Poor Whites more likely to be racists.

[vinny9698]

I worked for the Salvation Army for 5 years. The majority of the homeless people were very racist. They blame black people for their problems. A majority of homeless will not accept their own responsibility for being in such poor economic conditions, high school drop outs, alcoholism, aggressive personalities, smoking, which is quite expensive. When they see a black successful person, they really believe that they should be the ones, not the black person. That the black got all his by special privilege.
Poor whites during the Civil War hated slavery. They could not compete with slaves for a lot of jobs. Why hire some one, when you can buy a person for that job.

[CBGLuthier]

1. Maybe the poor whites you know. This poor white is not a racist

Some days I get sick of all these fucking generalities and pearls of wisdom.


And what kind of bullshit is "A majority of homeless will not accept their own responsibility for being in such poor economic conditions."


Sheesh the bullshit is deep for such a short post.

[DawgHouse]

16. I wrote a long response to the OP but decided you said it best.

ITA

[prayin4rain]

42. "The South is uneducated." What a ridiculous statement.

OF COURSE, there are many, many educated people of all races in the south. How does a person even come up with an idea like that? ?

[zazen]

43. if "The South is uneducated" why am I 10 miles from three top research universities & RTP?

I'm probably not a good "n," because the majority of the poor whites I know--the ones who'd qualify for public assistance, like I have at times--have advanced degrees.

There are many "Souths," including the shared narrative projections that emanate from right-wing elements from the Midwest.

[antiquie]

2. I'm poor and many of my friends are poor;

not a racist among us. You have any links to back up your second paragraph?

[DURHAM D]

3. Are you actually posting your own views by

pretending it is from others?

[Quackers]

8. +1

[Duppers]

31. that's an unkind accusation

I do not know the OP poster but how do you know his experiences? They may differ from yours.

If you were ever to walk into a Wal-Mart ( ) in the South and try to have a conversation with clientele who appear the poorest, you will get this attitude loud and clear. Remember what Lyndon Johnson said?

If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
- Lyndon B. Johnson

A lot of American economic and social policy can be read using this Rosetta stone. The entirety of the conservative/libertarian economic strategy of transferring the social burden of the rich to the middle class and poor is to get them to demonize, as Paul Krugman put it, "those people", and blind them about their own increasingly exploited situation.

On edit: I re-read and now understand that you took offense for the OP blaming the poor for their own situation, which was unfair of the OP. Often folks are poor through no fault of their own. I take great offense to the fact that some poor people, especially most southern disadvantaged white bigots, do indeed blame the AA community for their situation. These bigots are also Rush Slimball fans, uneducated and mostly ineducable. Dylann Roof, for example.

[JaneyVee]

4. No, poor whites in the south absolutely did not hate slavery.

They loved it because as long as blacks were slaves, the poor whites weren't on the bottom of the social/class ladder.

[ananda]

25. Agree. This explains my entire Texas family to a tee.

..

[gratuitous]

5. A couple of things

It might seem that poor white person are more likely to be racist, but that could be a function of who you're more likely to encounter during the course of a day. There's certainly no shortage of prejudice among the monied classes, and between the mass of poor white people and the handful of wealthy banksters, who's more likely to have a wide influence on our society?

Which leads me to my second point, and that is that poor white people are told - early and often - that all their problems are traceable to the presence of other people at their economic level competing with them for jobs, schools, housing, and the other amenities of society. In reality, shortages of commodities are contrived by those same people to set the lower economic classes against one another. Why does our society spend so much money ($2 billion a day) on "national security" defined almost exclusively in terms of expensive weapons systems of dubious reliability? Why doesn't "national security" translate into better-funded schools, jobs at decent wages, a healthy citizenry free from the specter of economic ruin? We have plenty of wealth in this country, but for some reason, our society has decided that that wealth needs to be concentrated into and controlled by a comparatively small group of people. That didn't happen by accident. It doesn't have to be that way. I don't know if I can change that in the time I have left, but I've decided I got nothing better to do.

