No matter how much I try, I cannot completely convince myself that I do not discriminate against certain groups of people. Am I a bad person now? I am very confused. People tell me not to judge others based on their color of skin. I'm trying really hard not to. But every time I look at the news, my heart is always filled with anger...because it's always the same groups of people committing crimes.
Today, when I saw a group of young black students walking by, I went across the street to avoid walking pass them. I told myself how messed up I was being. But my legs would not listen. This happens a lot of times before. Sometimes I can endure it, but most of the times I cannot. Maybe it is fear. Maybe it's the way how arrogant these black people are becoming to my eyes, the way African American activists seems to support only people of their own race and not mine, the way they can talk lowly about themselves while calling everyone else who does "racists", the way they commit violent crimes, the way they destroyed my neighborhood, the way they stole precious things from my friends, the way they called my parents names just because they're Asians, the way they pick up fights with each other to cause problems for other students in school, the way they treat women badly as if we're their sex toys, and the way they have affected my loved ones' lives and mine.
I get mad when I see Mexicans or Latinos stick together in a group. They like to speak with each other in Spanish and think that people like me cannot understand them when they're gossiping about us. I even learned Spanish to be able to communicate with them. I wish I didn't so I wouldn't hear what they're actually talking about. Maybe it's the way their men like to molest girls on the subway trains, the way they ask for more rights when they're taking advantage of other people, the way they give in easily to guys, the way they break into houses to steal, the way they came here illegally while doing nothing in return for the community, the way they settle down for less, the way they cheat money off my parents, the way they point figures at me, the way they view education as crap, and the way they disrespect the elders, especially my beloved teachers.
Women are more precious to me. Perhaps it's because of the way men treat women, the way they abandon women, the way they think they're superior than women, the way so many of them raped women violently, the way they get paid higher than women when they're less capable, the way they put looks before anything else in a woman, the way they flirt with many girls as if they're P.I.M.Ps, the way they tell their friends who they slept with while planning a new target and the way they call women sluts when women cheat on them.
I am not saying these things are true. But these are what constantly pop up in my mind when I see them. And I hate it. I tell people all the time not to judge others on their blogs and mine. At the same time, I need help and I cannot keep this a secret anymore. I would rather tell people the truth than to hide it and say stuff behind their backs. I have friends who are African Americans, Latinos and men. They're very good friends and I truly love them. Then, why can't I get along with other people of their race? Why do I keep on avoiding them? I want to stop myself. I want to stop this racist and sexist me. Am I a bad person for having such thoughts? I am truly sorry. I really am.
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
First off, I think it's so brave that you're admitting this to not only us, but to yourself. While I don't commend what you're saying, I think the first step to overcoming it is to admit it. That's what you just did.
Sometimes people have immediate reactions to things, I don't know where yours stem from, but maybe if you can figure that out you can approach it a bit easier? I honestly don't have any advice other than not to bury it anymore. If you're aware of it and you check it every time it comes up, you might be able to do something about it...
And about when you said "every time I look at the news... it's always the same groups of people committing crimes." Do you think maybe that has something to do with a media slant? That's the first thing I thought of when I read that comment... The media may be portraying each group a certain way. Maybe covering the crimes that black people commit but not white people...
Anyway, I'm just fumbling around in the dark right now. I hope I helped a little.
Thank you. I will try my best to pin point where these feelings are coming from. I believe that racists and sexists have had bad experiences with a person from the group of people they're discriminating against. The same thing probably happened to me but I forced myself to forget about it already. After I re-read what I wrote, I was ashamed of myself and had to urge to delete the whole thing. But I'm almost positive that there are those who are suffering from the same issues. Maybe they will slowly come out too...
What you said about the media is probably right. I never realized it before. I will keep my eyes open and my legs intact.
I'm glad you didn't delete it. You explinain your racism and sexism well and I think that because of that you're goign to help other people as well as yourself. You realized that, I think, when you said "maybe they will slowly come out too..." You're absolutely right, some things about ourselves we attempt to bury and pretend that they're not there. When reading something like this, it's hard to deny the fact that everyone's a bit racist.
Someone commented down toward the bottom... And they're absolutely right. Racism is generalizing. Try a person-by-person approach...
i literally just made this account minutes ago, sooo hopefully i won't sound stupid my first post...
your not a bad person. at least you agnolage that its not necessarily right for you to feel that way about people of differant races, we are all human beings after all. with that said.. its not your fault for the way you feel about other races. obviously youv'e seen a lot of messed up things coming from those particaluar races that cause you to feel that way.
fact is no two people are the same. just think back to when you have seen a member of a differant race being kind, i'm sure something will come to mind.
lol I'm honored you chose my blog to be your first comment. The problem is when I think about the good things, my friends come into my mind right away. It's a little bit harder when I need to meet new people. Like in class, I have a black girl and a white girl sitting next to each other. And they're like buddies in that class. I envy them a little. I want to be able to approach someone because I truly want to be their friend and to prove I can overcome racism and sexism. People around me can't tell what I really feel. I have this nagging feeling that if I do tell them, I'll probably break down. I don't know why...
