I have first hand experienced racism, from when I was very young to even now but I've learned to somehow deal with it.

The first time I can remember anything racist happening to me was when I was probably in the 4th or 5th grade. I was playing basketball with one of my neighbors and he got mad at me cause I blocked his shot or something of that nature. All of a sudden I hear him say a sentence under his breath and the word "nigger" stuck out the most. I walked over to him and asked him "what did you call me?". He acted like he never said anything but my ears didn't deceive me. I started beating on him as hard as I could then stopped and went home. His mother came outside when I started him and didn't know what was going on and thought I was just beating him up for no plain reason, told me not to come back over there.

Now mind you, I was a little kid and that was my first reaction...I know now that violence is not the way to deal with things but it felt good at the time. The same kid said the same word to me again and I beat him up again for it LOL

Overall, I think racism in America compared to the 1960s or even 1950s has gotten tons better. In those times, it was totally taboo for a black person to even date or hold hands with someone who is white. Now and days it's a normal thing to be seen, but there are still times when I get looked at when I walk with my white female friends.

Now and days, most of my friends are white and so I stick out in the crowd BUT I try to make sure I'm not seen as "Adam the black guy" but as just simply "Adam". I don't like to be singled out cause of my race and I'm sure other people in my situation wouldn't like that either.

No, this is not an attack on anyone who is white, this is just a general statement and a story of something that has happen to me. I DEFENITLEY know that not every white person is a racist or a bigot of any nature.

In my opinion, I think blacks are getting it hell of allot easier than Muslims and Arabs. I have a friend who is Palestinian and he's told me experiences of his treatment from a first hand experience. People calling him a Terrorist or people plainly telling him to go back to where he came from. He is an American, born here and raised here and did live in Palestine for a few years in his early teens. Ever since 9/11 they have gotten the unfair treatment in America and sometimes seen as "second hand" citizens. Just because the hi-jackers were of Arabic decent doesn't mean that every Arabic is a terrorist and it's sad to say that some people need to realize that. It's scary when after 9/11 you hear people say "They need to go to the middle east and blow them all up" like that would solve anything.

My last point is people aren't born with hatred...parents need to talk to their kids and let them know whats going on in the world and let them know what equality is. If a 4th grader has the word "nigger" in his vocabulary, you know this is something wrong at home.

Does anyone agree with any of my points or have any experiences of racism whether your black, white, Hispanic, European or any other decent?



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i know what you're talkin about adam


I think blacks HAD it just as bad as muslims and arabs have it now, however they are at their "1960s" right now... whereas blacks have become more accepted in society, and things have improved much in the way of tolerance since Martin Luther King and the like.

Things have improved greatly, but it seems history is doomed to repeat itself in the way of intolerance. A lot of people have no outlet for their anger of the atrocities of 9/11, so they see the terrorists race as a perfect skape goat.

a lot of times, parents dont make as much of an impace on a child's life as friends do. Which is why its going to be difficult to parent children for tolerance.

one can only hope one day racism will be a thing of the past, but as long as everyone's different there will always be the derogatory comments and names, and unfortunately its going to be one of the trials of the human experience.

im a middle aged white male. i live in a democratic state, rural area. i experience no discrimination as far as race, etc is concerned. ill admit that i havent had too much experience with people of other races (got a few mixed cousins and a handful of people through high school, college, and work), but what i have had hasnt been bad in any way. im not an idiot and i realize that we are all the same basically. ive never understood why people would treat someone different just because they are a different color. thats never made sense. i discriminate based on how the person acts, not what they look like or where they are from. if youre an idiot, youll be treated like one

but since this is the war forum, and you brought it up, whats with the word nigger? i know people ask that, and comedians joke about it, but ive never actually had the chance to ask a black person. obviously you responded negatively to it....so....why? i cant imagine any name that someone could call me that would make me mad enough to beat them up. or even for that matter, any name that would bother me. so whats the deal? nigger is just a word, just like black, white, yellow, or red can be skin colors. why would that word offend you any more than if someone called you a dry, moronic, fish monger?

i hope this doesnt take the discussion away from what you intended. but thats just something that stuck out in my mind as i read your post.

I am originally from Bosnia, lived in Germany for 5 years, moved to central NY 6 years ago.

I am WHITE, but white and black people still tell me to go back to my country. it happened more than it does now, but it did happen, and when it does, it hurts like a bitch.

