“Sure,” followed by a smack in the face would have been more helpful.
British, white, female. Another one where it depends on whether personal safety might be an issue. Some examples where it wasn’t: My “local” is actually a city centre rock bar, a lot of the people who go in there are unconventional in one way or another. A couple of years ago at Halloween some randoms dropped in after hours to take advantage of the late licence. They were pretty obviously not just boggled at, but angry, to see the fabulous cross dressing that was going on. I overheard a nasty remark made by one of them about a mate of mine. I told him about it and we went to the bar staff and got him thrown out, that sort of thing is not tolerated in there.
Another time I was on a bus when an Asian* woman with poor English got on and tried to pay last month’s fare, which took a bit of toing and froing between her and the driver before she paid up. I assumed she didn’t catch the bus that often and had just made a mistake (she was obviously embarrassed). One of the women sat behind me started saying to her friend that these people just pretend not to understand English so they can get away with stuff like paying too little on the bus (30p! oh that would be so worth it!). My stop was coming up so I stood up a bit early and called her on being racist. She just gave me the middle class version of a “like I care” look. Her friend/acquaintance however looked kind of stricken to be caught out in such company. My work was done.
In a similar situation in my local post office both staff and customers were having the "Asians ought to know English/are just pretending so they can scam us conversation after a nervous older Asian lady had been in collecting her benefits. I decided not to go for the confrontation direct with this lot but commented loudly on how nice it had been when I was travelling abroad places where I didn’t speak the language and the locals had been nice and patient with me. The conversation died.
Um, what was the OP asking again? It’s not really something I do for the sake of hypothetical minority friends, it’s because I can’t stand hearing that shit and, ya know, fighting ignorance. In my second and third examples I was hoping to make people think. In the first example I just wanted the guy to get outa my pub (Peggy Mitchell).
*probably Pakistani, it’s not uncommon for older Pakistani women who came to Britain as adults to have poor English, partly due to social isolation, as they haven’t mixed much outside family. Attitudes like the ones I’m talking about can’t help either.
Too late for the edit: I give you Peggy Mitchell, Gerrout o’ my pub!
Just curious if you have this open-mindedness about other forms of stupidity.
(And I really wish you would stop saying you are “half black”. Having a black mammy doesn’t make you black in any shape or form. And the fact that you think you can learn something worthwhile by dispassionationately listening to the rantings of racists indicates to me how very wrong about your “half blackness” you are.)
Black female.
You’re not going to do anything but piss someone off if they’re with their friends at a bar or enjoying a burger. They’re not going to be receptive to a lesson on tolerance and you are more than likely just going to piss them off.
In situations I’ve been in, it’s refreshing enough to see the look of disgust on the faces of all of those who are within ear shot.
I saw one of those Datelines where they set up a situation for people to be racist. It wasn’t at all how things would go down in real life because they were actors.
If you’re in a situation to have an honest conversation and you think you might actually be able to teach someone ignorant something, go for it. Otherwise, I’m indifferent.
Actually, yes I do have that tolerance for all forms of stupidity. It isn’t just racism. I love listening to biblical fundies, hippies, PETA members, flat earthers, communists, and the all rest of the flavors. I use it as a learning exercise.
If they are sitting next to me, I’ll say something like: “guys, I’m trying to eat my lunch here.” If they persist I’ll move. The whole point of having the game on the TV above the bar is to talk about sports so nothing controversial comes up.
Nothing controversial? Sports? You’re kidding, right?
I’m not always self-aware enough to realize I shouldn’t open my mouth due to not being safe, so I figure if they are talking so loud I can hear them, they can hear me talking loudly in return.
Therefore, I’d be apt to say something about how racism is stupid or someday people who feel so ignorantly will be a thing of the past or the like. Anything to get my point across. From there, I just see how it goes, but fortunately, no one has even continued on in their bigotry, let alone kicked my ass.
I’m mixed race and really light-skinned, so it’s pretty common for people to assume there’s nobody but pure white folk around and start talking in front of me. If I’m just overhearing something, I’ll usually give a dirty look and drop it. If someone’s actually saying something to me, I’ll speak up to make my disgust clear, but some random confrontation isn’t going to accomplish much.
My experience as somebody who can “pass” as white is entirely, wildly different from my darker cousins, though. So much of your experience of race and racism really is dependent on how the world sees you and not so much on your family background.
Where I come from, you’re more likely to get into a fist fight over sports than you are over race. Almost. 