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IS AMERICA RACIST AND SEXIST?

We like America's prettier side of the story that we are welcoming, we are generous, kind, helpful, and not racist. That is what we like to think and that is what we like to portray ourselves in the society, to fiends, in speeches, writings and to other nations and people outside. But these are ugly facts about us that we don't like admitting ourselves because it leaves a bad taste in the mouth:

  1. We are still racist. The majority of white America is racist. They all say I am not racist. It only means that would not go out and mistreat a black or brown person but in most circumstances they would not fight and stand up against injustice - in the neighborhood, in the society, or at workplaces. More importantly, our very progressive and open minded goodness stops at our doorsteps. Black or brown people don't sit at our dining tables and cannot date or marry our daughters. Why do we have separate black churches? What about white American cops shooting black Americans in streets and neighborhoods and never get Indicted? Why don't police body cam tapes come out immediately?
  2. We are still sexist. Women are not equal to men - we make laws and we talk about it but we know women still don't get paid equally, don't get equal opportunities. We all know about glass ceilings. A woman has to be far better than a man of the same skills to even deserve equally. White women included... let alone black and brown women!
  3. We discriminate against immigrants. An immigrant has to be twice as good as a white American in corporate America. People think because of his or her color and accent, they have an accent and color to the brain too.

What do you think? Agree, agree with some or disagree?

St-Sinner 9 Aug 13
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24 comments

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6

Absolutely.
And I'll confess that you've described me.
I'm aware of it... I try to overcome it in my interactions with people. But it's there.

Humility. That is a mark of a good human being. We often forget how being that is more important than a career, education, money, power, fame and all else.

@St-Sinner
To embrace humanity in it's entirety almost must be first.

5

I am sorry to say that there are also many black ,brown ,yellow etc racists as well .If you want to go by percentage per group it is probably the same .

Yes, I agree, immigrants... Italians, Asians, Indians, Middle Eastern are known to be a closed community and don't welcome people inside. I won't argue with that. It is a flaw.

@St-Sinner You are definitely correct, but why are openly Black racists such as Al Sharpton embraced by their peers .He has used the word kike ,homo and much worse on numerous occasions,but openly white racists are vilified and shunned by their own race and would never get to his level with the same disgusting background.

@godlessguy I am trying to give a generality and a pattern. Your citations sound like examples.

Al Sharpton and his Tawana Brawley fiasco of the late 1980s in New York is well known. I don't give much credence to that clown. He is good at one liners, but not much depth.

5

No one likes to see themselves with all their 'warts and blemishes'.

Absolutely right. We all want to see ourselves as good and righteous.

You are correct. No one sees themselves as a bad guy.

I saw commentary on Ferdinand Marcos' journal after his death. He described himself as a benevolent dictator.
He was a national hero -- only others considered his regime excessively corrupt.

We can check all history's villains -- Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mussolini, Franco, whoever -- they all saw themselves as basically good people just doing what they had to. Again... No one sees themselves as evil.

@RichCC
Very true and sad. In all of these the true heroes, the common and woman and their story is lost in all places, who make an honest living earning their livelihood, expecting no fame, no power, no money. They just want to do their work right, get paid and achieve peace and happiness for them and families. Teachers are a good example. I think it is the most noble job and is most underrated.

@St-Sinner Again. I agree.

My father was a career school teacher and administrator. I don't remember a lot of it -- I was growing up. But I think he went through several periods over the years.

First he just wanted a job to support his wife and young kids.
Then he grew into a big player in a small town over the years.
Finally he retired on the job as the guy who'd been in charge so long that he had become the go to person to make sure things were done.

But his material rewards were always marginal. His first three sons all made more yearly money at their first career jobs than he did when he retired. And my niece is a grade school teacher but she doesn't plan to continue -- the lack of respect has already become frustrating -- a first grader punched her and she had to figure out how to defend herself without beating him up.
We have far too many implicit prejudicial assumptions in our society.

