Racism

unfortunately, we are all unconscious racists, we just dont know it/ accept it.

we joke about certain race issues when amongst a close padre of friends; its very common to hear slurs against people for being of a different nationality, sect, color, group etc. if u run into trouble with someone, or just have an argument with them, u automatically assume the rest of their creed is similar.

it is the human condition for a good deed to be attributed to a single person, whereas a bad deed is generalised to the population as a whole.

I live in Kuwait, i am not Kuwaiti. the racism here is OVERWHELMING. there is a hierarchal standing for everyone, and unfortunately it is the same almost everywhere in the Gulf/ the world. it is the locals first, westerners second, arab nationals and then asians.

there is a mentality of displacing burdens on others, whereas if u have suffered racism from someone, u inflict it upon the person on the lower end of the ladder.

we do not choose to be racists, it is an unconscious effort, we have to make a concious effort to not succumb to this.

word, I totally agree

legacy wrote:

unfortunately, we are all unconscious racists, we just dont know it/ accept it.

we joke about certain race issues when amongst a close padre of friends; its very common to hear slurs against people for being of a different nationality, sect, color, group etc. if u run into trouble with someone, or just have an argument with them, u automatically assume the rest of their creed is similar.

it is the human condition for a good deed to be attributed to a single person, whereas a bad deed is generalised to the population as a whole.

I live in Kuwait, i am not Kuwaiti. the racism here is OVERWHELMING. there is a hierarchal standing for everyone, and unfortunately it is the same almost everywhere in the Gulf/ the world. it is the locals first, westerners second, arab nationals and then asians.

there is a mentality of displacing burdens on others, whereas if u have suffered racism from someone, u inflict it upon the person on the lower end of the ladder.

we do not choose to be racists, it is an unconscious effort, we have to make a concious effort to not succumb to this.

until we can learn to live comfortably in our skin, we will never be in complete acceptance of others.

From what I have observed, I have come across more people who mention about their experience of racism in a developed country (usually in western country). But of course,   I know (and everyone else does) racism is everywhere and it is manifested in a range of attitude and behaviors and in so many different complex ways.  My and my expat friends experience may not be issues of racism (as it is very strong) but observing double standard or biased attitude in the society or I guess more subtle forms of racism. It  is sad and pathetic when I find people in some south-east Asian countries  and as well as some in the gulf/middle eastern countries how they like to give preferential treatment to the westerners  - in the parlor, at the restaurants, shops and even at my son’s school! It is so obvious – the expression, the gesture and the body language. I recall when I and one of my friend who is a European went to a play area, a lot of the Asian mums and even the maids/nannys who hung out there with the kids from the condos they work for- were all smiles and extra friendly towards us (unlike other times when I am not accompanied/accompanied by a non-European friend), especially towards my friend and offering to help her with her kid. At my son’s school, some Asian parents make that extra effort to fraternize with the European parents. I can go on and I guess when I came here I just did not expect this biased attitude and behavior in one of the more  multicultural, modern/developed part of the Asian society.

Racism is evil

I greet you kiwiinkorea, i am against of racism and for me doesn't matter what color of skin of people are. As it is great when married couples are different skin colored,it is great when you have friends, from different parts of the planet,what is main,we wish each other love, we want to learn life on another border, we receive new knowledges,and with this yet expirience that all is not so like we where is read,or saw for example by films, planet is colorfull, people are colorfull and it is so beautiful!

Chees,Mery

Racism is a problem because it causes discrimination against people for reasons that have nothing to do with their abilities or loyalties. This means that the ability of some people to contribute their best to society are lost, and because of the resentment that this irrational discrimination produces, there is more unrest and less stability than would otherwise be the case.

Double standard, biased attitude...bottom line its racism pure and simple. I was born in Mauritius,of indian descent, I live in California, the most liberal state, some would say. After September 11, I was walking to my car, and a woman screamed at me from across the street: "Go home" with such hate in her voice, I was confused and it took me a few seconds to understand that even though I've lived here for over 25 years and I am a citizen of the US, I didn't have the right skin color! Sad but true.
People are the same everywhere...Two years ago I was vacationing in Mauritius, with some friends, causcasians, as we call whites in the US. We are walking on a famous beach in the north of the island...as we walked pass a nice looking hotel, with a bar on the beach, I decided to go in to ask if we could have a drink, (since I was warned that some hotels only serve their guests), so I wasn't surprised when I was told by a server that I couldn't drink in their bar because I wasn't a guest. By the way, my friends had stayed on the beach. They thought that was absurd, and went to the bar, while this time I stayed on the beach. Guess what: they were greeted with smiles and were asked to choose any table since the bar was empty!!! What would you call that: biased attitude? I call it racism...A few days later, we are waiting to be helped at a bakery, me, with my brown skin, my friends with their white skin,me first, them behind me, the girl behind the counter doesn't even look at me and calls them from behind me to help them!!!
But I still love my two countries. I think people need to be educated. In Mauritius, those in the service industry need to  stop treating their own like second class citizens!!!

