Are You Racist?

Not gonna lie, hell yeah I am racist. To my race and any other race. I can be an adult and admit that. I will throw a racial slur in a minute but I am trying to stop. I will say that any comments that I make, I make them at home and not in public. I may say something to my husband or my mother, but I dont show my behind in public.

I'm not going to lie, but I have been racist at some point or another in my life. My dad, to me, seems to be a little racist, and I think I get that characteristic from him. I, myself, do not have a problem with other races. I'm trying to make a difference in the world by accepting everyone as a person. When people get older, they should realize how ridiculous it was to hate others who did not resemble themselves.

It's hard to admit, but it's true. Now, I'm not a white supremist or anything, and I do believe that every race has bad and good people.

When you see the same behavior from people of the same ethnicity over and over again though....I work in retail, and I know that almost every Mexican woman with an older child is not going to speak English well, if at all. The younger Asains will all buy white shirts to layer under their Hollister ones. The Black man is going to get mad when I ask to see his ID.....

Yes, there are exceptions, but it's rare. But you know what, I smile and converse with every customer. I know what I'm thinking is wrong and I try to push it away by throwing myself into customer service.

So yes, I am a racist, but I think that I have a cureable case. It's just one of my faults. But as a human being, we're allowed to have those, right?

I have many preconceived notions about those of other races, most definitely. I think it's natural to have them. I try to avoid thinking them, because for every notion I have, I know lots of people that don't fit the mold. Now, I don't act on any of these feelings... I wouldn't yell and scream at a Hispanic woman because she couldn't speak English well and I make friends with people across races. I'm not like my grandfather who will sit there and ask why there are more blacks than white on basketball teams if we all have equal opportunities. I typically don't talk about broad generalizations concerning race, though I do make generalizations about other groups (such as gender, age, etc).

~C
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It is common sense that people are influenced by their environments. . . This can plainly be seen by evolution and the observations shown by Darwin. Animals, like humans, react to what they have to work with. I am not comparing humans to animals-I am comparing coincidential facts. If a young boy is told to hate a certain race-he will. When he grows older and becomes educated - he will tolerate them but still have negative thoughts towards some race. This is because when a person is young the brain is a sponge and it absorbs everything. You try to squeeze certain things out, and you might succeed , but then you discover all of it didn't get out. I think that people use race as a safe cover when they don't know what else to say...like they don't like someone because they're a race that they are not. In reality they don't like them for another reason, maybe it's the way they dress, speak, talk , their opinions or the way they behave..but skin color doesn't have anything to do with it. I'm young. SOme of my family memebrs are racist. I'm not. I decided not to be that way because I can see past it...I was lucky not to be brought up hating certain people-and just because a person is brought up that way, doesn't mean they can't squeeze all those thoughts out or make those insignificant by filling their heads with more pure ones. I don't know if this long response really answers the question-but I was typing as I thought....

*_*Shimmy*_*

The foundation for politeness and respect for others as traits in a person is built from knowing oneself.
~Native Pride~

Of course we would all like to say that we are not racist at all. However, culture forms our understanding in a way that makes un-racist people extremely extremely rare. But then, if the racism is so slight as to be imperceivable, does it still count?

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I tend to feel a bit disappointed when I hear about racism. I am fairly idealistic. I want to be accepted for who I am.Anyway, I would like to tell people that we should embrace other peoples differences. Those who are racists in my opinion are boring. They want their world to only have their particular race. I think there is something magical about the different cultures and races in this world today.

Ok, I have two major points. But before I get to them, I'm going to say this: I think that this survey is very, very biased. I don't believe it and the two points are going to illustrate why.

1. Relativism side: How would you define 'racist'? If you make racial jokes, are you 'racist'? I think that that term is too broadly defined, which leads to people having different definitions and ideas about what they would call "racism". Take a look at this:
a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement
From dictionary.com
hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.
Also from dictionary.com
If just one source can have two different definitions to the same term, what else out there is influencing our idea of racism?
And which one is right? As you can see, both definitions have totally different connotations and meanings. If I go by the first definition, then yeah, I'm racist. I believe that there are inherent differences in races. But if I go by the second definition, then no, I'm not racist. I on no accounts hate someone just because of what race they are.
In the survey, I believe that the question was geared more toward the first definition BUT the way the article was written was geared more toward the second definition. So to put it shortly: people taking the survey were led to believe that racism was believing in innate racial differences while people reading the article are more inclined to believe that racism is synonymous with hate and/or intolerance. Which leads me to my second point:

2. Statistics. If you've ever taken a statistics course, you'd know that there are certain biases that can take place in a survey. I believe some of them are midly addressed towards the end of the article. Wording bias is one. The answer choice for not being racist is made stronger than the other choices for being racist by adding the words "not at all".
Also, if the surveys are taken over the Internet, then we could have what statisticians call a nonresponse bias. To put it simply: people could have lied.

Don't take all this too seriously. There are serious flaws in the system there.

As for me, I am not racist. I don't hate because of skin color.

I'm not racist in the sense of judging people based on their appearance and skin color. I think that's the dumbest thing anyone can do. And I have friends of all different backgrounds. But we all have fun pointing out stereotypes and using them as jokes on each other. I don't think that makes us racist. But some disagree. But we're not saying any of it to put each other down or make us ashamed of our race or anything- we're all pretty proud of who we are. We also realize that some stereotypes do exist for a reason and we're able to laugh at them. And I don't think that means we're racist at all.

