Racism

[sasvermont]

You can pick your friends but not your relatives.

[2kitties]

Originally posted by mahayana
Interesting that you feel so defensive about the Southland. The reason so many of the battles of the Civil Rights movement took place there was because segregation was enforced by State law.

Defacto segregation was the norm throughout America; the largest black ghettos were then and are now in the North. Racism exists everywhere. Even though the Klan was begun in Pulaski,TN , the Nazis and the Aryan Brotherhood certainly cannot be characterized as Southern.

Incidently, all of my people are from Georgia and Texas.

Maybe I was misunderstood or possibly I don't understand your point? I think you are responding to my post, but I'm just not clear on your meaning. Segregation of all different kinds of races was enforced by state law all over- not just south of the Mason Dixon line.
If you reread my post you'll see I was accounting my *personal* experiences as a southerner in the past quarter century adn how that stereotype felt wrong in comparison to my experiences when I moved.
I can only personally account for the south I know- not what took place before my lifetime. Clearly, all areas of our country have a bitter past when it comes to racism- not just the slavery issue of blacks and whites- but all forms of racism going back centuries.
I was simply pointing out my own personal accounts growing up in North Carolina. Possibly you have personal experience with civil rights wars that you could share, but I'm only able to account what I know first hand.

[CamCamPup33]

What a bunch of BS!

In south florida, there are alot of blacks and spanish, in my school mostly spanish.. Im not saying thats a bad thing.. *because its not at all* But alot of people i know are like that too..

people

[ILoveMyAbbyGirl]

Racism is number 1 on my HATE list. Racism REALLY REALLY REALLY makes me angry.

[Uabassoon]

California and Texas were both part of Mexico before they became part of the US. Most Hispanics here are not recent immigrants, just bilingual Americans from a proud cultural heritage.

Thank you! So many people ask me if I was an immigrant or if my parents were, and refer to me as an illegal or other terms that are really rude. Then I explain to them that my family was in Texas when it was still part of Mexico, then when the U.S. bought Texas my family became american citizen. So while my parents may still speak spanish and keep a lot of our Mexican culture we are just as American as anyone else.

[Soledad]

In my own personal experience, there is racism all over this country, but I have seen it at its most obvious while in the south.

A couple of examples. While attending grade school in the south my brother and I witnessed three black girls being chased out of a building by Klan members. Also in the south, my family was routinely looked at suspiciously and/or angrily when speaking Spanish in public. Additionally, my brother and his black friend were routinely pulled over for NO REASON while driving together. The cops were often overly aggressive and menacing in these situations.

HOWEVER, at the same time, both my family and I found people to be pretty friendly down South. When we moved to the North, we realized people were just as racist, but they were more careful to hide their behavior than they were in the south.

In a way, it's hard to know what's worse. Having people be nice to you and think/say bad things about you and your culture/race behind your back or to know out and out where people stand and to possibly be able to "enlighten" them.

[micki76]

Originally posted by Soledad
In a way, it's hard to know what's worse. Having people be nice to you and think/say bad things about you and your culture/race behind your back or to know out and out where people stand and to possibly be able to "enlighten" them.

Personally, I'd much rather know if someone hates me.

[lizbud]

Originally posted by Tonya
She just moved here from Japan. Before that it was the Phillipines (she's phillipino). Her husband just retired from the military and they decided to make California their home.

Maybe she's not racist at all, just ignorant. She might not
have been exposed to a lot of other people & cultures. She
said she was scared. People are often scared by what they
don't know anything about. Just a thought.

[mahayana]

2Kitties- I am on your side in resenting the desparagement of Southerners that is all too common today. You grew up in the New South (you are the same age as my oldest son); I was a teenager during the '60s when it was against the law in 17 States for blacks and whites to attend the same schools.

Suffice to say that the history of white southerners and white northerners, and their dislike of each other, was the background of the fight over implementing the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

I could share lots of details and personal experiences from back then, but I'm not sure it helps. And I really do understand why you love North Carolina.

[GoldenRetrLuver]

The school I go to has about 90% of people who come from a Hispanic Origin. I don't have a problem with that, as long as they are respectful. I have gotten comments from some people like "white girl", but I've just learned to ignore it. I don't want to bother with those kinds of people. Every race can have it's problems-whether it's white, black, asian, hispanic, whatever. Just like dog breeds have certain reputations, but you can't blame the whole breed or race for being that way.

[Tonya]

Originally posted by lizbud
Maybe she's not racist at all, just ignorant. She might not
have been exposed to a lot of other people & cultures. She
said she was scared. People are often scared by what they
don't know anything about. Just a thought.

That is a thought. My husband feels she is more naive then anything. But she's been married to her husband and in the US military for the past 20 years. You'd think she'd be exposed to enough cultures by now.

[Tonya]

Originally posted by Soledad
...Additionally, my brother and his black friend were routinely pulled over for NO REASON while driving together. The cops were often overly aggressive and menacing in these situations....

There was just a big article in the Modesto Bee not to long ago. A black doctor bought his 17 year old son a BMW. He got ticked and wrote to the newspaper because his son had been pulled over 3 times for no reason in the first week he got the BMW.

[RICHARD]

Originally posted by sasvermont
You can pick your friends but not your relatives.

LOL,
I heard that line as
You can pick you nose, but not your relatives..

This happened just recently-

My nephew's son was at the center of a nasty custody battle, his wife passed away and she put, in her will, that the child was to go to the grandparents. While my nephew was fighting this in the court system the grandparents abducted the child and with the help of the local police and FBI the kid was returned to his dad.
------------
Roman, my nephew's son, went to a birthday party and was approached by a little girl who was black.

The girl, about 11 years old, told Roman that he was a cute guy and wanted know if she could have his phone number...

Roman told her that he, "wasn't allowed to talk to
her because she was black".

This attitude was hammered into the poor kid's head by the effing grandparents who are nothing but a bunch of racist trash.

---------------

And to solve the 'where are you from?' question...

A neighbor of ours would go across the border to Mexico often......He came back from one trip pretty drunk and when the Border Patrol officer asked him, 'Where are you from?'

He answered, 'From my mother'.....

He made it home safely.

[babolaypo65]

Originally posted by Uabassoon
Thank you! So many people ask me if I was an immigrant or if my parents were, and refer to me as an illegal or other terms that are really rude. Then I explain to them that my family was in Texas when it was still part of Mexico, then when the U.S. bought Texas my family became american citizen. So while my parents may still speak spanish and keep a lot of our Mexican culture we are just as American as anyone else.

My family has been in New Mexico since it was part of Mexico! It's always interesting here when one encounters racists. From time to time I'll be in a market, or somewhere and someone will slur hispanics and I'll think to myself: where exactly do you think you're living? As a child growing up in NM the population was more than 50% hispanic. Why would someone move here if they didn't like hispanics?

LORD!

[Twisterdog]

You can pick you nose, but not your relatives..

And my brother always said to me:

"You can pick your friends.
You can pick your nose.
But you can't pick your friend's nose."




Racism sucks. End of story.