Today at the Penney’s store I went to buy some things and the employee started yelling, saying that the bag wasn't free, but I had bought the bag. He wouldn't let me leave. I showed him the receipt and he let me go. It was very embarrassing. I am a Black Brazilian woman. Worst of all, I reported it to the manager and he did nothing; not even his expression changed.
i've known this person for about ten years now and recently has been having some weird health stuff happen. with that they seem to be saying stuff more and more that sounds really racist.
i'd always noticed that they only seem to have all white friends, their feminism looks very in line with white feminism, they've been wholly uninterested in anything remotely foreign (unless it's indian food lol and only from this white appealing restaurant and that's it) but i'd secretly been hoping they weren't racist.
then more lately they started getting angry (like actually angry and yelling) when i say something like how they don't really have room to be upset that they are not getting their veganism accommodated when someone's cultural/religious dietary restriction honored (btw they eat meat when they personally think it's okay lol), or when i find it frustrating that white ppl "discover" other culture's foods without crediting them.
most recently i met them while they were in a health episode and they were crying to me about how mean black women are to them but that they have to be nice to them anyways. ?????
as a person who is not black but a poc, i'm really concerned, now. like i don't think i would allow this person around any of my black friends or even acquaintances. im feel like they are not safe around her. hell, i don't even feel safe around her and i'm just brown. i can't even say "yea shit is rlly annoying when trader joe's makes an ube ice cream and doesn't say anywhere that this is filipino" which seems to trigger a tantrum, and then when i say "i don't really feel like you're listening to me" i just get shut down.
recently i noticed she just kinda refers to me as her dog sitter. i thought i was a friend who dog sits for her sometimes, but i genuinely think this whole time, i've kind of just been her little servant that she pays.
it's just all very sad to me. like i kind of knew but was hoping it wasn't true.
For some context I work at a Call Center, I do not recommend but it is good money. I work by helping kids and children have benefits so they can all have doctor visits for free if they are in need, so I’m not even a spam caller or selling anything. The thing is I get nice and rude people but I’ve noticed that I have NEVER had a Latino/Hispanic person on the phone, they are always so nice and even tell me to have a great blessed day and compared to white people they have only hung up on me a few times. However, white people really only answer the phone to cuss at you, yell at you and some have even threatened to find me and kill me. Of course I know not everyone is like that because I have had many friendly ones. And so my question is why do white people (again, not all of them) act like they are better than everyone else yet they don’t seem to have manners? I have an accent because I’m Hispanic, but I can speak and can communicate in English as well, and I’ve had a lot of people on the phone tell me that I’m an F-ing Mexican and to kill myself just because of my accent when all I’m trying to do is help families and do my job.
I do not know how to even begin this rent. Basically, my family is racist and hateful. Everytime we talk about politics, or anything really, the subject of a specific ethnicity and religion is brought up. They say "these people abuse the system and they are ruining the country". They claim that they are to blame for the increasing of violence in the country, that they are imposing their religion on us and that they are stealing money from the ones who truly deserve it since they have easier access to financial help from the government. I would like to point out that this is not true by the way. I have looked up many laws and thaught myself a lot about the subject and it is a misconception that was made popular by social media and the news.
My problem is that the elections are gonna happen next year and they have all planned to vote for a political party that is notorious for being very racist, misogynistic and homophobic. They are very good at hiding all of this behind wisely chosen words and hatred. My family does not believe any of this is real. They truly believe it is not a hateful party.
They are blinded by a hate that was born from fake news on social media and the TV doesn't help as it always picks and choses to only show this ethnicity and religion as the problem.
I am truly afraid of living by their side since I am part of the lgbt+ community and am a woman. I hear their hateful speeches all day long and have had them yell at me multiple times because I disagreed with them on some matters. I am scared because this is causing a drift between me and them.
You wanna know what's ironic ? They blame immigrants for everything but my family is technically not from this country. My mother wasn't even born here, she was brought here by a family member for the better healthcare. Which is something they blame immigrants for abusing. Hypocritical isn't it ? Both my mom and dad are from another country and their family immigrated here for a better life. Which is also what they blame this certain ethnicity and religion from doing. I cannot fathom this level of hypocrisy.
I would love to be able to make them see the truth but everytime I show them some evidence, such as votes from the party they want to vote for that proves they are hateful, they dismiss me, stay silent or say it's fake and lies. I am so lost.
First, sorry for my English, I’m French. I’m a white woman, so I know I’m not the victim here.