There's hairy dudes in Mexico and I don't know how they got there. I don't think one Native American had a hairy chest. I'm like milk: 2% and I still don't have a hair on my chest and my dad and my grandfather on the white side have much hair on their chests. I think these Latinos are just Spanish mixed Jew. It has been proved fact that EVERY retard in Mexico can be traced back to the book of Leviticus. (that's in the Bible)
I am not sure what you're trying to say...would you mind explaining it? What does their hairy chest have to do with anything? But I appreciate for trying to be cheerful I guess =D
Vampare,
I notice that you've got a woody woodpecker icon there on your profile. Since woody is a white-power symbol, I'd have to ask if this is intentional or do you just like woody woodpecker?
_____________________________________________________________
I am the people my mother warned me about.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/tuffgong
honestly as i was reading your blog it made me tear up. first of all let me say that i do not think you are bad person. just for the fact that you are questioning your acts shows that have morals. but i am an Black person and people who have the same frame of mind as you do is what makes it so hard for me. you CAN NOT judge all black people on what others have done. I do not steal and am generally nice to every one i meet, but still i live in south carolina, when there are some white people (or other races too), who hold their purses a little tighter when i walk buy them. Do you have any idea hows that feels for people to automatically think that you are a bad person for THE COLOR OF YOUR SKIN. i am me, not him, or her, or that other person that has done something wrong, but happens to be the same race as me. So would you please judge me for me and not from what you see from people i don even know. every race commits crime. and quite frankly white people in america do a lot of it. i am so sick of defending myself and my black friends who are all A' students and getting ready to go off to college. I have to be extra nice to people because they already have formed their judgement of me and if i'm not then im "just another mean black person". judgeing people and believing in sterotypes is easy but for that person you are judgeing it hurts so bad.
That's the very reason why it's so hard for me to admit it to my friends who are the people of color. I wanted to tell them how my friendship with them helped me open myself up a little bit more, although right now it's still not enough. I can only imagine what it's like to have people assuming I'm a bad person since being Asia, people tend to think I'm all smart in calculus. I am sorry for people like me and I really am ashamed.
Yes, people of all race commit crimes. I'm still trying to find out why my feelings are being lean towards certain group instead, especially men. After seeing bad things that happened involving a certain group of people, I cannot help it. It's as if my body has its own mind. I'm angry at myself for hurting people's feelings the way I did to you. But I honestly ask you, what is it that can be done? Racists and sexists have their reasons to believe in whatever they believe. The thing is, how can we prove them wrong?
When someone says "I'm a racist," right away people would look at the person cruelly and call them names without explaining or showing reasons why they shouldn't think that way. So, now racists have even more reasons to become a racist while people hating on racists even more. Now, we don't hear as much racism and sexism because people shut up about it. Yet, they constantly saying bad stuff behind people's back...I wish there is something I can do. I have my own battle to fight too.
oh no i do not hate racist people. quite frankly i don't hate anyone and could never bring myself to do that. the truth is that i feel bad from them. while they are so consumed with disliking a certain group whether it be black, jews, hispanics, or gays, they are not learning anything. they miss out on the beauty of the unknown and how to embrace other cultures. what i think you should do is just stop seeing race. i know this seems hard but it will work. when you judge someone do not make it own their race, gender, or religion. just on their actions. you seem like a great person and admitting it to yourself is the best thing to do.
by the way it would be better if you did not say "colored". we were not drawn with a marker LOL. just black will be fine.
and also men are not bad. the biggest thing for you is to stop judgeing people by what other people have done. i don't blame white people for racsim, because it was not them, more like their ancestors, but not the present day ones. men commit crime and women do to. just think of all the horrible moms who physically abuse their children and even some kill them. some people do terrible things and it hurts us so we resort to hate and discrimination to deal with the pain. everyone one judges it is just human nature. just don let it effect your attiitudes towards people who are different. everyone is different in some way
I think it is really brave and insightful for you to admit this even to yourself. You are not a bad person at all. I could honestly relate to so much of this, and I feel horrible for having some of these exact same thoughts because it seems so wrong, and I tell myself to shut up, but the thoughts are still there. I have seen a lot of the same things you have in society and it makes it so hard not to formulate these thoughts. I try to just treat each person as an individul and not judge them on what others of their race have done. Everyone is different, and I suppose everyone needs to be given a benefit of doubt before they can be judged. It's not always possible, because it's not like you stop and speak in depth to every single person that comes across your path. It's hard when we have seen with our own eyes so many terrible things to not attach those to other people, but all we can do is try and continue to remind ourselves that not everyone is the same. I wish you luck in working on this issue. The fact that you are already aware of it and are trying shows that you have an open mind and are not a hateful person by any means. Thank you for being brave enough to admit this, because you allowed me to admit to myself that I harbor many of these same feelings.
