Question

Everybody has someone or some group that they react and/or discrimenate against. Creating hierarchies is part of the human experience, like it or not.

If you are of European descent anywhere in the world, as part of your heritage you have a dose of white privege in your background. Its part of the colonial and 16th-19th Century european hegemony. Whether it's India, South Africa, Peru, Mexico, or the US South. It has formed and molded a part of your world paradigm. Some more, some less.

The thing that matters is how we deal with it in our lives. Do we catch ourselves and say that it is not right and correct ourselves. Or do we build on and make it part of our culture.

The South made it into a fundamental part of their culture. They use white privilege and percieved minority inferiority to elevate themselves. We see almost daily examples on the news of how this mindset and behavior is alive and well in this area.

After the Civil War many southern white males migrated North and West in seek of jobs, as the Southern economy was destroyed. Unfortunately, I fear that they imported their racism wherever they went. We find pockets of extreme white privilege and white supremacy in the Midwest industrial states. The final destination for many of those who migrated north.

There are also many pockets of ethnically concentrated communities that came directly from Europe to here. They brought their own racism. We see the return of white supremacy re-emerging in Europe today

It happens all over the world between populations China and the Muslim Uyghurs, or Hindus in western India against Pakistani Muslims, or the Muslim ISIS against Christian sects in Syria, or everybody against the Jews.

#Christian #culture #muslims #racism #Europe #world #China #fear

t1nick 8

Answer 1

Personally, I think that many people simply prefer to associate and be around people similar to themselves, whether its color, race, age, sexual orientation, religious views, political views, income, shared interests, etc.

In most social gatherings, people tend to clump together based on race, color, age, and gender. Not always, but more often than not, if the option is available. At work I see groups of black people going out to lunch together and the same for groups of Indians and groups of men and groups of women. I wouldn't consider any of these people racist or sexist based just one what I've observed. It's just that being around people similar to us is usually more comfortable for most people.

I also think that those who are exposed to a variety of races, cultures, ideas, etc are probably going to be less biased than those who live their lives in a largely homogeneous community.

But, this is just my opinion.

Answer 2

Don't forget what the apartheid regime of Israel is doing to the indigenous people of Palestine currently. A massive ethnic cleansing in the making.
You speak with such eloquent words and profound meaning, i have no doubts whatsoever that your intelligence has surpassed mine but the Orthodoxy Jewish religion is totally against the ideology and political factions of Zionism in Israel.
When we condemn what the racist fascist regime of Israel and the IDF are doing to the innocent indigenous cultures of Palestine, we are truly speaking the truth to the world and directly to our personal divinity's.

Answer 3

We are born with a natural ability to prioritize what is best for ourselves and our offspring. In competition with the rest of the world this has to be accepted. You are not going to get rid of that. It will always arise when taking something (including jobs) which was designated for another family to use in your own family. The only way to combat this natural tendency is to make every family equal in opportunity and resources . But again whatever is done families always end up unequal. So as long as things are fairly equal and you are fairly happy it would be best to turn off the envy side of competition and make the best of what you have got.
Also stop saying "I am the greatest". You may be and you may not. You will never really find out.

Answer 4

I agree with what I think your general point is. All of us need to think about racism and watch out for our own assumptions. But I would articulate a little more pointedly the fact of racism being a structural, systemic problem in society. Racism doesn't mean that each person in a privileged demographic is personally evil, or that each has personally perpetuated racism, nor that each has automatically lived life on "Easy Street," but it does mean anyone who cares about social justice is wise to be on the lookout for signs of discrimination at work. Racism as a major social force throughout America's history is just a fact, and pretending it is confined to distant history is an act of blindness that seems reserved for those of us who are protected by being White. It helps to be aware that it is generally harder for someone, any one of us, to perceive discrimination in action when we aren't personally targeted by that specific discrimination.

People get really defensive when the whole topic of racism is raised. That makes it really difficult to talk about constructively. We each are more sensitive to some points more than others. So it is easy to talk past each other and to decide the other person has it all wrong.

People often seem to think they are being personally blamed for slavery or Jim Crow, etc, when they are actually just catching someone venting their deep frustration at continuing, deeply entrenched discrimination and the apparent (whether actual or just perceived) shrug of nonconcern of White people. I think it helps if we can stop taking complaints about racism personally and instead ask ourselves how we ourselves can try to be more sympathetic listeners and can be in some way a part of a solution.