I heard it in my high school more often than anywhere else. once I started college, things like that were never heard again. i guess the education system took care of most of the ignorant @!#$s and weeded them out before they got to college. maybe people learned once they grew older and accepted more nationalities and races into their everyday lives. who knows.

I know for a fact that I will never call anyone a name because they are a minority. It's because I know how uncomfortable it feels.

Its @!#$ up because when I go back to Bosnia for a vacation, some ignorant idiots choose to call me an American, which I am not yet. Then i go back to NY, and people call me an immigrant and tell me to go back where I came from... wtf am I supposed to do?


racism will never be eliminated because ignorance is a trait that most people posess.

Tobasco, to answer you question...it's really a hard question to answer. That word has been discussed by African Americans for years on years. Maybe you would have to be in my shoes and know the full history of what our race has been through. That word means someone ignorant but was put even more negatively years ago. When you hear comedians and black people say it, it's used as more of a friendlier way. It's funny cause most people say that they took that word which was so negative and made it theirs and turned it into something somewhat positive and more of a slang word.

I call some of friends that because they do something ignorant or stupid. It's more of something you would have to experience and possibly you will never know what it's like but that isn't your fault. You should be lucky to never have been discriminated against because of your race but you should know what it's like to be discriminated against maybe because of your car or because where you live or what you look like. Race isn't the only singled out thing that happends.

So in conclusion, it's a word to you but there is more depth into it than you would think.



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UpstateNyZ24 wrote:I am originally from Bosnia, lived in Germany for 5 years, moved to central NY 6 years ago.

your bosnian?



ive met several bosnians. lets just say, they arent so called 'upstanding citizens' by any means.






on the original topic:



racism, it will always be around has long as their is any difference in any people about anything.


-Borsty

and tabasco, if i just said your mother was a cum guzzling whore who eats excrement, u youd be pissed.


but heir just words, right?


-Borsty

I don't really understand racism. Personally I think it's a mistake to pretend we are all the same. It's our differences that make life interesting. When educating kids, they can see that we are not all the same. What we need to do is explain that it's OK to be different. Skin colour isn't our only difference, their culture, and language differences too. They need to be accepted. Imagine if everyone actually tried to be the same. What would happen to cultural diversity? What would happen to music, or fine art, or liturature? Heck, how about cooking?

I think it is in peoples nature to discriminate, we do it everytime we choose a product from a group. The thing we must curb is the nature of the discrimination. Try to explain that steriotypes are not accurate, and that colour doesn't really tell much. To use Africans as an example. Is somebody from the Ivory Coast just like someone from Somalia? Well no, even if they are both dark-toned. The same as Philipinos are not Japanese, and Gemrans are not Russian, French are not English.

We need to embrace our differences and celebrate the richness it adds to our lives. Sure there are bad apples, they fall from every tree.

So here is a question.. I grew up in a rual area of Canada, I never saw a person of colour (aside from a few natives) until I was about 12 years old. I have always been curious about other cultures and I find myself wanting to talk to a "black" person just because they are black. Is that racist? Kinda huh? The thing is, I wopuldn't hire or fire based on colour, nor would I make a purchasing decision etc. I just want to know more about their life experience because I know it is different from mine.

PAX

I feel the need to chime in on this one..

My family came to the states after The civil war had ended(1880's or so). We came from Sweden and Germany. I've been called 'cracker' on more than one occasion. Did I beat the hell out of the kid who called me that? No, I didn't. I didn't because that word means nothing to me as my hands are clean of that situation.. You mention that racism is a learned trait and you're right, although this poses quite a dilemma with your argument. You mentioned the word "nigger"..

so,why does that word affect you? are you a slave?...I don't think you are, i mean, i'm pretty sure you're not..That tells me that you harbor the same hatred that you condemn whites for... If you were not racist, that word would mean nothing to you.

