White racism

This is the best comment on this entire thread. You win.

 

Of course it is. Non-white people can also be racist towards each other, e.g. an Egyptian person who doesn't like Indians. (I chose two countries at random, I'm not referencing any particular conflict).

 

And it's bizarre how intersectionality is seemingly ignored when discussing privilege. So I'm glad you brought it up.

It's these cases where a social hierarchy exists, which is basically any group larger than N, that create uneven social interactions. Interactions where one person has more power, or even direct power over the other person. That's where the various prejudices get nasty, because if I pick who gets a job, my biases and prejudices will affect who gets a job. If these biases are wide spread, you get systemic racism/sexism/etc, especially when the affected group lacks representation within the upper levels of the social hierarchy (which, lets face it, is utterly dominated by white males in the US).

Because all this is based in social values and norms, you can't point to another culture to really make a point within the context. Any argument over how a social hierarchy helps/harms individuals within that hierarchy must take that into account. We can talk about racism as it plays out in other cultures, but then we aren't talking about our culture anymore at that point.

Whenever I hear someone say "It's impossible to be racist to white people", there's some implicit meaning there. The first being that it is embedded in the context of the society of the person saying it, much like many statements people make. The second being that the demonstrable harm is entirely different. Can a person of color hurt my feelings with their prejudice? Yes. But the odds right now are very unlikely in the US that our social interaction includes them in a position of power over me to inflict harm without repercussion. And even if that one interaction does happen to play out that way, the odds are extremely low that this will repeat for the interactions I have with 10 random people.

 

*sigh* well, I'm going to tell you what I KNOW about this.

First off, yes white people can experience racism. Isn't saying that they can't racist? How would you like it if someone said black people can't experience racism? Why does that sound wrong, and saying that white people can't experience racism ok?

The usual answer to that has some to do with "white privileges" and "power structures" and " a white supremacist society" or some other such nonsense.

Let me tell you a fact.

This argument is Utter Nonsense. let me explain why.

First off, white privilge. Sorry what? Are you saying that you think somehow all white people (including immigrants from Iraq, Albania, and Georgia, yes even them!) have a better chance in life than other people, simply because of their...skin colour? No I'm sorry this is nonesense. Mabye if this was 1960, you could argue that white people were treated better on the basis of their skin colour, but in the here now, no. All people have an equal start in life, here in the western world. Nobody is treated better on the basis of at rotary characteristics that aren't their fault. That is just simply the truth. . there's no evidence for this. At all. Like seriously can you name even ONE instance in which white people are somehow more privileged than black people? JUST ONE.

We don't live in a white supremacist society. For you Americans out there, what sort of a white supremacist society is run by A BLACK PRESIDENT???!! white supremacists exist all right, but they aren't taken seriously no more. There just a bunch of 400-800 old men carrying on a family tradition. And no, white people Don't benefit from slavery, this argument is bullshit aswell. First off American Slavery was abolished 151 years ago. That's almost 200 years ago. And most white people in the USA aren't descendants of slave owners. About 66% of white Americans are the descendants of immigrants who came here after 1892, and they weren't greeted by natives with feathers in their heads, they were greeted by natives who refused them job oppurtunites based on their country of origin. The only people In North America who go back past the 1890's are people who have a bit of Metis, French Canadian, native, and some British Anerican/Canadian, and almost all African Americans.

With that being debunked, yes, white people can experience racism. The only thing is that nowadays, it's very socially acceptable, everywhere especially in univerisity campuses:
For example:

"Safe spaces" where no white males are allowed
Parts of campuses where white men aren't allowed
White people being forced to attend seminars on how they "opress" non white people.
White people literally being shut down on having an opinion on minority's issues.
White people being demonized as " oppressors who need to Check their privilege"
White men being forced to attend " how not to rape" seminars in universities
And personally( I hate personal arguments) I have heard people say racist things about white people all my life, but I have N.E.V.E.R been called a "nigger" by a white person!