[lumberjack_jeff]

15. +1 n/t

[haikugal]

27. +1

Very well put!

[Quackers]

6. I'm poor, and white.

I tried to get a couch from the Salvation Army store a few years ago. I even had a $100 voucher from the Catholic Church to help buy it. The workers at every Salvation Army store I went to were rude and even said they could only give me $50 credit for my $100 voucher. Then I was told the couch was $800 after the voucher was applied. Turns out, the local used furniture salesman had a side deal with the workers. He bought all of the furniture in bulk and got a lot cheaper price.

So maybe the majority of SA workers are assholes!?

[Duppers]

34. "maybe majority of SA workers are assholes" ?

There's another wild accusation.

Attacking this poster because of your one experience is unfair.

[Quackers]

44. The irony of my post was lost on you. nt

[madokie]

7. They seem to me to

be quick to vote for for the hand that is trying to starve them too. Stupid people do dumb shit is all I know

[Zorra]

9. Conservative whites are far more likely to be racist.

Rich, poor, and and everywhere in between. Ronald Reagan itself was proud to be a racist.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. The data suggests as education increases...

The data suggests as education increases anti-semitism, racism, homophobia, xenophobia decreases. That doesn't mean there aren't a lot of well educated bigots.

That could be a function of the fact that educated folks are better at concealing their bigotry because it is declasse

[SoCalDem]

20. The key ward is "education"

What kind of an education is "gifted" to too many youngsters in racist areas?
How much is taught to them about their "history"? Is it glossed over as a glorious attempt that was squashed by the brutal northerners? Are they taught that the "unpleasantness" was brought on over states rights...but NOT slavery?

If they only get what their granny & parents tell them, with a smidgeon of spurious "factoids" in school before they drop out at 15, they DO grow up with a limited view of things, and are vulnerable to hate groups who will tell them that their lives suck because of black people who get "all the breaks"..

[SamKnause]

11. I am poor.

I am a white female.

I am not racist.

Black people in this country have every right to be angry.

They are slaughtered in the streets.

They are housed in prisons for low paid, or unpaid labor.

They were forced to live in slums because banks refused to

loan money to them for homes.

Their schools are inferior to schools in white neighborhoods.

Their lists of true grievances are endless.

I can not imagine what it is like being a black person in this country.

[Bigmack]

12. Lyndon Johnson said it best....

"I'll tell you what's at the bottom of it.... If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

The "Southern Strategy" worked.

[Myrina]

26. ^^ This x1000 ^^

The whole post-Civil War strategy, in a few succinct sentences. Still 100% in force, 150 years later. Sadly

[Duppers]

37. +1000

Sorry, I did not see your post when I posted the same quote in a reply above.

[Fumesucker]

13. Everyone knows rich people are morally superior to poor ones

Think about all the wars poor people have started so they can die gloriously in battle for their nation while the poor rich people have to make do only with huge profits and never get to join in the fun.

[lumberjack_jeff]

14. Poor whites know they're getting screwed.

And the people on the TV machine tell them that it's not billionaires like them doing it.

[logosoco]

17. I have seen poor people who are racists, but most I have known are not.

I am a firm believer in that this is how the "powers that be" want it. As long as we are down here fighting and hating each other, we can't band together and fight them. I think this is shifting. I hope anyway.

We have a new neighbor on our street. We are working class, living in old brick ranches from the late 50s. This new guy, maybe 10 years younger than I, hangs a stars and bars flag. He talked to me and another neighbor and asked if we were offended. He "explained" how he wasn't a racist, and I clammed up to let him know I was not going to get into a fight with him. Perhaps as we live here longer, I will get a chance to tell him that his flag to me not only is racist, it is also him telling me that he will fight for the rich white guys, no matter what. And that is nothing to be proud of. It goes against all of the working people in our community.

He is ignorant. I can't fix that.

But, I did order a big tie dye flag with a peace sign in the middle. He will know where I stand.