^^see thats what i think. its just a word, and as such should hold no meaning unless you give it one. borsty said he could call my mom a "cum guzzling whore who eats excrement" and i would get pissed. but the fact is, i wouldnt. why? well he doesnt know my mom. if he ever met her there is no way he would think that. so he obviously doesnt know her and he is just saying that to try and make me mad. i think doing that is stupid and therefore i pay it no mind at all.

but as far as what you said...youre right. i will never know what its like to be discriminated in the same way as you. i get plenty of discrimination in my own way, dont get me wrong. around here its redneck-ville. you have to be on welfare, wear camo all year long, and drive a jacked up truck or you dont fit in. chewing tobacco is completely an option, although i know plenty of girls who do lol. but in my little community, the big hangout for rednecks is at the local welfare office parking lot -- im not kidding at all. before my car looked like crap like it does now, every time i would drive by there all i would hear were jeers coming from the crowd. "faggot" is the one that i heard the most. just because of my car. most had never met me but they still felt the need to call me that. it didnt piss me off at all....but it did make me wonder how or why they would do that. and because i never fit in as a redneck, ive constantly received crap from them. im not a prep, but i like the way american eagle jeans look and fit, so i have a few. to them this makes me more of an outsider...so i really dont fit in well with my town or community much at all. its hardly racism on a huge degree that lots of people face...but around here people are just ignorant.

and i have another question for you if you dont mind. you mentioned "Maybe you would have to be in my shoes and know the full history of what our race has been through." now i will admit that public school isnt the best by any means, but what has your race been through that im not aware of? i know of slavery, reconstruction and carpet bagging, segregation and the civil rights movement. i know that there are many stupid people out there who will treat you differently because of what you look like. but can you explain to me what im missing? ive heard many black people talk about "their culture", but that usually revolves around slavery and how bad their great great great grandfather was treated. beyond slavery and segregation, what else are you, as a black man in america, taught? are you taught anything about africa and its native tribes, where your ancestors came from, and the actual culture present there? or again, does it revolve more around "the white man stole our music, our culture, and us".

i wish there were more black people in this thread so that i could ask them too, but unfortunately i think youre it .

I am a white female in my 20s and I have experienced this first hand from the area that I live in and the high school that I went to. My high school was 13% white...therefore, I was a minority and was treated like so...even by teachers. I had world history in 10th grade and I was one of 5 white kids in a class of 30. Our teacher got on a rant one day about how us "white kids were priveledged and that we have everything handed to us and that we should be ashamed of what our parents do for us". Needless to say, we were harrassed more when we got our parents involved.

On the other side of the spectrum, I have an eclectic group of friends of various backgrounds. Most of my friends (girls and guys) are involved in bi-racial relationships...and I am included (I dont limit myself tho, I date white and not white). Although I am getting a divorce, my "husband" is not white. I have been told by people that "no white guys will ever want me" if I date out of my race. I have also been told that if I were to ever have kids with someone who wasnt white then I would be setting them up for a hard life. I really dont see it that way. If I were to have a bi-racial child then that means that they would get to have the best of both worlds, they would get to experience both cultures of their parents.

Does the ignorance bother me? Not really. I am an adult and do what I want. I will be friends and date whoever I please. I dont have relationships with people based on their racial or ethnic background. I am attracted to people because of their personalities and attitudes, not what color God decided to make them.

Tabasco Racing has been SOLD wrote:^^see thats what i think. its just a word, and as such should hold no meaning unless you give it one. borsty said he could call my mom a "cum guzzling whore who eats excrement" and i would get pissed. but the fact is, i wouldnt. why? well he doesnt know my mom. if he ever met her there is no way he would think that. so he obviously doesnt know her and he is just saying that to try and make me mad. i think doing that is stupid and therefore i pay it no mind at all.

i mean more on the side of saying it to her face.


not that i think that or would say anything like that.


-Borsty

Quote:

I have also been told that if I were to ever have kids with someone who wasnt white then I would be setting them up for a hard life.

when my old man was in the army, he bunked with a guy that was half white and half black..that guy said that he was too black for the white guys, and too white for the black guys and had a rough time in school..

I see both points from Adam and tobasco..

Im a mixed guy and have delt with racism from both black and white people.. Its been worse from white people though.. Not so much here lately but in middle and some of HS.. I try not to take it to heart what people say. It takes alot to get me mad, if you put your hands on me then its on.. Words dont so much phase me to react to violence.

Tobasco.. I think to answer you and Bortsy question about why do WE get mad when somone calls us 'nigger'... Well, say a white person or non black calls me that in a darogitory way, knowing the history of that word why shouldn't we get mad and offended? Slave masters and Klansman used that word for years against our ancestors. Of course we're gonna get mad. If somone says it playin around and whatnot its all cool.. I have white friends that says "what up nigga" to me.. I dont mind at all.. It all depends on how somone uses the word towards me is all im saying.

