Little acts of racism that are too small to publicise but are irksome all the same

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Growing up in my hometown, I was the only person in my area of any discernible different race - half Indian.

Oh, I didn’t mention that I was in state care, so I didn’t actually have a family cultural reference, just a half caste little boy whose cultural guy ropes were fluttering in the racial wind.

Now you might think such as thing wouldn’t matter - after all its not as if I was BLACK was it?

That’s right, when race is an issue anywhere you learn to try to hate the same things as the rest of the majority just so as you fit in.

So, what little acts of racism do I mean - well not the hugely insulting dramatic ones, the little bits that you get used to, the casual stuff that you learn to let flow right over your head.

All the kids had nicknames, Spotty, Ginge etc - mine was Choccy - but that was just a term of affection, after all, I was told I wasn’t a REAL Pakki and I wasn’t like THEM, which made be feel like I belonged in this close group of friends.

On we go, as I meet other kids at the big school - I’d passed my entry exams for the top grade school, my nickname changed to Pakki Dave - but hey thats all right after, I was in formed that I wasn’t actually a REAL PAKKI and told I was ‘alright’

I was once asked by a complete stranger in the street if I was Maltese because I am half and half, I must have been around 8 or 9 at the time - he probably never thought once more about it in his life, its lived with me ever since - little things to him, to me, not so much.

Much later, much much later when I used to go out with work colleagues it was noted that I had an exceptional memory (maybe that’s what got me into the grammar school eh?) and could name almost any chart hit song, year, artist and record label within maybe two or three seconds of the intro - result was that I was then nicknamed ‘Pop monkey’ apparently after some character in comedy film.

That the idea of being equated in any way whatsover to a monkey was by then pretty offensive to me just didn’t seem to be grasped by those colleagues - they just thought it was simply nickname that I should accept, after all, I was ‘Alright’ no harm is meant by it.

And that’s the thing with casual racism - little stuff, like standing next to a bus stop when all the previous passengers get off and to hear other people awaiting in the queue to get on the bus observe in loud voices - ‘Oh look at them getting off the bus, it’s ‘Spot the white man’ time’. With nary a thought that the 'little Pakki standing in the same queue might actually feel at least somewhat uncomfortable.

How about the Robertsons Jam - anyone from the UK knows about Robertsons Jam, they used to promote their brand with little golliwog tokens that you’d collect and then send in to obtain small golliwog ornaments - collecting can be fun, however this isn’t the way to do it and as a kid one of the insults you’d get would ‘Get back on your Jam Jar’ if you were of any colour - so frequently it would just wash past you - after all the comedians on tv would use the Robertsons Golliwog as a part of their racial jokes absolutely all the time.

Now move this Robertsons Jam-jar golliwog on a little - that particular brand of preserve was ubiquitous in UK households, so that when you went into the larder or sat at the table - especially for breakfast you would be faced with the Robertsons golliwog on the marmalade - which all the other kids also did - so in effect it was setting you and them up for another days worth of more golliwog conditioning.

Even when they got rid of the golliwog as a promotional tool due to it’s inherent racism it wasn’t over - for years afterwards comedians and middle aged white men bemoaned its loss as cultural vandalism and continued to use the image in their ‘jokes’

These are just tiny little things, stuff that maybe those of majority population wouldn’t even think about, stuff that is not absolutely and grossly racist if you don’t stop to think about - everyday little things that drip drip drip.

It’s not just the knee on the neck, it’s all of it living it every day.

I wonder how about you, what are your little everyday racist thoughtless experiences

2

You mean microaggression?

3

That pretty much nails it, never knew it even had a name

4

(duplicate)

5

I don’t know if these pass the microaggression threshold, but:

[ul]
[li]In college, my dorm RA said he was disappointed in the untidiness of my room, saying “Given your background, I would have expected different.” [/li][li]Before that, a roommate also said that since I was Asian, I should be more proactive in turning off the lights to conserve electricity.[/li][li]I had two bosses who would seek me to solve math problems for them (they never mentioned race, although I was the only or one of a few Asians in the office - I can’t be fully sure it had to do with the stereotype. Truth be told, though, I was flattered, not offended.)[/li][/ul]

6

There’s a site, https://www.microaggressions.com, where people post the ones they experience. It’s very helpful to those of us unfamiliar with it. You might like it too, even though you are plenty familiar with it.

7

I haven’t experienced much. My kids being bullied for their skin color was probably the toughest. For me personally it was mostly an awareness there were places I wasn’t allowed to go and people who considered me beneath them. They weren’t necessarily unkind but it was clear they didn’t regard us as equals.