You have no idea how much that meant for me. I was hoping to find someone who shares the same feelings but I didn't know how to go about it. I feel a little bit better now and I will try my best. I already feel bad enough to have prejudice against innocent people of the same group. Then I have to hear people tell me about how bad this is. It's a not a feeling that can be easily manipulated. And we have to hide it because we're afraid of other people judging us too. Like they would think I'm racist without bothering to find out why exactly I've become this way. Sigh. I wish I can change the way my mind works. But I'm stuck and I'll probably have to continue struggling.
You are not completely stuck, you are already trying to make a change. Changes like these do not happen overnight. Maybe just being able to talk about it will make it easier to deal with. Not everyone is going to be accepting, but those who actually listen to how you became this way will be. From what it looks like, most people here don't think you're a bad person =) I fear that I will struggle with this for a long time too, but I have motivation to try and change, and I will hope for the best.
I just want to say that I think it is human nature to judge people. I think racism, sexism and most other bias is naturally in almost everybody (thougth some more or less than others) and that it only worsens because of the general attitude most people have when we are growing up. I don't think you are a horrible person. Nobody can just flip a switch and not feel certain things. Judgement has always been around and it probably will always be around we just have to do whatever we can to stop it and you seem like you are well on your way.
While compassion and trying to fix your racism and all is nice, there are a couple cold hard facts, unfortunately. It's really hard NOT to be racist--but what you need to do is be informed.
It's a sad fact that a good deal of African-Americans (I don't know the percentage) ARE involved in theft, gang-related things, stuff like that, as well as Hispanics/Latinos (whichever you prefer). It's a cold, hard, fact. Unfortunately, most of them don't really do anything to stand out against it--most high school kids I see now are actually embracing that silly excuse for a "culture".
What you need to do to not be racist is know that it's a fact--but judge everyone individually. Remember, you are a racist when you generalize. A percentage of a certain race do this or that--it's not racist, it's a fact. It's normally pretty easy to give a group of kids a once-over and tell if they're in "the culture" or not. But always, always remember to judge individually. People are comprised of persons.
receive critisism for my comment but i fully understand you. I wouldn't want to be stereotyped as the southern white person who is power hungry and feels she is superior to everyone just as not every black person wants to be considered thug and every mexican does not want to be charaterized as an illegal drug dealer, but many races bring it upon themselves. So many times, you hear people going on and on about how they are judge by their skin and then they act exactly how the stereotypes peg them to act. this includes white people. And blacks are so mad about how they were treated in times of slavery and now they are just as racist against other colors. Whites say black men beat their wives yet they go home everynight and do the same. In order for stereotypes to stop we need to fight against it and stop acting like the stereotype.
Not enough people see this inner problem within themselves or their nationality. So they let it eat at them and they become just as much if not more prejudiced than the ones they think despise them. Then it turns into blaming everyone instead of the person doing the tormenting. All races (not just Blacks) forget that racism and slavery were around long before the USA was ever conceived even back into BIBLICAL times before even the time of Christ when the majority of the population was of darker skin. All too often do I see people saying my people are the minority in society and not as equal as everyone else but then I see the same person doing everything they can to further segregate themselves from society. It's chaotic to say the very least.
"but many races bring it upon themselves."
Correction:
Some people bring it upon their race.
_____________________________________________________________
I am the people my mother warned me about.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/tuffgong
It takes a ton of courage to admit that when you think of the few you see the whole. It's a very big and probably the most important step in to truly becoming nonracist/nonprejudiced. It isn't easy for most of society to do and the sad thing is there isn't one single race/nationality that is blameless. It is much easier to be prejudiced to a people rather than an individual. If more people delved as deeply inward as you have to step beyond fear of recognizing your faults, racism etc would disappear more rapidly than could be imagined. Also you have to realize such things as racism, slavery, etc were long before the USA and reaching even to before the time of Christ. People have to come to terms with this as well as see that it is human nature to do these things but the individual will has to become stronger than human nature in order to forever leave these dark injustices just a figment of history in a book for the future to despair over times that were once so dread and in danger of ruining a nation. We all need to forget the past as live as one unit forever blind to color.
I'd like to say that you're thinking like millions of people around you, you just have the will to admit it.
I commonly say how can you not stereo type in a stereotypical world?
I do believe there are people out there with mostly pure intentions, but I believe we all have it in us.
I would like to address that I'm a boy and I'm disgusted that men treat women the way they do.
This is one of my personal problems with finding a girl I respect, because I think men have treated women these ways and they give into it and in return It's hard to find a girl that hasn't.
But I think you've gotta look at yourself and decide whether you think you're the only one that cares, or if you think there are those out there who feel the same.
(([Deim Brown]*THINK-BIG*))
This is one of my favorite quotes by Alice Walker. Hopefully it'll trigger some type of psychological epiphany, enabling you to change yor thinking pattern.
" WHAT WE SEE IN OTHERS, IS OFTEN A REFLECTION OF OURSELVES".
