Racism . Is it.......

[bigmoe69er]

Not quite Dr. Moe. "Earned" racism does occasionally occur when a group of people belonging to the same racial sub type engage in activities that end up prejudicing people (typically victims of their transgressions) against a race as a whole (the old stereo type).

It isn't fair, but it can be "earned". That is how I define earned, at least. Learned racism occurs when parents or people in positions of power or influence work to make you think in a certain way... rather than actual contact with the people in question.

No, I did not miss the point of your post. I fully realize that you are not condoning racism. However, the way you worded the post, it appeared as though you were ascertaining that there are situations where the victims of racism set themselves up and "earned" what comes their way. Again, under absolutely no conditions is racism "earned". You are gradually backing off from your original comments, which is good. "Earned" is NEVER the term to use, regardless of how you qualify the use of the word.


---Dr. Moe

 

[dipitydoo]

American you?

hahahaha... perfect example LaCreme, thanks for demonstrating the obvious.

 

[CalgaryJenn]

Racisim is ignorance. A good example:
Spending most of his life in Calgary, my son at the age of 8 had never really experienced many black people. Not my fault, but Calgary didn't have many black people at the time.
We moved to Windsor Ontario. Right across from Detroit. A place where the black community is just as strong as the white community. A few days after school started, we were talking and I asked him if he had made many friends. His reply, "No, they are all black kids and I don't want to be their friend."
I sat him down and talked to him. I explained that there was nothing wrong with being friends with somebody who was of a different color. Reluctantly he went back to school the next day, unsure of the outcome of making friends with "black kids" as he called them.
After 2.5 years, some of his best friends ended up being black and lebanese. In fact, he learned a lot of their cultures and ways, just from hanging out with them at their homes.
Now 13 years old, he is very open minded. A couple weeks ago we were at the mall and he overhead two white teens, as they passed two black kids say, "Fucking niggers!" To my surprise, my son spun around and said, "Why don't you grow up and watch your mouth bitch." And the kids were probably 3 or 4 years older than he was.
Ok, I had to give him shit for calling somebody a bitch, but in the back of my head it was justified.

 

[aznboi9]

Racisim is ignorance. A good example:
Spending most of his life in Calgary, my son at the age of 8 had never really experienced many black people. Not my fault, but Calgary didn't have many black people at the time.
We moved to Windsor Ontario. Right across from Detroit. A place where the black community is just as strong as the white community. A few days after school started, we were talking and I asked him if he had made many friends. His reply, "No, they are all black kids and I don't want to be their friend."
I sat him down and talked to him. I explained that there was nothing wrong with being friends with somebody who was of a different color. Reluctantly he went back to school the next day, unsure of the outcome of making friends with "black kids" as he called them.
After 2.5 years, some of his best friends ended up being black and lebanese. In fact, he learned a lot of their cultures and ways, just from hanging out with them at their homes.
Now 13 years old, he is very open minded. A couple weeks ago we were at the mall and he overhead two white teens, as they passed two black kids say, "Fucking niggers!" To my surprise, my son spun around and said, "Why don't you grow up and watch your mouth bitch." And the kids were probably 3 or 4 years older than he was.
Ok, I had to give him shit for calling somebody a bitch, but in the back of my head it was justified.

I like this story. There's a quote that I've always had in my head, can't remember the guy who coined it.

"We hate some persons because we don't know them; but we will not know them because we hate them."

I would agree that racism or bigotry of other forms is due to ignorance; but I also believe that often that ignorance seems to stem from some state of segregated behaviour or lifestyle. If you don't know anything about the group that you're discriminating against, it's easier to set that group up as a bogey-man figure to be feared or reviled because you don't have the interactions with them that would reveal the commonalities that you share with each other. Breaking down those walls is so important and key but can be so difficult as well as offending sides can often be stubborn to move off of their line of belief.

Good on you, Jenn, for trying to teach understanding to your son.