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My landlord is an older gay man. He's got a beef about blacks as well. I wouldn't call him a liberal though. I did warn him once when we were having drinks on my porch that if he ever said the "n" word again while in my place, I was kicking him out. He's never said it since, at least not in front of my face. I also witnessed racism between 2 minorities. Walking to the grocery store, a cab driver pulled up to the front of the store & parked, he almost hit me. I said something to him about watching how he drives in parking lots, then I continued in. I'm not sure if the cab driver was from India, possibly. Then, a black man pulled up by the cab driver & started yelling at him to watch where he's driving because the cab driver almost hit me, apparently the black man saw it happen. The cab driver yelled back at him, called him the "n" word & the black guy yelled "Go back to your country!" & drove off. I just stood there with my mouth hanging open. That was so disheartening to witness that.
I know it can come from gays. I've also seen it come from non-Black minorities as well. I remember a guy from college who let me know that he thought he was better than me because he wasn't "American Black". He wasn't Hispanic or Asian. He was a Black male from Nigeria. I remember thinking at the time "you're Black, how are you against me? You'll catch crap just like me", when he called me the "N" word. His thinking was "yes, we're Black, but I'm not American". Granted, most Nigerians I encountered in college didn't seem to have issues with me and I made quite a few friends among them. I did notice that some foreign-born Blacks had parents who didn't want them dating American Blacks. One woman explicitly admitted that her mother told her "no African-American men". I was kind of hurt by this. It wasn't that I wanted to date her. I was more like "wow, Black Americans are hated by everyone, even fellow Blacks".
I worked at a Mexican restaurant for a short time. Mainly Hispanic staff. Maybe one or two Blacks there. I was subjected to racial slurs and racial jokes from some of the staff. Management did nothing about it. The other Black person on the job basically said "Mexicans can't be racist/they're just joking". I thought "Are you nuts?". I eventually figured it out years later. He was a big guy. I was tiny (weighing around 130 lbs). He looked like he could beat them up. I looked like a kid. I eventually quit the job.
It no longer surprises me to see racism between minorities.
I used to hear racist statements from people I considered to be ignorant and unsophisticated. Now I'm hearing it from people I've never heard anything like that from ever.
I used to hear racist statements from people I considered to be ignorant and unsophisticated. Now I'm hearing it from people I've never heard anything like that from ever.
I stopped speaking to some people who starting being bigots. People who I thought were friends of mine who have said bigoted things. I looked at it like this. "I would never make stereotypes about your ethnicities or certain things in anger. Why are you doing it"?
In private conversation, I think it is almost impossible to expect others to be overly pc about things.
To me, a person's intention is everything. A lot of people don't mean to be rude, they are certainly not racist. Even will smith said, True racism is rare.
This said, There are situations when people miss out on promotions, getting a job... and they explain it as "I didn't get the promotion/job because they are racist" while the real reason could be that they were either inappropriate to the role, or more likely that someone else was better. It's a very handy cop-out - used far too often to avoid the burden of ownership to push yourself towards excellence.
Of course there is racism - but you can't say that is the reason you miss out every time you miss out. Else you are kidding yourself and providing yourself an excuse to not improve your value and competitive position.
In private conversation, I think it is almost impossible to expect others to be overly pc about things.
To me, a person's intention is everything. A lot of people don't mean to be rude, they are certainly not racist. Even will smith said, True racism is rare.
This said, There are situations when people miss out on promotions, getting a job... and they explain it as "I didn't get the promotion/job because they are racist" while the real reason could be that they were either inappropriate to the role, or more likely that someone else was better. It's a very handy cop-out - used far too often to avoid the burden of ownership to push yourself towards excellence.
Of course there is racism - but you can't say that is the reason you miss out every time you miss out. Else you are kidding yourself and providing yourself an excuse to not improve your value and competitive position.
On this, I honestly believe that racism is at play many times in the workforce. I think it is because I have seen people not get hired for being black in particular or not even considered because their name "sounds too black" and all other nonsense.
In one's personal life with family/friends it is rare to see racism IMO. But in the workplace it is there to a wide degree IMO also it is there in law enforcement and in many schools across the country.
Schools and law enforcement are the primary places where I feel that institutional racism still exists and it is exist in these institutions due to personal biases based on racism (the idea that one race is inferior to another) being spilled over onto the "race" of people who are viewed as inferior. IMO black Americans are viewed as inferior by a majority of all people in the country, including a majority of black Americans themselves. Racism is pervasive in our entire society, but law enforcement and public schools are where they cause the most damage today along with private employers who bring personal, racist biases into hiring decisions.
