Haye you ever experienced racism first hand?

[TZ]

With Obama getting the nod, I think its something we need to discuss.
Me, I lived in pretty liberal area which is very ethnically diverse, and pretty much with the exception of one asshole anti-semitic HS teacher have been pretty lucky in regard.
But this thread in the Lounge, got me to thinking that I am VERY lucky and that my experience is much different that many.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=7810203&mesg_id=7810203
(posted with permission of the OP)
So I would be interested to hear people's different experiences with something that sadly seems to still be pretty prevalent...
:hi:

[timtom]

1. Yes.

In city traffic a couple of years ago, I stopped at a red light. A car honked several times behind me. I stepped out to see what I had done and the young African American woman wouldn't even discuss what I had done to piss her off. And she called me "Cracker." (Despite my avatar, I am white).

I used absolutely no racial references throughout the entire exchange.

[PDJane]

2. Yes.

I'm going to say that the offspring of a friend just decked a guy in a Southern Ontario town which shall remain nameless. He was told not to use the word "nigger" ever again. He did. She cold-cocked him. He hasn't done it since.

I have been called various nasty names because of my heritage, too, which is interesting since I'm now considered anti-semitic. Make up your minds folks....either I'm a bad person because I'm a jew, or I'm a bad person because I don't support Israel. It can't be both.

[Behind the Aegis]

66. Well...

...bad persons can be Jews and/or anti-Israeli. There is a difference in not supporting the Israeli government and being an anti-Israeli bigot. And, yes, Jews can be anti-Israeli bigots too. So, it can be both.

[TheWraith]

3. Yes.

Aside from the general aura that one picks up living out here in the boondocks--people using Confederate flags for curtains, that sort of thing.

I was on a trip with a friend, and we were going through a security check to watch a speech. I'm lily-white, he's brown-skinned. African-American descent, but just light enough that a moron might have thought he looked Arabic. Anyway, I walked straight through the checkpoint without a problem, but they stopped him and confiscated the water bottle he was carrying, claiming they were prohibited in the hall. I was carrying a water bottle too, but they had ignored me, since obviously I was okay. :eyes:

[AlCzervik]

4. Is this directly, i'm not sure---

I took my daughter and friend to best buy some time ago, they wandered around looking at games, my daughter's friend was followed around, her only, my daughter was not. So i'm right behind them because i'm thinking-child molester until i realized it was a blue shirt and he started giving her a hard time so then i started giving him a hard because i finally figured out why exactly he was falling her around. Anyhow i talked to the store manager, like that did shit and then i called their corporate office and i also told her mother and i gave her names.

Of course i cannot prove it but i know she was followed because of her skin color.

[TZ]

5. Yep.

I've heard about that happening often.

[Pisces]

6. Yes,

I was dating a white man, and I am brown. We were in New Orleans holding hands when a truck full of guys drove by and shouted get yourself a white girl. I have also had other things, but I choose to ignore them.

[blondeatlast]

7. My husband has brown skin, my son is lighter, and when my son was little, my husband

kept me near him when we were all out in public together. Even though my son has the almost identical face to my husband, he has my coloring.

One day I realized why he kept me so close by. My son had slipped away and a short time thereafter found my husband. My son was of course scared and crying and needing comfort from his dad--but a busybody woman in the store wouldn't let my son go to him and was creaming for security when I arrived.

Even after I explained to witnesses that they were both with me, said woman was nearly hysterical saying "that AY-rab (Mr. B@L is Indian) was trying to steal this American child.

The other 5 or so witnesses could tell that Mr. B@L and child were related and tried to calm the situation but things weren't resolved until police arrived.

That's the WORST example of what we've experienced but there's been many others--and sorry to say, from my husband's people as well.

Racism is alive and well and anxious to rear it's ugly head again. Be aware, gang.

[TZ]

10. Thats so awful

I can't believe someone would have the nerve to do something like that! :wow:

[blondeatlast]

33. The scorn she got from others probably didn't enlighten her, but it made me feel better.

My son is the spitting image of Mr. B@L except for coloring--but guess what about 50% of people notice first?

[uppityperson]

14. My father and I got odd looks and watching when I was a kid.

Same sort of situation. It hurts that people are so.

[hedgehog]

45. I have friends with children who they've adopted and children they've had

born to them. He is Native American, she is blonde. Their adopted kids look white, the non-adopted kids look Indian. When the kids are with their mother, strangers assume half the kids are odopted, but they assume that about the wrong kids!

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

8. yes,

in the 70's, i worked at a small retail store where the management would tear up any application put in by a black person.

My brother, who I don't really deal with much, maybe once every couple of years at holidays, is extraordinary racist, and would love to tell you about it.

I had a co-worker a few years back who was describing a nightclub, and said she would never go there on a Saturday night because it gets too "dark".

My husband has an uncle and aunt who belong to some weird religious cult that believes AA belong to some different category of humans that assigns them to servant roles. Or something like that, I only met them once, and as soon as i realized what type of people they were, i couldn't get out of there fast enough,

hopefully, no one will get mad at me for being honest about the experiences I have had.

