Just an FYI - racism is not something only done by white people...

[LynneSin]

Shamefully we have done the majority of it over the year but it's not just limited to whites.

I'm so tired of the "George Zimmerman isn't racist because his part hispanic"

Bullshit.

Doesn't matter WHAT your race is - if you judge someone on the sole basis of their race then that's racist.

[PDJane]

1. The most racist family I've ever met

Last edited Tue Mar 27, 2012, 12:49 PM - Edit history (1)

Was Chinese. The second most racist people I've met were Philipino. *shrug*

Demonizing the other isn't restricted to those of white skin.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

2. Florida has a black republican congressman who is probably one of the biggest bigots you'll ever see

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2011/02/allen_west_vs_a_muslim.php

Allen West Tells Muslim at a Town Hall Event: "You Attacked Us"

By Brandon K. Thorp Tue., Feb. 22 2011 at 2:54 PM

<SNIP>

West, unlike his supplicant, bulldozed right through the noise, doing his usual parlor trick of naming dates of alleged Muslim attacks upon peaceable, Christian Europeans. (We've debunked that trick here, but apparently to no good end.) When his supplicant finally found an opening in the surrounding roar and mentioned that West has "attacked Islam" (where he was going with that line of thought is anyone's guess, cuz he didn't get to finish), West said: "You attacked us!"

Some very ugly thinking was reflected in that line. West's Muslim supplicant was Nezar Hamze -- an American, just the same as West, and a full-time activist for the betterment of American-Islamic relations. But in West's line, he was excluded from "us" -- he was outside, other, Muslim -- and, most ominously, responsible for the attacks of 9/11, along with all of his coreligionists. West then told Hamze to "put the microphone down and go home" -- even though Hamze is a Floridian, even though Hamze had not disrupted the gathering, and even though West has been elected to represent Hamze's interests in Washington. This is no way to treat a constituent in a democracy.

[LynneSin]

9. I forgot about that racist POS

[XanaDUer]

3. There's enormous tension between Hispanic

And African-Americans. Esp in S. Florida.

[RKP5637]

4. Yep, well said, racism and bigotry go in all directions with no limitations by race. n/t

[el_bryanto]

5. Well there are two distinct issues that overlap to produce tragic consequences

Hatred of another person solely because of their race (or religion, or ethnicity, or gender, or sexuality). This is bad, and damaging, both to the bigot, and more importantly, the people the bigot interacts with.

But what makes things worse is a Culture of White Privilege that says that a guy like Zimmerman can shoot a black kid and suffer only minor consequences; the police basically let him off the hook. And of course the ability to shoot black kids is far from the only benefit conferred upon Whites by the culture of White Privilege.

Bryant

[RKP5637]

6. IMO in the US it doesn't matter who you are, what you do, what race, orientation, etc., etc. about

1/2 of the country is going to hate you for one reason or another, and sometimes even more.

[saras]

7. Racism relates to the institutions in power - bigotry is individual

Zimmerman was a bigot, trying to be racist by claiming power from the Neighborhood Watch. They didn't go along, but the racist police are supporting him.

It's not complicated. Racism has been defined for a handful of decades, at least, as systemic. If we want to change that, we can, but then we need a NEW word to distinguish institutional, systemic prejudice from individual bigotry, as the two operate with different dynamics and it is not, in general, useful to confuse the two.

Other people may have different definitions, but a set of definitions that denies the extra power that social institutions have is a fail.

[freshwest]

8. Some black police officers are alleged to be racist against blacks, in order to keep in the crowd.

It's more about class and power than anything else. It's playing to those with power to separate oneself from others.

Blacks are identified in media as poor and using the resources of others through social services; but more whites than blacks use them.

Making a person suspect for being poor, on welfare, without a job, eduation, or simply the stranger, is the problem.