instead of the outside.Racism is still very much alive. Same great taste, less calories.
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12 comments:
C-Dell: I won't address the second situation but the first and last one, I will attempt to put in words.
Just because your friend said "there are a lot of white people" doesn't make him / her racist. I can't even pretend to understand their or your situation, but if that makes them nervous, then so be it.
As for the "Italian" remark, well she is right, at least in our family. (American / Italian) HA!!
But you are right. I know whites who are not racists per say, but on occasion will use words that might be considered racist. This also applies to some blacks who use the cracker words and other "racist" white words as well as disparaging remarks toward other nationalities. But I don't think they are racist.
Take care
T
racism is alive and well in the good ole U.S. of A... it's just not cool to be a racist! so you won't SEE the George stand-in-the-schooldoor-racist Wallace anymore, but you'll FEEL it as you continue down the road of life.
Hi C-Dell.
Its still very much alive. Depending on where you are I guess, its more apparent than other areas of the country. We've made progress since the 60s, but someone is trying to grow the seeds again.
Ironically, racism itself doesn't seem to have any prejudices. Whites will feel it/do it to blacks and vice versa- include yellows, browns and reds in there too. It all depends on the numbers in the area- whether a person is a minority in that particular area (at that particular time) or not- I've seen that happen many times.
Don't know if I made sense.
I'd say the first one depended somewhat on the context. Of course, you were in the same context as your friend. Why the difference?
"Diet Racism" (interesting term, is that one all yours? if so, I'm stealing it) is pretty much a result of a mass mediated reality. People increasingly stick solely to people like them, these days, with perhaps one or two members of an outside ethnic group. Thus, the bulk of their understanding of what it means to be black, or white, or Italian, or gay comes in large part from their vicarious experience through mass media, which has a very clear shorthand for race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, class, and so on.
Hell, people even sometimes understand themselves as the media stereotype. To see what I mean, you might want to pick up a copy of C. Wright Mills "The Sociological Imagination," and then look at the people you know.
Take your first friend, for instance. If you take a look at black/white relationships in the dominant narrative, African Americans would have much to fear and loathe. Either they're the bad people (violent, hypersensitive, childlike, addicted to 40s, sexist, racist, irresponsible, etc.) or they're the good people (subservient, ever grateful for any acknowledgement, accepting of their place and inferiority, and childlike). Whiteness, in the dominant narrative, likewise translates into stereotypes of bad people (openly or overly racist, arrogant, abusive of their authority) and good people (responsible, authoritative, confident, approrpriate, and just plain normal).
Kind of a Hobson's choice, huh?
I'd suggest your friend would be better served by going out into the world and meeting more people.
As for educated people believing in stereotypes, you'd certainly be surprised. I imagine you will see more of it the older you get.
Hey Sweetie. I hope you don't mind, but I tagged you! =)
Check out my blog. 3rd entry down.
I love that you speak out against prejudice. That's awesome.
I wouldn't jump to any conclusions that your friends are jerks or anything, they probably just don't know. I wonder if that first person had a bad experience?
Like X-Dell says, you can't trust television. It would be great if more people made an effort to go out where other groups hang out and meet some real people from that group. (You have to meet a few, because every group has its jerks and its good people.) At the same time, they will meet you and hopefully find out that your group is good people too.
I've been thinking on how to answer this, so it will probably come in two parts. Racism to me has three categories: Declared hatred of the OTHER, Instutionalied--in which the system itself makes sure one race never gets ahead and sheer ignorance, which sometimes can be translated as inexperience. A student today asked me why the FBI used spys on Dr. King when he was non-violent. Malcolm preached violence so wasn't he different? I said that Dr. King may not have advocated violence, but he did something even worse: he cost the South money. When he did the bus boycott, untold transportation revenue was lost. America cares about the GNP. She didn't realize that. I appreciated her asking. How many don't ask, so they make assumptions that are false and later fester into blatent untruths?
We had a very open talk about racism in my class today. I will tell you more, but so far blogger has eaten three of my comments.
We need more people like you in this harsh world.
More people like your parents too to bring up their children seeing everyone as equals and sensitive towards other people's feelings and choices.
You're a good person, you will make a difference.
c-dell- i think that your shock may have come from the people you were with. comfort breeds familiarity- and when people feel comfortable with someone- they let their hair down so to speak. prejudices, ironically, are not prejudiced- white folks have just been the dominant force in the world for so long that we take the rap for being the only racists around. not true at all. it's all about digging down beneath the exterior layers of a person. education matters not one whit when it comes to prejudices- we acquire them externally from family, culture and friends.
combating racism and prejudice comes from having the courage to challenge the ideas and stereotypes associated with them. for you to speak up against the words of homophobia was a step in the correct direction. that was how the civil rights movement was 'won.' people of different colors and shapes and sizes stood up and said 'no more!' we are still fighting that fight- only it's hand to hand combat this time.
Hey! :-)
I don't think that the first instance you mentioned was racism. I'm a 20 yr old black female, and there are many situations where I've been the ONLY black face in a room filled with a race other than my own, and it can be uncomfortable being the only one that's not like everyone else. I think your friend was just letting you know that she felt out of place, not saying that she didn't like being around white people or anything like that. I grew up in a predominantly Hispanic town, so there were many cases in which I was the only Black person in a room filled with Hispanics. Yes, we were all minorities, but I still felt a little uneasy about being the only Black person there.
And there have been a couple occasions in which I was treated unfairly by another race, but I don't think they were the cause of my discomfort.
Add me to the list of people that are impressed with you. If more people were as open-minded as you the world would be a lot kinder. Perhaps in the future, our children's children will live a life of greater equality than we live today, and will look back at us as being an overly racist generation.
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