Just to give a few examples of open discrimination against white people these days.

I most of this is the fault of extremist liberal media, feminists, and black supremacists. All those people, are what I like to call "proffesional victims".

These days conservatives and liberals can basically be summed up as this:

Conservatives: white people are better than minorites.

Liberals: minorities are better than white people.

 

To be racist means to discriminate against a race and to believe your race is superior to someone else's. White people in society have more representation than people of color. Race has always played a huge factor in more opportunities in life. What you are speaking of is Reverse racism, which is a phenomenon and personally I believe it doesn't exist. White people don't know how it feels to be truly discriminated based upon their race. So at the end of the day, some will never understand. People of color in America consist of Asians, African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans. Once we all begin to respect each others cultures maybe we won't be having these discussions.

---------- Post added 11th May 2016 at 06:50 PM ----------

I do believe everyone can be racist.

 

Anyone can be racist

---------- Post added 11th May 2016 at 06:34 PM ----------

The is why I don't care for people's feelings anymore and do whatever the heck I want.

 

I believe they can experience prejudice for being white, but it would be disingenuous to put that on the same level of oppression racial minorities face. At least in the US, where groups like the Irish, Italians, Jews, weren't considered "white" in the past. Just about every immigrant group has had their share of discrimination.

Because even within POC, there's a world of difference between the experience of say, a black person whose ancestors went through slavery and segregation, and a recent immigrant from China. I believe there are layers of privilege, even within racial minorities, so you get Latin Americans and Middle Easterners who fit somewhere in-between, if that makes sense. The "model minority" vs others.

What worries me about the term "reverse racism" is that it's often used by white people against minorities who bring up serious issues; ie to shut them up. I've seen too many white guys scream "racism!" in debates simply because someone disagreed with them. Seems everyone wants to be in on the Oppression Olympics.

This is also why I believe safe spaces for POC are absolutely necessary.

 

Word!

---------- Post added 11th May 2016 at 03:53 PM ----------

What the hell happened to the capitalisation? Either my phone is being very weird or the site is.

 

Depends on how you use the word. If you use it as "discrimination based on ethnicity", then sure, there's that, just in much less quantities.

 

Of course. As long as a race is discriminating against another race, it is racism. It doesn't matter if it's white against black... black against white... etc. there are no exceptions.

In fact, I find it quite ignorant when someone says that black people can't be racist towards white people, for example.

Racial discrimination is wrong. Period.

 

I couldn't agree with you more.

 

I'm wondering that myself. I have my theories but I'm tired of arguing about something that no one will ever agree on.
You are right. All that matters in the end, and wither an individual experiences racism or not shouldn't be the focus, but rather how to rid the world of all forms of discrimination so that we can all have equal footing in this world as human beings.

 

I don't understand...are you agreeing with me or disagreeing? I didn't get the intent of your post.

 

Wow, I've never read this much regressive bullshit from this site about how white people cannot experience racism.
What hogwash.

 

Same here. It shocks me, because EC is actually very politically neutral, which is why I love here compared to all the other LGBT forums, ( tumblr's the absolute worst).

 

People can be racist to white people, yes.

 

The answer is yes, people are and can be racist to white people, but at least where I come from that is unusual so people assume that simply doesn't exist. It does but it's kinda rare. Again, it's rare where I live

 

I find people who don't approve of reserve racism to be driven by their emotions, specifically jealousy. they want you to feel absolute shit for being born white, which they would definitely chose to be born as if they had a choice, since you know.. this whole "white privilege" crap they keep going on about. they're just mad they've been born into a race which faced discrimination, so they can't leave "innocent" white people alone.. nope, they have to make every single white person feels like shit and make them burden the guilt of their ancestors. oh, and some of them don't want to approve of reverse racism since they won't be able to make fun of white people freely like they do now all over social media like tumblr and twitter.
two words to describe this whole situation: ugly and pathetic.