Ramblings about race

so what are we calling the hot asians? the koreans japanese and chinese?

 

I started out my life never seeing color and only knowing one racist term - the "n" word. I only knew that term as an ugly word that one should never, ever say. I think I was this way, because I have lived my entire life in a city with a large mixture of races. And not just races - lots of immigrants from many different countries. Please know, I use the words "race", "black", "Hispanic" and "Asian" for lack of better terms - pls don't be offended.

My high school sweetheart was Mexican. He had only been in the US for two years when I met him. It was at this point when I started to experience racism. Mexican girls were hateful towards me for dating a fine Mexican boy. His male friends and family members were proud of him for scoring a beautiful "guera". When we would go to the store together, we would be followed by clerks to make sure we weren't stealing and older people from both races would give us that "for shame" look for having the audacity to intermingle. My grandmomma even told me I could do better after only meeting him once. My mom promptly scolded her for being ignorant. She fell in love with him, as everyone else did, after she got to know him as a human being. His family assumed I couldn't cook or clean and was a lazy white girl. I worked full-time from 15 years old. They soon learned I wasn't at all what they assumed.

Then I started to get picked on by a couple of black girls making racist remarks aloud "behind my back". I would confront them, but they never had the balls to do anything about it. That didn't make me have a problem with black people. I figured they didn't speak for everyone.

When I went to look for a new job, I was turned away for not being either Hispanic or black. I was looking at fast food restaurants in a very mixed town. It upset me, because I was a hard-worker and needed the income and couldn't help the fact that I was born a color they didn't like.

Then, I met my EX boyfriend that grew up in a neighboring town that was definitely a small, white town. That's the first time I ever heard ugly, racist terms that I won't repeat. I had no idea what they were talking about. I had to ask what they meant by it and then was appalled at the answer. Please, keep in mind I said "EX" boyfriend...

I've had people from other races make generalizations about me. I've had them assume I'm rich, I had every opportunity in the world (more than anyone else), I never worked a day in my life, everything was handed to me on a silver platter, I'm a racist, I'm a slut, I'm a golddigger, I'm stupid. Apparently, those are the things that racist people think of white females.

When I look back onto my experiences, I can feel sorry for myself and my "culture". But, what I have to do, and what everyone else should do, is realize something deeper. These things we experience are far more common, to say the least, for those of the more "hated" races. I say "hated", because those are the races you hear the most ugliness about. Hispanics, Asians, blacks. Honestly, I've experienced the most racism when I was dating a Mexican. People thought the worst of him and me, despite the fact that he was the most inward and outwardly beautiful person that I've ever known.

Yes, the "Latino" and "Black" cultures are currently pop fodder, but that just makes the hatred for them even worse. Everything that's been "given" to them (like AA and amnesty for illegal immigrants) is causing more and more animosity. People see it as handouts. Yes, some use government benefits as such, but not all. Most people have the pride to want to earn their keep and don't want to have to seek assistance. We, as white Americans, don't have a clue what it is like to have such a stigma as black Americans do. We don't know what it is like to not have a family history, because our families were torn apart and sold. They don't want us to feel sorry for them. They just want us to realize that we will never know how it feels and just accept it and move on.

Racism will always exist, because we do not live in a utopian society. But, we as individuals can stand up against it. If you hear a racist joke or comment, call someone out on it. Be polite, but be strong. And when you see or feel yourself having a racist thought - nip it. It all starts with ourselves.

...I'll crawl off my soapbox now. )

 

^^This. *Applauds*

I can't add to that - you've expressed it so eloquently and so perfectly. Thank you for adding to the conversation!

 

Arbygil, thank you as well for bringing your usual eloquent common sense and wisdom to a topic inevitably so clouded with emotion any real discussion becomes impossible. You--and others as well, but you especially--made discussion possible and gave us all food for thought.

Thank you.