Like said above, as long as their are different races and culturs racism will always exist sadly.










~2014 New Z under the knife, same heart different body~
______________________
WHITECAVY no more
2012 numbers - 4SPD AUTOMATIC!!
328 HP
306 TQ

my neighborhood was cool. i lived on the border of brooklyn and queens. it was weird. there was no racism. my neighborhood was very multicultural. i would say half italian and the rest caribbean (includes: puerto rico, dominican republic, guyana, trinidad, haiti, etc...) everybody was cool with eachother. all my best friends were from spanish deccent(basically puerto rican). I can actually read, write and speak spanish as well as italian. Then i move upstate and its like a different story. im treated like an outlaw sometimes because of my accent. I walk into a small store and i get these looks like im going to steal something. even though im white i feel like im hated on sometimes. People ask my why i talk "black". the joke is i have a brooklyn accent (not as strong as my mothers though). as for the way i dress, i have a euro style of dressing. people think im gay because of the way i dress. how dumb.


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NJ: From my limited experience, Racism happens everywhere, I won't say Canada is an oasis, I have black friends that routinely get the "polite treatment" from other people...

I've been on the other side of the mirror so to speak... there are a few "very black" places in Houston that white people get looked at weird for going in. At first I was uncomfortable, but then I figured: I'm not the one with the problem. And went along my merry way.

Nigger is just a word. Nigger, Honkey, peckerwood, zip, zipperhead, slope, chink, etc... they're all JUST WORDS..

It's the ass-hole that's saying it that's the problem.




Transeat In Exemplum: Let this stand as the example.

I will attempt to answer this i'm still kind of sleeping.
racism is able to live because people teach their children to hate people different then themselves. Children are very Susceptible. i remember watching a documentary in one of my classes, it was about a teacher named Jane Elliot who decided to help her students understand racism.
the first day she told all her students that the all blue-eyed people were smarter and better than the brown-eyed people. And naturally the students believed Elliot and the blue-eyed students took a attitude of superiority. The brown-eyed kids had to wear arm brands to Distinguish themselves from the blue-eyed students. At recess the kids were getting in fights and calling each other names. The blue-eyed students even performed better on a test because they were told that they were smarter and were able to do things much faster and more efficiently than the brown-eyed kids.
At the end of the first day the brown-eyed students had been teased and their confidence level was down and they really felt inferior to the blue-eyed students. the very next day Elliot decided to flip the script, now the blue eyed students were inferior to the brown-eyed students. they tested the students again and now the blue-eyed student performed Horribly and the brown-eyed students scored high. the Brown-eyed student took on this superior attitude.
We can't teach our children to be tolerant of other people but to really be open-minded and treat other equally and impartial regardless of skin color, physical or mental handicap. we all have different talents, likes and dislikes. people come in all different shapes, sizes, and color and that's ok.

whitecavy: i think that nigger is still just a word. granted i am looking at that from "outside" the regular perspective as ive never been called nigger or never called anyone nigger. but i guess if you can allow white people to call you that in jest, then thats good at least. i call my friends cocksuckers, fags, etc, but its all in play. they in return call me the same. but as i stated above, when the rednecks call me a faggot because of my car, it still doesnt make me mad, just...curious....if nothing else.

and as far as saying that slave owners and klansmen called your ancestors that....so? im quite sure they called black people many different names over the years. and didnt the term "cracker" derive from slaves calling white people that? if so, shouldnt i take a terrible offense to it? yes nigger is a derrogatory term, but why take exceptional offense to that word and not another? you give it extra meaning when you do that. its just like when you call a woman a cunt. i dont know why, but that seems to be the ball buster right there....but i see no difference in calling her a cunt or a bitch. in fact, in my opinion, bitch is a worse word. cunt is just a slang term for her anatomy. and in my opinion, nigger is just a slang term for a black person.

