I have a 70-something neighbor that voted for Trump because “people are sick of DEI.” She retired 7 years ago. She claims racism didn’t exist when she worked. I still struggle with these people. Are they stupid? Evil? Both?
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Both, but mostly stupid. Racism is stupid. My hillbilly parents were quietly racist. When I would ask them what are we, I got sketchy answers and though it because we must have some Black or Jewish blood they didn't want to admit. Turned out, dad wasn't my dad, I'm half Italian and it was a secret.
But 20 years later when I asked mom if I could bring my Black boyfriend to the family reunion she said, 'I'd rather you didn't.' Her longstanding conditioning was not easy to beat. My brother Phil said, 'I guess if you live in Toronto you can't be racist.' 'No, or you'd have to hate yourself.'
That’s not historically true. If you look back to when theories of superiority emerged based on phrenology, that’s where you’ll find the origins of racism. It’s a literal division of people groups based on fiction.
As a college freshman, entering Georgetown in 1968, I was asked, rather aggressively, on day 1, if I was Jewish or The Arab Major. Nope, just a very suntaned kid of Southern Italian heritage coming from CT. Weird. Course, I had never seen so many redheads in 1 place before. We do judge 1 another.
Up until the day she retired she most likely still made way less money than her male co-workers. But apparently that is not a concern. She is both and truly just awful.
We also spoke of crime. Violent crime is going down here in Chicago. She claimed that’s not true, it isn’t being reported. So she went on about some petty crime that wasn’t reported. She said her cop friend at the precinct told her. So a cop knows about it but isn’t reporting it? I just can’t…
Anyone can look up stats online and she will not do it. That also is a story the media has covered a lot. I hear about Chicago's crime rate in Houston.
Stupid and evil. The amazing thing is when you actually confront them with the reality of what it is they empower they get extremely angry because the fragile self image as a good person is a veneer over the top of a pile of bigoted garbage.
I don’t know your neighbor, but my white husband thought racism rarely happened until he started dating me (mostly Chinese). Now he gets to witness it up close. I think it’s invisible to most white people because it isn’t foisted on them like us POC. Prince Harry said something similar.
This also demonstrates that many people have friend/acquaintance groups that mirror their own ethnicity and it's quite sad since the U.S. is so diverse.
That is true. My friend group is a lot more diverse than my husband’s. POC, especially immigrants, have to learn to adapt & “pass” between groups. This is not something that majority of white folks have to do. Probably why I have a lot of LGBTQ friends too.
Some people just continue to hang out with their original high school or college group and rarely make new friends. If they fail to read or watch news, their world view continues to shrink every year.
It's not that they don't have to many chose not to. The amount of racism is massive and I personally think for some families it's so deep it's near cellular. They don't even realize it's there until it's pointed out. The one who are loud with it know but others are just blind it's in them, a cancer.
As a Torontonian who has done stints down there, it’s the first thing that I notice every time. We have a lot more cross pollination up here, right across the board.
I know. I agree, but some people cannot comprehend the scale or pervasiveness of a problem until it affects them or someone close to them. Like how the Bushes didn’t care about drug addiction as a social issue until one of their own had a problem. Same with Dick Cheney and LGTQB rights.
Definitely. I think a big part of my empathy for poc comes in part by the privilege of growing up in a diverse community where I got interact with poc just as people. Not every white person gets to experience different cultures or perspectives often and that empathy sure isn’t taught at work or home
All of my life Ive known Asian (all countries) people in interracial families. Many I know & have heard of claim Whiteness & assimilate 2 be accepted and included, & seem to be the case. How many have actually been racially harassed like those of us who are Latino and Black in interracial families
Definitely agree. It was always there. I'm an Asian American female and I work in IT. Most of my careers, my immediate teammates were from India or China. I'm Thai. People always referred to us as "you people" or "your kind" in not the nicest context.
