# Racism **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 17, 2013, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism/663744 "2013-07-17T12:06:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism/663744/1 "2013-07-17T12:06:30Z")
There has been a lot of racist ideas and talk going on after the Zimmerman Verdict. I personally do not believe that there are many races, The only race I see is the human race, people of different skin colors, sizes, hair color , weight etc. We don’t think because there is one obese or too skinny of a person if one does something wrong we don’t judge all people because of their size etc… Since I was not at the trial, I don’t think I can determine if the verdict was right or wrong, But I also see it as racist if because the Jury was considered white that they couldn’t make a fair judgment because the one person was colored and the defendant of Latino origin. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism/663744/2 "2013-07-17T12:45:59Z")
It’s a nice thought, but having been judged for my race enough times, “You’re Indian. Man, I knew this one Indian family, they smelled like curry all the time. They STANK! Do you eat curry?” I would certainly submit that race, while possibly a construct is very relevant. But I do think it is racist to proclaim that they could not get a fair trial because the jury was white…however, it might also be true. I don’t think it is in this case. I think they just didn’t prove their case enough! But that doesn’t take away the fact of racism in this country. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism/663744/3 "2013-07-17T14:15:28Z")
> [@monavis](#): > > I personally do not believe that there are many races I don’t either. But we do know that a lot of people feel differently and that many of them think different groups of people have inherently different qualities and worths. That’s what people call racism. > [@](#): > > But I also see it as racist if because the Jury was considered white that they couldn’t make a fair judgment because the one person was colored and the defendant of Latino origin. There are a ton of opinions about the case and how the killing and the verdict were related to race. I’m not sure it’s possible to take all of them in, and yes, there are explanations for the verdict that don’t involve race. But I do think it’s very hard to look at what happened and say it has nothing to do with the way people look at black people and young black guys in particular. ---
**Author:** ![Honesty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f04885/32.png) [@Honesty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honesty)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism/663744/4 "2013-07-17T19:00:37Z")
Racism has been replaced with a kind of **neo-racism** where it’s racist for the minority to bring up the topic of race or the accusation of racism. It’s a devilish piece of mental gymnastics but it’s done, I think, as a means to denigrate minorities into speaking out. Thus, allowing the majority to hand-wave instances of racism and injustices as “one-time occurrences” in a system that’s inherently just and non-racist. Bless their hearts. This is, of course, a fantasy and irreversibly distorts any conversation about race to the point where it cannot reasonably be had. - Honesty ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism/663744/5 "2013-07-17T19:04:18Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > “You’re Indian. Man, I knew this one Indian family, they smelled like curry all the time. They STANK! Do you eat curry?” That is definitely an impolite thing to say, but can you explain how it is racist? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism/663744/6 "2013-07-17T19:07:08Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > That is definitely an impolite thing to say, but can you explain how it is racist? [copy and paste standard explanation of stereotypes and prejudice vs. racism] ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism/663744/7 "2013-07-17T20:10:03Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > [copy and paste standard explanation of stereotypes and prejudice vs. racism] Where is the stereotyping and prejudice in that statement? I am seriously baffled. Asking an Indian if they eat curry is racism? Claiming that someone who ate curry smelled of it is racism? Seriously? I am Jewish. I have been asked, on occasion, if I eat/like gefilte fish. I was born in Russia - and I have been asked, on occasion, if I eat/like borscht. Not once has it crossed my mind that it was racist to ask this question. Wow. Thanks for educating me on how many racists are around me. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism/663744/8 "2013-07-17T20:16:44Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Seriously? I don’t know. Is this serious? Yes, people object to being stereotyped and to the assumption that everybody in their culture does the same things; yes, I think most people would object to being told ‘I knew some of you people and they stank.’ ---
**Author:** ![Tequila\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a6a055/32.png) [@Tequila\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tequila_Party)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism/663744/9 "2013-07-17T20:16:50Z")
Assuming all Indians eat curry and are _smelly_ because of it, is what makes it racist. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism/663744/10 "2013-07-17T20:18:09Z")
> [@Tequila\_Party](#): > > Assuming all Indians eat curry and are _smelly_ because of it, is what makes it racist. True. Where in that quoted statement was the belief expressed that all Indians eat curry and are smelly because of it? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism/663744/11 "2013-07-17T20:28:03Z")
Okay, if you want to be strict, accusing Indians of eating curry isn’t racist. It’s an ethnic slur. Cuisine is not genetic. If someone said, “Blacks should be kept off of public transportation because they smell bad; it doesn’t matter how much soap they use, they just smell bad,” then that is racism. It’s attributing a quality to the physical nature of the race. When people claim that blacks are more criminal by nature than whites, that’s racism. It’s removing the social differences that lead to criminality, and attributing it directly to the person’s body. Making fun of someone’s accent is ethnic bigotry. It’s bad, but it isn’t racist. Lots of white guys have accents too. (Henry Kissinger was about as white as a guy can get.) Making fun of a Japanese man’s eyes (“Hey, slanty”) is racist. It is directed at the physical body. “Races” may not exist, but there are very large groups of people with reproductively persistent physical traits – skin color, the shape of the eyes, the shape of the jaw, height, etc. – and we refer to these as “races.” If you selected 100 Hopi and 100 Navajo, at random, from all the people who self-identify as Hopi and Navajo (yes, I know, Diné) then, yes, there might be a few white-skinned, blue-eyed people in there that no one could visually distinguish from German or Dutch. But someone who’s lived in Navajo lands for a while could correctly identify most of those people, sorting the Navajo and the Hopi. The peoples are still sufficiently reproductively isolated as to maintain sufficient distinctions of bodily traits. This statistical distinction allows us to refer to discrimination on its basis as racism. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism/663744/12 "2013-07-17T20:32:40Z")
