Have you been affected by racism, how did this bother you?
601295
Everyone has been affected by racism, even if they're white. It just works a little differently with caucasions. Instead of being pulled over for no reason or being watched - like a hawk would watch its prey - when you walk into a gas station, you would not be allowed to ever say "you people", and everyone assumes you're a racist just because you're white. One day in school I heard a black guy saying to a white girl that he hates white people because we enslaved his people. This was in eigth grade, and ever since then, when I meet a black person, I can't help but think he/she hates me because I'm white.
344090
No.  You just realized how sad, narrow minded they are.  Kind of like feeling bad for someone who has a mental handy cap.  It's also a sign of low class, so again that's kind of feeling bad for the underprivileged.  Remember, racists come in all colours.  I've been a victim of reverse discrimination a few times as well as one of my children in a school where she was the minority.
1027509
yes. we are so oversensitive these days that  if you ever disagree with someone of another color. then you are automatically labelled racist. amazing how thin skinned we are these days..
1014855
I think that black people too often look for an issue when there isn't one.  They often blame people for looking at them wrong, giving them bad service, etc. because they are black but there is no proof of that.  Watch the TV show Black White and you'll see some good examples of that.\n\nI also agree with the first person who answered.  Do you have any idea what it is like to be called a racist simply for walking into a room?  It's disgusting.  You don't even have to do anything to be accused of such a bad thing. \n\nI have a good example of what I'm talking about.  My husband and I were at a Denny's restaurant one night.  The waitress was horrible and didn't pay any attention to us.  It took us nearly 20 minutes to get our drinks and we got our food about an hour after we got there because I complained to the manager.  Towards the end of our meal a group of black teenagers came into the restaurant.  They too were ignored.  After about 15 minutes they got up and started yelling, cussing, and making a scene accusing the Denny's staff of being racist for not serving them.  I told them that we waited even longer for drinks and they called me a bitch and left.  They were completely unwilling to believe that they were being treated just like every other person in the restaurant that night.  Those teens were biased and went looking for things to prove their biases. \n\nI'm not saying that racism or bias doesn't exist but I am saying that someones people are way too sensitive and look to put a racist spin on things that just aren't racism.
669091
I think that we are all racists - but some more than others. The main thing is to be aware of it, and try to work with it.\n\nI think the real problem humans have is with difference, because then we start making comparisons, and that's uncomfortable. Racism is another form of difference.\n\nAs a white european woman living in London, I try not to be racist, but I am aware of racist thoughts sometimes. And sometimes people are racist to me! (I have an Irish heritage) But I am trying to do my bit by bringing up my sons to be as aware as possible.
100874
Thats an interesting question. I get aggravated by white people who are ignorant with claiming black people are any different than they are simply because their skin is a different color.\n\nAnd I get annoyed when the whole "we didn't make blacks slaves" arguement comes up too.   It's true I personally had nothing to do with slavery, and never would condone anything like it. Which is why when American jobs go to Mexico to be done in (Later reported) sweatshops I get upset that it is another form of abuse of those less fortunate than us to benefit American companies.\n\nI try to not let it effect me, and always put items in perspective of fairness, regardless of race. But when I hear a white person demean a black person in calling them a ni**er, I am the first to say, that's not right, and get offended, because whites have no reson, other than their altered upbringing, to believe there is a difference in people other than culture.
246305
Racism is an issue because people make it an issue.  If everyone was less sensitive about everything, the world would be better.
846575
Black people feel that because their ancestors were the victims of slavery & oppression, they have the right to complain about what white people do. I feel sorry for the whites today that have to constantly watch what they say around us. It causes white people to act more hostile towards blacks. I think black people need to have a sense of humor & stop gettting offended when whites open their mouth to say something...life is just too short to harbor any resentments.
1100187
Ah, the age old question of discrimination.\n\nNow I know that you didn't think that you would be able to post such a question on Yahoo Answers and get a sincerely honest answer, did you?\n\nFor those of you who don't know or walk around with blinders on, racism still exists. A friend of mine and I were recently talking about racism. The irony of this is the fact that he is white, gay, republican and a reformed racist. (At my insistance, well at least that's what he tells me.) He had a very hard time being my friend because he was raised to believe that all black people were, well you know the n-word and all the negative connotations therein. He admitted it, yes he was raised that way by his father. The same man who abused and hurt him taught him to hate people of color. They moved way out into a rural area just to get away from minorities. Sad, but true. \n\nWell anyway, he told me that racism hasn't gone anywhere. (I kind of already knew that.) He said that it has just become no longer politically correct or socially acceptable to behave in a racist fashion in public. He told me that people still use the "N-word" when no one is around, and that the things that "the man" does to keep the black man down have become more sophisticated. This is true. Why is it that African American infants have the highest infant mortality rate in a modernized country? 9.3 infant deaths per 1,000 births. \n\nThe answer to why people discriminate against African Americans and Puerto Ricans is simple. Someone has to be at the bottom, in order for there to be a top. Eventually, money will be the factor that separates us. It will be the rich and the poor. But in the meantime it will be color, because as I have stated time and time again, people of color will never assimilate into the mainstream culture.
