Has anyone ever experienced racism?

[KCJ506]

Either directly or indirectly? Felt displaced by the social enviornment, like you and your friend are the only black or white folks at a social event or like school?

I still feel bothered by racism, especially stereotypes. any in interracial relationships? How was that experience?


I myself am black. My skin is very light though, so some kids in school(Who were black) would often call me things like "White boy."

I used to think this girl I graduated with was racist, because she always talked about how she hated white people.

[solarflere]

Do you mean strictly race or religious presectution as well? Because back in Europe I was presecuted for being Jewish almost everywhere I went. Not a very good feeling.

[KCJ506]

Strictly race. Like Black, White, Mexican, Etc, etc.

[Tienshin]

Strictly race. Like Black, White, Mexican, Etc, etc.

I don't think that is fair. I think discrimation along the lines of being Jewish is just as valid. I mean, it comes from the same place.

At any rate I have a few stories, I posted them somewhere else so I need to clean them up for language concerns. I'll post them in a bit.

[TokyoMeowMeow]

No, I haven't been a victim of racism, but I still think it's wrong. I mean, so what if a person looks different than another person? They're just as much you as you are! I still can't believe that there are still racists out there, even after Dr. Martin Luther King.

[KCJ506]

Okay then being prosected for your religion can count then.

Also something I forgot to mention in my first post. One time in either 7th or 8th grade this girl said that all white people smell like **** and they're brain damaged. That really pissed me off.

[Tienshin]

Okay, these might read a little choppy. I had to remove a lot of content because of language and I didn't want to retype this whole thing.

When I was growing up in Dayton, Ohio I had the privilege to be called a n***er plenty of times. I think in nearly every instance it was a situation where the person was in a position to get away from me in case I retaliated. Though one time, I remember walking home from school and my friend and I were tossing a football and it landed in someone’s yard. My buddy went to get it and the owner, an older white man shot out of his door calling us all kinds of crazy names, “effing jungle bunnies if you don’t get the eff off my property I will kill you!” and he went back in his house threatening to get a gun. I don’t know if was seriously going to do that or not, but regardless we both got the hell out of there.

My brother was once jumped and got the crap kicked out of him in Dayton by a bunch of white high school kids. He barely remembered what happened, but one of his friends who also got beat down said everything started because he was talking to one of the guy’s younger sister who went to his school and some words were exchanged and they ended up kicking his ass. My brother’s friend didn’t understand why the older kids who assaulted them kept calling them “monkeys” during the confrontation. My brother and his friend were both 12 at the time.

Later in life, when I was in high school I had someone write on the street in front of the house I lived in “go back to Africa n***ers” in shaving cream. This was in a Boston suburb called Winchester, a largely upper middle class “white” town.

Also in high school, I had someone scratch a swastika in my locker. While I was a bit confused I was actually more annoyed that it took two days before the school removed it. In the meantime I basically tried to scrub it away, but that just left a big smudge with the scraping still somewhat visible.

A friend of mine in high school was pepper sprayed by some kid presumably because the kid found out my friend (who was black) had been hitting on a white girl he happened to have a crush on. Basically, he snuck up on my friend and said, “hey you effing n***er!” And when he turned around sprayed the pepper spray in his eyes and then ran off. There was a huge town march and what not because of that incident, complete with candlelight vigil.

Again, in high school, I was coming home from Boston on the commuter rail train and was slumped down in the seat when I heard some other teens talking and one of them was talking about a white guy who had gone somewhere sunny for vacation and the guy who was speaking described the tan as being “dark like a n***a.” I shot up out of my seat and looked over at the guy who was immediately embarrassed, petrified, etc. I got up walked over to his seat and sat right next to him preventing him from getting up and calmly told him why what he said really pissed me off. I didn’t threaten him or anything and I actually found out we had a mutual friend that went to my high school. But I really wanted to smash his face in.

I once had a black friend back at home in Dayton berate me for choosing to go to school in Massachusetts and “live with all those white people.” Not racism towards me per se, but I was annoyed by that.