Be BLESSED....I'll keep you in prayer!!
We all need a little bias in our life-- how else are we going to make decisions? Sure you can always work on it, but it doesn't make you a bad person. Personally, I still get a knot in my stomach when guys I don't know drive/walk by me at night. Obviously that's pretty sexist and I'm not exactly proud of thinking that way about guys/men, but I don't think it makes me a bad person at all. Paranoid as heck? Definitely. Bad? No.
~~~
"You can not help someone who does not want to be helped."
I can understand why you feel that way. I personally freak out whenever I'm downtown by myself (which is a lot), espcecially if there are a lot of men. I've been molested twice, and I can't even begin to explain what that's done to my mind. It's messed me up very badly, and I can't help being afraid whenver a group of men approaches me, regardless of whether they're even acknowledging my presence. It doesn't matter what type of men they are, because you can't tell if someone's going to do something like that just by looking at them. I don't want to be this fearful, but it's one of those things that you can't do anything about unless you have the money to see someone about it.
Most of the things you described and attributed to races are actually more accurately applicable to cetain sections of society.
If you see a bunch of White guys walking towards you, who look like skinheads, do you think you are racist if you avoid them? Do you see it as avoiding White people period or as avoiding a bunch of White guys who seem to you, by the way they are dressed, dangerous and likely to give you shit for being Asian? Because, you see, some Black youth choose to wear the same style of clothes and adopt the same language and mannerisms of gangtas.
Just like the skinheads, you've seen how ghettocentric gangstas are portrayed in the media, how they present themselves to the media. You've seen and heard what these gangstas have to say about Asians, Whites, women, crime and violence, and all of this information is then attached to a visual that serves to help you identify and avoid a guy who might want to kill you, abuse you, rob you or demean you. The problem is that when Black youth then dress like these gangstas, talk like them, walk like them and in some cases claim to be like them, you can be forgiven for not taking the risk of finding out first hand that they are them.
I have friends who used to be trad-skinheads, which basically means non-racist and in many cases anti-racist skinheads. Most were aggressively left wing, but used to get pissed off when people would assume they were Neo-Nazis or racist right-wingers. But the fact is that they had skinned heads, wore bomber jackets, skinny jeans and steeltoe cap boots. so they looked to the untrained eye just like Neo-Nazis, so people would assume that's what they were.
If people want to dress and act like dangerous stereotypes, even if they are not, then it is perfectly reasonable for other people to react to them as potentially dangerous. If those Black students you avoided had all been neatly dressed in Gap outfits, would you have been so concerned as to avoid them? I doubt it. It's not racial it's cultural, it only becomes racist when you believe that they have no choice but to behave this way and that they all behave this way.
The fact is that a black girl of your age and socio-economic standing would probably readily admit to crossing the street if she saw what looked like a bunch of White skinheads walking towards her, and I doubt she'd feel she was being racist afterwords if you told her they were actually not violent or racist at all and that their feelings had been hurt by her crossing the street to avoid them.
I've walked around some predominantly Black areas of London and felt completely at ease, people behaved in a manner I was used to, walked, talked and acted in a non-threatening manner, I 've walked around others and been shitting it. And why shouldn't I be shitting it when people of any race affect a glazed over stare and monotone when I talk, pimp limp past in troops dressed like gangstas, mad-doggin my white ass as they pass me and kissing their teeth.
It's just very important to recognize the socio-economic and cultural factors that cause a certain group within a race to behave a certain way and not to believe that their race is responsible.
As far as the whole sexism lark goes, well, just remind yourself that women do really shitty dog like things to men all the time too and harbour all sorts of regressive gender based beliefs the same as their asshole male contempories. Don't think that both sides don't have more than their quota of assholes. You can spot these fools easily, they sit around telling everybody that the other sex is stupid and expendible. The male ones are called chauvinists and the female ones like to call themselves feminists, but they're not feminists usually as any proper feminist with confirm, they are actually chauvinists too, they just don't realise that there's such a thing as female chauvinism. Assholes are assholes, not because of gender, but because of their penchant for assholery.
_____________________________________________________________
I am the people my mother warned me about.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/tuffgong
Ms. Racist,
I honestly think you are suffering from what us non-white people like to call social distortion. Anaylize why you feel this way & then I'll have you do some research. Read a few books like ( On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the Twenty-first Century )by Sherrilyn A. Ifill (Author)
or here, read this report MASS MEDIA & RACISM= LInk http://www.yale.edu/ypq/articles/oct99/oct99b.html ). Here's some of the information=
Segmentation Theory
In the 1980's, Michael Reich developed the Segmentation Theory or the Divide and Rule, which attempted to explain racism from an economic point of view. In this theory, Reich proposes that the ultimate goal in society is to maximize profits. As a result, the exploiters will attempt to use any means to: (1) suppress higher wages among the exploited class, (2) weaken the bargaining power of the working class, often by attempting to split it along racial lines, (3) promote prejudices, (4) segregate the black community, (5) ensure that the elite benefit from the creation of stereotypes and racial prejudices against the black community.
