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What you don't understand is what happens when this 'racist' is the person interviewing you at a job?
Or the person working on your car engine, or the loan officer at a bank?
Racist don't live in a vaccum...they, like everyone else, are spread out over society, run clubs, pass laws, become cops...
If they stayed at home, and left their racism there, fine...but when the cop that pulls you over, is 'silently' racist against you, throws you down, or asks to search your car and humiliate you infron of your kids, then it becomes an issue...
Racism effects everyone, silent or not, cause it's not just kept in the home...
How many racist judges have handed out heavy handed judgements on a black person, while giving probation or dismissing the case if it's someone else?
What is the alternative? If the cop says an ethnic slur while he pulls me over, it doesn't change a thing if I know he is racist. It doesn't change anything if I know these people are racist other than me getting angry at them.
Originally Posted by azriverfan. I've heard this excuse made by Southerners in the past: "We are not more racist, we are just more open about it"
The question you have to ask is "How are they able to be so open about their racist views?" In other words, people wouldn't be so openly racist if their surrounding culture didn't allow it. It's allowed in the South because many people feel the same way OR are afraid to stand up against it thus tolerating it. In California, you wouldn't get away with that because the surrounding culture in CA and other non-Southern areas don't tolerate it. Therefore in places like Seattle, they have an environment that makes it difficult for people to be openly racist. The South has created an environment in which people can be openly racist. I see that as a problem. I want to live in a place in which someone will be too embarrassed to be openly racist because it's recognized as being wrong.
Lastly, I think there is something seriously wrong when people don't recognize that it isn't polite to be openly racist or make racist jokes. That "being more open about it" is part of the problem. It's one thing to have racist views, it's another thing to vocalize those racist views. The fact that people in the South don't recognize that it's impolite and not alright to be openly racist shows how backward their society is. People very well may be as racist outside the South but the fact that they recognize it is wrong to be openly racist is a signficant difference in the North.
i think it's a misconception that blacks have more racism in the south. there are many blacks in the south and it is not openly acceptable to be racist to blacks anywhere in america. the only possible exception may be in very remote boondocks, but it would have to be very remote.
white/black relationship has been ongoing for a very long time in the south and they get along pretty well. many blacks may even feel more at home in the south.
as for racism in the south, they are more open about it with other immigrant groups other than blacks. those who are openly racist toward blacks are usually very old people. there is no way a white person is going to say the 'n-word' or make racist jokes about blacks in front of blacks in the south because they would be in a heap of trouble.
also, i always noticed that blacks and whites got along very well in the south for the most part. the south just doesn't like or feel comfortable with anyone else besides blacks and whites usually. other ethnic groups who look more caucasian mix might blend in pretty well.
One of the reasons I moved from Atlanta to Seattle was because of issues that I and my wife had in Atlanta. ( I was born and raised in Georga, incidently.) My wife is Japanese. Racism is alive and well in the South. In Seattle, it's much less blatant. My wife (and I, Mr. White Guy) have had zero racial problems in Seattle.
Zero.
I did have a snaggle toothed version of a Seattle trailer trash reneck one time call blacks by a derogatory term. I met her husband who used a derogatory term for Asians. I informed him my wife was Japanese. You should've seen the backpedaling. "OH, except for the Japanese. They're OK!!!
LMAO.
Hopefully it is not the only reason why you decided to leave the south. If it is the only decision to leave the south then it would be considered a victory for the white racists of the south. Anyway guess many people run away because they are afraid of persecution but thank God in this world that are called Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks and even Ghandi who decided to challenge racism to its core and won.
Last edited by other99; 02-11-2010 at 06:57 PM..
Reason: edit
Hopefully it is not the only reason why you decided to leave the south. If it is the only decision to leave the south then it would be considered a victory for the white racists of the south. Anyway guess many people run away because they are afraid of persecution but thank God in this world there are people who became like Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks and even Ghandi who decided to challenge racism to its core and won.
Once again people that have not been around different races have no clue. Racism is not more aggressive in the South. We have many different races, while the Northwest is mostly white. Maybe people should actually live in the South before they label us as racists. Also, Atlanta is completely different than the small towns of the South.
After moving here from Seattle I was told that the south don't have any more racism then the rest of the country , and that might be true to a point. But I really believe that the racism is more open, down in the south then up north.
