Do you have to be white to be racist?

Did I get my links screwed up or something? I thought I clicked on the VI Moving Center.;)

This is probably a pretty important issue for people relocating to the usvi. I know the discrimination is not limited to white people however. If you haven't been here for several generations you will experience the same thing. I find it to be more of an local vs transplant thing. Changes and new ideas are not welcomed in the same fashion as home. You have to pay your dues and do things the way locals do, at least for a while before you're accepted. No matter your skin color if you weren't born here you will experience some racism. If you have a thick skin you may not even notice it, because lets face it, we all experience racism or hate fairly often stateside too. You can't let all the little people bring you down. If you focus on it you'll never be happy here let alone anywhere.

no,not racist,never have been. Just tired of tip-toeing around this subject,my comment was intended to be broad based,and for so long I have dealt with this (two years,and not just here) that I just think someone needs to just speak up and tell it like it is and be straight up,what we all think but don't say outloud. It's not racisim,it critisicm. I love all people even you.

i agree,i'm tired of pussyfooting around this subject,you do not voluntarily move here if you are rascist,i'm of the school that if i think you're stupid i'll tell you "hey you're an idiot" and that has nothing to do with someones race,lol but then i do not have a "politically correct"bone in my body,when i went to omaha this past year to get to know the sperm donor,i was continually subjected to spic,kike,nig&er,dot or feather,yellow, sandnigger,lol the only words from his mouth i never heard were f@g and queer,but hey if i ever had a non white boyfriend there would have been hell to pay,but down here the rednecks call it sleeping with the help,i HATE this subject

"...I just think someone needs to just speak up and tell it like it is and be straight up,what we all think but don't say outloud..."

It's awfully arrogant for you to assume you speak for everyone. Your posts certainly don't speak for me. In fact, most people I know don't share your perspective or your attitude.

This is probably a pretty important issue for people relocating to the usvi. I know the discrimination is not limited to white people however. If you haven't been here for several generations you will experience the same thing. I find it to be more of an local vs transplant thing. Changes and new ideas are not welcomed in the same fashion as home. You have to pay your dues and do things the way locals do, at least for a while before you're accepted. No matter your skin color if you weren't born here you will experience some racism. If you have a thick skin you may not even notice it, because lets face it, we all experience racism or hate fairly often stateside too. You can't let all the little people bring you down. If you focus on it you'll never be happy here let alone anywhere.

absolutely betty...almost exactly the same thing i was going to say.

The way I see it is...what people see or feel when they move here is the way we feel or what we see when we move to the majority of locations in the US.

Racism is one of those itches we love to scratch untill it bleeds. peace....live one love.

I personally find this whole thread distasteful to say the least and normally would not participate. Rude is rude, ugly is ugly, ignorance is ignorance. I am thankful for my mother for teaching me to be a lady and never allowing or teaching us to judge others by their skin. My mother was a working mother and my caregivers were black gulla women. They switched my leggs and called me pickney like their own children. We shared our food, sorrows and happiness. I am thankful that my son sees no color.

it all boils down to ignorance and fear, i'm on the southern poverty law center email list and they track hate groups in the usa,you'd be truly amazed at the organized hate out there,from religion to racism

"...I am thankful that my son sees no color."

Many young children don't pay attention to color, but everyone becomes color conscious before adulthood. The important thing is that awareness of color differences are decoupled from the way one treats people.

"...I am thankful that my son sees no color."

Many young children don't pay attention to color, but everyone becomes color conscious before adulthood. The important thing is that awareness of color differences are decoupled from the way one treats people.

I have to agree and giggled a little when I first discovered I was so very white. My mother took my brother and I to a James Brown concert when I was 7 in Greenville, South Carolina where I was born. The lights went down for a moment and I said mama it sure is dark in here. She said honey it's ok. Nobody cares if we are white. I didn't understand as I was commenting on the darkness of the theater. We happened to be the only white people there.

I know what you mean! When I came home from my first day of first grade, my parents asked how everything went. I couldn't stop talking about the amazing colored crossing guard at the crosswalk in front of the school. This was in California and my folks were shocked to hear me describe someone as "colored" because that wasn't terminology used in California. They asked where I'd heard the term "colored" and I was confused. I explained that the crossing guard had blue pants, a green shirt, a red tie, purple shoes with orange shoelaces, a yellow belt, a red baseball cap, etc. It turns out that the crossing guard worked the street in front of that elementary school for decades and dressed colorfully for the first day of school each year.

Answer to the original question - no, you don't have to be white to be a racist. I'm not black nor white, so, I guess I can speak to both sides of the coin.