@RichCC I know the story. I come from a family of teachers - all highly educated but could barely pay the mortgage. Never had enough at home and always stressed out.

5

Agreed on all counts.
The only thing I'd add to all that is that most white Americans
are abject hypocrites. Hell, most Americans in general are hypocrites.
Not all, but most.

This country has never been "great".
That has always been one of the biggest lies we've told ourselves.

I think people who come from outside take - "Being Great" , as comparatively great. I grew up in India and the casteism we do against lower castes today is 10,000 times worse than subtle racism Americans do here. It is blatant, ruthless and cruel. I was born the highest caste and highest sub caste - as a Brahmin. When young, people in the neighborhood used to invite me to have a meal with them because of the superstition that eating with a Brahmin would give you credit for a good deed. I always received a very privileged treatment everywhere - as a young boy, while growing up in the neighborhood, in schools, in colleges (i got scholarships) and possibly at work. I left because the situation of corruption, nepotism, red tape, shortages was hopeless for a young man. Firstly, man gets a privileged treatment there and an upper caste man more so. Not many people know this.

I would never equate blatant and open discrimination in other countries with America's subtle discrimination. Discrimination is a human nature and every society nourishes it with its traditions and beliefs. America has made great strides in conquering the old beliefs and my point was we like to think that we are not racists or sexist but we still are in this day and age.

American exceptionalism is another bullshit claim many will make; that Anerica is best at pretty much everything. This is based on no accomplishments of their own and is often unsupported by facts. America is not number one at most things.

Same goes for claims of being the "greatest nation on earth." I hear this claim repeatedly and it grates on me. What is that based on? Who ever qualified that with any actual facts? It's just the personal opinion of the speaker that the speaker will often state as if it were factual.

@St-Sinner I completely understand your perspective. I respect why you feel the way you do.
I still don't think America is "great". Sure, it's better than some other countries we could all name, but there is still plenty to criticize, and plenty that needs to be changed.

@Sgt_Spanky

You are right. 'We are the Greatest" thing has really made me wonder for years in my life in different countries and travel to others. Here is what I noticed:

  1. Barbara Walters did an interview with Saddam Hussein in 1993 before the first Iraq War and she was led to one school that was prepped for TV interview. Walters asked students what they though of Iraq. The students said.. It is the greatest country on Earth with the richest Babylonian civilization. We ruled the world once and we will be great again
  2. Indian nationalists believe that their is the oldest and richest civilization on Earth, they invented everything before Western scientists could figure it out. and India will be a super power by 2020 (but they do not have toilets for 50% of the population today)
  3. Germany thought after the First World War defeat that the Aryan race must rise again, Third Reach will rule the world and they tried...
  4. Japan thought their race and culture were superior to the yellow man of China and inflicted severe brutality and insults on the Chinese, Koreans.
  5. The Islamic Caliphate movement started in the Middle East by by ISIS to recreate the glory of Khilafat movement of 1919, they think these were the glory days and they were the greatest then

I think the nationalists movements are started by some to fill the void created by failures, frustration, hopelessness, despair and injecting the national pride is the answer.

@St-Sinner
India's religion and backward politics keep them behind. With all the many brainy people there, they might only surface as a super power around 2050 after China overtakes by 2030.

@TimeOutForMe
All of India's success primarily is riding on barely on less than 10% of the population which is smart and educated.. People should not make an assumption that - that is the Indian profile. Take it from me who knows the land intimately, India will not be a superpower. It may be only after the advanced nations start living in space stations and other planets that there will be only extremist Hindus with their cows and extremist Muslims with their camels living on the forsaken planet. That is more possible than India becoming a super power ever. China with its Communist might will within the next 5 to 7 years..

4

People are tribal, everywhere.

nothing is absolute

3

If I were to make a post with a bunch of assertions then I would try to back it up with something. As it stands I’ve no reason to believe any of this.