That is happen everyone and everywhere.

Maybe so but that was a first for me...So I had to share it.

devidou Thanks for shearing with us.

Hello Everyone,
Racism is such a disease.
(moderated: no ads please)

Racism is in everyone. Just surround yourself amongst a group of people who aren't like you and racist/culturist thoughts will come to your head. It's just human nature.  Being American in Asia I've experienced things I've never dreamed of experiencing and realize how one sided American culture is and how the American perception doesn't rule the minds of people abroad. In America I'm less than American  but overseas I'm American. I love that.

Racism is sadly alive till date...

Life is short! No time for racism.. Peace in the world..

Interesting thread on a very interesting topic. Reading it made me want to share my very latest experiences of racism.

It was during my recent visit to my dad in England. A young boy in his nieghbourhood barked at me upon seeing me. Once during shopping, a Caucasian seated in the upper storey of a double-decker public bus gave me the gun gesture as I stood at Manchester bus-stop with my dad and my husband. It was my very first.

A bus driver on the Bolton-Bury route closed the doors on me and my elderly father while allowing the man right in front of me to board the bus. Wondering why? Well,the man happened to share his skin tone (good they weren't tanned..) It truly hurt, but I left the matter to him to deal with his conscience and with God.

A day following the UK riots, I was surprised to receive a higher than usual dose of racist slurs, that too from women! A smartly dressed woman showing more than her ankles in her tight-fitting suit called out 'shocking' as I passed her. No idea if it was my modesty that'd irked her, or my faith. Another woman in gothic attire who did seem a little drunk looked at me with such hatred muttering away. Even though it angered me enough to ask her to repeat herself, I later felt sorry for her that she couldn't realize how racism had transformed her to something so ugly.

Ofocurse I've left out all the stares and smirks which I endured everyday I stepped out.

Having said all this, I must say that these racists were only a handful. Those who truly won my heart were all the good and kind Britishers there, men and women who smiled at me, who had a kind word for me, who spared a seat for me and who let me go ahead of them as we queued for the bus. Never too proud, selfish or arrogant these people had so much goodness in them, they were truly beautiful in every way. I have never come across so many kind people even here in the UAE and I must say the British are a kind, loving and well-mannered lot.

I came back, my life being enriched with experiencing such wonderful people while it was unfortunate that my vocabulary was enriched with a word I wished I'd never learnt or experienced. BIGOTRY.

Oh, I almost forgot For those wondering what brought on such ugliness from some people, well, I'm pretty sure it must be my faith and the way I dress in public. I am a Muslim woman and I cover my modesty in a a loose-fitting black garment that leaves nothing to the imagination.

I hate racism.

me too

Racism? Are you kidding me?

All over Latin America they give me the "Gringo discount".

For those of you who have not heard that term there is 2 prices on everything in Latin America. The price the locals pay and the price North Americans pay.

Here is another example :

I used to live in a university dormitory back in 2001 in the US. I was a teaching assistant in the school of pharmacy. Two days after the 9/11 incident, my next door neighbor Jeremy, an American, boiled hot sauce in a huge pan and poored it on top of my head while I was talking to someone else in the main kitchen of the dorm. I can not just describe how my face and arms were burning at that time. I felt very much like tortured. It took me about six months to recover from the burns.. Any way I called the cops and a policer officer came to the dorm in a couple of minutes. The policeman asked Jeremy why he did it. Jeremy said my first name was Ahmet and he kept me responsible for the 9/11 attacks. The policeman took Jeremy to the police station in the campus and kept him there for a couple of hours. Then Jeremy came back to the dorm as if nothing had happened and continued living in the dorm. This was the moment that I discovered racism and therefore I decided to come back to my native country in 2002.

Oh my DrJenk, so sorry to hear that. Mad people are everywhere.

my story is that i am Christian, a minority in Pakistan. 2% people in Islamic republic so we never get good jobs, even if we get jobs we cannot get promotion, no matter how best we perform.
I myself was not given a Lecturer postion in State University because i am a Christian. My Father used to be a School teacher in Goverment schools and all the time was posted to the most remote and hardest rural places in his 25-years job time, and now we are under the death threat because of the Blasphemy law. and several christians have been killed by public just becuase of the suspicion in breach of this law.

that is why i wrote "I HATE RACISM".

that is how we face it.

i dont know if this is the right place to discuss but i wrote whatever came to my mind after reading the torture of Drjenk.