It is not that people are any smarter or less ignorant in Seattle, but they just don't say it to your face.
I work with mostly black girls. One girl, she is very light skinned. She looks like she could be an olive- skinned white person.
She told me that just a couple of years ago while in Selma, Alabama, her and her mother walked in to a grocery store. As she as walking down the ail with her grocery cart a man runs into her cart from behind. She turns around and the man looks at her and say "oh, I'm sorry mam, I thought you were a N......r. This was in 2003.
Just before Christmas another coworker of mine was called "damn N....r" by a customer on the sales floor.
And for those of you who thinks this is just a southern "redneck" thing are wrong. This is well-off people living in nice homes and have good jobs. No backwoods toothless trailer trash.
I have many more examples of how open racism is down here. Black on white racism as well. Here in Memphis I sense a lot of black on white racism.
But I do believe that up north people are no less racist, they just keep their opinions to them self. Am I right about that?
all the race riots are in Cali. not alabama or mississippi
Once again people that have not been around different races have no clue. Racism is not more aggressive in the South. We have many different races, while the Northwest is mostly white. Maybe people should actually live in the South before they label us as racists. Also, Atlanta is completely different than the small towns of the South.
I have lived in neighbourhoods that were completley ethnic dirverse and worked in environments that are so too with different shades and colours and went to a school that was at least 40% non white, and there was no serious problems with racism there.
I have lived in neighbourhoods that were completley ethnic dirverse and worked in environments that are so too with different shades and colours and went to a school that was at least 40% non white, and there was no serious problems with racism there.
I have lived in the South all my life, and I have never been around racism. Contrary to what many Northerners believe, we are able to get along. No one from the South has a problem with it. For example, where I work just today a woman that moved from New Jersey was talking about a student that she could not understand. She said he had "that typical black jargon that makes no sense." What the heck? I think she made a snap judegment based on the fact that she has no experience with blacks. I also believe that she is scared of him. He is a sweet kid that has had some bad breaks. No one that is from the South has trouble understanding him. He does not have black jargon. He has a Southern accent and a tendency to mumble, like a lot of teenagers. If you have lived together forever, as blacks and whites in the South have, you learn to get along.
What is the alternative? If the cop says an ethnic slur while he pulls me over, it doesn't change a thing if I know he is racist. It doesn't change anything if I know these people are racist other than me getting angry at them.
Hi,
It changes everything when that cops starts to violate your civil rights, and humilates you.
And if they already have it in their head that your 'less than' 'not deserving of' or 'can't comprhend this or that'...that attitude can and has led to further physical abuse.
So it does matter in the real world...
It also mattered to that black cop in New York, who was shot and killed by other officers, while chasing a suspect...
The suspect he was chasing was white or light skinned, and the cops showed up, and shot the black cop while he was pursing the 'criminal'....they just assumed because he was the black one, he must be the villian....actually that hppens quiet a bit...
Again, if they just left it at home, it wouldn't be an issue...
These days, the cop saying the ethnic slur does change the face of things if and when it comes to trial.
In some countries (ahem- Germany) certain slurs are illegal and will find you in trouble with the law. Such a change in the slur-game in the USA is nowhere on the horizon probably, but still, too many professionals would risk their entire career by stating the racism or bias behind their decisions. Pretty straightforward.
The US has come a long way....still a lot more to go.
I have lived in the South all my life, and I have never been around racism. Contrary to what many Northerners believe, we are able to get along. No one from the South has a problem with it. For example, where I work just today a woman that moved from New Jersey was talking about a student that she could not understand. She said he had "that typical black jargon that makes no sense." What the heck? I think she made a snap judegment based on the fact that she has no experience with blacks. I also believe that she is scared of him. He is a sweet kid that has had some bad breaks. No one that is from the South has trouble understanding him. He does not have black jargon. He has a Southern accent and a tendency to mumble, like a lot of teenagers. If you have lived together forever, as blacks and whites in the South have, you learn to get along.
You have hit the nail on the head.We here in the south have coexisted with blacks for so long that we actually get along better than other regions.If you listen to blacks talk,the say ya'll and they praise god,just like their white neighbors.Blacks and whites have more in common than white southerners and people from the north.From interests like fishing to food to the way we talk.MLK said himself he never seen hate in Mississippi like he did in Chicago.Good Post
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