3

America has been good to me and my background has nothing to do with my success. Hard work pay off, that's a fact. There are plenty of things I could bitch about but I choose not to. I truly believe JFK "It's not what the country can do for me"...... I have chased every opportunity presented but I did prepare for it. My accent does not define me. My ethnicity does not define me. I follow the rules and enjoy what the country offers to the max of my capacity. That's all I have to say about it. I may be nobody but I am a Proud US Citizen.

Nicely stated. I'm in the same tribe you've so succinctly described.
Oh, how are you and @melissa04 doing? 😆

@bigpawbullets Ha ha ha you're dying to know, don't you? 😂😂😂😂😂

@IamNobody
No pictures...... 😆

@bigpawbullets IamGentleman

3

At least the almanac hasn't mentioned lynching by the dozen for most of the 20th century. When was the last time we had a good old, hang 'em from the tree lynching?

Some racism is because people want to associate only with people who are just like them. If you're a white and want to attend an all black church, they'll welcome you. When my mother's primarily white church wasn't breaking even because of low attendance, she attended black services to see if she could invite enough blacks worshipers to keep her all white church from going under.

When she was successful, black families kept to themselves at her church. Overall, it was a failure.

The black churches were more than happy to invite her to their covered dishes. She was treated respectfully and was amazed how much better Blacks dressed up for church.

Of course America has racism. It's almost natural. The extremes of racism aren't as bad as they used to be.

3

I believe we were more in the direction of the ideal picture you've painted, than we are presently. And our best remaining sides are being dismantled bit by bit, day by day, in every possible way !

Greater, we are not.

3

Great Post! Agree with it all! We need politicians who will bring us together. Get the GOP racists out of Congress people! Trump and his new visa requirements are totally racist!

3

I agree as well. This is a shameful truth of our society.

People blame our current leaders and our religions for our failures but in truth they are not causes but much more results of our terrible, selfish, shortsighted natures and actions.

Exactly because it's your work colleagues and neighbours you thought you knew who cast that vote in favour of Trump to continue a legacy of white supremacy and ignorance.

2

I do agree, but most societies are sexist and xenophobic. It's just upsetting to see the US being dragged backwards right now.

Carin Level 8 Aug 27, 2019
2

There are no countries which are not sexist and racist to some degree, why should the US be any different ?

Because we pride in and project ourselves as a super power, leader of the free world, progressive and better human rights and values to the world. Comparing us with other countries and saying we are just like them does not sync with that narrative.

@St-Sinner Yep, that is what I thought. That is why the old saying about, travel teaches you most about your own country is so true. It is no coincidense that the people of the US are among the least traveled of all the developed world, else that sort of unseeing nationalism could not exist.

2

...going with the intro question here.. “America” prettymuch represents humanity, unleashed ~

Varn Level 8 Aug 13, 2019
2

I have yet to see a single instance of true abject racism or sexism in my personal or professional life. Honestly, I think to claim these things as existing you have to move the goal post a lot. You get the same legal protection and privilege regardless of race or gender. If a black woman wants, she can become the CEO of a company she started herself and become wealthy.

I think that all this retoric of racism and sexism is part of the problem, because it keeps people in this mindset of slave mentality. It seems to me that people use their status of being "opressed" to justify their own failure.

The thinking goes like this: Why didn't I succeed? oh, it's just because several generations ago my ancestors were actually oppressed by legitimate institutional racism.

I know this is the case because people that don't have that mindset do rise to positions of wealth and power. Slavery may have been abolished for 220 years, but the mindset is still strong.

I think this may be the case on a smaller scale.

1

Agree all around.

1

Agree still present but worse under idiot in WH

bobwjr Level 10 Aug 15, 2019
1

The Rednecks in our country are breeding and spreading!

1

All true

1

disagree. the vast majority of middle-class/professional blacks are accepted as equals by their peers in the US today.

I disagree. It's mostly window dressing with most whites

1

conservatives are the bigots

sean Level 3 Aug 13, 2019
1

Not every white person is racist. I'm white, and I'm all for equality for races and women.

1

America hasn't figured out that people are human beings, first, foremost, and last.

1

This photo sticks with me...

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