I grew up in the South. One of the poorest areas in one of the poorest states. Being white, we were actually the minority. It was about 60% black, about 38% white, and about 2% other. From discussions with others, I have always seen racism as it comes in two different camps. There is inter-group racism and inter-personal racism.
Inter-group racism – When a person lumps a group together and has racism against that group as a whole (Examples: “Those blacks just sit around all day having babies and collecting welfare, how about contributing to society for a change?” or “Whitey just likes to keep the black man down, well $%^& him.”). For someone raised in a society of racism, this type of racism is easy to keep because you can’t experience a whole group of people, so it is hard to disprove by personal experience.
Inter-personal racism – When a person treats another individual a certain way because they are of a certain race (Examples: “We don’t serve your kind here” or a manager not hiring a qualified candidate because of their race)
People have very different amounts of each of these types and they seem to not be correlated with one another at all.
Example #1
Grandma can bad-mouth blacks every other day. However, she met Pat (who is black) at the grocery store yesterday and had a great conversation with her. She mentions to you that Pat is just the nicest lady on Earth. At first, Grandma had a few reservations, but within seconds it becomes obvious Pat is just another grandma like her with the same money concerns and with the cutest grandchildren.
Example #2
Fred has always been a very liberal guy. He believes in equal rights for all, and he has always voted for progressive politicians to make sure that happens. It’s hard to believe that those racist pigs down south are in the same United States. A week later he gets on the train to Rhode Island and surveys the empty seats. He sits (slightly squeezed) between two hefty white businessmen but leaves the seat next to the young black guy open.
A lot of times it seems that common day-to-day interactions between white and black in the south has broken down much of the inter-personal racism, but the inter-group racism can remain. In the North/Midwest or in areas that have a much smaller percentage of other races, inter-group racism is very weak, but inter-personal racism can suddenly materialize out of nowhere.
I do wonder about the racism in all of us and its different forms. I wonder how many confederate flag flying rednecks have always lived next to blacks and think nothing of it. I wonder how many social progressives rail against the recent Arizona law, but would pick up and suddenly move if I could snap my fingers and make their lily-white neighborhood 70% Hispanic, many which don’t speak English.
Interesting graphics (cherry picked to a degree for their contrast):
Detroit, MI
Philadelphia, PA
Virginia Beach, VA
Charlotte, NC
So, what do you think?