Hi. I truly believe in equal rights for all. Education is of great importance (kids but also all ages upto age 150). I read a few posts on here. I am a 'white' UK widower soon to be marrying a 'brown' Chinese lady. Only 'race' of importance (1 day but not within our life times - people now more interested in scammers and convicted criminals like that rum Katie Price and co) will be 'Earth Race'. Decades ago i will admit there was a small amount of racism in UK (even i was when i was 10 years old). I hope genuinely we unite Earth 1 day. It cant be worse than it is now 99.1% own more than 0.9% ^^^. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
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Generally, I don't think most people care because they're not affected by it, so to them that bogeyman is invisible whatever happens until they become affected by it themselves
On the 'can it really exist point'
When the whole discussion on the racism report that was released a while ago, it concluded that white boys underachieve a lot more compared to black boys. A lot of people and the media chose to focus on that rather than discussing why that may be, the implication in a lot of the discussion was that institutional racism didn't exist because white boys were underachieving more
I think that's an understandable assumption to make since the main narrative when it comes to racism has always been that white = automatically superior to everyone else. Perhaps there's a different way to think about it?
Or that's just a very simplified version of racism that fit a long time ago, and still still probably fits in America
It's why bringing issues and theories from America into the UK doesn't work as well
From my 60 years on Earth and 23 years active service white=superior (in UK i mean) is a no. no 1 even thinks like that (lads wise i mean). USA also i am 99% sure the lads there (is many Mexican and Native Indian lads) its the same. Every1 is equal chances but if some1 is a scammer or a f*cker then people will post about them black/white/brown or green.
Some more stupid tit courtesy of the Daily Fail.
apart from a minority in the states, I agree. However when you listen to the CRT rhetoric from there that's very much the theory they use. Which I tend to think is outdated as well as the user above.
CRT is straight out of post modernism and communist countries of the past esp China's Cultural Revolution. You do NOT want to teach children in the West that. It's violent and just pure evil.
As a white person who's never experienced racism, I don't really feel it's something I can talk much about. Though a few black friends recently called out some examples of microaggressions they'd experienced (not overt racism) and it really shocked me.
What were those microaggressions? Pray tell.
Questions like "where are you really from?", touching their hair, calling them "exotic", etc.
Those kind of small insidious things.
Nobody should touch anyone else's hair without consent but that's not a racist thing.
As for the 'where are you really from?' question I have some Asian friends who like that question because they're proud of their heritage and the opportunity to talk about it. Like everything else I guess it's all about context and intent.
As for the 'where are you really from?' question I have some Asian friends who like that question because they're proud of their heritage and the opportunity to talk about it. Like everything else I guess it's all about context and intent.
Yeah there's not usually malicious intent behind it and my first reaction was similar to yours, but then they said: "I bet no one's ever said that to you?"
And it's true. When people ask where I'm from and I tell them, they accept my first reply. But when people don't accept their first reply (i.e. "I don't mean where you were born, I mean where your family comes from") it shows they see them as an outsider.
I should have been clearer with the hair remark - it was said by a female black friend who said it's white girls who would touch her hair and say: "oh wow it's so thick!" And, while it sounds like a compliment, they wouldn't do it to fellow white girls' hair.
They're all subtle, small and insidious things, but they do make a difference. And my first reaction was to kick back, but then I thought... why am I trying to defend other people's actions? These are my friends and they're telling me something that they see as minor racism, why would I argue with their experiences and how they're made to feel?
This is what I mean by a lot of racism in the UK is hidden and people are quick to excuse it.
Only it's a lot different when you're black and possibly born in Britain or have lived here long enough that your parents/ancestors heritage isn't that relevant anymore
You're painted as an outsider/not British from the get go just because your skin colour/ethnicity is different
Well actually I have been told my colouring is exotic in places other than my home country and I took it as a huge compliment!
As for the hair thing, no one should touch anyone else against their consent (it's simply untrue that this doesn't happen to white girls). I don't know, if we're getting into a territory where even well meaning compliments are 'micro aggressions' that's not a healthy place to be IMO
As for the hair thing, no one should touch anyone else against their consent (it's simply untrue that this doesn't happen to white girls). I don't know, if we're getting into a territory where even well meaning compliments are 'micro aggressions' that's not a healthy place to be IMO
Hence why I said it depends on context and intent. As I said, some people of colour don't mind the question.
I totally understand since I've experienced it as well. "Where are you really from?" is truly irritating when you state where you're born. I've even been accused (several times) of lying and offered to show some I.D to this one mole who wouldn't leave me alone. Or "if you're from x"(I just said I have some ancestry not that i'm from there pr*ck) "how big is your d*ck?". I always get questioned about my ancestry ESPECIALLY in north america, by people I barely know (ex.i'm buying milk at a corner store and this asian lady harshly says ; where are you from? sometimes where are you really from, so I always say the same thing back).
So I only tell people I know well so even if some assholes/ignorants wanted to make a remark like that they can't do it as much. I'm lucky enough that my ethnicity isn't that obvious to many people so I can reduce the amount of racist assholes I run into. I could tell you more stories like the ones I've shared above.
