I live in a white neighborhood with several black families. The whites give the blacks a lot of shit, privately. I have no idea if the blacks give it back just as hard, privately, since I’m not in that private club.
On the surface, woohoo, we’re inclusive!
In DC? Easily, by far, well surpassing anyone else are the black residents of the district proper. Good lord, do they hate white people. They see us as invaders, and quite frankly, we mostly are. Black people are born here, and white people move here from elsewhere. A few mayoral elections ago, the candidates had to run away from whiteness on the campaign trail like liberals run from creationism.
The last time I was on a train in the city, the two black teenage boys in front of me were having a debate. The topic: Is it OK to be friends with a white person? Conclusion: No.
I’ve seen latinos exhibit more “explicit racism” than any other ethnic group, meaning they will come right out and say offensive things regardless of their surroundings.
While most of it is against blacks, I’ve seen more than a few instances where Puerto Ricans get deeply offended if you call them Dominican.
Additionally, my old roommate is Brazilian / Portuguese and he will say some of the worst things about Mexicans and other people from Central America (mainly Mexicans, though). He gets really angry when people assume he’s from south of the border.
Institutionally it’s probably whites simply because they still hold most of the positions of authority.
Individually the only time I heard any outright racist comments were from blacks directed toward whites.
I hate to say it but it was kind of understandable. It had to do with gentrification and black residents were being forced out of their homes to be replaced by whites. In this specific instance an apartment building was converted into condos far out of the reach of the majority of people who had rented there for years. As a unit was sold and a black family moved out and a white family moved in there were some unpleasant exchanges between the longtime renters and the new owners during the conversion.
Because of the word “display” I picked “black”.
Had the choice been more “hold” or “act on” I would have probably picked “white”. I am one of those who feels racism by whites is probably just as bad as it was 40 years ago or more. It’s just that the practitioners have become much better at hiding it
Most people dislike being confused for another nationality, it doesn’t have to be one they look down on.
That’s hard to say. I’m white and spend most of my time with white people. Race is never, ever a topic other than an occasional comment (“There sure are a lot of Hispanics moving into the neighborhood”) When I was a kid, the racist comments flowed like water from my dad and his friends, so maybe I’m tone-deaf.
When I spend time with non-white people, race is often a topic. Mostly talking about racism they have experienced in general tems, rather than outright racists comments. "White people always… or “that white guy did …” for example. Black guys in a group will throw the N word around sometimes, which I find awkward.
No, perhaps I should’ve elaborated more. It’s not that they just dislike the assumption. It’s “how dare you confuse me for Mexican / Dominican / etc.! They are lazy and shiftless!”
There’s a difference between me saying “Oh, no, I’m not from South Dakota, I’m from North Dakota” and “How dare you think I’m from South Dakota! They are a bunch of racist, inbred hicks who couldn’t be trusted with animals!”
For the record, I have neither any affiliation with either Dakota, nor any animosity towards the states or their residents.
I work in a culturally diverse environment and really don’t see any racism.
I’m white and play in a band with 6 African-Americans on the weekends, and we joke about racism all the time. References to watermelon and fried chicken are common and they’re always saying to send me into restaurants first “so we can get a table” and stuff like that. It’s mostly funny as hell. But there are some black friends of the band that think we’re doing so well because “you guys have a white guy in the band.” That’s probably the most truly racist thing I hear these days.
Since our county is 95.7% white non-Hispanic, I’ll have to go with white racism. I don’t see much of it but get snippets here and there from native residents.
The county I grew up in is still around 99% white. I didn’t see racism because there wasn’t anyone around to be racist to!
I remember the first time my brother saw a black person (in person at least). He was around 2 and asked, ‘Is that man burned?’.
I think all you are going to get out of this poll is a same of who is in what social group. Not many of us are going to have the perspective, experience and objectivity to make a meaningful assessment. I mean, I know a lot of South Americans and a lot of them are pretty racist. But are they more racist than Aleutians or the Javanese? I have no idea.
Anyway, I think DC is permeated with racism on all levels, but it takes different forms.
White people. With 94% of the population of the state being white, it’d be impossible for any other group to contain more racists.
I’d say that for overt racial commentary and accusations, black people win hands down. This is mostly because people tend to be rather afraid to confront black people about issues of race for fear of being shouted down as racist. We see this on the news all the time- something negative happens to a black person, and it’s ALWAYS a racial issue. This is especially galling when it’s something to do with a black public official. It’s ALWAYS a racially motivated witch-hut, and they protest, and make all sorts of noise, even when the person in question is guilty as sin, and even when they’re guilty of fucking their own black constituents around in the process. While I admire the solidarity of the black community in these matters, I’d think they’d get a lot more respect if they didn’t back crooked idiots just because of the color of their skin.
As for casual racist attitudes without necessarily being angry or confrontational about it, I’m routinely amazed at the way a lot of Asian and Hispanic people are about blacks. Most whites are at least circumspect about saying that stuff out loud.
And about us whities too. I hear it every day.
Here in Miami, you know where you’re supposed to speak Spanish or get ostracized. I’m not sure I would call it racism, more convenience on Spanish-as-a-first-language speakers’ part. I don’t think racists last long here…the rest of Florida maybe, but you wouldn’t get far in life being racist against Hispanics or whites here.
I haven’t voted yet because I haven’t quite figured out how to vote.
The kind of racism that’s the biggest problem in my community (which is New York City) is racism on the part of white people directed at black people. But the worst kind is rarely displayed or expressed. It’s sort of understood. It’s understood, and widely accepted, by temp agencies and recruiting firms (not all of them, of course), for example, that there are some companies to which they just don’t send black temps or job applicants. And it’s understood by some real estate brokers that there are buildings that are not open to black tenants or buyers. It’s never mentioned, and nobody could ever prove it. Nothing is ever written down, but everyone knows. And too many go along with it. So it’s not “expressed.”
The kind of racism that I hear *expressed *most often is that of black people directed at white people. I hear things said quite often, and quite openly, that are pretty hostile. But individual expressions of racism are, of course, not nearly as much of a problem as the quiet, hidden racism that keeps black people out of jobs and homes.
I live in a neighborhood in New York that has an old and established Middle Eastern population. Some Maronites and some Muslims. I am aware that in other neighborhoods in New York, Middle Eastern people are the targets of some pretty hostile (and sometimes violent) behavior. Not so much in my neighborhood, but in others (I’m thinking of Staten Island). And there’s the occasional Sikh who gets harassed or worse because some moron things anyone wearing a turban must be a Muslim.
Funny (somewhat) story:
I was walking along Atlantic Avenue the other day, which happened to be Eid al-Fitr (the end of the Ramadan fast). A bunch of obviously Middle Eastern and Muslim young men (teenagers, really) came out of a restaurant where they’d been celebrating. They were having fun and being a bit noisy, as teenagers will, but all in all not behaving in any alarming way.
A black man, a working guy, by the looks of him, some kind of construction worker, said something unpleasant to them about Arabs and terrorists, etc.
The boys were having fun, and they just laughed, but then, clearly thinking it was funny, started chanting “Jihad! Jihad! Jihad!” as they walked down the street.
Oh, Lord, I though, they are going to run into the wrong bunch of people who are not going to think that’s funny, and this will not go well.
But as far as I know, nothing happened. Fortunately.