phranny19 wrote:I will attempt to answer this i'm still kind of sleeping.
racism is able to live because people teach their children to hate people different then themselves. Children are very Susceptible. i remember watching a documentary in one of my classes, it was about a teacher named Jane Elliot who decided to help her students understand racism.
the first day she told all her students that the all blue-eyed people were smarter and better than the brown-eyed people. And naturally the students believed Elliot and the blue-eyed students took a attitude of superiority. The brown-eyed kids had to wear arm brands to Distinguish themselves from the blue-eyed students. At recess the kids were getting in fights and calling each other names. The blue-eyed students even performed better on a test because they were told that they were smarter and were able to do things much faster and more efficiently than the brown-eyed kids.
At the end of the first day the brown-eyed students had been teased and their confidence level was down and they really felt inferior to the blue-eyed students. the very next day Elliot decided to flip the script, now the blue eyed students were inferior to the brown-eyed students. they tested the students again and now the blue-eyed student performed Horribly and the brown-eyed students scored high. the Brown-eyed student took on this superior attitude.
We can't teach our children to be tolerant of other people but to really be open-minded and treat other equally and impartial regardless of skin color, physical or mental handicap. we all have different talents, likes and dislikes. people come in all different shapes, sizes, and color and that's ok.

I have seen that movie in 3 of my college classes in the past 5 years...that lady has been very influential.

GAM (The Kilted One) wrote:Nigger is just a word. Nigger, Honkey, peckerwood, zip, zipperhead, slope, chink, etc... they're all JUST WORDS..

It's the ass-hole that's saying it that's the problem.

I think GAM summed it up pretty good right there..

Tobasco. I dunno why we take that word offensive.. Its just something that we grew up with and were taught that that has always been a bad word for us .. Its just the culture we live in I guess that teaches us that word is bad when used against us by non blacks.. Just the same as a white parents who teaches their kid to hate non whites.. It all starts with the parents, the community and our surroundings where we get our ways from.. No matter what race you are..

Ill give an expample.. Just the other day, me my brother and a friend we grew up with we all live here in Columbus Ohio.. We were going to our cousins house(who is white) that lives about an hour North of here in the sticks.. We stopped in the gas station to get some gas and something to drink.. We pull up in my bros 85 Monte Carlo lol and you should of seen the look of the white peoples faces when we got out.. It was like 6 trucks filling up staring at us like "oh ish, what are they up in these parts for"

Just little things like that I get EVERYDAY that bothers me. It was uncomfortable being in that situation ya know? You might not understand if you havent been through that..

Just like GAM said, when he pulled up in that Houston neighborhood that was black and he got stared at.. Its the same thing..

Im not complaining here lol Im just giving almost every examples of what I go through or have been through.

Btw ill be one of the few black guys at the bash I bet hahaha.. I hope to meet everybody I can.. Im light skinned with curly hair.. So say hi everybody hehe









~2014 New Z under the knife, same heart different body~
______________________
WHITECAVY no more
2012 numbers - 4SPD AUTOMATIC!!
328 HP
306 TQ

^^^ she has been. I'm an education major and watching this has taught me that teachers and parents have a lot to do with shaping the future of a young child. Children are often reflections of their parents and are not afraid to imitate any behavior they see an adult do

Quote:

ive met several bosnians. lets just say, they arent so called 'upstanding citizens' by any means.

Not much I can do about that. I've met several white Americans, and they are not what you would call 'upstanding citizens'.

That doesn't mean anything to me really. It's all about where you are. Most Bosnians in my town are hard working people, 7% of this town is Bosnian, and since the arrival of immigrants, this area has seen a good growth in the development of the neighborhoods etc...

phranny19 wrote:^^^ she has been. I'm an education major and watching this has taught me that teachers and parents have a lot to do with shaping the future of a young child. Children are often reflections of their parents and are not afraid to imitate any behavior they see an adult do

Yup, Im a health education major and know exactly what you are talking about although some will argue over the "nature vs. nurture" theory. Still, ignorance is learned not imbred.

whitecavy: yeah i figured it had to be a learned thing, to take such offense to that word. and yeah youre right...its all about the parents. that goes for so many things, well beyond just racism. its just too bad there isnt anything we can do about that.....

kids arent stupid...the parents are stupid

UpstateNyZ24 wrote:

Quote:

ive met several bosnians. lets just say, they arent so called 'upstanding citizens' by any means.

Not much I can do about that. I've met several white Americans, and they are not what you would call 'upstanding citizens'.

That doesn't mean anything to me really. It's all about where you are. Most Bosnians in my town are hard working people, 7% of this town is Bosnian, and since the arrival of immigrants, this area has seen a good growth in the development of the neighborhoods etc...

yeah but ive met like 5 in my life and been around them for a long time and each one i would classify as a grade a scumbag.

but, maybe WNY got a bad bunch, idk.


-Borsty