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Aug. 12th, 2007 08:10 amHappy birthday ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
firecatmn and lj user=cynthia1960>. Hope today is all you would wish it to be.
firecatmn and lj user=cynthia1960>. Hope today is all you would wish it to be.Aug. 12th, 2007
As usual, a d/a/y week late and a d/o/l/l/a/r comment short.
I had trouble thinking of something to contribute to the discussion on racism. A lot of fine people have made excellent points. My two cents worth is as follows:
I have a problem with the name. As some people have pointed out, racism is a very complex subject. When most people hear or read "racism" they think, "white prejudice against black people". Sometimes they think, "white prejudice against 'people of color'", however you care to define "people of color". I have noticed that it isn't anywhere near this simple.
I am been looking at my prejudices this week, quietly, and I have noticed that while I am not very prejudiced (I'm sure I retain some) against American Blacks, or African-Americans, I harbor more prejudice against Africans who have recently immigrated here, probably because of language, cultural and religious differences. I am prejudiced in *favor* of Asians, especially Chinese, from living in a Chinese neighborhood in San Francisco many years ago, and having many positive experiences with my neighbors and their culture.
My prejudices have more to do with culture and religion than skin color. I have a problem with people who don't speak standard English (including some Aussies, by the way, not just "people of color"), especially in public service positions. This is because I have difficulty hearing anything that isn't standard English. This difficulty stems partly from my minimal hearing loss. I don't know if this is considered racism, or classism, or any particular "ism". It's not xenophobia, since it mostly has to do with spoken language and expectations.
Because I have lived in Minneapolis a long time, I have known Native Americans who don't like being lumped together into one category. The people I have known generally identify as Ojibwe, or some other tribal designation, rather than "Native American". Or they don't identify publicly with that designation. I lived with a man for five years who was part Native American, but he had lost most of his heritage because his grandparents and parents had "passed" in order to have a better life for themselves and their children.
I'm still not sure where Hispanics come into this equation. I tend to read them by skin tone rather than language, and most of them I see as white with a different language. Same as Greeks, Italians, and a number of groups from Eastern Europe. They weren't considered "white" by many people until relatively recently, by the way.
There used to be a more elaborate hierarchy, with WASPS at the top, Irish, French, Poles, Italians, Greeks, and others in-between, Jews below any Christians, with Blacks on the bottom. It had partly to do with when a given group arrived in the U.S. Asians and Native Americans weren't even in this list because many people, literally, did not know any, or in some cases, didn't consider them human.
I have, in my lifetime, had times when I, or my family members, were not considered "white" when traveling in the Southern U.S. My family is Jewish. My father was fairly dark skinned with a prominent nose, and had experienced a great deal of anti-Semitism in his youth. Most of the anti-Semitism was casual. I can remember a few incidents in my life which could be attributed to ignorance rather than cruelty. For example, the day before Yom Kippur I was given lines to write for an infraction at school, "I will not talk in the hall." I told the teacher I couldn't write the line that night, and would not be in school the next day. She told me if I wouldn't be in school the next day, I would have to do twice as many lines and hand them in the day after that. My mother intervened, fortunately. I still hear anti-Semitic remarks, even among my friends, and cringe; I wonder whether to say anything, and if so, what to say.
Are we going to have an international blog against sexism week? How about blogging against homophobia, religious prejudice, ableism?
I had trouble thinking of something to contribute to the discussion on racism. A lot of fine people have made excellent points. My two cents worth is as follows:
I have a problem with the name. As some people have pointed out, racism is a very complex subject. When most people hear or read "racism" they think, "white prejudice against black people". Sometimes they think, "white prejudice against 'people of color'", however you care to define "people of color". I have noticed that it isn't anywhere near this simple.
I am been looking at my prejudices this week, quietly, and I have noticed that while I am not very prejudiced (I'm sure I retain some) against American Blacks, or African-Americans, I harbor more prejudice against Africans who have recently immigrated here, probably because of language, cultural and religious differences. I am prejudiced in *favor* of Asians, especially Chinese, from living in a Chinese neighborhood in San Francisco many years ago, and having many positive experiences with my neighbors and their culture.
My prejudices have more to do with culture and religion than skin color. I have a problem with people who don't speak standard English (including some Aussies, by the way, not just "people of color"), especially in public service positions. This is because I have difficulty hearing anything that isn't standard English. This difficulty stems partly from my minimal hearing loss. I don't know if this is considered racism, or classism, or any particular "ism". It's not xenophobia, since it mostly has to do with spoken language and expectations.
Because I have lived in Minneapolis a long time, I have known Native Americans who don't like being lumped together into one category. The people I have known generally identify as Ojibwe, or some other tribal designation, rather than "Native American". Or they don't identify publicly with that designation. I lived with a man for five years who was part Native American, but he had lost most of his heritage because his grandparents and parents had "passed" in order to have a better life for themselves and their children.
I'm still not sure where Hispanics come into this equation. I tend to read them by skin tone rather than language, and most of them I see as white with a different language. Same as Greeks, Italians, and a number of groups from Eastern Europe. They weren't considered "white" by many people until relatively recently, by the way.
There used to be a more elaborate hierarchy, with WASPS at the top, Irish, French, Poles, Italians, Greeks, and others in-between, Jews below any Christians, with Blacks on the bottom. It had partly to do with when a given group arrived in the U.S. Asians and Native Americans weren't even in this list because many people, literally, did not know any, or in some cases, didn't consider them human.
I have, in my lifetime, had times when I, or my family members, were not considered "white" when traveling in the Southern U.S. My family is Jewish. My father was fairly dark skinned with a prominent nose, and had experienced a great deal of anti-Semitism in his youth. Most of the anti-Semitism was casual. I can remember a few incidents in my life which could be attributed to ignorance rather than cruelty. For example, the day before Yom Kippur I was given lines to write for an infraction at school, "I will not talk in the hall." I told the teacher I couldn't write the line that night, and would not be in school the next day. She told me if I wouldn't be in school the next day, I would have to do twice as many lines and hand them in the day after that. My mother intervened, fortunately. I still hear anti-Semitic remarks, even among my friends, and cringe; I wonder whether to say anything, and if so, what to say.
Are we going to have an international blog against sexism week? How about blogging against homophobia, religious prejudice, ableism?