There were an awful lot of poor whites who fought and died and lost everything they ever had in the Civil War. To me, they died and set their families back fighting for a cause that was 100% against them from the beginning. That is ignorance. And that attitude still lives today, but I don't think it was as strong as it was. Education helps. Empathy helps.

[Duppers]

38. Great post.

Education...Empathy.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

18. "The blunt truth is that ill-used people are worse than well-used people"

Shaw was wrong about a great deal, but I think he was right about that.

[betterdemsonly]

19. I think it is classist to blame poor people for their poverty, whatever their color.

Your claims are anecdotal and seem like right wing shit stirring since people make the same arguments against poor blacks.

You are defending rich blacks by smearing poor people, with a anonymous anecdote. Since the democratic party is supposed to represents both groups, your argument is trouble making.poo

While your anecdote doesn't prove the poor are more racist and morally irresponsible than the rich, we know for a fact that the Salvation Army hates gays.

[Orsino]

21. White privilege is so hurtful to poor whites...

...when they realize it mainly masks class privilege that doesn't include them. They must feel cheated.

[Spazito]

22. What a crap load of codswallop...

Racists come from every economic level. I find your post offensive in so many ways.

[GeorgeGist]

23. Cool story, bro.

[johnp3907]

24. This is idiotic.

[Myrina]

28. divide & conquer ... might be a better way to explain...

After the Civil War, the wealthy set the poor share coppers - black and white - against each other: "he's trying to take what's yours, vote for me". That subliminal message has never been allowed to recede - in fact since the 1960's the rich have amplified it ... now it's the "welfare mama's" & the takers & the "thugs" who are trying to "freeload" off of white people - just ask anyone at Faux .

They do this because they're outnumbered and they know it, and they know the only way to maintain power is to keep poor folk of all colors pointing the finger at each other.

It's not "classist" (well maybe in a different way) but because America has been so built on "respecting authority", poor whites will listen to what benevolent, wealthy white Uncle Bill O'Reilly tells them before they'll stop & think that he's actually perpetuating the problem.

[WDIM]

29. Wealthy whites are much more racist.

Look at mining in Africa. They will slaughter the workers if they go on strike.

Look at what Shell has done over in Nigeria. They wouldnt be doing that in european countries.

Rich whites exploit people of color all over the world for their labor and their land and their resources. And on top of that they keep poor and middle class people of all colors in debt slavery and make us believe we need to work our lives away to make them even richer.

The problems of this world are due to the rich and powerful they are the ones that create the poor and under educated in the first place and continues the fear and race baiting that pits neighbor against neighbor.

[Jamastiene]

30. Blaming the homeless for being homeless.

What a class act.

[One_Life_To_Give]

32. That is an us vs them thing

When someone is looking to lay blame for their situation in life. It is frequently going to fall on the "other". That is they accept that neither Sue nor Jim are responsible but believe an outside force is responsible. This fear/hatred of other is what so many shysters have managed to leverage in stirring up movements of mass hatred. e.g. We would all have good paying jobs if it wasn't for them "mexicans" flooding across the border.

[AgingAmerican]

33. Uneducated people

Not poor. Poor people do tend to be uneducated.

And it goes for people of all races, not just whites.

[Eleanors38]

39. What constructive point are you trying to make?

[DemocraticWing]

40. The bulwarks of right-wing racism are in middle class suburbs

You really must hate poor people. There's another political party that I'm sure would really line up with your opinions about the world.

Also the Salvation Army is a homophobic organization with a terrible history of discrimination.

[SCantiGOP]

41. Right on, democraticwing

Agree 100%. I never give to the Salvation Army and just added this poster to my Ignore list.

[prayin4rain]

45. Agreed. What the hell is going on around here? n/t

[prayin4rain]

46. Of course. Most problems facing this country can be placed squarely on the shoulders of the poor

and the powerless. Liberals understand this.


I find your OP and "The South" bashing OPs generally offensive. Fighting prejudice with prejudice is an ill conceived plan.

[Solly Mack]

47. What an inspiration you must have been to those in need.