for 40-60: HAve you been mistreated for your ethnicity?

Question

please do describe with more details if possible such as the issues u face as a minority person in this country or any issues relate to your ethnicity, etc. Thanks!

Answer 1

I have been though that has been a rare occurrence. I have also been mistreated for my ex religion as well. We live in a culture where anything different is cause for someone to be rude. If I could complain about one mistreatment among all the others it would be the unfairness I've encountered over the years because I am a woman. Many doors were not open to women when I was young and for those of who willing to step through closed door, we were not treated fairly or nicely at times. Even so, we opened a few doors and by the time my daughters were grown, more doors were open for women and their place in the world was being more accepted. Now I can see my granddaughter having a much more fair opportunity to grow and expand her interests, whatever they may be!

Answer 2

Who in their life at one time, or another hasn't been mistreated unjustly because of their ethnicity?

Answer 3

I'm a white male. That's about the worst demographic to be in these days as far as quotas are concerned.

Answer 4

I have an ethnic background, but since I'm a Caucasian female, that doesn't make me a minority. Sounds like your looking for a pretty specific minority group. If so, you should be up front with everyone and say it. Otherwise you're going to hear answers like mine.

Growing up the WASPS looked down on anyone with a foreign name. The high school I went to was a consolidated school with the WASPS coming from the more urban area and where the fathers worked in an internationally known company. Their everyday workers had their own country clubs complete with tennis courts, swimming pools, and golf courses. Of course, there was the more exclusive club the managers belonged to, but it was lorded over the rest of us that we didn't have that luxury. The kids I grew up with (almost all ethnic names) were called "farmers" because we lived in a rural setting. Hardly any of our fathers worked the land. We were just lucky to have more acreage than a city lot where we could have horses, etc. That wasn't taken into account. The school's faculty treated us as though we weren't as smart or sophisticated. For the most part we didn't belong to the cliques. Playing sports or being in other activities was sometimes hard because the late bus left before practice or rehearsals would be over. It wasn't like now where every kid has a car. As far as social functions went, it was sort of like out of sight, out of mind. We just didn't get invited. There wasn't a lot of cohesiveness in the school. The faculty lived near the school so they had more interaction with the one group. We were made to feel that we were different although no one could explain how.

My father-in-law was a WASP. My mother-in-law was of an ethnic background. When I was introduced to her and she heard my name, she said, oh, you're ****, aren't you? The carpenter who did all the work in our church was ****. You people are so talented with your hands. I wish I hadn't been polite, but instead had named a few of "my people" who had contributed to the world over the centuries.

My sister-in-law's family changed their last name to make it more acceptable in the upper echelons of the business world her father belonged to. I may understand why, but I've never been ashamed of my background.

Combine my ethnicity with my religious background, move me to the South, and there's a whole new world of discrimination. I had more education, more experience, everything, but I wasn't as good as someone who dug ditches for a living or worked as a coal miner. He was better simply because he had the "right" last name.

It never happened to me, but I was there when so-called educated people who were proud to call themselves WASPS made fun of friends' last names, deliberately mispronouncing them and misspelling them.

And generally, those of us from the ethnic backgrounds I grew up with, were from the "wrong" political party. And, no one dared mention if their father belonged to or supported a Union. It was enough to keep us from getting jobs, promotions, raises...

If it weren't for the immigrants coming over in the early part of the 1900s, the immigrants today wouldn't have access to some of the social programs in place now. They fought for rights in the workplace (no locked doors in the factories, no sweatshops, minimum wage, health care, clinics and on and on), minimum age limits--in some NYC factories children as young as 7-10 could be seen scampering about picking up work to take home to their mothers or being used as "runners" to different departments. Much of the social awareness we have now is thanks to them.

What I'm proud about my background is that my grandparents came here to escape oppression and make a better life for themselves. They went to night school to learn English, made sure their kids went to school to learn the "American" way because that's what they were now--Americans. They worked hard and saved their money so their kids could have a better life than what they'd known. They took responsibility for their lives.

Answer 5

Yes and my disability as well