[TZ]

12. No one should be...

I figure it would be easier to talk about this here, when IRL, it still can be very difficult to discuss these blatant attitudes:hug:

[bean fidhleir]

72. "some weird religious cult"

It's mainstream religion, or was, though hard to track down exactly. It's the "children of Ham" bit, from the Tanakh.

[uppityperson]

9. With my father, yes. Odd looks as a child. He as an adult trying to get thru airport security.

Spent time on a reservation as a teen and was called negative things, treated poorly by some. But mostly, have lived in the world without experiencing much overt racism, more sexism.

[HughMoran]

11. Similar to the linked post? Dozens of times.

I grew up in a racial mixed neighborhood and this sort of comment was commonplace. So much so, in fact, that most of us didn't even take it too seriously. There was a lot of venting - but in the end we were all poor. Imagine the Irish in Boston at the time of busing. Imagine the blacks who had seen their hero's gunned down. Imagine me who had friends of all races (Honduran, Cuban, Irish, Haitian, Black, Iranian, Puerto Rican, etc...) & couldn't imagine that people could actually hate their own neighbors. I spent a ton of time learning to artfully discuss this sort of issue without being perceived as a "spy" of some sort. Most of the racist remarks occurred among people who were friends and mostly behind closed doors (at least away from the public eye). On the other hand, when I visited Louisiana in the late 80's - complete strangers were more than willing to share their bigotry with me as soon as the sun went down - I was somewhat aghast at the more overt "them people know their place" type of hardcore bigotry in Louisiana & Texas when I visited.

[BuelahWitch]

13. People have come out and asked if I was "white"

when I lived in Utah. Which I thought was very silly; I have dark hair and eyes, but I'm also light complexioned. I also had people say I looked like a nice Catholic or Jewish girl, which I'd probably never hear in a place that wasn't predominantly Mormon.
No racism in Kansas, some ageism tho...

[XOKCowboy]

15. I grew up in Oklahoma in the early 70s so yes

Our little town had no black people and didn't want them. Even now I hear and see hard core racism when I go back to visit, even from people who should know better. It's hard to overcome the way that you're raised.

[TlalocW]

16. One of my sisters and her husband can be very racist

Although, I think they've intentionally made strides to improve themselves although when my niece married a black man, they kind of fell of the wagon (they're since divorced). I think it hit home hardest for my brother-in-law when he stopped and helped a stranded elderly black man repair his vehicle. After finishing up, he literally said, "Well, it's nigger-rigged so it will get you home..." stopped and starting apologizing profusely to the man, who thanked him for stopping and helping him and said in response to my brother-in-law's little shocker, "Ain't the first time I've heard it, won't be the last." I think at that point my BIL started realizing the potential pain certain words could cause and has tried to better himself.

As for me (I'm white), I've noticed dirty looks from younger Hispanic men when I've gone to discotecas with my Hispanic friends, and I dance with the girls, but I think part of that is fueled by testosterone, especially when they refuse dance requests from strangers and then dance with me. More mature (age-wise and attitude-wise) Hispanics normally just express amazement that a whitey like me can dance salsa or cumbia. :)

TlalocW

[SeattleGirl]

17. Yes.

Went to the neighborhood liquor store one day, and there was a small group of black people standing outside the door. There is a grocery store next to the liquor store, and it's a busy area. There are always groups of people standing around chatting on the sidewalk and in the parking lot, so I thought nothing of it. Got to the door, and it was locked, but I could see people inside.

I stepped back, and said, "What the hell?" One of the people standing there said, "Well, you know, they can't have too many of US in there at a time." I said, "Well, hell, why don't they cut out the middle man and just put a 'White's Only' sign on the door?" I was pissed.

I looked inside the store, and there was a cop in there. Now, seeing a cop in there wasn't that unusual; but having the door locked WAS. The cop came over and unlocked the door. I asked him what was up with that. He said that he was just trying to protect the women who worked in there. I said why? From what? He said something about not letting the store get too full. It was a bullshit answer, as there were only two customers in the store at the time. Prior to that incident, I had only encountered door monitoring there on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, when there was an actual possibility that the store would get filled beyond capacity.

I said to the cop (who was white), "Do you know what kind of message you are sending to this neighborhood?" My neighborhood is very ethnically diverse, which I love, but which this cop apparently thought meant DANGER. So, then he said to me (a white woman), "Well, you can come in if you want." I was floored. I told him that I was not asking to be let in ahead of the people who got there before me; I was asking him to unlock the door so people could come in and shop, and if anyone was going to be let in, it was the people standing there. I was shaking with anger by this point, and the cop was doing his best, "Now, little lady" schtick. It was all I could do to not let out a stream of curse-filled angry words, or smack the shit out of him.

I told him again that he needed to unlock the door, that while I knew that liquor stores did get robbed, and that I had no wish to see the women who worked in there to be harmed, that I saw no danger, and no reason to lock the door at this time. Asshole FINALLY opened the door to let the folks who had already been standing there in, and I went in too, but damn it all to hell and back, I was fucking pissed!