I took my driving test today, with another learner driver. The examiner was really nice to me. He reassured me because he saw that I was panicking, and tried to help me feel more confident. Honestly, he felt like an angel.
The other guy took the test after me. I wasn’t in the car, but afterwards he came back and told me that the examiner had been really cold with him, unfriendly and stressful.
I didn’t recognize the examiner I had liked so much. I talked to my driving instructor, and she told me that he was known for being a racist examiner. And yes, the other learner driver was North African.
He failed his test for sure. And I’m sure it was at least partly because of the examiner.
And I did nothing, because I didn’t know how to act.
So, as an ally, how can I help in this kind of situation? What should I do to help this man? And more generally, how can we, as white people, help in everyday life?
I'm angry for him, and I want to start a fight.
I've seen so many alt people being bro trump/ racist towards alt people of color. It's so confusing, and weird especially seeing as how being alt is very political
Hello, for the sake of honesty I'm gonna start by saying that I'm an Italian white person seeking help for a matter that may concern racism, so I apologize for the time, effort and eventual pain I may cause to whomever would be willing to engage into this coversation. I've tried to educate myself on the matter, but only found contradictory sources. Additionally, I'm gonna apologize for any poor or inappropriate choice of words I may fall into; English is not my first language, so I'll try my best to be as clear as possible and express myself in the most appropriate and culturally up-to-date way. I promise I'm not here to put up a fight or, worse, to delegitmate your struggles or your words, so I'll take anything that may come my way, even rage or accusation of being racist, because I'm aware of how much privilege dumbs you down and makes you unable or unwilling to look at itself, when you own it, and I'll work on everything you'll say and take your every word as sacred. On the contrary, no opinion of mine I deem objective on this matter, so I stand corrected if I'll say anything wrong or inaccurate.
Here is my question: is wearing cyberlocks racist for white people? This may seem a stupid question, I mean, I'm aware of cultural appropriation and how deep it goes, however, there are some factors that enhance my doubts. First, it's context: as to my knowledge and experience, Afro-descendent people in my country seem to have no problem with white people sporting cyberlocks or even dreadlocks, they seem to take it in as some sort of support statement, especially first-generation immigrants from Africa. I don't really know why, this is only my opinion, and a white person opinion too, but this could be because of U.s.'s/Italy's different history of colonization: don't get me wrong, Italy has a shameful past as a colonizer over African countries, and, of course, the history of each and every national state is rooted in racism, colonization, slavery; I mean, national states itself has born as a more efficient form of socio-economic management of richness deriving from colonization, and was based on an ethnic, linguistic, religious and cultural pre-selection, which often resulted in ethnic cleansing and religous based genocide, only to build up (or, better, make up) a group who was deemed as "naturally dominant" and, therefore, "naturally destined" to rule over other groups. It's just we externalized slavery and exploitation over african people in their own lands, while U.S. was born as a colony and build on slavery; don't get me wrong, I'm not saying U.s.'s history corcernig racism is worse than Italy's, on the contrary, what I mean is U.s.'s has relied on domestic slavery much more than Italy, at least as to what Afro-descendent people are corcerned, while we profited on external slavery. Obviuosly, I'm not saying that one form of exploitation and colonization is better than the other, but that it seemed to create different issues, or at least different ways to deal with an issue. As to what hair are concerned, for example, I understand, from my very liimited knowledge, that cornrows and dreadlocks are seen as a racist statement on white people because it entangles with the braoder discourse over racialized bodies, which, as feminilized or non human body, were "scientifically" built up as lacking and uncomplete, and therefore corrected to be/behave/look as white as possible, and this is something that is still going on; but also because those hairdos were a statement of resistance for enslaved people, a way to stick to their dispossesssed culture, and to organize their bodies in a way that was not "white". All of this is of the utmost importance, and happened because people were deported from Africa, and forced to live alongside their kidnappers and oppressors, and worked for them. As to what Italy is corcerned, alongside genocide, massacres, slavery and so on, of course a cultural, linguistic and religious genocide was enacted, especially during fascism: what the catholic church attempted to do in Somalia or Eritrea with their "schools" or "orphanages" is not different to what it did to native peoples in Canada or U.s. Therefore, I think that the answer to this matter is different only because we organized our oppression towards African people in a different way, and it makes me feel even more guilty, because, maybe, the only reason why they don't get angry over hair is that we enslaved them in their own lands, or, worse, because of the way we descriminate against them now. I mean, Italy is a country where racism is rampant, and it grows worse by every day, and, I'm thinking about this now, actually we are enslaving Afro-descendent immigrants that are forced to live with us, because most of immigration labour is enslaved, so I don't know, maybe they take an act of oppression as an act of support because of the discrimination and the impossibility to exist in the white italian public space? In this case, I might be doing something even worse 'cause I would indulge in the possibility to exist as a body which sports some characteristics that are codified as racialized, in the same space in which people I took this features from are discriminated against because of sporting them as I do. I tried to discuss this with some of my African friends, but honestly I don't know how to ask these questions, I'm afraid I would result into overdetermine them, or worse, that I would unwittingly act like the one white person that knows their oppression better than them (I hope I'm not coming across like this, right now, to you too), so of course, I never got any satisfying answer- it was up to me, to my inability to ask the right questions in the right way. So, my problem here is: is this a context-based matter? Am i being racist or arrogant? To be clear, I want your opinion about this being a context-based matter or not, not about why African people in Italy don't seem to have a problem with white people wearing cornrows or dreadlocks, I was just providing context to my question. They're the only ones entitled to speak over their own experience, I don't expect answers from you over this particular issue, unless you're an afro-descendent person living in Italy of course, I'm just stressing over my own doubts.