779838
Of course you know that if you were white, you would still be human and would still find things to be miserable about, still find injustices, still find excuses, still find people to blame for what is not working in your life.\n\nI'm not discrediting any of your complaints actually, I would probably wonder the same thing if I was black, dealing with the societally imposed heaviness and heartbreak of being black.  But the truth is, you only know what you know.  If you were born purple in a field of orange daisies you would consider anything that interupted, interfered with, or otherwise disturbed your purple and orange daisy world as a terrible and unjust thing.  \n\nWhite people don't get everything easy or handed to them either.  Bad things happen to white people too, including disease, cruelty, injustice, violence and racism.  The difference is that it isn't built into the very fabric of our society to hold whites down as it is for blacks.  The societal infrastructure was built by white people to support white people and overlook black people.\n\nI honestly believe that most white people have no real awareness of the advantages they experience day by day compared to the disadvantages of being black in this society day by day.  Why would they?  They have no framework to compare it to, only the white world they grew up in.  They really have no clue how black people are beaten back and dismissed in this society.  \n\nAs a white woman I work hard to wake my fellow whites up to the fact that we will never get beyond our current black/white tensions by guiltily avoiding what we don't want to see--that we need to start listening to and acknowledging the realities of being black in this country, to understand that white people have for the most remained willfully ignorant of this and to keep the growth and dialog going.  \n\nUnfortunately, people like me are not that typical, white or black.  And as much as black people never want to hear this, if you want to help wake white folks up, you have to be willing to patiently educate them.  Yeah, I know, its not your job and you're sick of it.   But it's going to take both of us to make it happen, friend.\n\nPersonally, I think there should be more interracial marriages and relationships.  Nothing brings these realities home faster than loving someone and taking their problems on as your own.  It becomes very personal then, especially if your biracial kid is experiencing racism...then you really get it.   I would have considered myself absolutely non racist until I fell in love with my husband, who is black.  Then I had to start coming to grips with the subtler types of racism I had no idea had been put in me.  I've learned a lot.
1185794
i date outside of my "race" all the time...in fact, most of the time i do. i don't let racism stop me at all nor do i care what my family thinks. besides, as far as i'm concerned...there's only one race and that's the human race.
606136
Racism against Mexicans alive and well on campus\nIt was my first day in college. I was extremely nervous. I knew college was not going to be easy for me, especially because I had been in the United States for just three years, and I did not speak English fluently. However, I was optimistic and knew I was going to do my best to succeed. \n\nWhen I got to my first class, there was just one student sitting in the last row. As I entered the room and sat in the second row, I said "Hi" to the girl, but she did not answer. I felt very stupid for talking to someone I did not know. The rest of the first day was the same. I could not understand why many other classmates would ignore me but would talk to the other guys and girls in the class. It was almost as if I did not exist. As the semester progressed, their behavior did not change. On the contrary, they began to avoid me in a very clear way. \n\nThe day after the first exam, I was nervous; I had studied a lot for the test. Before the teacher began giving back the tests, he said there had been only one A in the class, and that he would like to say the name of the person who had gotten it so everybody could congratulate her. When I heard my name, an overwhelming feeling of happiness invaded my body; my efforts had paid off. That same day after class, I was walking through the halls, when I heard two of my classmates talking. \n\n"How is it possible that the Mexican had gotten an A," one of them was saying. \n\nWhen I heard the word Mexican, I got closer to hear the rest. \n\n"I think that she cheated," said the other girl. "There is no way a Mexican could have done better than I if she had not cheated. She doesn't even speak English."\n\nI was labeled as a Mexican, and I understood what it meant that day. I understood why all the students in the class had ignored and avoided me in the past. I realized something I had not thought about before. I realized that I was the only Mexican student in a class of white Americans. I also realized that they did not think of me as a peer, as a woman, or even as a human being. All they were able to see was the fact that I was Mexican, and based on that label, they judged me. It was hard for me to accept that being labeled as Mexican could have such a bad impact on the way people think of me.\n\nThere is probably nothing in this world I am more proud of than being Mexican. I am proud of my background, my cultural heritage and the language I speak. I had always thought that being labeled as Mexican would always make me feel happy. My feelings about being labeled as Mexican changed the day I heard my classmates talking about me. It occurred to me that when people used the label to describe me, they were not able to see my qualities. They did not see that I was a good student and had worked very hard to get an A on the test. \n\nBeing labeled as Mexican fits me. I do not mind people using it to describe my cultural background, but when people use it to make a negative judgment of me, it makes me very mad. Yes, I am Mexican and I am very proud of that, but when people look at me, I want them to think of me as a woman and as a human being who wants and deserves to be respected.\n\nIt is very hard for some people to understand the reality in which people of minority descent have to live in. This is the best time to start thinking about how people from other cultures feel, and this will be a better world to live in as a result \n\nChavez is a senior in psychology. Her views do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Egyptian.