When I got in my car to drive home, I burst into tears. I had not seen something that fucking blatant in nearly 45 years, since the time I spent in Arkansas. I'm not naive enough to think that Seattle has no racism, but DAMN! Just DAMN!

P.S. That store has never been locked during business hours again that I know of, and has gone back to door monitoring only during Christmas and New Year's Eve nights.

[qijackie]

18. Better ask if there is anyone who has not. nt

[bananas]

25. Really. nt

[undeterred]

19. At the scene of an accident I was called a "white honky bitch"

It was my first year driving and I was worried about having a car accident. I had also recently moved to an integrated neighborhood. One day when it was raining I made a left turn onto a busy street and was hit on the drivers side towards the rear of the car. It was inexperience on my part that caused the accident.

I hit my head on the steering wheel so I was a little dazed. The (black) woman who hit me was standing outside my car yelling at me- and I heard the phrase "you white honky bitch". Some black people started coming around my car, and I remember feeling afraid and locking all the doors. I didn't move until the police came and asked me to pull my car out of the intersection, so I did. They had called an ambulance for me.

After I was treated a police officer came in and asked if I had insurance, which I did- but I didn't have the information with me. He said that the reason the woman was yelling at me was because she wanted my insurance information and I wasn't cooperating. He asked if he could give her my phone number so I said OK.

Well, she called me and was very pleasant. Apparently she was an officer at the bank down the street, and she was in a hurry to get to work on time. The vault opened automatically for her at 8:30am and the accident happened at 8:25am. So I made her late.

I remember thinking: Well, I may be a bad driver, but it isn't because I'm white. And that insight is worth something. None of the jerky things people do are because they are a certain race. :shrug:

[Lerkfish]

20. as a witness several times

one of the best examples of institutional racism...the kind that's subtle if you aren't paying attention.
I'm at an department store and and Mother and her small son are in line at the checkout in front of me. I start joking with the boy, as he's just about my son's age, and start chatting with the mom, we talk about the funny side of parenting, have a very nice conversation. I haven't been paying much attention to the line in front of us, but since I"m just behind this mother and son, I see the checkout person ask for their ID when she uses her debit card. No big deal, except its my turn and I pull out my ID. The checkout girl says "oh I don't need to see your ID".
Surprised, the mother and I exchange a knowing look. I was white. That was the only apparent difference.

I see it all the time because I'm very sensitive to it. I'm just not the target of the racism, but I witness it firsthand. Sometimes I"ll say something, and sometimes I won't. But it certainly exists.

Another two obnoxious times:

looking for an apartment in Los Angeles, and the super is touting what is good about his neighborhood. He leans in and says "Don't worry, there's no blacks". Appalled, I said "Yes, but apparently there are bigots. no thanks.".

Hunting for a car, I go to a lexus dealer. I'm very tall, so I can't fit into a lot of cars. I really couldn't afford a Lexus but I thought since they were luxury cars, they might have more headroom. Well, it didn't, I couldn't fit comfortably in it. I lamented to the salesman that there wasn't enough headroom even in a luxury car, and he says "That's cause all those slanty eyed asians make 'em".
We turned around and walked off the lot.

[magellan]

21. Yes

I'm white and dated an African American boy from another school while in HS; we got it with both barrels from my parents and our lily-white town. I didn't know what racism was until then, I didn't see him as "different", so the reprimands and insults left me shell-shocked and bewildered. He on the other hand was a rock throughout, familiar with racism as he was, and helped me to be strong. That experience made me very sensitive to how unfairly non-whites are treated. We broke up for the ordinary mundane reasons of youth, not because of racism.

Later I dated a friend who was African American and my father stopped talking to me for the three months we were going out. The most awful thing was my boyfriend's family accepted me without reservation while at the same time he was not welcome in my house. It just broke my heart for him. In this case the external pressure I felt from my father eventually led to our break up, which I'm still ashamed of 25 years on...but it has made me aware of how insidious and viral racism is because it forces us to choose sides whether we want to or not at some point, and how true it is that as a result we're all a little racist when it comes right down to it.

[Zoigal]

22. Personally, no but my kids surely have.

They are native American. They handle it well, though. Better than
their mom. z

[JoePhilly]

23. Yes ... As an average white guy ...

I've heard what some whites will say to other whites ASSUMING a general racist agreement

I've witnessed overt racists acts ... mostly whites against blacks ... but where I grew up, it could go either way.

I witnessed the quiet fear of an older Black man who was in a rural west Texas convenience store. I scared him by saying HI ... he mumbled hi in a frightened way, then continued his floorward gaze the entire time he was in that store ... I realized that he was not accustomed to having a white person greet him in a friendly way ... the other whites in the store, friendly with each other, grunted at him.

And, I was also attacked once by a few black guys because I was white, and alone on the subway ...

[mcg]

26. Yes, also as a white guy ...

I work in IT, at one place I worked about 1/2 of the IT personnel ended up being people from India.
I was on the receiving end of "reverse" racism from some of the Indians because I'm white (or perhaps because I wasn't Indian, or because I'm a native born American). I didn't like it. A manager (white) one time talked about "entitlement"; he assumed some of us felt entitled to certain positions. No, I felt I was more qualified.

