ever personally experienced racism?

Question

why d0es it still exist?

Answer 1

Someone wrote "Unless people learn to get over went they went through in life there will always be racism."...WHAT? Unless those victimized by racism learn to forget racism exists there will always be racism? What kind of twisted logic is that?

Answer 2

If a person tells a racist joke or makes a comment and the listener does not defend that race of people by stating that humor such as that is not humor at all, I consider it a racist act. People are often afraid to speak their minds and stand up for what is right. I think if more people were willing, the level of racism would be greatly reduced.

When I encounter a person who has racist beliefs, I ask where those beliefs stem from. I always get one of two answers:

1. That's how I was raised.
2. A _____ person did___ to me and now I hate them all.

So I try to explain that we all have the power to choose our own path. We don't have to be clones of our parents.

To the second response: I am a white female. If a white person harmed me in some way, I would not hate all white people. Why then would it make sense for me to hate an entire group of people for one person's actions that happens to be a certain race. When I present this viewpoint to those who hold it, I never receive an answer. If there is no way to explain it, how can it be considered logical?

I think it is important for children to be able to interact with people of all races and cultures. That way, they can establish beliefs for themselves rather than what is depicted in the media.

I remember when I was five years old a house was broken into down the street and I asked my 7 year old brother if a black man did it. He informed me that white people commit crimes, too. I was shocked. He then explained to me that the news only reports if the person is black. Because of this, at that age, I truly believed only black people committed crimes. Thank God I had a brother wise beyond his years to set me straight. Growing up in an all white community, I did not have the opportunity to learn this for myself. I'm grateful he told me the truth while I was still young. But had he not, I have the power to find that truth on my own. We just have to look for it.

Answer 3

Two personal examples:

1) Living in an all-white suburb of Chicago in the early 1970s, I witnessed a crowd of angry whites demand that a Native American family move out of the apartment they just rented that day, because they were not white. The family moved, for their personal safety, and after all these years I'm still stunned at how small-minded people can be.

2) As a white male working at an HBCU for almost 25 years, I have heard representatives from all sides complain that "we're becoming too non-black," "I didn't get promoted because I'm not black," etc. The huge majority, however, don't have any problems. In all my years here, my only direct negative experience was when I went to help a young black man who was having trouble printing a document from one of the library computers (I could see him unplugging the printer, fiddling with wires, etc.). I went over and told him I'd give him a hand, since it looked like he was having trouble. He just looked at me and said "I don't need no help from no white man." I said "Fine" and just walked away, and he never did get that printer working.

We've all come a long way over the past few decades, but bigotry and racism will remain with us as long as individuals feel threatened by anyone who is different, be it man vs woman, gay vs straight, black vs white, light-skinned black vs dark-skinned black, Muslim vs Jew, etc.

Answer 4

Yes. I was at work and I asked a doctor about a surgery that I was going to perform with him . He told me that I didn't know the answer to the question because I am a foreigner ( I am from Trinidad) and because I was a koon foreigner.

My reaction was different, because in coming from Trinidad where no one is pure anything and racism is still not vogue, I really did not understand what he was saying to me. I had to ask someone what a koon was! And then instead of being angry at the man, I felt sorry for him.

When you look at a person and only see color, ethnicity, education level etc, then something is missing in you, not that person. Until we learn to see people as people, racism will continue to exist.

Answer 5

Two stories:

One - A guy I was dating called me the n-word about ten times in a row after I told him I didn't want to see him anymore. I beat the crap out of him and threw rocks at his truck, threw the diamond studs and the ring that he brought me out in the street (at night which was nearly impossible to locate). This guy thought he could just buy me things and that would make me want to be with him but it never would have worked because he was a condescending prick who often belittled people. He ended up sending me a Fender Strat a year later out of the blue. I guess he felt guilty. Yes, I kept it.

Another time, I was at a bar in a suburb outside Detroit. The people I was with (all white guys) got into a fight with the bouncers and owner. This big Stone Cold Steve Austin looking guys walks up to me like he's going to knock my head off and says to me "This is a white neighborhood!" Yea, didn't go back there. Funny thing was...the area is mostly comprised of Middle Easterners but whatever.

Answer 6

Yes I did, when I was young, at school, because I came from a place two hour south from where I live now. Can you believe it? Some people are very closed minded and where I live now is such a small place compared even to a normal town...But it was some times ago. Now it is no longer so for me (also because of immigration, they are not racists to me anymore because there are people from far away countries and they can be racists to them. Sad really).

Answer 7

I lived in an apartment complex near an HBCU, and I went to NC STate University. Most of the people in the complex were black. When I tried to go up my stairsor walk to my car, they would stare at me, block my path, and sometimes make crude comments about how I should go back to my side of town....etc.

Answer 8

I have because I'm a Muslim (from non-Muslims) and because I'm a white man living among Asians (from Asians).

My Nigerian friend was much worse: Asian doctors let him die in hospital because he was black. They haven't checked him even once and he got severe lung infection.

It still exists because some people have problems with themselves and they try to solve them by mistreating others. Blame it on the ******! Blame it on the Jews! Blame it on the Muslims! Blame it on the white people! Blame it on the Arabs!
Some idiots still believe that the cause of their problems is with others...

Answer 9

Unless people learn to get over went they went through in life there will always be racism. Very sad.

Answer 10

Yes, it elementary school no one understood that I was born in America and lived America all my life. They just assumed that I knew EVERYTHING about Chinese culture and its language. I even got teased for not being white and teased about how my parents have an accent when they spoke in English. That just p--- me off at how ignorant some people can be.