I was thinking about this last night.

As enlightened as I like to think I am it seems there is an element of racism that is ingrained in our cultures.

In the USA it is in our slang.

"Nigerian letter scam", like all people in Nigeria are dishonest.

"Islamic terrorist" when they forget the Oklahoma City bombers were all white and not followers of Islam.

"Jewish bankers" like all bankers are Jewish.

"American Devil" like all Americans support the military violence of our government.

Even in Belize, a very deserve country. The Mayan Indians are assumed to be poor and not intelligent.Crio's (multiple spelling for this) are generally thought to be lazy. Garrifna's (Spelling error) are thought to be serious and even uptight.

All of these assumptions are not correct but each group has their own ingrained cultural opinions about others. They are taught by their parents and their peers.

They say these assumptions without even thinking.

I wounder how the world can move beyond this?

People in Mauritius are more open minded today. Racism is not as present as before. It is a very nice change to see people from different nationalities and cultures spending time together.

Racism is ridiculous

Racism is in essence, a fear of the unknown.

break down the barriers. dispel stereotypes.

the problem is, as Will i.am said in "where is the love":

Wrong information always shown by the media
Negative images is the main criteria
Infecting their young minds faster than bacteria

DrJenk, what you went through was truly shocking and I am really sorry that you had to go through something like that.. Couldn't believe as I read how even the police tolerated such violent racist behaviour by letting your attacker go scot-free like that!

I hope one day that the ignorant fool who did that to you will hang his head in shame for his actions.

reading....

Been living here for a little over 8 years now, and I can't honestly say that I feel racism. Sometimes people have a bad day and they will say stuff but they are usually old people or people who don't have anything going on in their lives. I love it here. Integrating was hard in the beginning when I didn't know the language but once I got into language classes and started speaking (awful Finnish tho it was) things started to little by little  look a bit brighter.

like anything else in life, there are two sides to every story, u have the better side and we hope the world sees that to!

yhx. Yeah I count myself as lucky:)

Is racism same as colour prejudice? I am of an indian origin and see so much colour prejudice among the indian people... looking down on other indian with darker skins. Even in Bollywood movies this is so reinforced that it makes me boil.. It is amazing how Indians with darker skin have accepted this and think of people with darker skins as inferior..

hi everyone ,
there is no racism in my country and I think and hope there should not be in the world .

Living in Taiwan and China has helped me to be more accepting toward racism.  How do people deal with the unfamiliar?  With strangers?  Some of us don't adapt to the unfamiliar so well.  I believe most of us tend to prefer the company of like-minded people who share similar interests and values. 

As a passionate student of American culture, I find it hard to imagine America without racism.  I believe so much beauty and achievement are based in noble responses to racism: Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington, to name two examples.

Hi I am a New Zealander living in South Korea. I have experienced a little bit of racism here. Koreans are very proud of their accomplishments and their country and don't really like 'others'. That said there are approximately 1 million foreign people living and working here. I think they really just tolerate us as they realise they need us. A fellow expat once said to me that if they could clone us then they would do that instead.

Racism is everywhere I think. I have lived in Australia where racism is quite commonplace. Bit sad really, why can't people just get on with 'it' and let people live their lives? Black, white, yellow, hell if everybody was white the world would be a lot less interesting.

Willkay reading your experiecnce I cannot help thinking that you might be talking of 'Mauritius'.

I moved from the British mainland (Wales) to Northern Ireland and experienced problems because I was 'British' - his included being singled out in class because I spoke with a different accent.

I joined the Royal Air Force when I was 19 and had a very hard time due to the Irish accent that I had developed.
I still experience this in the English town I have lived in for 15 years.
Worse was when I got lost in Birmingham - I asked an Islamic man for directions to the motorway who turned his back on me!!!
In Germany being tattooed was a problem.
In the Netherlands, my German numberplate was a problem.
In Azerbaijan, my long hair and tattoos were a major problem.
I'm in Brasil at the moment staying with a black friend. She has told me about the different treatment she receives when alone.
I always let her ask for food in the bars or talk to the taxi driver first - I know all about the 'Gringo Tax'!!

Racism is everywhere. It will not stop, ever.
Deal with it. I don't let it bother me anymore. I am always as courteous after the insult as before (mainly because this annoys as their rudeness has had no effect).

super like it

kiwiinkorea wrote:

Black, white, yellow it doesn't matter what colour you are. People are people, simple.
I am white, if everybody on this planet was white life would very boring indeed. As for multi-race unions such as marriage and partnerships, I fully support it, who cares what other people think? You only get one short life on this planet, you must do what makes you happy.

i totally agree