'People Assume I'm White. This is The Racism I See'

[JoeMoma]

To be white, you have to be 100%

Then there are almost no white people.

 

[gtopa1]

Holy crap. Welcome to my world.

Both my wife and I are half white, half brown. Our beautiful daughters, obviously, the same. To look at any of us, you can't tell WHAT the hell we are. When people find out our ethnicity, they always say, "I've always WONDERED what you were!"

As such, all four of us have MANY times been in conversations when nasty, filthy racist shit was sprayed around like water. MANY times. In every conceivable public/social/business situation. So when people here say that racism no longer exists, I know they're straight up lying.

That's our little advantage. We're like spies. And it's always interesting.

Brown??

Dilligaf??

Greg

 

[Mac1958]

Brown??

View attachment 600405

Dilligaf??

Greg

I don't know what any of that means.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

And here it is...

'People Assume I'm White. This is The Racism I See'
Nikki Barthelmess

View attachment 551745

Generally, when people say or do racist things in front of me, they think it's okay. When it is racism from white people, I suspect it is because, in a way, I look like them, so they think I am one of them. But I'm not.

When people joke about or make fun of an immigrant's thick accent in front of me, I think of the way it's difficult for people to understand my grandma. Never mind that the people who are mocking a Spanish speaker tend to only speak one language. Meanwhile, my grandma is fluent in Spanish and English, and even used to be a French translator as well.

When I hear others make judgments about the laziness of immigrants or act as though people who come to this country don't deserve to be here, I recall my grandfather telling me about how he worked tirelessly as an engineer to earn respect and professional opportunities in the United States. A former employer paid him less than what his skills were worth, but my grandpa didn't get angry. He told me he was grateful that the man took advantage of him because without that happening my grandpa wouldn't have had the chance to work and access other opportunities.

Even my siblings, who were born to the same mother and father, have been treated differently than I have. My younger brother was once pulled over by the police because he was driving a car similar to one that was supposedly stolen by a Mexican man. My brother laughed the incident off when he told me about it, but to me it wasn't funny. Maybe sometimes laughing is a way of coping, as is being grateful to be taken advantage of, or brushing off comments as even I have.

Because I, too, smile and turn the other cheek when confronted with this kind of treatment. Once, directly after I told someone that my mother was a first generation American and my grandparents are Mexican, they asked if I was the first person in my family to go to college. I felt angry and embarrassed. But I didn't snap at this woman and tell her she was being racist. I merely let her know that I, in fact, am not the first person on my Mexican side of the family to graduate from college, and then I excused myself from the conversation as fast as I could. I was angry that this woman had the audacity to make such ignorant and offensive comments, but I was also angry at myself.

Racism is not something new to me. I have grappled with my own privilege and my responsibility to correct people for ignorant thinking. It has certainly informed my work as a writer.

MSN

www.msn.com

People assume I'm white but I'm Hispanic

 

[JoeMoma]

Megan Markle looks like a white woman to me.

 

[MizMolly]

You are usually called the race you resemble. If you are half black and half white but look more black, that usually what you identify with.

 

[WelfareQueen]

Holy crap. Welcome to my world.

Both my wife and I are half white, half brown. Our beautiful daughters, obviously, the same. To look at any of us, you can't tell WHAT the hell we are. When people find out our ethnicity, they always say, "I've always WONDERED what you were!"

As such, all four of us have MANY times been in conversations when nasty, filthy racist shit was sprayed around like water. MANY times. In every conceivable public/social/business situation. So when people here say that racism no longer exists, I know they're straight up lying.

That's our little advantage. We're like spies. And it's always interesting.

I always thought you were black and white.

 

[WelfareQueen]

And here it is...

'People Assume I'm White. This is The Racism I See'
Nikki Barthelmess

View attachment 551745

Generally, when people say or do racist things in front of me, they think it's okay. When it is racism from white people, I suspect it is because, in a way, I look like them, so they think I am one of them. But I'm not.

When people joke about or make fun of an immigrant's thick accent in front of me, I think of the way it's difficult for people to understand my grandma. Never mind that the people who are mocking a Spanish speaker tend to only speak one language. Meanwhile, my grandma is fluent in Spanish and English, and even used to be a French translator as well.

When I hear others make judgments about the laziness of immigrants or act as though people who come to this country don't deserve to be here, I recall my grandfather telling me about how he worked tirelessly as an engineer to earn respect and professional opportunities in the United States. A former employer paid him less than what his skills were worth, but my grandpa didn't get angry. He told me he was grateful that the man took advantage of him because without that happening my grandpa wouldn't have had the chance to work and access other opportunities.

Even my siblings, who were born to the same mother and father, have been treated differently than I have. My younger brother was once pulled over by the police because he was driving a car similar to one that was supposedly stolen by a Mexican man. My brother laughed the incident off when he told me about it, but to me it wasn't funny. Maybe sometimes laughing is a way of coping, as is being grateful to be taken advantage of, or brushing off comments as even I have.

Because I, too, smile and turn the other cheek when confronted with this kind of treatment. Once, directly after I told someone that my mother was a first generation American and my grandparents are Mexican, they asked if I was the first person in my family to go to college. I felt angry and embarrassed. But I didn't snap at this woman and tell her she was being racist. I merely let her know that I, in fact, am not the first person on my Mexican side of the family to graduate from college, and then I excused myself from the conversation as fast as I could. I was angry that this woman had the audacity to make such ignorant and offensive comments, but I was also angry at myself.

Racism is not something new to me. I have grappled with my own privilege and my responsibility to correct people for ignorant thinking. It has certainly informed my work as a writer.

MSN

www.msn.com