@ARE_you_kidding_me When Obama was running in the first election my sister told her 5 year old that she was not voting for him “because he was black” as an easy answer. I know many, many people that refer to Brazil nuts as nigger toes. Despite the fact that my friends from Iran are wealthy, educated and well spoken, not a day goes by that someone here in California doesn’t say some ignorant shit to them. It isn’t the grandpa saying mean things; it’s the grandkids. The people barely old enough to remember 9/11 and barely know their daddies because he’s always been overseas protecting us from the towelheads [sic].
It’s the jokes people make about the terrible Asian drivers that we tolerate because they bring so much money to our casino tourist driven town. It’s the people that bitch at customer service phone operators because they have strong accents and they want to speak to an American. It’s the smak talk about Hispanic immigrants, whom everybody knows must be here illegally and taking advantage of our country. Yet no one says a word to my white Polish girlfriend with a cute accent who has been here illegally for 10 years. Nobody has ever said a word to her… Why not if it isn’t her race?
It’s the immediate media coverage of a missing Middle Eastern kid when the Boston bombing occurred. An innocent kid that turned up dead several days later with no connection to the bombings. It’s the fact that when the true bombers were identified as Russian, people still made Middle Eastern connections and associations. Every terrorist just has to be a Taliban anymore. Every Muslim Indian must be watched closely. There were not nearly as many retractions as there were accusations because watching a missing Middle Eastern kid must have been a valid thing for our country and media to do. Why? Race. Period.
It’s watching a black kid as he wanders the aisles of the convenience store, while his white buddy robs the place blind. It’s people complaining that “having black neighbors” is going to lower the property values in the neighborhood. It’s assuming a young black man must sell drugs if he drives a nice car. It’s flying that Confederate flag and staring down anyone offended by it.
I could go on and on. Racism has existed, and will exist, as long as people exist. Sometimes there is no better way to lift yourself up or make yourself better in your own mind than to judge physical characteristics. That small minded mentality will never go away, because there will always be small minds.