[JoePhilly]

27. Yea ... it can run both directions ... but not as often ...

[Igel]

32. It's a question of opportunity. n/t

[Cleita]

24. Yes, I am latina on my mother's side and ethnically

various strains of Northern European on my father's side. Because I didn't have a Spanish surname nor spoke English in a broken accent, none of my peer group while I was growing up knew this. I never thought anything of it until I started hearing all the racial slurs hurled at hispanics and the name calling. Then I knew what they thought about me if they knew. I sometimes told them and then they would say it was all right because I wasn't like the other hispanics, which to me was just as offensive as calling me names. Although, I don't hide my ethnicity, I don't always think of announcing it and sometimes am surprised by ethnic slurs that come from people who don't know that I'm a "beaner" too. Also, I have had it from the hispanic side as well. Latinos who say unflattering things about "anglos" in general and in Spanish not knowing that I understand every word they are saying. However, having experienced racism from both sides, I have found the racism expressed by caucasians far more frightening and hateful than that expressed by hispanics, who for the most part regard white people as foolish and clownish but don't really dislike them.

[earth mom]

28. What about "Discrimination"? That's a more valid question IMO.

I have been discriminated against but it wasn't about my race.

FYI-There are other ways to be discriminated against-Class, Age, Weight, Sex, Religion, No Religion etc.

[TZ]

36. Good question

But this is mostly for my information, because I really have never seen the blatant stuff being posted on this thread..at least not in my face.
It also will be a good thread to bookmark so next time I hear and idiotic comment about "racism doesn't exist" I have stuff to go to (and I HAVE heard that0

[pollo poco]

64. I agree, Golden Rule

My wife is mixed AA. I have seen her face discrimination many times. Once she got a ticket for having her wallet ON THE BACK SEAT of the car. The officer told her to keep it WITH her when she was driving, and gave her a citation for failing to do so! I could give many more examples.

In addition to being black (strange, it still only takes one drop of African blood to define a person as such), she is also a lesbian woman.

This is where Golden Rule's post comes in. "FYI-There are other ways to be discriminated against-Class, Age, Weight, Sex, Religion, No Religion etc."

My wife totally agrees. She feels that while racism has caused some of the most obvious discrimination against her, that the greater harm to her has been caused by sexism, which she feels is a much more uncomfortable topic for most Americans than race. Many more of us live in mixed gender families than mixed race families, so how one feels about race doesn't affect how labor is divided in the household, what gets watched on TV, who controls the $$, etc. So, most families can be comfortably "politically correct" about race without disrupting their most intimate relationships. But, most prefer blinders to cultural deconstruction when it's time to get along at home. This is so important that many will resort to ridicule and other distracting tactics, rather than entertain potentially disruptive and dangerous notions about the unspoken inequalities between supposedly equal citizens.

Being Gay is, of course, another problem for my wife. She is currently more afraid of being physically attacked for being Gay than for being Black.
My wife has a lot of anger towards the Church, because she feels targeted as a Gay person. This is especially hard for her coming from Black Churches, who often define the civil rights movement a bit too narrowly for her taste. She is also fed up with the way she is marginalized as an atheist. Very tired of Jeebus, as she calls him.

We are both very excited about the potential for forward progress. But people have to expand the definition of civil rights, to include others, even when that is not comfortable. The movement is bigger than color. We must persist in "perfecting" this country (to paraphrase Senator Obama's great speech).

[Solly Mack]

29. Multiple times over the years...so far...I fully expect more before I die

People would doubt my mom was my mom because of the difference in skin hues (my mom's skin was darker than my own)
Almost killed after a civil rights march
Boyfriend harassed because he "matched" the description of a "suspect" (He didn't...but being black and male was enough to get detained) and it didn't help any that he was with me... "Are you OK, Miss?" ..."Do you need help?"
Told by the sheriff to "Get out before dark because there would be no protection" (this was just after almost getting killed at the civil rights march) and I do NOT count them as one... as there were multiple incidents during the same march
Being called "white n-word"

Just to name a few

[Thirtieschild]

30. I'm white but yes

It was 1968, I was helping a black man who moved to Atlanta from Philadelphia. He called about renting an apartment in a white neighborhood, was told it was vacant, I drove him over there, we got out of the car (me carrying my baby), they wouldn't open the door. I was much more upset than he was, he said he expected it. He also said he preferred the racism of the South to the racism of the North because there wasn't pretense in the South like there was in the North.

[rockymountaindem]

31. Yes

Someone told me I deserved to die for being a Jew in the high school cafeteria. That was one flagrant instance. Otherwise it's been pretty smooth sailing, fortunately.

[Igel]

34. Sure.

Sometimes, directly.

One boss said they hired me part-time because they couldn't get a person of "the right"--his--ethnicity; after all, they're superior and make better workers. They were hoping to make my job full time, and he intended to re-advertise, in hopes of getting a Chinese, not a white.

