My view is that a lot of “racism” actually doesn’t stem from discrimination based on skin colour. Rather from different cultural nuances of behaviour. The problem is that often white people hold the positions of power, so their accepted methods of “the way to behave” is held as the standard and any deviation from that is considered less than.
Interesting example. I really don’t consider myself to be racist. I work in property. I had a house available to let in London and people were fighting me for this house. It was really reasonably priced and so there was a huge demand for it.
One of the applicants for this house rang me prior to viewing it several times. She was SO RUDE on the phone. She was “aggressive” (oh dear can of worms), demanding, and pushy. I thought (in advance of the property viewing) “no way am I giving it to her, she’ll be a horrible demanding tenant”.
My business partner (and actual partner lol) was the one who carried out the viewings. He is Jamaican. He came back from a day of showing this house to tell me about all the applicants and said “I want us to give it to that woman. Hear me out. She’s our tenant”. I thought “shut your face”
. He said that he too had found her really rude at first, but that she had this adorable daughter and was the most doting and adorable parent and lovely person. When he got to speaking to her he realised she was Nigerian; Yoruba Nigerian (I actually now have a really close Yoruba Nigerian male friend now who could give you all the knowledge). He explained that this lady was really nervous about finding a home for her and her daughter and that she’d been continually rejected (big surprise) by other landlords [I could have told her why - she would have said it was “racism” - which it was but not for the reasons she believed] and her apparent rudeness was nerves and this was culturally how Yoruba Nigerians expressed themselves when stressed (I know I sound like a white “Becky” in this explanation but I’m typing and it’s quite hard to put across in a message forum).
Long story short, I listened to my partner and gave in. She is the most beautiful tenant. I was interpreting her nerves as rudeness.
My point is, white people often get called racist when they receive behaviour as “unacceptable” by their standards. And POC call out white people as being racist for not understanding what they are trying to communicate.
I love a black man. Like he is me. I am ashamed to say racism matters more to me since I am in a relationship with a POC because it feels like all of a sudden I (my guy) is the target of offence. And yet I would have still dismissed this person as being rude (she was by “English” standards).
Racism is so real. I’m blonde and have never struggled. Being with a black man I’ve been trailed by the police, tutted at by old men on trains being next to him and watch the shift in how the world views me being beside him once my “access all areas pass” has been taken away.
I think CB IS aggressive. Listen to her podcast lol. She is! But I also think she’s experienced racism. I don’t think we have enough info based on what MOD typed to decide if she is racist or right or both. Everything is grey! Everything needs balance.