Reich argues that the major corporations in the U.S. (e.g. Time Warner, Coca Cola, General Motors, etc.) all have at least one member on each other's corporate boards of directors. As a result, it is in the interest of these members to maximize profits while employing the above devices. The mere fact of these corporate executives' sharing economic corporate power, combined with the quest for economic profit has now paved the way for economic discrimination. But the question still remains, is the media one of the tools used to promote racism? Does the elite use the media to ensure profits are maximized by corporations?
The U.S. Media And Racism
Media have divided the working class and stereotyped young African-American males as gangsters or drug dealers. As a result of such treatment, the media have crushed youths' prospects for future employment and advancement. The media have focused on the negative aspects of the black community (e.g. engaging in drug use, criminal activity, welfare abuse) while maintaining the cycle of poverty that the elite wants.
There are no universally accepted and recorded codes or rules, which apply to journalists in news selection and production. The media have devoted too much time and space to "enumerating the wounded" and too little time to describing the background problems of African-Americans. 4 What is not a crisis is not usually reported and what is not or cannot be made visual is often not televised. The news media respond quickly and with keen interest to the conflicts and controversies of racial stories. For the most part, they disregard the problems that seep beneath the surface until they erupt in the hot steam that is the "live" news story.
Sweety, your not prejudice by accident. It's something that you need to research so you can make that change to turn your thought process around. It's a system to blind you from the truth. Once you understand the truth then your fear and prejudice will fade and maybe you will be able to educate others.
Google black inventors or minority inventors. Hell, just look up Little Richard the original king of rock. Remember media outlets are controlled by white elite. Think about it, When Genocide was being committed in Kosovo the Media was there, but when over a million Africans in Rawanda were murdered in Genocide in a matter of 2 months no one blinked. Clinton always said the biggest mistake he ever made was not stopping that Genocide.
Good luck.
Here I am reading all of the posts, I am trying to identify with you a little, but honestly I can't. I am a white girl who has a black boyfriend and a biracial daughter, who might I ass is absolutely beautiful. I first off want to tell you that when you are speaking of black men treating women like sluts and them being "PIMPS" or acting like they are....well where do I start? First off, women can be very strong and very weak too. What you may not realize and I am here to tell you, women are treated by men, by how they carry themselves and present themselves. It doesn't matter what the color is, if you are a woman that dresses provocatively, then you will be treated in that manner. Basically if you look, act or dress like a hoe, then a hoe is what you will be treated like. Women who carry themselves with dignity and pride usually are not affected by the group of men that you are talking about. Now for example, I have dated black men and they have not been the nicest people, we did get physical, but I am here to tell you it's not only there fault, it's not right, but it was my choice to get out of that or not. My boyfriend now is God sent, he works, goes to church with me and his daughter, we live together and he's working full time while I am going to school at night and staying home with my daughter during the day. Now you and I both know that a good man is not classified by race, there's not a lot of men out here that will still do that for his lady and be the "head of household" and be a great father to their children. So I commend you for being able to speak of your problems, but I think that you really need to look at society as a whole before you speak on racism. Just think of these few things...Have you ever met/heard of a black serial killer? Do you watch Maury? lol, you may not, but there was one white man that sticks out in my head...because he makes his wife and family take a bath in his dirty bath water because he thinks they are not worthy of their own clean water. It's sick. I do agree that there are a lot of black men that make mistakes, and because they are black they stick out more than the white men that get arrested for the same things. This mentality that you have is also what is still wrong with society. I have people that come up and tell me how gorgeous my daughter is but when they see her father walk up and realize that she is mixed, they are giving a look of regret...this is WRONg and I hope and pray that you can change.
Kayla
I'm the same way, and I can't be. I work at a church that is prodominately black... i mean, literellay maybe 8 white people.... and it's hard not to judge.... and I always feel guilty for it.....
WHEN I FIRST READ YOUR PAPER I WAS VERY OFFENED BECAUSE YOU MADE IT SEEM AS IF ALL PEOPLE OF A RACE OR SEX DIFFERENT THAN YOURS WAS BAD. I CANT SIT HERE A LIE BY SAYING THAT IM NOT MAD BUT I DO HAVE TO SAY THAT THE FIRST STEP TO A PORBLEM IS ADMITTING THAT YOU HAVE THAT PROBLEM. YOU SHOULD REALLY WORK ON THIS AND DONT THINK THAT YOU ARE ALONE BECAUSE THERE ARE OTHERS.
BE BLESSED*
It is unfortunate that you've grown to posses such ignorant and close-minded views of others but at least you’re admitting that you may have a problem. I can completely relate to you on the account that every individual has biases. Just as you view African Americans and equate certain stereotypes with them, I believe that African Americans have similar stereotypes against Asians. It is a shame that we live in a society where color is a major issue. I hope that one day; we will all be color blind and accept people for the content of their character. I think that racism and sexism, especially in your case, shows incompetence. It shows that you are afraid of what you don't understand and lack the ability to determine people based on their intellect and interpersonal skills. I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors and I hope that you will become a little more cultured in regards to other people’s differences.
