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I get the feeling that some folks don't think racism is their problem.
On one hand, I feel the agreement bubbling up within me. I'm not overtly or intentionally racist. I try to judge people by who they are not what their background is. I don't have problems with people as racial types, I have problems with people as individuals.
On the other hand, the questioner within me demands to know: "If racism isn't my problem...whose problem is it?"
I considered that this morning and here's how I laid it out.
I guess I have a 'get-out-of-racism-free' card, in a way. I'm a Person-of-Colour but I tend to think of myself as being brought up white - the old banana joke. It would be nice to see more Asian heroes and heroines in mainstream TV but I take what I can where I find it - and sometimes my connection isn't with 'the Asian' character at all. My racial type has a different history of oppression, one that involved being looked down upon but doesn't involve slavery and the denigration of humanity. (And these days, all your university place belong to us. Muahahahaha! *cough*)
Still, just because I can use the 'get-out-of-racism-free' card doesn't mean I should.
If racism isn't the problem of the people who aren't racist - if it's the province of the people who are racist, then we're putting a lot of faith in humanity's ability to self-criticise. Abusers are not generally inclined to admit to being wrong, let alone likely to change their behaviour to accomodate the victim.
So, if racism isn't the problem of the people who aren't racist, and it's ignored by the people who are racist...that leaves racism as the victims' problem.
And I disagree that abuse is the problem of the victims; that bystanders have nothing to answer for.
So...racism is my problem, too.
On one hand, I feel the agreement bubbling up within me. I'm not overtly or intentionally racist. I try to judge people by who they are not what their background is. I don't have problems with people as racial types, I have problems with people as individuals.
On the other hand, the questioner within me demands to know: "If racism isn't my problem...whose problem is it?"
I considered that this morning and here's how I laid it out.
I guess I have a 'get-out-of-racism-free' card, in a way. I'm a Person-of-Colour but I tend to think of myself as being brought up white - the old banana joke. It would be nice to see more Asian heroes and heroines in mainstream TV but I take what I can where I find it - and sometimes my connection isn't with 'the Asian' character at all. My racial type has a different history of oppression, one that involved being looked down upon but doesn't involve slavery and the denigration of humanity. (And these days, all your university place belong to us. Muahahahaha! *cough*)
Still, just because I can use the 'get-out-of-racism-free' card doesn't mean I should.
If racism isn't the problem of the people who aren't racist - if it's the province of the people who are racist, then we're putting a lot of faith in humanity's ability to self-criticise. Abusers are not generally inclined to admit to being wrong, let alone likely to change their behaviour to accomodate the victim.
So, if racism isn't the problem of the people who aren't racist, and it's ignored by the people who are racist...that leaves racism as the victims' problem.
And I disagree that abuse is the problem of the victims; that bystanders have nothing to answer for.
So...racism is my problem, too.
no subject
(where every new wave of immigration is hated until the next wave when people are busy hating the new wave)
I think racism still exists (as in the darker your skin is, the less likely that the penalties are going to go away even though you have been replaced by a new wave of immigration) in addition to it but anti-immigrantism manifests itself in many similar ways (less education, poorer, discrimination on the job market, offensive jokes, ranted against by politicians, being physically attacked by hostile locals, not being let into certain places).
The US has a different perspective because they have two groups (former slaves and Native Americans) who have been around in their country for centuries and they still haven't been properly assimilated (as in have grown into being accepted as a full part of the country/population). Meanwhile a lot of non-American countries they have always been white for most of their history and the concept of non-white immigration is fairly new (like 50 or 100 years only). So they aren't really used to the idea of a community within a community and are more likely to see it in the context of assimilation of immigrants.
(btw, I still think that economics or rather exconomic expectations play a lot into racism. For example, in Austria, if you are (Chinese/Japanese type) of Asian, people are going to have the blind expectation that you are either 1) a tourist 2) a musician 3) a restaurant owner. They might still treat you in a creepy manner, but tendencially people are going to be more likely to see you as somebody who has to be served (like a tourist) rather than as somebody they have to threaten. Meanwhile, if you are black the default position is going to be that you are a drug dealer and that they are going to be suspicious/hostile.
Meanwhile, Germany supposedly has a higher percentage of not as rich Asians and as a result Germany is supposedly slightly more default hostile to that group.
Similar with Arabs. Do they default to "You are probably a sheik or carpet salesman"? Or to "You are probably a terrorist" or to "You are probably a poor fucker who is coming to steal our jobs and talk in a heavy accent"?)