That said, I do agree that many times people don't get promoted due to many other issues besides their race, and I especially feel that people are disciplined at work for reasons that usually have nothing to do with race. People usually claim racism at work when they are fired or not promoted and like you mentioned when they don't get a job. Oddly enough, in my experience, most of the time it is white men who make the claims of not getting hired based on AA and "racism" against them even though when I worked in an HR capacity it was only black people who were denied a job for being some description of "black" in someone's mind. We did have people who had negative views of Asians and Russians specifically, but they were always hired because we needed billingual employees and there weren't many people who applied who spoke Korean or Russian fluently.
I used to hear racist statements from people I considered to be ignorant and unsophisticated. Now I'm hearing it from people I've never heard anything like that from ever.
On this, I honestly believe that racism is at play many times in the workforce. I think it is because I have seen people not get hired for being black in particular or not even considered because their name "sounds too black" and all other nonsense.
In one's personal life with family/friends it is rare to see racism IMO. But in the workplace it is there to a wide degree IMO also it is there in law enforcement and in many schools across the country.
Schools and law enforcement are the primary places where I feel that institutional racism still exists and it is exist in these institutions due to personal biases based on racism (the idea that one race is inferior to another) being spilled over onto the "race" of people who are viewed as inferior. IMO black Americans are viewed as inferior by a majority of all people in the country, including a majority of black Americans themselves. Racism is pervasive in our entire society, but law enforcement and public schools are where they cause the most damage today along with private employers who bring personal, racist biases into hiring decisions.
That said, I do agree that many times people don't get promoted due to many other issues besides their race, and I especially feel that people are disciplined at work for reasons that usually have nothing to do with race. People usually claim racism at work when they are fired or not promoted and like you mentioned when they don't get a job. Oddly enough, in my experience, most of the time it is white men who make the claims of not getting hired based on AA and "racism" against them even though when I worked in an HR capacity it was only black people who were denied a job for being some description of "black" in someone's mind. We did have people who had negative views of Asians and Russians specifically, but they were always hired because we needed billingual employees and there weren't many people who applied who spoke Korean or Russian fluently.
My experience has been completely opposite.
I've never heard about a black person not getting a job because of race. I've heard about whites and males in general not getting hired due to race and gender. Yes mostly in the public sector because all the private sector jobs were smaller operations.
Schools and law enforcement (masters in crim justice here) are bastions of affirmative action. Blacks and women have been catered to and hired over much more qualified folks on a consistent basis. So I could not disagree more with you on that point.
Within these organizations (mostly public but private too) I feel racist tendencies MAY crop up due to resentment by management and other employees who attained their positions on merit. This can be illustrated in job assignments, cliques, etc. Though it's hard to decipher how much the negative treatment is due to the resentment/racial aspect or the fact that affirmative action hires are generally p-I-$-$ poor workers. And that's due to entitlement at times yet other times they simply aren't qualified.
My last public sector job saw me getting the nod because I'm bilingual (English & Spanish). I'm a male but "non-white" according to the government's boxes. Even with a masters and much more experience than a few other women and blacks I wasn't getting the job over them had I not spoke Spanish (neither did they and not even an undergrad degree never mind in CJ).
Like many I grew up with racism. From Detroit 1960's the white family that couldn't afford to move out during "white flight." Have many many instances of being stopped by police because I didn't fit in, had to prove I belonged in the neighborhoods I rode my bike through, when I took the bus or drove through with a suitcase on my way to my aunts house on the other side of the city.
Got jumped often if I was alone hence having a bicycle was king because I could avoid a lot of hassles and fights.
National Guard was in my neighborhood during the 1967 riots, we as kids thought it was great, Mom was a nervous wreck though. Mom taught us to respect and love our neighbors. The Jews that left and the blacks that moved into their houses. My Mother also thought the neighborhood looked better than ever when the initial black families moved in, but by 1970 it was 99% black and dangerous for me as a girl.
In the late 80s, my friend's brother, a NYC cop told us this joke:
"How many cops does it take to throw a n****r down the stairs?"
"None. He fell."
He said the joke had come over the police car radio that morning.
Think that might be racist?
Uh, yes?
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