For blacks, they did suffer slavery, racism, etc. So, it's understandable that until now, that there are still some black folks that still felt the pain and suffering their grandparents experienced. However, that doesn't excuse them not to move on though. For whites, when you experienced "eye rolling" from blacks here in the VI, do you really think it's because you're white why they did that? Didn't you think that's just their personality (an ugly one)? 🙂 If a person is good in customer service, he/she may be black, white or yellow, but trust me, that person will not roll their eyes to anybody. "Eye rolling", I'll just charge that to the one disadvantages of living in USVI, customer service sucks (not all, ok). I've been to Office Max, and of course most employees are black, but I had a first time experience of a bad customer service there. It's not because they're black, it's because their manager probably just did not train them well.

To the white teacher with the black student who's not supposed to like white folks - the other way around happened to my husband (then single) many years ago in DC. She's dancing with this white girl and she said to him - "The nerve with that black guy to ask me for a dance." My hubby replied "Ahem, I'm black you know." She said, "No, you're different, because you're from Africa". 🙂 What!!!

We're Christian, and my mother just dislikes a person once she knew if the person is a Muslim. I could follow what she did, but I chose not too, aside from being it's the right thing to do. I think people, by nature, sometimes, just want to be superior from others.

Another - my son was the only non-white in his former preschool. He knows he's darker than the rest - he claimed actually he's brown :), he said Daddy is dark brown 🙂 Anyway, he knows his skin color is different, and his classmates knew it too, but it doesn't stop them from becoming friends. Can you imagine if we, the parents of those kids will tell them "you're not supposed to like each other" because of their skin color, you can imagine what kind of children we'll be raising.

You see, racism is like a disease, just like ignorance by choice. If you don't cure the disease before it spreads, it'll be very hard to stop it.
Being ignorant in a point in time of someone's life is ok, but once you have all the facts, and you still choose to be ignorant, then that's a problem.

To any white mainlanders, who live here in USVI, and think they experienced racism, I THINK, again, I THINK, it's just an icing on the cake. If you really want to know what racism is, try living in countries like Central America or in Asia (anywhere out of your comfort zone), then you'll know what racism is. Most often, all these differences that we have are just ignorance of each others race and culture.

Try to be a good example of your race, your culture, then you'll find out that people from other races and culture will try to embrace yours.

I think that we all agree that racism is a bad thing. However it seems that racism is viewed differently depending on whether or not the target is white or black. Black on white racism is tolerated in society whereas white on black racism is immediately stomped on. Remember the reaction to the Imus comments. There are many examples. Remember that our legislature invited the racist Mr Farrakhan to be a motivational speaker here on STX. He is the black equivalent of David Duke. Can you imagine the reaction if David Duke had been invited to speak before the Georgia legislature.

If you don't believe that he is racist just watch one of his many speeches available on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWxNeGOXSoA

Or remember our Senator Juan Figueroa-Serville's famous KKK rant on the senate floor. Where were the condemnations from the other senators? Ronald Russell joined right in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpYV3sPPs60

All forms of racism should be condemned. At least I think so, what do you think?

You made a lot of good points, global.

I'd like to kick this up a notch. We are talking about racism, but we should talk about all the "isms" that separate us, and watch who casts the first stone. There's sexism, ageism, classism, racism... people who don't like certain religious groups, people who don't like fat people, who despise models. This is bigotry, and there are more flavors that I have not mentioned, I am sure.

As someone who has experienced discrimination because of my race AND my gender, I have found that for every bigot there are many more people who are willing to accept me for what I bring to the table.

The only thing that separates me or people who look like me from a lynching tree in some people's minds, is the law, and God bless it. I could not drink water or relieve myself as I saw fit until I was 8 in the United States of America, of which I am a born citizen. The people who agreed with this are still alive, and they had children who were taught the same thing.

However, bigotry is not confined to Whites. It occurs in all societies, from the Caste system, to the Royalty system, to Haves and Have Nots. If it's not my skin, it will be something else. And I am ready for anything they've got, because I have family, friends and others who respect and/or love me because of who I am and not what I have or look like. When you feel this way, anything is possible and you don't have to be insecure. Some people will never like me for some reason. That is theirs and this, my peeps, is MINE.

I love this topic...it's a chance to try to collectively move the topic forward. None of us want racism... we're all a bit guilty of it (to varying degrees)... I think we just haven't found that universal truth about the subject that lets us all agree on "something".