Now, this was in LA and I was looking for a job. I got some interviews, but near the end of the job search I realized that I could save copy costs on my resumes when I delivered them just by looking at the office. If the office was mostly Asian, mostly black, or mostly anything but white, there'd be no call for an interview: If it was mixed or white there was a decent chance I'd be interviewed. I'd walk in the door, survey the office, and when asked, "May I help you?" often say, "No, wrong office."

Then there was the fellow board member (a student union) who treated me like shit because he believed I was Jewish. All it took was saying I didn't eat pork; I'm Irish-American oddball Xian (not a mainstream sect, by any means). For the next 6 months I had to fight various rumors and innuendo that kept me from being heard at the board table by one contingent. He treated the women like trash, too. Finally the in-fighting got so bad that "supporters"--3 progressive undergrads--set up meetings with the two sides, to find out what our problems were and what his were. Our problem was him; so they went to talk to him. One of his supporters/allies couldn't make it, the other was very late, so the woman undergrad was the first to show up; he refused to be in the same room alone with "someone like that" or to talk to her even in public, and for the first time she realized he'd never spoken to her, if he answered her questions he's respond to a man, and most often just ignored her. Given how he treated her in their "meeting", he was immediately isolated as a sexist bigot, and gone a month later: a 0.0 GPA will do that ("The administration schedules all my classes to conflict with prayers, and they do it because they hate Islam." Puh-lease.) He was Sa'udi.

I had a housemate as an undergrad who constantly tried to accuse me of racism in everything I said and did. I didn't clean the stove when she went to use it, it's because I considered her a slave. I used the phrase "black magic" or "black mood" and I'm raked over the coals. And since I'm white, I couldn't know racism if it hit me in the head. Finally she was railing on me when the black male in the house was there, and he just chewed her up and spit her out, saying she was insane and driving everybody in the house--including him--crazy with her paranoid rantings. They constituted harrassment.

Then there's the guy who referred to Asians as "rice-eaters" during one of the few sessions a committee was meeting--their job was to appoint grad students to other committees, and both members and interviews included Asians.

I'm not sure how to understand my upstairs neighbors' behavior. Their kids play outside sometimes. The first time my kid ran into them, they started playing together. The father noticed it, and pulled his kids away. It happened again a week or two later. Now, whenever my kid shows up when they're playing they just stop and stare. They don't talk to him or anything, they just stare. He talks to them, and has started asking why they don't like him and won't talk to him--did he do something wrong? The kids upstairs are maybe 4 and 7, my kid's 4. They're allowed to play with other black kids in the apt. complex, but apparently not with white kids and not with Latino kids. Perhaps to "protect them" from the soul-crushing racism when my kid realizes he's white and they're black? Dunno. Like I said, I don't know how to understand their behavior.

Not really racism, but sexism: A woman student showed up for fall term 7 months pregnant. She was complaining that she got no funding, and asked somebody why she wasn't funded when they said they would. "But you're pregnant? How can you take classes and write papers?", the male chair said. In public. With witnesses. "We thought you'd be home resting, not trying to think and do academic work," another ranking male faculty member added. Assholes.

In one case the "discrimination" was humorous. We were hiring office staff, and the office manager and I were going over the applications. We'd gotten input from the other two officers (officers white, office manager = Vietnamese-American woman). At the end our two preferred candidates were women of color--one Latino and one black. She said if we hired them she'd quit--she wasn't about to have an all white staff (2 men, 1 woman) and all female minority staff. So we had to hire a white male on the basis that they might have heavy boxes to move around. We did. And I made sure we found some boxes for him to move. Turns out he'd lied through his teeth--he was good at PCs and Macs, he said; we used Macs and he'd never touched one. He was also 17 at the time, something he didn't lie about to us (but must have to accounting), as we found out when he celebrated his birthday ... his 18th birthday. On the other hand, he was the go-to guy in the office, and consistently wowed the office manager by the end of his second week.

And I've seen discrimination by others.

One boss called the black kid they hired (he was 18, as was I) a "darkie" (only behind his back; to his face he was "boy", while the rest of us had actual names); she made sure whenever he was around anything that wasn't dirt cheap he was accompanied by a white.

In grad school, I watched two people on the undergrad admissions committee talking, one saying he followed the rules, and when he made he recommendations for admissions he had only admitted a few underrepresented minorities (this was after the end of explicit affirmative action at UCLA); his colleague, a black woman, told him how to rectify the problem--cheat by looking at the racial information, then make selective "errors", reverse numbers or leave out numbers, review their essays and reverse marks, do whatever is necessary to make sure the right numbers of blacks and Latinos and APIs get in, at a minimum. The colleague tried for more than the old affirmative action goal because some people would follow the law. Nice.

And so it goes. Rarely has it been a case of somebody not admitted to school or not hired because of race, but smaller things that rank as hassles and irritations. Most often the serious discrimination hasn't been against, but in favor of, people of a specific group.

[aikoaiko]

35. I remember one time in Boston, about 1992.

I walked up to the Malden T-station and asked the white middle aged T-station attendant if this line went to Ruggles. Her reply, "Why would you want to go there? That's where the niggers are."

I was too stunned to say anything. I turned and walked away.