P.S If you feel guilty for something your doing. I.e...someone you're judging then it's probably wrong or you wouldn't have felt guilty in the 1st place =)
You know what? I am so glad that someone has come out and said this. The truth of it all is, that racism and sexism is learned. You're right. You see a lot of blacks convicted of crimes on the news. Usually, we are not the victims. The media makes it seem like all blacks do is kill and rap. For me? I have certain mentalities of people. If its dark and late, and I see a middle aged, unkept, skinny, white guy...I think he might be a rapist. But thats because when I see rape stories, most of the rapists look like that.
Until I was 8 or 9 I didnt think that white people took showers, because that is what some of my cousins told me. Now, of course its ridiculous...but it's what I learned and I hadnt been proven different until later in my life.
"Until I was 8 or 9 I didnt think that white people took showers,"
That reminds me of watching an episode of Dave Chapelle, where he did this great husband swap thing, where he swapped a black stereotype for a white stereotype. I was watching this with a group of friends. There's a sketch where the black guy is saying it's disgusting that white people rub soap on their balls and then wash the rest of their body with the same bar, only to leave it back for the next person to use. He continues to say that Black people have the decency to use a cloth to wash with soap.
My friend Jamie, who's black, started cracking his ass laughing and saying, 'That's so true'. I had to point out to him that Chapelle was actually making fun of people who use the soap bar directly on their balls and the rest of their bodies AND people who think using a cloth to wash their balls and then their face is more hygenic. The joke was on Jaimie, who had basically just admitted to having disgusting personal hygeine. The sketch was mocking people who don't know how to wash themselves properly, but who think that there is some kind of racial superiority connected to their personal hygeine.
_____________________________________________________________
I am the people my mother warned me about.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/tuffgong
If only our country could follow this lead and talk candidly about race and other "taboo" subjects in an appropriate forum without worrying about political correctness, it would do wonders for our culture.
-The Real Deal
If only our country could follow this lead and talk candidly about race and other "taboo" subjects in an appropriate forum without worrying about political correctness, it would do wonders for our culture.
-The Real Deal
If only our country could follow this lead and talk candidly about race and other "taboo" subjects in an appropriate forum without worrying about political correctness, it would do wonders for our culture.
-The Real Deal
i think your just trying to use the excuse that you'll finally said something so that you can feel good about yourself. WELL DONT! Yes my dear, you are a racist and a sexist. I have no prblems with whites, asians, mexicans, etc. If I saw a group of whites who looked like skin heads walkig I would not go to the other side because those are looks!! I DO NOT know them so I WILL NOT judge them The "gangsta look as you call it is a fashion. It does not mean that they willl come up and rob you or kill you. COME ON! BE SERIOUS!
BE BLESSED*
I'm assuming that you're talking to me. It's much easier to track if you reply to my comments with the reply button
"If I saw a group of whites who looked like skin heads walkig I would not go to the other side because those are looks!! I DO NOT know them so I WILL NOT judge them"
That's pretty big of you. I'm white and if I saw a bunch of white skinheads walking my way, I'd avoid them. Then again I know a few skinheads and I'm fully aware that there's a high likelihood of getting hassle, probably verbal, but with my big mouth, it would escalate into me getting battered. I'd have to speculate that you either aren't really being honest here, in an attempt to look good, or that you have a reckless disregard for your own safety.
"The "gangsta look as you call it is a fashion. It does not mean that they willl come up and rob you or kill you. COME ON! BE SERIOUS!"
I'm fully aware that it's a fashion, but do you fully understand fashion and the semiotic system of communication it represents? When you choose to waer certain things, you are communicating a visual message. Like when a guy walks down the road dressed like a skinhead. It communicates a message, people draw on what the collection of symbols mean to them; shaved head, tight rolled jeans, big boots, bomber jacket, these fashion items when visually interpretted together generally spell out Neo-Nazi, White Power, violent, aggressive etc.
Surely your familiar with the term 'fashion statement'? That is what fashion is, a way to make a statement, a collection of symbols that communicate a message. People are always saying things like, that girl looks like a ho or a slut, beacuse she's got a tiny skirt on and her tits are falling out of a tiny top. She mightn't be a ho or a slut, but nobody is surprised when somebody thinks she is, because that is the message her fashion communicates.
So if somebody decides to dress like gangstas they see on TV and in rap videos, why wouldn't you suspect that that is the lifestyle they want to be associated with or perhaps be a part of? I mean, If I start walking around dressed like a skinhead with a big Swastika emblazoned on my shaved head and some people start to get offended, am I within my rights to declare them ignorant, because the Swastika on my head is actually an ancient sanscrit symbol for good luck and not the Nazi version, and the clothes I'm wearing are merely clothes I like, that also happen to be the clothes favoured by Neo-Nazis? Or are they perfectly within their rights to assume I'm a racist white power skinhead? I'd say the latter.
