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I was listening to a podcast where the narrator made interesting comparisons between the struggle for equality between various groups including women, minorities, and the not cis community.
Then I got distracted by the nagging notion that while the LGBTQ+ community still has many hurtles to overcome they’re far further then I expected within my life. Unfortunately I can’t say the same about racism. Hateful people are quite ecumenical in their range of hate, so why the discrepancy?
I honestly believe that everything turned around for the gay community when an unfamiliar word entered the dialogue “homophobia” and it worked wonders. It took the persons hate and pointed out the flaw inside them that caused the hate. It psychologically short circuits the hate.
We have no such word for racism, those that revel in it mistake it for strength. That people fear militias makes them feel so good the stock price of viagra drops. But it’s the same old fear of people that are different.
Fact, most racist are otherwise nice people, some aren’t even aware of it or how it affects their lives. I was raised in a racist rural Alabama in the 1960’s, not all racist are bigots. That’s who I was, it takes a lifetime to find it all but it’s worth it.
Maybe Minorityphobia? Open to suggestions.

Willow_Wisp 8 Dec 3
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5 comments

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1

Many people were brought up in an all white bubble where there were no African Americans and the Gays were hidden in the closet. So they are fearful and not trusting those they do not know. The Republicans feed this fear and mistrust to get people to vote for their white party.

1

I would have opted for xenophobia. I think that pretty much covers it, but then you also have to make the word have negative connotations, you have to turn it into a derogatory label. The negative connotations to homophobia were not always there and I'm not sure how that came about. Unfortunately though there will still always be those who are proud of their label, eg rednecks.

2

Humans still can’t comprehend diversity.
It has gotten better, but we still have not evolved
enough. Starts with education. People fear what
they do not know, they will just judge. The thing is
are they willing to educate themselves in the
process?

3

A word exists: negrophobia -- noun Older Use: Often Offensive.
(sometimes lowercase) an aversion or hostility to, disdain for, or fear of Black people.

I doubt this word would achieve the desired result so that it would psychologically disarm bigotry. Though it would be genius to find an empowering word for fear of black people !

3

Firstly I’m glad you changed your mind, I’m guessing that was quite a process. I think xenophobia is pretty much what it is, which can be used for straight people’s homophobia too.
But it’s too broad I guess.
One of my Community Studies teachers said it was the colour of the skin that was really the issue.
Dermatophobia is fear of the skin
Blancophobia is fear of white people

[phobia.wikia.org]

Going on Blacophobia the fear of dark skinned people would be negrophobia, which is a bit unfortunate due to the word negro being used by those in power to control the dark skinned population, although I suppose you could say homo has been used as a slur too.

I suppose it would be up to the BANE community to whether it was a term they wanted to use or not. Non blancophobia maybe lols as not all non ‘whites’ identify as ‘black’?

Having been brought up by a mother that taught me it’s a ‘spirit’ that counts, the spirit in which they do things and what they do I’d say generational education is important, I was brought a doll that had dark skin, in the ‘70’s when they were really hard to find. But I think my mum went a step further, her insistence that people that looked different were the same on the inside prepared me for a world that has tried ever since to change my mind.

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