I didn’t want to believe it but yes, I’ve met someone that literally did not believe they were racist (folks, they were extremely racist) as they were fine with “them” living their lives - over THERE. SMDH 🤦♀️ this is the ignorance people are dealing with.
I had to explain to my white in-laws years ago, that despite there not being (pre-Charleston) parades with white hoods and burning things, that racism, is in fact live and well.
But, because it’s not overt, many white people get to pretend like it’s not happening.
I have a retired family member who says the same the about sexism, despite the fact that she was fired for being pregnant and specifically gave her daughter a gender-ambiguous name to help her on job applications.
Yes. She went on how no one works anymore, always changing jobs. I told her we are constantly laid off. I gave her my own experiences and those of my laid off coworkers. Several laid off twice more at new roles within a year. Her response, “well I always had the same job.” 🥴
She is one of those people who just pretends or ignores anything that happens to other people because it never happened to her. Why will she not talk about the misogyny she experienced and how she made way less than her male counterparts? It's sheer insanity. They are truly awful people.
Bwahahahahahaha racism didn't exist then because
SHE 'S WHITE!
let's go ask the heroes of the Apollo project as NASA.
Let's ask how the draft process seemed to zero on on poor and black, minorities during Nam,
Let's ask the young girl who had to be escorted by national guardsman to SCHOOL
This convo reminds me of a an affluent woman complains to a store clerk about a minimum wage increase. Somehow it was okay for her to be highly compensated in oil & gas industry, but end of the world for fast food worker to get a living wage.
When you live in a white bubble, especially if there is a black person in it that you can point to, you can choose not to notice racism. If you are forced to notice it, you blame DEI/CRT/etc for your new discomfort.
They don’t understand, they repeat what they hear from friends and neighbors. Like the eggs! Like the economy!
None of that is true! Wait until he takes meds and Medicare off them! He is evil!!
She hates the IL governor because he’s a billionaire. Loves Trump though. Said “Pritzker didn’t work for it, but Trump did.” I’d only seen these conversations online. I didn’t know they all literally parrot the same talking points. She contradicted herself so many times.
There are a lot of racists who truly don’t think they are because everyone in their life is just like them. They don’t see the problem, dismiss evidence of it bc they don’t see it, so they hate the solution. Yet they eagerly vote for unqualified politicians all the time.
Mine too. They’re not egregiously racist but they do have some misperceptions. It’s gotten noticeably worse since Trump’s propaganda. It’s a shame bc my mom supported the Civil Rights movement. Racism isn’t always as obvious as separate facilities these days so it’s easier for many to ignore
They understand that racism is a “bad person” thing but don’t view themselves as bad people, so as long as they aren’t whatever cartoon of racism they have in their head they assume people are just trying to smear their name or something
They saw physical barriers of separate facilities and back of bus, restaurant, etc. removed and believed it’s over. There’s many not so visible barriers (jobs, schools, housing, etc.) that todays racists ignore imo bc it’s not as obvious and propaganda is 24/7 now
Both. But some are just painfully ignorant. I’ve also noticed that many people feel that when the struggles of others are pointed out that it negates their own struggles. I don’t think there’s anybody out there that appreciates being told that their pain means nothing.
We have a politician (likely be our next PM) who stated in an "interview" with Jordan Peterson that racism didn't exist here until "the woke" took over.
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Anyone can look up stats online and she will not do it. That also is a story the media has covered a lot. I hear about Chicago's crime rate in Houston.
But they believe it because they WANT to.
But, because it’s not overt, many white people get to pretend like it’s not happening.
SHE 'S WHITE!
let's go ask the heroes of the Apollo project as NASA.
Let's ask how the draft process seemed to zero on on poor and black, minorities during Nam,
Let's ask the young girl who had to be escorted by national guardsman to SCHOOL
I explained to a white male neighbor that he has no idea what it’s like to be discriminated against because of how you appear.
None of that is true! Wait until he takes meds and Medicare off them! He is evil!!
What gets me though is when a black colleague tells them something is racist and they still hand-wave it away.