The fact is that we communicate messages through what we choose to wear and we have to take some personal accountability for how people percieve us as a result. We are free to wear what we choose, but with that comes the responsibility of dealing with the way we are percieved in the eyes of others. Somebody who goes to a job interview in a bank with a 1 foot pink mowhawk, ripped bleached jeans with chains, bare chested and with a head full of piercings can hardly shirk personal responsibility for not getting the job. They chose to communicate their message through their appearance and must be prepared for the outcome whether it is positive or negative.
So fashion is not 'just fashion, it's a system of communication. That's why people who choose to wear clothing and affect mannerisms of dangerous stereotypes, they will be percieved as dangerous stereotypes, regardless of their race. A guy of any race in a head to toe Gap outfit will always be less threatening than a guy who is dressed like a thug, even if the guy in the Gap outfit is a violent murderer and the guy dressed like a thug is a Nobel Prize winner for peace. It is human nature to try to identify danger and avoid it, fashion is one system of identification, we are highly visual creatures and use symbols and visual cues a lot to make judegments that will help us avoid negative situations.
The way I dress, many people automatically assume I'm a druggie. That doesn't bother me, I know what I look like and I look like that so I am recognizable to other druggies of a certain calibre as part of their culture. When somebody who dresses like me doesn't do drugs and complains about being judged unfairly as a druggie, I tell them to stop dressing like one if it bothers them so much. But the fact is, many of them like the image and the culture that surrounds it, so despite not doing drugs, they choose to dress like people who do. It's not other people's fault if they see them on the street and think ' Well, the only guys I know that dress like that are all stoners and druggies, so that guy is probably one'.
If I go for a job interview I lose my piercings and I put on a suit, because I know that communicates a different message. It's not just fashion, it's communication.
_____________________________________________________________
I am the people my mother warned me about.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/tuffgong
I don't know if you know this, the majority of racist wear suits and ties and dressing like a "gangsta" is dressing in suits and ties. The African American & Hispanic culture had no other choice than to where over sized clothing from the poor streets. Over sized clothes where usually passed down, I know because I was a kid that wore clothing which were oversized & passed down by my brother & sister. I had clothes that fit me 2 & 3 sizes bigger & my mother had 4 of us to take care of. We arrived in this country in the 80's and work was limited to hispanics. Now in the last decade white America has embraced the look, so it is a so called (Fashion style). Fashion is ever changing and please explain what is a skin head? I had a shaved head for several years, wore combat boots, jeans with suspenders day and night & I was a straight up hip-hop head. Many of my friends were too. Maybe if you read more of black & hispanic books you would realize what the real world has more to offer from our cultures.
"I don't know if you know this, the majority of racist wear suits and ties and dressing like a "gangsta" is dressing in suits and ties."
I wasn't aware that street gangs had taken to dressing so formally, my bad. Bloods in red suits, Crips is blue? Nor was I aware that most racists had a specific uniform, I was under the crazy impression that they wore all manner of outfit. Thanks for filling me in.
"The African American & Hispanic culture had no other choice than to where over sized clothing from the poor streets. "
There's a big difference between wearing oversized clothing and wearing fashions and affecting mannerisms popularized by violent street gangs.
"Fashion is ever changing and please explain what is a skin head?"
Google skinhead.
"Maybe if you read more of black & hispanic books you would realize what the real world has more to offer from our cultures."
It's a little presumptuous to assume that I don't read books about Black or Hispanic cultures. This wouldn't have anything to do with me saying I was White does it? Let me break it down for you: that look that you said you were sporting with the combat boots, jeans with suspenders and shaved head, came from English working class culture. It came from boot boys, who were working class white English youth who's neighbourhoods were flooded with Jamaican immigrants back in the 60s and 70s.
The Jamaicans had dreads, the boot boys had shaved heads and wore the clothing you described. Both the Jamaican rudeboys and the White English skinheads socialized together and listened to reggae, ska, two-tone etc. Both the Black rudeboys and the White skinheads enjoyed a racist past time that they called Paki-bashing, which involved kicking the shit out of Indian and Pakistani immigrants, for fun I might add. The Skinhead look was adopted by the British National Party, a racist rightwing political party and by it's racist thugs, it was also adopted by Neo-Nazis around the world.
So maybe you should read a few books on Black culture yourself as opposed to just African American culture, you might find that there are Black people all over the world who are very different culturally from African Americans. But before you waste anymore time reading about pop culture, maybe you should read a few books on semiotics.
______________________________________________________________
I am the people my mother warned me about.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/tuffgong
Let me demonstrate with visuals the difference between different hip hop inspired fashions and how one is dirived from a thretening collection of symbols and the other unthreatening symbols. I'm doing this to highlight that it's not racial, it's cultural and to underline the fact that people need to accept personal accountability for the message the communicate through what they wear:
Here are some links to pics of positive symbolism through fashion presentation:
Talib Kweli:
http://www.ugpulse.com/images/articles/daily/20061017_100_2.jpg
Mos Def:
http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/2139341.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD...