Or we could pretend **Terr** has finally debunked racism forever and just talk about how racism, back when people thought it existed, related to the Zimmerman verdict. ---
**Author:** ![Strassia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@Strassia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strassia)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism/663744/13 "2013-07-17T20:58:52Z")
> [@monavis](#): > > There has been a lot of racist ideas and talk going on after the Zimmerman Verdict. > > I personally do not believe that there are many races, The only race I see is the human race, people of different skin colors, sizes, hair color , weight etc. We don’t think because there is one obese or too skinny of a person if one does something wrong we don’t judge all people because of their size etc.. Since I was not at the trial, I don’t think I can determine if the verdict was right or wrong, But I also see it as racist if because the Jury was considered white that they couldn’t make a fair judgment because the one person was colored and the defendant of Latino origin. Race is a social construct. Not believing in race is like not believing in the British royal family. You may believe (as I do) that there is no biological basis for differing social status of commons versus royals, but Elizabeth Windsor is a real person with a real social position labelled Queen. And a dark skinned person who looks a certain way will be considered black. And that has [consequences](http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/07/15/guest-post-who-would-you-shoot/) in our society even if you don’t think it should. You may be the one unique person who is either totally unaffected by cultural cues and messages you are exposed to, but I have my doubts. And [research](http://news.illinois.edu/news/10/0421online.html) backs up my doubts. ---
**Author:** ![akennett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@akennett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akennett)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism/663744/14 "2013-07-17T22:06:47Z")
> [@monavis](#): > > I personally do not believe that there are many races How does it feel to be wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism/663744/15 "2013-07-17T22:20:09Z")
People will always find ways to hate “the other”. The instinct isn’t really about race as much as it is about “us” and “them”. Some people require an “us” and “them”, some don’t. That need is what’s behind a lot of the tribal problems in Africa (same race, different village/language/culture/deities), and I think it is the root of much of the warfare in the middle east. Religious differences or racial differences or language differences are just the framework on which this us/them dichotomy expresses itself. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism/663744/16 "2013-07-18T12:23:58Z")
> [@Strassia](#): > > Race is a social construct. Not believing in race is like not believing in the British royal family. You may believe (as I do) that there is no biological basis for differing social status of commons versus royals, but Elizabeth Windsor is a real person with a real social position labelled Queen. And a dark skinned person who looks a certain way will be considered black. And that has [consequences](http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/07/15/guest-post-who-would-you-shoot/) in our society even if you don’t think it should. You may be the one unique person who is either totally unaffected by cultural cues and messages you are exposed to, but I have my doubts. And [research](http://news.illinois.edu/news/10/0421online.html) backs up my doubts. Saying a person is black is not racist it is describing it’s skin color, Just as saying a blue eyed person has blue eyes. I know a lot of Black people and they are just as good and in some cases better than me. I have grand nieces that are black and in reality the only truly white people are usually sick, Most whites are more tannish than white. Even some black people are not truly black but dark skinned. There is good and bad in all people. It isn’t because of their color etc.. We were robbed several times and it wasn’t by a black skinned person. Most serial killers are so called white. all American’s are not patriotic and some are bigoted, the same goes for all people of nationality, religions etc. because a label is put on some bad people regardless of their origin, doesn’t mean all people are bad. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism/663744/17 "2013-07-18T12:30:15Z")
> [@akennett](#): > > How does it feel to be wrong? I agree it is my beliefs, and I could be wrong about a lot of things, But it is my right to think as I do. I have read that evolution states were are all from a common ancestor. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism/663744/18 "2013-07-18T13:24:27Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > People will always find ways to hate “the other”. I was sitting in a bar a few evenings ago, bullshitting with a group of similarly aged men (range = 45 - 65) of various races. We all agreed kids nowadays are asswipes.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism/663744/19 "2013-07-18T14:09:39Z")
> [@monavis](#): > > Saying a person is black is not racist it is describing it’s skin color, Just as saying a blue eyed person has blue eyes. I agree it’s not racist, but no, black isn’t just a description of skin color. It carries other connotations, and the fact that a lot of people are called black and almost none of them have skin that looks anything close to the actual color black is kind of a tipoff. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism/663744/20 "2013-07-18T14:18:13Z")
> [@monavis](#): > > There has been a lot of racist ideas and talk going on after the Zimmerman Verdict. > > I personally do not believe that there are many races, The only race I see is the human race… Race, as a biological concept, is not valid for our species. Race, as a social construct, is very much alive and well and any society can have as many races as it creates. I don’t think we will every become a color-blind or racelss society. The idea of classifying things, and people, seem too engrained in our very nature. Platitudes like “there is only one race, the human race” sound nice, but don’t really help understand how society actually works IRL. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism/663744.md?page=2)