Another former friend from Dayton, this time an ex girlfriend vowed never to speak me again after she asked me if I had ever dated a white girl. I responded that I had, and she called me a race traitor and stormed out of my house. She later apologized, but maintained that she had lost a lot of respect for me. Whatever.

I dated a Sri Lankan girl for many years in high school and college and the first time I met her parents her dad told me he did not approve of me dating his daughter. He reasoned that while he was not racist, he didn't want her daughter dating a black man.

[sdp]

yes i have, very directly and int he most degrading manners,

it can still bother me a little but for the most part i am at peace with myself and it doesn't bother me.

[Wounded_Dragon]

Yes. I suppose the most blatant was when a couple of stereotypical country bumpkins called me a dirty spic. Of course they were too cowardly to do it to my face, they had to say it to my back while walking quickly away.

There are other incidents that I think racism might've played a role in, like how kids would bully me about my "hair" (which honestly wasn't different than the other kids', thinking back on it) or when the teachers subtly ignored when I was struck in an embarrassing spot repeatedly in middle school (that could've just been the blind eye they turn to boys though) or the time I was walking down the street with my hood pulled up (it was windy and COLD) and a cop car shadowed me for a block.

I try not to think about the possibility of it happening to me personally too much. Otherwise, I'd become paranoid or depressed.

[One Radical Dude]

Yeah, mainly when I was in school.

[FerrariCake]

When I visit Deming (tiny tiny tiny town in New Mexico), there's always at least two guys calling me a 'gringa' or whatever. And I don't think this counts as racism, per say, but I get teased alot for liking Japanese culture. Ex- I get made fun of for being able to read/ understand the language. Um, yeah.

[90'sCartoonMan]

I still feel bothered by racism, especially stereotypes. any in interracial relationships? How was that experience?

I'm the product of an interracial relationship, and as far as personal experience goes, I've seen those kinds of things do down because of disapproving parents.

Again, in high school, I was coming home from Boston on the commuter rail train and was slumped down in the seat when I heard some other teens talking and one of them was talking about a white guy who had gone somewhere sunny for vacation and the guy who was speaking described the tan as being “dark like a n***a.” I shot up out of my seat and looked over at the guy who was immediately embarrassed, petrified, etc. I got up walked over to his seat and sat right next to him preventing him from getting up and calmly told him why what he said really pissed me off. I didn’t threaten him or anything and I actually found out we had a mutual friend that went to my high school. But I really wanted to smash his face in.

I hear that talk from time to time, and it pisses me off. I've never done anything about it. Sorry to hear you had so many bad experiences, Tienshin, I guess I'm just lucky to have grown up in such a diverse environment.

It's hard to tell what race I am. Just a couple days ago a woman asked if I was Muslim, which I found kinda funny. Usually I don't care, but sometimes I get annoyed when people assume they know what I am.

[Elven Moon]

Not really sure if this counts, but everytime I walk into my local Japanese book store or grocery, I automatically feel this "You're not Japanese, why are you here? You don't belong here, this is OUR culture!" vibe. They don't outrightly talk to me in a bad manner or anything, and I have the right to be in there if I want to (it's not actually Japan, you know), but I still feel unwelcome. It could just be nerves.

[Captain Zechs]

...Tienshin, I am surprised you are still sane from all of that, seriously...if I were you I would have been so pissed on several of those I would have lost sanity...

Alas...

Me? Err not really...but some of the black and white guys can be rather mean, just as they can be nice, but the girls are always civil though. However, I have come to be friends with several of the black guys in my school, the ones who are tolerable, just like the white guys, for me, I dont care if you have 1 eye (which one kid in my school does, he lost his other in an accident 2 years ago, but he has adapted) or are as ugly as Shrek...if your not tolerable...your not someone I like...

So no...I have never really experienced racism, nor have I ever been racist, as I dont see the point in it.

