This question came up between my roomate and I, who often ponder over many of life’s questions and interesting discussions. I said false. He said true.
What say you?
Do you think that everyone is, at the very least, a tad racist in some way or no?
I think so. In the same way we are all nationalist/fascist, root for the home team, blood is thicker than water, hooray for our side.
But not overtly. And not without a twinge of guilt.
I think your roommate is right, everyone’s a tad racist. Maybe not overtly, but in the back of their mind, everyone has those unkosher thoughts about “the other”.
The real interesting discussion would be getting people to admit how they’re racist. That question stops any discussion dead cold.
Everyone racist? No, I don’t think so. I’d think that people who have interracial marriages or have adopted a child of another race are probably, in most cases, people who don’t care about skin color.
Now, on the other hand, if you change to question to: “Does everyone have a prejudice?” Then I would say: Absolutely! I think it is human nature to have an “Us vs. Them” mentality, and even if we were all the same color and same religion, we’d quickly find another reason to separate into different groups and hate those who are different.
Maybe a little prejudiced. I don’t think everyone employs institutional power to enforce their prejudices, though, so everyone’s not racist.
I think it depends on your definition of “racist.” If you take the word to mean “thinks people of some race are generally inferior to those of another” then I think you’re right that not all people are racist. If, OTOH you mean “thinks different racial groups have different characteristics, mores and ethics” then I think your friend is right – we all have our characterization of groups of “others,” including (although not limited to) people of “other races.”
Of course the whole question is moot in my mind because I think the whole concept of race is a bunch of bunk, but that’s just me… (and even I am prone to believe that White Guys Can’t Jump :))
Sure, but there are some of people who have married, dated, or adopted people of another race but see that person as an exception, or feel the need to extinguish that person’s racial or ethnic identity and “whitewash” (or blackwash, whatever) them. What’s worse is that some people think because they have married/dated/adopted outside of their race, they’re somehow exempt from scrutiny or accusations of prejudice and/or racism. Or they fetishize that person’s racial identity.
I really think it’s a case-by-case sort of thing. Knowing that someone has dated, married, or adopted a person of another race wouldn’t necessarily make me think that they are less prejudiced.
I would say yes in the broad sense of the word. There is no way anyone is going to be walking down an alley by themselves in the U.S. and have the same reaction to on oncoming group of white boys in prep attire as they would with three black males in equally clean stereotypical street attire.
Yeah, this was one of the examples he used too. It made sense somewhat which is the reason I started this topic.
Just because one doesn’t have these feelings about, say, 97% of other races, doesn’t mean their aren’t a couple they do.
i say everyone’s racist a little. It’s a human thing. And you know what? I really don’t care. It all depends on actions, not thoguhts here - if I feel one way about Johnny and another about Jamie but treat them both exactly the same, I think I can feel whatever I like.
I believe it comes naturally to us to generalize, to stereotype and classify people. In particular, we have a natural tendency to classify people into Us and Them, into Like Me and Not Like Me.
Racial differences are certainly not the only criterion we use, but since they are usually so immediately visually obvious—possibly the first thing you can’t help noticing about a person—there’s a great temptation to use race as a key ingredient in your first impression of people.
I’m not.
I think you’re confusing two issues here. One is the race of the people you meet in the alley, and the other is the clothes those people are wearing.
As for the question asked by this thread; I feel that the answer would be true or false, depending on how racist is defined. If ‘racist’ is sufficiently weakened such that “they are different than me” becomes a racist statement, then anyone who recognizes that there is a difference is racist, so everyone worth knowing would be racist. If, on the other hand, racist is defined as “believing that your race is superior to another” then no, not everyone is racist.
(I throw “worth knowing” in there to cover people who, for one reason or another, can’t recognize differences. Maybe they’re ‘mentally challenged’, or maybe they’re in a coma…)
Yes, if you define “racist” as harboring negative feelings about groups of people defined by race.
If the NBA decided to put on a special game with all the best white players up against all the best black players, I’m thinking even the most colorblind individuals would have a hard time not rooting for “their” group.
It’s interesting that you swap out the clothing. How about if the two groups are dressed the same? If everyone is racist, then clothing shouldn’t matter.
I don’t think a person has to have notions of superiority about their race to be racist. I think “racist” can describe a person who holds notions of superiority about any race.
There are plenty of racial minorities who can be described as “self-hating”.
The OP is wrong. It’s untrue that everyone is a little bit racist.
Some people are a lot racist.
Actually I’d rephrase it that virtually everyone harbors some bigoted attitudes. There are a few seeming exceptions, but they might react unexpectedly in certain situations.
All you can do is try to look objectively at your behavior and act as decently as possible. When I’m out driving in a urban setting, stop at an intersection and see a young Caucasian male loitering nearby, I try not to jab at the door lock. 
I totally lack this impulse. I don’t see white people as a meaningful “group” that I belong to. If anything, I’d probably root for the blacks, since I reflexively root for underdogs (not that blacks are exactly underdogs in the NBA, I’m talking more about the power and social class of the groups as a whole).
As stated, absolutely false.
Are one day old children racist?
Are societies that are unaware of other ‘races’ racist?
Is Jimmy Carter racist? Morris Dees?
How about the parents of the many ‘multi-racial’ children?
I’m not racist. Nothing I do or say hinders anyone in this world based upon their ‘race.’
Come on, people, this question was answered by the the Broadway musical Avenue Q (in song, no less).
If you restated the question, “Is everyone a little bit xenophobic?” then it would be more accurate to say yes (for 99.9999…% of the population barring those who feel no kinship to anyone).
Someone who grows up in a neighborhood that is thoroughly mixed among a wide variety of ethnic groups may never feel any racist twitches about any human being–but they will probably react with suspicion if they encounter a person whose clothes, language, or mannerisms indicates that that person comes from the next neighborhood over.
Using the word “racism” immediately puts people on edge because it is such a serious insult at this time.
Based on studies of various great apes, (especially chimps), it would appear that xenophobia, (or the more positively expressed band bonding), might very well be a hard-wired response in primate brains.