Everyone's a little bit racist
Sometimes.
Doesn't mean we go
Around committing hate crimes.
Look around and you will find
No one's really color blind.
Maybe it's a fact
We all should face
Everyone makes judgments
Based on race.

Truer words have never been spoken.
-Paige

I don't believe in race. Racism exists, and there are many people who are racists out there, but the actual classification does not really have a definite basis. There's such thing as skin color, ethnicity, nationality, culture, facial features, hair, etc. But just because different types of people exist does not mean we must separate them into "races".

-Tom

Almost everything can be put on a spectrum, and I believe that everybody falls somewhere on the line between Non-Racist and Extreme-Racist, but no one lies at either polar. I believe that one would have to be blind and deaf to not be even one iota racist. It's human nature, as I quote many people who have already commented. It just depends on what experiences you've had that deal with other races. I've been robbed at the restaurant I work at twice, while I was the cashier. Both times by black men. Obviously I don't expect every black man to approach me and demand the money in the drawer, but I am more cautious with them. Am I wrong to do this? Am I a racist? Maybe. But maybe if I had been "racist" before I was robbed twice, I would have been more cautious, and avoided the situation. And maybe someday a white man will surprise me and rob me.

i'm not a racist...
i hate everyone equally.....

Like it or not, a tendency to be racist was clearly an advantage to our human ancestors (otherwise it would not be so ubiquitous among us). This is not to condone racism, and it bothers me that I have to qualify my statement with that remark.

For humans, our greatest natural enemy was (is) other humans. Humans outside of our own kin groups (which looked like us) were most likely to attack us, and, those among us who were safer rather than sorry in making generalizations about non-kin who looked different were more likely to survive if the other group was indeed hostile.

the Quebequois are the stuck up ones. I must say. Montreal and Toronto are probably the most diverse cities you can go to. Montreal is like amazingly diverse. Asains, Aficans, Caucasians.....white people. And they all speak French and its like the most amazing culture shock one could experience. Way more diverse than a place like New York City.

peace

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It's true that people naturally hold stereotypes and associate things with other people's physical traits, but the doesn't relate to "racism." I think that racism is a misused word, used to describe bias based on the cultures and levels of

Racism ends in "-ism" for a reason. It's a doctrine. "A belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement." Bias toward an idea to which one does not in any way ascribe doesn't make one a follower of that doctrine (an "-ist").

Now I see an Asian person, and I can instantly picture them playing piano or violin really fast, or doing math problems. That doesn't mean that I believe in a "math and piano gene," or that Asians are inherently good at math and piano because of genetics.

The culture and circumstance--not race--of many Asian immigrants generally pushes them to achieve. Also, the structure of many Asian languages and writing systems is conducive to learning math and music. For example, speaking Chinese actually develops pitch recognition, because the meaning of words changes with their pitch.

However, I know a couple of Asian children adopted and raised by white people, neither of whom particularly excels at math or playing piano. They never had exposure to that language or culture, and act quite stereotypically "White." They didn't act "Asian" just because they had small eyes and mocha-colored skin.

While I have biases about the influence that people's culture may have on them, I don't believe that their race inherently produces their culture, nor am I hateful or intolerant, so I'm not a "racist."

First, to answer, no, I am not racist. I was raised in the Southeast, and grew up hearing about race problems, while playing mostly with kids of another color than my own. We didn't care, and could not really understand why anyone did. The maid-of-honor at my wedding was a dear friend, and we are as different in skin color as it is possible for two people to be. Our daughters called each other "cousin". I have had friends of many colors, and what always counted was the person, not the color of their skin or hair, or where they were from.

That said, there are a couple of points that need to be made. First, I think we can all agree that the term "racist" is generally understood to mean a person that looks down on those of other races. The term does not imply, by any means, that only white people can be racist. In fact, I have seen, especially in recent years, that there seem to be far more racists among the so-called minority groups. These days, of course, it is debatable who the real minorities are. It should also be noted that racist behavior by people using race as an excuse can never help the issue. For example, the recent NYC shooting case, where black leaders are actively encouraging blacks to riot if the police involved are not found guilty. The actual facts of the case seem irrelevant, and the color of the person shot is the ONLY issue to these misguided "leaders". Another example is people screaming "racism" when Muslims are scrutinized at airports, while we are at war with Muslim terrorists. Common sense profiling is NOT racist, and labeling it as such injures race relations. If the authorities were searching for a blond assailant, would they be racist for not pulling over Middle easterners?? Let's be sensible there, people.

The real differences that seem to be related to race are cultural in nature. Some of these differences are beneficial, and some are truly detrimental to the members of those groups. Bill Cosby has spoken a lot on this reality lately, and should be applauded for his efforts. If we truly want to overcome racial difficulties, then we cannot tolerate ANY people of ANY race that wants to think themselves superior to the rest. What comes to my mind on this are the videos that I have seen of the horribly racist comments offered by ILLEGAL Hispanics towards people of ANY OTHER COLOR.

Like I said, I am not racist; I hate no one because of how they look. Their actions are what will earn my dislike.

I would have to say that I am somewhat racist althought really I dislike alot of people and it has nothing to do with race. I live in the south and while I am not all about "the south will rise again" or anything like that I must admit that other races act differently here than they do up north. They mostly have bad attitudes and think someone owes them something.