I do think it can be a matter of context, (ex. I tell a friend my full ancestry and he makes the wrong assumption that I have heritage from my foreign ancestry, then we talk it out and he understands what I mean) but there's also some minor racism in day to day interactions. That I believe, but when people say that institutional racism is a given for all POC, well I'd like someone to point it out, because I've never felt I've faced that but I might be missing something.
Exotic normally means different and it's not hard to see how that can be alienating for someone
I'm an Eastern European immigrant but my name is fairly normal and I've met or heard about people with the same name who are British. Someone learnt I was an immigrant and said my name was 'exotic' rather than simply pretty or nice or whatever other normal adjective you'd use for a name
Plus, if we really consider it. Not many people/no one would look at a white girl with blonde hair and say 'wow you look so exotic!' in Britain or probably any other Western country. If there is something eye catching about a person you'll probably compliment them about that specifically... of course, it may be a bit weird to start saying that people's skin is a nice colour but the implication of 'exotic' when referring to skin colour is pretty much exactly that
I think it's also a question of assholes ruining it for everyone. Because of past experiences I tend to be turned off by people who when I first meet them make a comment about my looks/ethnicity, and respond well to people who want to get to know me first, then later ask.
In those places at least many white people see themselves as the default american/canadian, and I wonder why?
*Now this isn't to bash white people in general since I've met assholes of all ethnicities.
I've also found it weird that that happens in america+canada as well. The assholes like the ones I talked about, (white guy who I offered to show i.d), got really mad when I said he's not really canadian since he has no native american ancestry, and that I was simply using his logic, that I a french person, have more native french ancestry then him as a canadian have native canadian/american ancestry. Therefore I am more french then he is canadian.
In those places at least many white people see themselves as the default american/canadian, and I wonder why?
*Now this isn't to bash white people in general since I've met assholes of all ethnicities.
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@Merpedy "Plus, if we really consider it. Not many people/no one would look at a white girl with blonde hair and say 'wow you look so exotic" - actually, blonde hair is a colour that rarely occurs naturally bar some countries so yes, it could be called exotic in some Western country. As I said, I have been told my colouring is exotic. In my own country it wouldn't be but in others it could be. I don't see that as an insult or that difference is something we should be afraid of. Vive la difference and it takes all sorts to make a world
Context is key and I don't believe that going down the road of trying to find racism in every little thing is healthy.
Context is key and I don't believe that going down the road of trying to find racism in every little thing is healthy.
I think institutional racism does happen just as institutional sexism does happen. But CRT theorists like Robin Diangelo basically say that white people are always trying to uphold white supremacy and will always be racist. It's like original sin in the bible - humans are born bad.
I think it's not true, I think it's divisive and I think it's an unhealthy way to think. If we applied CRT concepts to sex, I think patriarchy exists and oppresses women but I don't think every single man in my life is oppressing me. I mean, some have obviously, but some men in my life have been there for me in my worst moments. Conversely, I've been horrifically bullied by other women.
This lady's story is interesting as she found that seeing life through the lens of CRT to be really psychologically damaging because she interpreted everything as having to be racism. If someone didn't hold a door for her or a cashier was rude or whatever the CRT answer was this is white supremacy, not the cashier hating their job or someone being self-centered.
However, there are some things that that I'm all totally for. E.g I think we need to do more in the UK about teaching about empire and the atrocities the UK committed, about the slave trade etc. I am also all for including non-european history, philosophy etc on curriculums and totally up for literature by more diverse authors being included in reading lists. While I read that race report commissioned by the tories with an open mind, I was not impressed by the fact that the authors seemed to think that what was needed was a patriotic education telling positive stories. Sometimes the most patriotic thing to do is to be able to own up to past mistakes. Germany teaches the third reich and the holocaust, why should we avoid learning about things like the Amritsar massacre?
I think it's not true, I think it's divisive and I think it's an unhealthy way to think. If we applied CRT concepts to sex, I think patriarchy exists and oppresses women but I don't think every single man in my life is oppressing me. I mean, some have obviously, but some men in my life have been there for me in my worst moments. Conversely, I've been horrifically bullied by other women.
This lady's story is interesting as she found that seeing life through the lens of CRT to be really psychologically damaging because she interpreted everything as having to be racism. If someone didn't hold a door for her or a cashier was rude or whatever the CRT answer was this is white supremacy, not the cashier hating their job or someone being self-centered.
However, there are some things that that I'm all totally for. E.g I think we need to do more in the UK about teaching about empire and the atrocities the UK committed, about the slave trade etc. I am also all for including non-european history, philosophy etc on curriculums and totally up for literature by more diverse authors being included in reading lists. While I read that race report commissioned by the tories with an open mind, I was not impressed by the fact that the authors seemed to think that what was needed was a patriotic education telling positive stories. Sometimes the most patriotic thing to do is to be able to own up to past mistakes. Germany teaches the third reich and the holocaust, why should we avoid learning about things like the Amritsar massacre?