Answer 5

I am not my ancestors. plain and simple.

Answer 6

Whites hang out with whites, blacks with blacks, etc. Since I'm white, I have 'white privilege.' if whites were poor, I'd STILL hang out with them.
I'm for a World Government and for TOTAL intermingling of the races, but I'll be d---- if I'm going to apologize for being white

Answer 7

"Everybody has someone or some group that they react and/or discrimenate against. Creating hierarchies is part of the human experience, like it or not."

I don't discriminate against anyone or any group.. Perhaps you didn't consider the perspective of people of color when you wrote this?

Creating hierarchies isn't necessarily discrimination.. Hierarchies are needed for clarity of authority...

Answer 8

I don't see the Everybody Against The Jews. I am not against the jews and I know a lot of other people who do not feel against the jews either.

Answer 9

You are mixing up everyday cultural prejudice with the institutional racism associated with power. The latter is much larger and dangerous. In doing so, you are minimizing he effects of racism.
Every ethnic/national group has prejudice against other groups. This ordinary prejudice doesn't become racism until one group asserts power over another and uses racism to justify such control.
Thus, Native Americans may have stereotypes and prejudices against Hispanics but that is not racism because they do not exert control over Hispanics using a racist ideology. Some real examples of racism are (1) those associated with white colonialism, slavery, and imperialism; (2) the Indian caste system; and (3) Israeli Zionism. In these three cases, anyone not belonging to the favored group gets disrespect and inferior treatment. The resultant cultural prejudice is thus more extensive and intensive.
In contrast, an American Indian who dislikes the Hispanics in the neighboring town doesn't have prejudices against Polynesians or Asian Indians. His prejudices are merely localized. This is quite the opposite of white racism which is directed against, blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, East Asians, South Asians, Polynesians, Arabs, etc. etc.
Racists often try to minimize White Racism by slickly passing it off as just part of mere universal human cultural prejudice. It is important to keep these differences in mind in order to dismantle the types of real racism mentioned above.

Answer 10

Racism was not a phenomenon that existed only in tbe Southern US in the 19th century and earlier. It was well entrenched in the North as well. What the North did not have was an institution which flaunted the racial divide. I recall a black entertainer from the 1970's or 80's who moved her family back to the South from where she had lived in the North. When asked why she moved, she said the racism she experienced in the North was just as present as in the South, but Southern racism was overt while Northern racism was covert. She said she preferred to be able to see it rather than have it sneak up on her. I also recall my Grandfather who was born in 1889 saying that if Union solders thought they were fighting to free black slave, the vast majority of them would have packed up and gone home. My grandfather was of an age that he was acquainted with men who fought in the Civil War.

I agree with your premise that that White Privilege is something white Americas (and others?) have to deal with whether we like to believe it or not. I have specific experiences with parents and grandparents concerning them conveying racist ideals. As a child, my only real exposure to individuals of color was my grandmother's cleaning lady of many years and a woman our neighbor had come in to do her ironing. In High School, we had all of 3 black students in a school with several thousand students. I can recall thinking in some rather racist terms without realizing that's what I was doing (I was still quite young, and my mom set me straight in a very appropriate way - bless her).

Today, as a much older person, I can still see certain bits of racism in my thoughts, but hopefully not my behavior. It is difficult because race is something that is very obvious and will be noticed no matter what. For my own experience, i have accepted that I had racism training from adults I loved and depended on. It doesn't make it correct, so I attempt to be cautious without being overt about it. Racism may never be something we can completely erase from our conscienceness, but it is something we need to learn how to live with treating others as we would want to be treated regardless of skin color or other racially distinguishing characteristics.

Answer 11

I won't for a second attempt to defend the South's record on racism and slavery. but I would like to remind everyone that it was all the textile mills in the North and in England and all over the world that bought the cotton. Of course one could say, "But..... " , trying to duck responsibility. yet in some measure, everywhere in this nation benefitted from the labor of slaves. again I'll say this is not a defense of the Souths' behavior, just a filling out of the international and Northern roles.

Answer 12

Please remember that, as much as anything else, church ministers use bigotry as a tool to align their followers. Non-whites merely head up a long list of those they denounce and hate-monger.

Answer 13

for me it is the fools...

Answer 14

White or not, ethnocentricity is the bane of humanity.


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