569278
Being white...I understand your frustration. Being from South-Africa...it is worse here believe me!!!!! BUT, thinks won't change that easily. Yes maybe you were not part of those days were they really suffered...but they did. For you it's in the past. For them it's still stories of family members that were treated brutally. Yes and maybe they always take advantage of this situation...but it is their advantage to take...because what white people did to them was beyond inhuman, and because of our foolishness, we will suffer a loooooong time
289600
While I don't know what has happened to you to make you ask a question like this. In the way that it was asked. I can not help but think that there might be an issue needing to be addressed on your part. I think this is an unfair question to many different groups of people. This is just some thing to think about. I appear to be "white" as you put it in your question. However, my father is of an African American background and my mother is of an Irish background.When I was fifteen I was raped by a man that was "dark skinned"as you put it.Now since I am of both the backgrounds mentioned was he mistreating someone "white"? If you think yes then I would say that this was a shallow answer. Because the mistreatment that I suffered had nothing to do with my color,or background,nor his.And just in case you didn't notice on the surface it was "dark skin" mistreating "white". But then that was not the problem in my case and I think that a lot of people confuse race with other misguided reasons for situations that are sometimes out of our control to avoid the real problem at hand. While there are those shallow minded people out there. If you let what they do consume you, race related or not, then you are not living for you.
383160
Yup, I'm very sick of it! I'm sorry people have assumed you are racist just due to your background.  What I hate is when people get away with being "counter-racist" because they are a "person of color".  That really gets to me!\n\nSomeone brought up having a white history month, Personally I'm for getting rid of Black History month.  For one I feel that all history should be studied all year long, not separated or each race should have it's own history month (which in my mind would be pointless and segregating).\n\nSomeone else mentioned, that Blacks have been taught "you are the enemy".  That's nonsense, and if it's not just as many whites have been taught "blacks are the enemy"  and why does it always come back to back and white?  Any race can and does experiance racism!
1131925
No...but my so called "Best Friend" hated one of my other "Best Friends". We're not friends anymore though...and it's a rather long, rather racist story so I won't go into details...
658057
nickelodeon05, this is for you:\nYou obviously feel strongly about your race and racism. I understand you feeling the way you do, but look at it this way. You(you in general) call white people profound racial names such as cracker and honkey, but when a white person slips the forbidden N word out into the open, that person and everyone they're talking to is "gonna get popped". You said that an African American only calls a white person racist when he or she feels that they are being racist, but you forgot to mention that because of the past, you feel even a slight look into your eyes is a racial remark towards you. You said your youth wasn't alive when Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X were alive, but you ALSO weren't alive way back when there was enslaving and brutality to your race. It's funny how people only act by the bad things and not the good. Look what you fought for, are you showing respect for what you got, equality, by trying to push yourselves higher in the food chain by pulling guilt trips on white people? I know many intellegent African Americans who have gotten over the whole "you're white and I'm black so that means you're racist" thing. And what would you have done if some black thug kids started threatening your children in such a manor that it bothered you enough to say something? Honestly, Put yourself in someone else's shoes before you go discriminating against someone who just acted upon their instincts of protecting their children. \n\nI'm friends with a lot of skinheads, but I'm also friends with a lot of African Americans. I see the view point from both sides, and it's just a big stupid misunderstanding. When people start threatening small children, then that's just going too low. I have no idea why teens are going back to the ghetto and wanting to be thugs again. Their motives are not usually the best, and these kids just don't understand much about anything. Ignorance is the start of all wars.