[27inCali]

37. getting my ass kicked at school every day

for being the one white kid in my PE class.

[IndianaJones]

38. yes...there are white people wherever I go. nt.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

39. Yes, when living in Japan

It's nothing compared to what people of color face in the U.S., but I learned what it's like to have people make assumptions about you because of the way you look or to have people reject you because you're of the same race as someone who once damaged their property.

[devilgrrl]

40. Yes. And I'm not even a person of color.

I have rather curly hair and back in lovely Junior High School, a bunch of White Racist Assholes found the need to fling every possible derogatory term for black people in my direction for the entire 7th & 8th grade. So yes, I know what it's like to be called the "N" word and a lot else! :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

[Obama4prez4life]

41. yes

Once I attended a job interview and the only other candidate was a African American 19 year old male with no experience and a criminal record. I had over 3 years of experience and no Criminal Record. I didn't get the job.

[devilgrrl]

44. Bullshit!

fuckin' troll :nuke:

[TZ]

46. DFTT

Just let it go away.

[uppityperson]

51. It is TS'd.

[Orrex]

55. Funny how two of DU's self-professed white victims of extreme racism

Have fewer than 20 posts between them.


Hmm...

[TroglodyteScholar]

42. Not the most horrible kind of racism to experience, but yes...

When I'm riding in town and it's hot out, I keep my windows down. I was in a parking lot and there was a black fellow on a bicycle trying to cross in front of me. I yielded to him and then, as I rolled on, kinda nodded to him out of my open window...just a little friendly thing I get from my dad I guess. Anyway, the guy scowls at me and hisses "I don't know you, bro!"

I mean...I assume it was racism, because I can't quite figure any other explanation. Unless the guy was just a complete paranoiac.

I don't know, but it definitely surprised me.

[bean fidhleir]

71. Not so well-balanced, for sure. Also unintentionally funny

Calling someone "brother" while telling them you don't know them? {giggle}

[TroglodyteScholar]

79. Yea, the irony wasn't lost on me...

The whole ride home was spent trying to wrap my head around what exactly had just happened.

[galledgoblin]

43. I've both had racist things said to me and no doubt said racist things in turn

I was on a date last week (that reminds me, I gotta call her back!) and was asked about what music I liked. I said "man, I can't stand rap. bet you love it, right?" thinking "knowing my luck meeting new people, if it's something I hate, it'll be something she loves" not "she's black, I'm white".




I've just about removed the grass and dirt from shoving my foot into my mouth, but it'll take a couple more brushings to be minty-clean again.

[hedgehog]

47. Sometimes I feel like the fly on the wall - I'm white with two mixed race

nieces. I am flabbergasted at the things other white people would say about blacks in front of me because "it's all just us here."

[mod mom]

48. Yes in Ohio in the '04 election. My 95% white semi affluent precinct had 15 minute waits to vote

in peak pre-work rush while nearby in low income Af Am precincts (less than 1 mile away) they had over 5 hour waits and less machines than in the primary.

[spinbaby]

49. Oh yeah

Western PA is terrible. We were actually told by a realtor showing a house near Waynesburg that an advantage of living in that neighborhood was that there weren't any of THOSE people living there.

[Orrex]

56. Sounds about right

Check your PM, please!

[wellst0nev0ter]

50. I'm Black And The Experiences Just Seem To Blur Together

That I just resigned myself to the fact that these things will simply just happen, not even getting too worked up about it. But two instances stood out for how institutionalized the problem is, even among so-called well-meaning folks, despite all the denials. One here in Minnesota was where I was volunteering for Habitat For Humanity building a house for this black family. Turns out everybody else including the site supervisor (who was white) thought I was building my own house.

Another time in middle school in lovely Jawja this white kid called a black girl a nigger in front of everybody in gym. He made her cry, but guess what, the teacher didn't do shit about it.

No, these are not long-ago stories, the former happened in 2001 while the latter was in 1996.

[annabanana]

52. I did once.. though I didn't figure it out till years later...

I am white. My college roommate & I were in DC one summer back in, maybe '66 and we went into a diner around noon. It was clearly open, although we were the only customers in there at the time. The black cook and cashier were looking at us oddly, then they said "We're closed". My roomie & I looked at each other confusedly and left. It dawned on me much much later that we had been subjected to the same treatment that many many of our fellow citizens had been daily for all their lives.

There was one other time where I was worried about being white and in the wrong place at the wrong time. Summer of '67 - New Haven (the riots where they used tear gas on Americans for the first time). My boyfriend was black (no "Society's Child", I).. I was in the car with a bunch of his friends and they decided to tour the "Hill". It was decided that it would be better if I schooched down in the back seat with a blanket over me.

[Papagoose]

53. My daughter has

Last year, she went to a small private school - ONE minority student in the entire school of pre-k through 8th grade. We moved this past year and enrolled her in public school - her school is 52% minority. Not only has she experienced culture shock, she has been on the receiving end of several racial incidents. I'm about as Liberal as they get, but I'm honest enough to admit that I've not always been as empathetic with racial minorities in the past as I should have been. Seeing the hurt in my little girl when she was slighted because of her skin color has been an eye-opener for me. Her school is quite segregated internally, but I'm very proud that she has friends from every ethnic and racial group - she makes an incredible effort for a child to bring people together.