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,

Yes. I suppose the most blatant was when a couple of stereotypical country bumpkins called me a dirty spic. Of course they were too cowardly to do it to my face, they had to say it to my back while walking quickly away.

I've had this happen to me on several occasions, except it was calling me a "chink" or some variation thereof. The most recent was a few years ago, now, but this happened to me 3 times within the past 5 years or so, and they all happened in New York City, where you'd think they'd know better.

The one exception was one time in the 80's, back when everybody was terrified that the Japanese were going to Own America, and some schmuck in Penn Station called my brother and I "(expletive) Japs!" to our faces, out loud, several times.

Beyond that, I was frequently a target of racist comments growing up in New Jersey, being one of about 5 Asian kids in the whole school. That and being a shy kid who read comic books and did well in school pretty much added up to guaranteed social ostracism, and probably fed into my non-conformist streak today. Sort of a "Fine, I didn't want to be like you anyway" defensive reaction, I suppose.

-- Ed/Ace

[Master Moron]

Wow, I didn't realize racism was still so prevalent in our society. I mean, I have older relatives who are racist, but I figured that's just the older generation. I didn't realize so many young people were racist today. I guess being a white guy I've never had to deal with it myself. Man, Tienshin, you have had a tough life. I don't even know if I could handle being surrounded by so much racism.

[solarflere]

It's hard to tell what race I am. Just a couple days ago a woman asked if I was Muslim, which I found kinda funny. Usually I don't care, but sometimes I get annoyed when people assume they know what I am.

I know exactly what you are talking about. I hate those stereotypes that people say. If they see an Asian person, they ask if he/she is Chinese. If they hear a Russian language they ask if he/she is Russian. I despise that. For example I speak 4 languages (English, Hebrew, Russian and Lithuanian), me being born in Lithuania (a Baltic country) the following question really pisses me off; I was once talking to a fellow employee in a hardware store in Russian, when a customer walks in, I asked if I could be of any assistance, and he replied no, then he asked, are you Russian? That made my blood boil, I asked him why he thought I was Russian, he answered, I looked Russian. I asked how do Russian people look like. He had no answer for that one. He then asked if I spoke Russian, I said yes, among other three languages. He then later asked where I was born, being pissed off at him, I told him that he would not know where that is anyways even if I told him. He said he would know. I responded "Lithuania" he had a blank look on his face. I told him it was next to the Baltic Sea, right above Poland, that didn't help neither. Point being, I hate it when people generalize, Just because they see a European speaking a certain language, they assume you are from that country.

[Tienshin]

Man, Tienshin, you have had a tough life. I don't even know if I could handle being surrounded by so much racism.

Nah, I don't see it that way. Some tough circumstances here and there, but I guess that is part of the experience. Of course all of what I described happened before I turned 18. I am 29 now. I am not bitter about that stuff. It sucked at the time, but I took something away from all of that crap.

...Tienshin, I am surprised you are still sane from all of that, seriously...if I were you I would have been so pissed on several of those I would have lost sanity...

I think it about this way, those are isolated events that equal a blip in time in terms of my overall life. Not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things.

Tienshin, I guess I'm just lucky to have grown up in such a diverse environment.

I don't think I was unlucky. Some bad situations here and there, but I feel like I wouldn't be myself if I hadn't gone through those moments.

[Chris Wood]

Not really sure if this counts, but everytime I walk into my local Japanese book store or grocery, I automatically feel this "You're not Japanese, why are you here? You don't belong here, this is OUR culture!" vibe. They don't outrightly talk to me in a bad manner or anything, and I have the right to be in there if I want to (it's not actually Japan, you know), but I still feel unwelcome. It could just be nerves.

I don't know about this particular situation, but this is exactly how racism generally presents itself in Japan. No one ever calls you "whitey" (or whatever racial term fits), but sometimes people make it very clear you are an outsider. On the flipside many people are insanely friendly, so you just never know.

[Chad Bonin]

Whitey can't hold me down.