Poll: Is racism an issue where you live?

[hem dazon 90]

Here in Dearborn you are either an EVIL MOZLEM TERRORIST or A boring old Irishman

 

[Caligulove]

It's there, definitely. Always has been, but I think that's true for all other places around the country, where its certainly there and exists, but no, I don't think that its a big issue or that there is a lot of conflict that happens all the time for everyone to see, and instead comes mostly from the people sitting in their houses, afraid of muslims and black people, calling in to CSPAN to ask the Black man racist questions or something.

Doesnt mean that we shouldnt address it or work to not make it exist in my city, but it really isnt something that is on the surface here

 

[Hashime]

Yes, it is where I'm from. I grew up in Raccoon Town (actually used to be the name of my hometown, it's THAT small). So it was famerville high school in the end. There were 4 black kids, 2 Latino kids, 1 Jewish kid (he actually got the nickname 'The Jew' in our highschool, though he was cool with it). My graduating class had about 100 kids, and those 7 different kids were in 8-12 grade. That's how bas it was. And therefore, those kids got called out on their differences, as explained above. So, to make it short, racism was a big problem in my school, though I feel it was partly due to the fact that none of my class were around kids of different races and nations pretty much at all. I'll be honest that growing up in that environment made me a bit weirded out around other races, not because I felt better then them or thought they'd kill me, but because I wasn't used to them. I've gotten over that though.

And sorry for the rant. In short, yes, racism is a big problem and even my own father is a racist to some degree.

I went to a bog school (1600) with almost the same numbers (physical) as your school. There were about 15 non white kids in my graduating class, but there was no racism. It must be an area thing.

Well, it wasn't like it was too bad or anything. Nobody beat up someone just because of color or hated them for it. And of course, I'm not saying that everyone there was racist either. Most weren't. But any racism is too much, and I know that a few who treated racism like a joke (two of my friends in fact were actually so bad that they would 'jokingly' act like they were white supremacist almost all the time). It's kind of hard for me to describe to be honest, sorry I can't be clearer.

I know what you mean, more of a covert racism that sits in the background but is never really acted upon.

 

[TheHecatomb]

Yes, it is. Whenever you point out to some fat black woman that she should wait in line just like everybody else she'll immediately start a fuss calling you a fucking racist nazi. If you tell some black guy driving a Honda Civic that he shouldn't drive 80 KM/H in a 40 zone, he'll start yelling, threatens you and calls you a racist. It's batshit insane. Whenever any type of minority feels mistreated they immediately blame it on racism, destroying the whole meaning of the word and creating a situation where the hard working average native Dutchman ends up being discriminated in his own fucking country, just for being a law abiding citizen.

I try my best not to become a racist myself, I really do. But folks like that (and trust me, their numbers are massive) don't exactly make it easy for me.

 

[Gardenia]

But when women get attacked for "dressing like whores" when walking down the street, I'd say it's partially justified.

Quoting out of context makes you sound like a horrible person! Yay!

OT: I live in Australia. It's a joke.

Haha, nice one! I didn't even think about that. I must never ever speak to the press about anything.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Not in the slightest. For one, my entire town consists of 3400 hippies and 100 Buddhists and for another, I swear we have exactly 1 black person in the entire town.

3400 hippies! How do you live? I think I need to get the drill...

Inside, with video games and the internet. Not the fun kind of hippies either, more of the super-earth-mother kind.

 

[MrBirdy]

Not that much, but I am going to say "yes". I live in The Flowerbulb area in the Netherlands. It's what most americans would call rich suburbs... So there is hardly any coloured person here, and those that are are pretty white inside. The cities are ofcourse more populated by foreigners, but the worst thing is that a popular "racist" government party got waaaaaaaaaaaaay too many votes. =(

 

[Sacman]

No, but sexism and homophobia are...

 

[Cazza]

No, we get the odd racist but other then that we're fine.

 

[Gigano]

No, but ideological tensions between general society and various religions and literalist(/actually) religious people, with their outdated discriminatory norms, can run high at times, if only verbally. It's always healthy to discuss, criticise, and evaluate chosen norms and world views, and has nothing to do with the amount of pigmentation in their skin. Unsavoury motives might play into levying such relentless, supposedly ideological, attacks for some though.

 

[SonicKoala]

I live in Vancouver, and no, it's really not a problem in anyway whatsoever.

I've been to Vancouver many times, and yes, it is.

Really? What was your experience which led to you to believe this?

In the informal everyday sense, pretty much the usual manifestations of casual racism are present in Vancouver as in any other Canadian city: the main point of friction is that the white populace in particular tends to be resentful of the Chinese and South Asians, a resentment usually expressed in coded terms and prefaced with characteristically Canadian disclaimers like "I'm no racist, but." The masking is careful but the ugliness of the attitudes underneath is very real; occasionally this subcurrent of attitudes boils over into violence and confrontation or racially-motivated attacks, such as what happened to Phil Khan [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/article967458.ece].

I see what you're saying - there's no doubt that there are plenty of people who harbor a sort of "casual racism" towards the various ethnic groups we have throughout Vancouver. However, the example you gave of Phil Khan is an incredibly rare occurrence. Despite the presence of the attitudes, racially-motivated violence or discrimination is, on the whole, practically non-existent. Not to say it doesn't exist, but I feel that in order to claim a city has an "issue" with racism, the city would have to frequently face a number of social issues which stem from racial bigotry, which simply isn't the case in Vancouver.

 

[crimsonshrouds]

I live in kentucky -_- so in short their is a racism problem. a small one coming from older generations and the small amount of idiots who have been brainwashed.

Funily enough i once had a young black kid be racist to me o_0 I'm white btw and consider myself not racist. I hate nobody for the color of their skin or religion.

I've noticed a problem growing in my area. Do not put a bunch of mysogynistic muslims into a mostly christian area populated by whites. Stories of Rape and spitting at women working at places and such are circulating. I'm starting to wonder if my area is becoming a powder keg and that worries me.

I dont see any growing animosity or racism but stil...

 

[fulano]

Other. Based on social standing.

 

[AngloDoom]

I lived in a place named Corby, with a high percentage of the population unemployed and a significant amount of Polish people employed in the low-level jobs, there is quite the bit of tension.

Not that half of these people would be seen dead cleaning shit out of the toilets or working behind a till in a shop to earn money; all the Polish people are 'taking' are the shit jobs most English people are too snobbish to do but still need doing.

 

[Roamin11]

Not really, but I was in this group therapy for a while and this one black lady joined close to when I left, and she said she always felt like people at the mall were racist agianst her, the mall cops watching her and what not.... To which I said

"Probably cuz you are freakin attractive, and they are all waiting to play Mr. Gentleman to get some"

She said she never thought of it that way, I know there's no rasisim here, most people are to apathetic to be racist =/

 

[SirDeadly]

Unfortunately it sort of is in Australia, although not that much. It's these damn politically correct people ruining it for everyone! Seriously, no-one cares about racism where I am.

 

[irateidiot]

My father lived in Corby for 3 years; place is full of families where the parents have never worked and the kids never will because they're unemployable goits.

 

[irateidiot]

I live in Queensland, AU; everyone over 45 hates Aboriginies. Because they're black and you can see them.

 

[XJ-0461]

Not that I've noticed. But considering I live in a world of comic books, movies, action figures, optimism and rainbows, it might have passed me by. In fact, there probably is some racism where I live (south east of England) as that's where a lot of immigrants enter the country, not that I see any problem with this. I guess I don't talk to that many Daily Mail readers.