Saul Williams
http://www.jeanmarmeisse.com/image/SAUL%20WILLIAMS3000_Copy3386.jpg
RZA
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/RZA_2005.jpg
Here are negative ones:
Yung Jeezy
http://www.hittmenndjslive.com/app/resources/images/117-JEEZY%20Mix%20Ta...
G-Unit
http://www.umusic.dk/MCM/covers/cover_GUnit_BegForMercy.jpg
Young Buck
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/9918/ybyl5.jpg
I think there's a big difference between the two sets of images and it has nothing to do with the colour of their skin, and I didn't even take the cheap shot and post the images of all the latter dudes sticking guns in the camera. It's time for people to stop playing innocent and take some accountability for the image they CHOOSE to represent and stop accusing people of being racist. If they try to put accross a scary image, then they shouldn't complain when people are scared of them.
_____________________________________________________________
I am the people my mother warned me about.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/tuffgong
It's okay. We are talking about racism right? Sweety, the skin head look did not only come from the "English youth boy" culture. As I remember it my grand father wore jeans with suspenders and combat boots to work in the farm where my family grew up. Along with a cre cut. So don't get it twisted. It seems that many cultures like to claim "Fashion" when the fashion as always been. And don't get so upset we are having a dialog. And by the way, we are all from African descent.
"As I remember it my grand father wore jeans with suspenders and combat boots to work in the farm where my family grew up. Along with a cre cut. So don't get it twisted."
So that's why you chose to wear this as a street fashion? You and many others were inspired by farm workers? Forgive me if I'm a bit incredulous. What decade was this in that you wore this fashion? If it was post 1970, I'd speculate that it has it's roots where I already asserted, the same way punk has it's roots in England. Or are you going to try and tell me that punk fashions in the US in the 70s and 80s had nothing to do with English culture?
The Neo Nazis borrowed the look from the English skinhead culture, why does it strike you as odd that other cultures didn't do the same? It strikes me as far more feasible than your assertion that American youth who adopted this style were paying homage to farm workers. Neo Nazis ignored the original connotations associated with bootboy culture that encouraged the embracing of Carribbean culture by White English youth, so why is it so hard for you to believe that the style might have been adopted in the US with it's origins and meaning stripped?
I'm not getting upset. I am merely outlining my stance. Sorry if it appeared I was getting upset, I was merely highlighting the presumptious nature of your insinuation that I donn't read about African American culture. What I was getting at was this: too many people don't bother to explore other peoples' cultures and history, but then turn around and accuse others of ignorance because they don't have the same level of interest or knowledge regarding their culture.
I would hazard a guess that I know a lot more about African American culture than most African American or Hispanic Americans know about mine. By mine, , I mean Irish. Despite the fact that I don't even live in the US, I can sit and wax lyrical about Rosa Parks, Marcus Garvey, Jim Crow Laws, etc But how many African Americans do you reckon would be able to sit with me and discuss Oliver Cromwell, Daniel O'Connell or the Penal Laws? Better yet, how many would even care or feel such information was even relevant to them?
_____________________________________________________________
I am the people my mother warned me about.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/tuffgong
I guess "African Americans" would not be interested in Oliver Cromwell. 1600's figure who believed himself a puritan. As I recall he was considered a dictator & a hypocrite by some and of course hailed a hero by others. I guess your right. Being a person of color myself I have no interest in discussing a figure who pretended to be fighting for a cause of liberty and purity while at the same time killing off Irish Catholics & denying freedom of religion.
Yeah, he's not my cup of tea. In any case, nice chatting with you and don't let the man keep you down. Have a nice one.
"As I recall he was considered a dictator & a hypocrite by some and of course hailed a hero by others. I guess your right. Being a person of color myself I have no interest in discussing a figure who pretended to be fighting for a cause of liberty and purity while at the same time killing off Irish Catholics & denying freedom of religion.."
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't impressed. As a person of colour, you might be interested in Cromwell's selling of Irish slaves in the Caribbean, it explains a lot about African Americans with Irish surnames. Basically slavers forcibly bred Irish slaves with west African slaves, the children of whom were given the surname of the Irish slave. Dunno, maybe that's of interest, maybe not. If you are interested just google Cromwell Irish slaves Barbados, you should find a lot of stuff about it.
"In any case, nice chatting with you and don't let the man keep you down. Have a nice one."
Tou too. The fact that you knew about Cromwell has left me smiling. I'm a sucker for anybody who humours my rabid Irish pride
_____________________________________________________________
I am the people my mother warned me about.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/tuffgong
In the store I work in, it's very hard not to be a little racist about customers. We try not to, but we frequently see specific races acting certain ways, and it's really annoying...especially when we know they're doing something wrong and they try to pull the race card as an excuse for our suspicion (this is done frequently by our regular shoplifters).
I don't need drugs - I have genetics.