[Breeze54]

54. Yes, I have but I got over it. But then again, it doesn't happen everyday to me. n/t

[Blue Diadem]

57. Yes, it was frightening

Twenty years ago we sold our home to a black couple. Our neighbor's became hateful the day the young couple came to look at the house. As we were shaking their hands outside, the neighbor began blasting his music, something he'd never done before. As the young couple drove away, our phone began to ring and the threats began. Our family and house were threatened and my kids were terrified. Our sold sign had to be removed due to the nastiness and hate written on it. Some neighbors were bold enough to knock on our door and confront us, suffice it to say I told them exactly what I thought of them.

We moved to a small rural town and since then we've attended a town dinner where the mayor told racist jokes and in later years a town meeting where people complained about a "minority" owned company doing work in town. The last job I held, my boss asked me if I considered a black person equal to him(a latino)and he became angry when I told him yes all people are equal. He later explained that he was upset that his white step-daughter was dating a black kid. His wife had left him telling him she'd married him, so how could she tell her daughter not to date a black man.

Earlier, I worked for an electronics store with a nutso for a boss. One day I was showing a black man a small radio and my boss marched in and began screaming where did the display radio go. He made quite a scene, saying repeatedly that he knew SOMEONE had stole it. I kept trying to move my customer away from the area but he looked at me with tears in his eyes and quietly said I didn't take it. I told him I knew he didn't and that I was so very sorry for what was happening. That manager was later fired..for not only that but also physically assaulting me.

A few years ago, my daughter went on several job interviews and at two different places, race was mentioned in derogatory ways.

edited to add that even though I'm white, I feel the hurt each time I hear or see these things happen. I know it may not be the same hurt a black person feels but it cuts deep in my soul.

[rurallib]

58. Yep. At a Grassley town hall meeting a month ago

right in front of my 11 year old mentee who is Hispanic. Old, old woman started off on "illegals" and included some racist comments at the end. Of course Grassley said nothing.
Just the most recent, hardly the only.

[Diana Prince]

59. I will never set foot in Applebees ever again

This is one of the most memorable, it took place in 2002 in ND. My husband who is AA, our daughter and I decided to go have dinner at Applebees. As we were seated,a family near us just stared at us and commented that "it" was not right and decided to move. The kicker is they happened to be family members of the restaurant manager having dinner there that night. There have been many when we are together, I get extremely upset and confrontational about it but my husband says to let it go, this happens to him all the time.

I have to admit, I never thought about any of this before I met him. In the 19 yrs we've been together, some places have been worse than others.

[burrowowl]

60. My Uncle

even with a nice Anglo name, should have been Valedictorian at Texas Western (now UTEP) but was told he would be Salutatorian.
I lost my 1st job on the first day, it was a summer job before going to UNM, I was assigned filing and filing out cards. I asked the boss woman what H SP and L SP meant. She said High Hispanic and Low Hispanic. I said what does does that mean? She said: "Well, you know, those who look Hispanic and those who don't (blondish)" I said: "you mean Olive skinned? I had lived in Spain and said depending on the Province many Spaniards from say Galicia (Celtic origin) are blondish, many from say Andalusia are Olive completed, What are you talking about?"
So she said: "You know 'Mexican or Indian mix looking'." I said: "I am part Mexican (even went to the same school as Richardson for a semester in Mexico City) and I very much dislike Gringos like you moving into this State!"
In Mexico City, I wore a cotton sweater (we had just gotten back from Dad's assignment in Madrid with a Madrid Coat of Arms on the sleeve (Dad didn't tell me my Grandmother would have been really pissed with that symbol of Spain), got jeered as a Gachupina, took the patch off that evening.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

61. Yes, in an all white high school.

I was in my high school English class. This was in 1969. One year after Dr. King was shot, I did a book report on "My Life With Martin Luther King, Jr." by Coretta Scott King.

As I walked back to my seat, some stupid little female piece of trash called me a "N-lover".

:grr:

[ailsagirl]

80. That's disgusting!!! How ignorant can people be????

[proud2BlibKansan]

62. Yes several times

Most recently an African American man went out of his way to destroy a political group we had formed. He sent us all nasty emails, with links to articles that proved "white people are out of control".

[Wizard777]

63. Yes and I'm white.

My parents never taught me to be prejudice. So I wouldn't hate Black people simply for being black. Nor would I keep quite about it in the presence of those who did. So needless to say I was often called a N lover. Once I hit about 6' 5" the physical attacks stopped. Once I hit my full growth of 6' 11" the verbal attacks stopped.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

65. Yes, shortly after I started college.I was assaulted by a black student and she was not punished.

This happend six weeks after I started college in 1972. They were using affirmative action to try to get black students. I had a black roommate who had stuffed animals on her bed (!!!)

Another black girl came in my room and hassled me while I was trying to study. She decided I was a racist and hated me for some reason. I told her I was raised to be nice to black people. She was very angry and muscular.