As to this problem, you may have noticed that I took U.s. BPOC's discourse as a reference, and that's not only because, as to my understanding, this might be a U.s. based community: it's because, after WII, and especially through Cold War and after the fall of Berlin's Wall, the world, and especially Italy, has been culturally colonized by U.s. As to Italy, due to historical factors, this is particularly true, and after social networks were launched, this issue seems to have worsened: people in my country, especially from marginalized groups, at least the ones I've been part of, often struggle to produce their own discourse over themselves and socio-economical matters of relevance, and tend to adapt on what we get from U.s. So, my second problem is: how can we be sure that this discourse could be deemed valid everywhere, and is not, as I was saying, context-based, and its claim of objectiveness comes from a place of power over other countries'/peoples' discourse production? Because, you see, as to my limited knowledge, even most second or even first generation online activists don't seem to take this in as a problem. I wasn't able to speak to any anti-racist afro-descendent activist that lives in Italy, that's why I'm only speaking about online contents: I don't know how the struggle is organized among political groups. This all was not to invalidate your discourse or point of view, it's just I'm very confused, I don't know who to listen to, and I feel like, if there are even more marginalized points of view that could contribute to this discussion, they should be taken in, and it doesn't look like they are. But, again, I might be speaking from a position of ignorance and priviledge, in fact I'm not sure how Italy-based political antiracial groups, which are unfortunately very few here, speak about this problems, so what shall I know.
Third problem is: I'm talking about CYBERlocks. Again, I'm aware how BPOC's culture in U.s., and all over the world, has been worn as a disposable tool, so this may actually be an aggravating circumstance to you, and again, I'm willing to take in any kind of answer, and again, I'm sorry if I'm being hurtful, but let me explain. I don't want to wear cyberlocks because "they're more comfortable", "I can take it off whenever I want", or worse, "I can take'em off in situation where it's not appropriate to wear them(OMFG I'm hating to have this even written down)", not even because "they're cool", no. I'm a cyberfemininist, if you're familiar with Donna Haraway's work, so I don't look at any biotic component of my body as natural, but as a prosthesis passed on by anagraphycal gender and racial based capitalistic system, so it's like a tool which has been previously discoursively produced to function only in a productive, normative and systemic way. Moreover, I extend this concept of prosthesis to everything we're allowed to hybridate our bodies with: gender(and racial, and class)-based clothes and hormones, or drugs, music, knowledge and so on. So, I'd wear cyberlocks, as I wear any other things that most people are able to codify as prostethics, as a statement to this, to say that there's no difference from "organic body", that body is a product, there's no difference from me taking testosterone as an AFAB person or a "woman" taking the pill, or act subsimissive to a "man", or a "man" wearing "man clothes", or anyone describing themselves as "man" or "woman". I don't say this to ask you to make an exception for me: the fact is that free-party and cyber culture have codified cyberdread and cyberlocks as a peculiar way to organize the body. Shall this be taken into consideration? Or, shall this be seen as a form of appropriation too, since it's based on the extraction of a hairdo that Afro-descendent people owned and invented to begin with?
Hope I didn't sound entitled, or arrogant, or racist, hope you didn't feel like I was invalidating you point of view. Again, I apologize for any hurtful word I may have unwittingly written down, or any inappropriate behaviour I may unwillingly enacted. Thanks a lot to anyone who'll be patient enough to answer, I hope I didn't drain your energy or time too much, I promise I'm here to learn.