Before I go on, I want to point out that Hector avoided my proof that LBJ did not "lose" the white vote. White people have always been kind of awful.
They vote Republican when times are good and Democratic when the Republicans fuck things up. Always.
Prejudice is the result of previous experience. Stereotypes are over generalizations of what is really true. Before the civil rights legislation was signed Orientals in the South were often considered to be "honorary whites." They were served in restaurants that would not serve Negroes.
No, they weren't. First, before the resettlement of Vietnamese in the South, there were very few Asians in the South, and a lot of the racist laws like Miscegnation laws also applied to them. There was a lot of backlash when those Vietnamese were resettled.
The problem with the "Model Minority" argument is that Asians never came here in large enough groups to really make anyone feel threatened. Meanwhile, fear of what blacks might do because of their numbers have permeated white thinking since Nat Turner's rebellion.
I once had a friend who owned a restaurant. Sometimes he would rent his restaurant to a group for a party. Once he told me in private that if he was not required to he would not rent to black groups. He had problems with the blacks he did not have with other groups. They were rude to the wait staff. They left little or nothing in tips. They stole plates and eating utensils. Once a fight broke out, destroying some furniture, and he had to call the police.
Now, this is close to a valid complaint. As a rule, blacks are less likely to tip. Personally, I always tip because having dated waitresses, I know that we have idiotic laws that allow them to be paid sub-minimum wage and they have to make that up in tips.
But this is actually a cultural thing. For generations, blacks couldn't get served in restaurants at all. They often get less quality service when they are allowed to.
"If a [waiter] says, 'I don't want to wait on that table because they're black or they're Hispanic, then they tend to give less service and it's a self-fulfilling prophecy," Fernandez explains.
He says cultural elements -- blacks have avoided sit-down restaurants in favor of take out or self-service eateries -- institutionalized racism that exists in the restaurant industry and education about tipping are all behind the discrepancy. "How do people learn about tipping? If you don't go, you don't know."
One of my sisters spend a summer working as a waitress. She told me the same thing about black customers.
White racism is the result of black social pathology, not the cause.
And I have to ask the question, how much of an effort do these associates of you make to give good service to black people. When did we get this mentality that tipping is "Expected" rather than as a reward for exceptional service.
Jews faced two thousand years of persecution, culminating in the Holocaust. They usually perform and behave well. Oriental immigrants to the United States also faced persecution. They also perform and behave well.
Um, Jews were hated in Europe because they pretty much cheated their Goyim neighbors at every opportunity. They took jobs like money lenders and tax collectors. When they got to America, they were treated just like other white people. White privilege is wonderful when you can get it.
Asian immigrants really never experienced anything that blacks did. There was no slavery, debt peonage, lynching, etc.
The reality is, most Asian immigrants only really started showing up in the latter half of the 20th century. They were specifically prohibited from immigrating before that.