One night she bodily dragged me out of my room, by my head. I was in a housecoat. She put her hand over my mouth and I bit her, she slapped me. She dragged me thru her room, opened the window and threw me out the second story window. I think most of the girls who lived on that floor of the dorm watched and did nothing. There were only a few black girls there anyway.

There was a concrete ledge there. i sat there for a while until I yelled at some people crossing a roof who saw me. They came and got me back through the window. I spoke to the resident assistant several times about the girl hassling me, before she threw me out her window. I got nowhere with this. They ignored it.

After it happened, I called me parents a couple of days later, still in shock. They did not come over to see me and confront the school administration. For this I think they failed me terribly. My dad read the Hazing Statute over the phone to the Dean of Housing, and said he would not hesitate to file criminal charges. He never did.

A few days after the assault, i went to the Dean of Students, still scared shitless and told her my story. She dissed me totally. She said "Well during rush people get injured, when somebody throw them into a shower stall" and I pointed out this had nothing to do with sorority rush. She still dissed me.

She later admitted that she "should have expelled this student" but SHE DID NOT EXPELL THIS STUDENT WHO ASSAULTED ME. The girl was not college material. She may now have a criminal record for all I know. She was angry, muscular and could have beaten hell out of me.

I could have dropped out and run home to Mommy and Daddy but I didn't do that. I decided I was stronger than that. The news spread all over campus and other white students constantly said hi to me on the way to class. This made me paranoid.

I stayed in school and repressed the memories most of the time. I should have sued criminally, civilly and gone to the newspapers. This school is full of rich kids and they don't want bad publicity. THey are like a country club. My parents scrimped and saved to send me there.

The black men going there were very nice - I think they were ashamed of the girl who assaulted me. Assaulting me once was not enough, apparently. She would sit down at my table while I was eating in the dining hall, and start hassling me. One black man stopped by and said "Are you feeling scared? Are you afraid?" and I said "Yes I am". He told the girl to stop hassling me and he got her to leave and go away so I would not be panicky with horror.

I transferred out after my freshman year. Several years later I transferred back in.

I later graduated from this school with a B.A., but I think they were horrible in not expelling that student who had no business there in the first place, and totally ignoring my problems.


:shrug:

[Behind the Aegis]

67. Yes.

Though white, I have been discriminated against by other white people because I "think" too black. :wtf:

While not racism, try being gay and Jewish in rural Oklahoma (or just about anywhere rural in America). Hell, I put up with anti-Semitic and homophobic shit here!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

68. In grade school. An all white grade school.

Kids would tease me mercilessly, every goddamn day. My mom told me to tell them to go to hell. Then they would say "Ummmmmmmm, you said a bad word!!! I'm gonna tell!". They knew far worse words than I did.

One little witch said something gross to me, and I called her "trailer trash".

She immediately called me "N----r trash". :wtf:

And I am about as white and pale as you can get without being an albino.
English and Scots ancestry.

[Mr. Blonde]

69. My dad works in Nigeria

his first day on the job he was told, "if their lips are moving they are lying."

I am working in Nigeria this summer and have been told similar things by basically all of the white people here.

[bean fidhleir]

70. Racism particularly, or unfair discrimination?

You mentioned anti-semitism, which is more like anti-Catholic prejudice than racism.

[TZ]

74. Eh..Anti-Semitism is a little of both, IMHO

Judaism is very cultural and is an ethnic heritage..You actually do have traditionally Jewish names that pretty much many people know as well ...so even if you aren't a temple goer (as I am not) its often very easy to identify a Jewish person. Its not so easy to identify a Catholic without the relgious paraphernalia.

[bunkerbuster1]

73. Tons of times in the past, not so often now.

I'm white; most often it's been in the company of fellow whites who've assumed I share their idiotic notions of racial superiority. Happens less often over time--not sure if it's so much because we've advanced as a society or just because my older-middle-aged contemporaries are less enraged about such things.

Still, it happens. Most recently, coupla months ago, I got to hear an IT networking guy tell a colleague that a new building's wiring was "Afro-Engineered."

And yeah, I've experienced bigotry from black folks too, at times. Stupidity has no color, after all. Most recently, my multi-racial family was essentially denied service in a restaurant. (Well, I suppose we would've been served eventually, but after waiting ten minutes for someone to wait on us, we walked out. This was, sadly, an African-American waitstaff, who obviously disapproved of my family's configuration.)

[raccoon]

76. A few decades ago, I had a fundy white co-worker who liked that phrase,

"Afro-Engineered."

Surprise, surprise. :sarcasm:

[AngryAmish]

75. Being called names because of the color of my skin, yes; otherwise, no

[a kennedy]

77. My neighbor thinks the QB for the Minnesota

Viqueens is stupid because he's black. I just quit talking to him once he says that. :mad:

[stillcool]

78. Yes..

I dated a black man. One memory that stands our is a friend of 'ours' asked me how I could possibly go out with a black man. I told him I was not going out with a 'black man', I was going out with Jimmy, who just happened to be black. This person was obviously one of those who insist they are not racist..after all he had Jimmy as a friend.