When I lived in Africa it was interesting to hear the africans talk about american blacks... the nigerians (Nigeria was a past brittish colony) had no problem with american whites. They generally did not like brits. They also (many, not the young though) did not like american blacks... the reason I heard was that they felt the american blacks did not appreciate the opportunities and life they had in america. On the surface, I can understand how it might look like american blacks had an "easier" life than africans ("so why were they complaining"). However, I also talk to any african I meet working in the local stores (Virginia) and sense that some now have a different view of america... I suspect (but can't prove) that they would sympathize a bit more with american blacks (and any other poor people that don't seem to have access to the same opportunities as rich white folks).

Anyway, back to your point Rotorhead. I understand your point. I agree that as a society I think we do tolerate black on white racial criticism MUCH more than we tolerate white on black racism. Black (and hispanic) comedians can joke about us white folks and I think many of us (myself included) find it very funny/entertaining. I can't think of a single white comedian that has gotten away with a racial joke about blacks (or other cultures). Why???? I don't know (I've been struggling to try to figure out if I am subconsciously elitist... do I not mind because really I see myself as being better than "them"). Is there a black comedian that has gotten away with jokes about hispanics? How about hispanic comedians getting away with jokes about blacks?

I think that until the black community accepts criticism from whites, it's not going to change (OK, that's probably a pretty obvious statement that has no real meat to it). One of the reasons that I really support Obama is that I think he has intelligence (Harvard), experience (half black/white) age (not of Jesse Jackson's generation) to push this topic forward better than anyone else I can imagine. I used to like Jesse Jackson a lot... I thought he spoke for the underprivileged in a way that many of us could sympathize with. But, next to Obama, Jackson and Sharpton, etc are starting to sound a bit dogmatic to me... a little too out of the times. What I didn't like about the Sharpton/Jackson criticism about Imus was that it characterized all whites as being so stupid that we didn't realize that Imus was an a__hole.

I don't know what to think about Farrakhan, other than it gives us another public set of concepts to bounce ideas off of.... I'm glad we allow it to be public so that we can examine it.

I was thinking about it today actually. It SO is in the same"class" of," I hate Donald Trump-he too wealthy!"
teeter-totter....

Ummmm... I didn't intend for smiling winks to be showing up in my post... I think somehow my right-parens are being converted to "winks"...

The winking smiles did seem a bit oddly placed! Semi-colon close parentheses makes a wink, but you weren't using semicolons so I don't know what happened.

No need to worry about semi-colons, parentheses, etc. Just click on the smiley face above the posting block, and pick your "emotion".:-)

We are talking about racism, but we should talk about all the "isms" that separate us, and watch who casts the first stone. There's sexism, ageism, classism, racism... people who don't like certain religious groups, people who don't like fat people, who despise models. This is bigotry, and there are more flavors that I have not mentioned, I am sure.

I always liked Ayn Rand's "ahead of her time" views on all these "ism's." She saw one evil, collectivism, of which all these other ism's are just an extremely crude manifestation of. By grouping people based on their race, sex etc. you can then collectively control people. Rather than viewing people as individuals and interacting with them thusly, teaching people to group others by their physical characteristics is a great way for those who want to stamp out individualism to acheive their goal. Of course most who want to stamp out individualism do so to gain "power" themselves.

We've seen this strategy work time and time again, countless white "leaders" used it in the segregatory era, and black "leaders" have used it recently to maintain their power as well (Jesse Jackson, Sharpton, Farakahn come to mind). Great minds like MLK, and apparantly Barak Obama (who I disagree with politically on almost every other subject) were/are bold enough to not use this horrid trick to grab power over people.

I liked reading Rand on this because for the first time someone caputred why I loathed racism without all the emotion that is usually attached to the debate.

Sean

Wow! That is pretty enlightening. Ayn Rand is someone who keeps coming up time and time again, and it's time I picked up one of her books and read it.

We really have so much ability to see and understand when we are willing to stand without the support of our peers, families, colleagues and society. It's hard, and it's discouraged, because of the benefits derived from being able to herd us all together. But it's not impossible.

Great attitude and perspective. Where did you get it from?? way to go

Good Morning : )
Dntw8up- before you respond to Ms. Stephanie keep in mind Ghandi's saying "Hate the sin, love the sinner"', lol. And I would give your post a dbl thumbs up on each point other than the reparations portion, which is that there argument is that is nation was turned into an incredibly wealthy and successful country off of hundreds of years of their slavery and now they are left with sub standards and a destroyed family structure in many aspects of life.

Stephiev- Dnt is correct, if you come on yelling about things that you don't seem to have an understanding of and try to sneak in a justification for further perpetuating racist behavior it does make you seem "uneducated and ignorant..". If you are going to "run off... rude ignorant s.o.b's" regardless of color or creed than why is it necessary to begin your post with "I don't know what the hell the "black" people think we "whites" owe them,but okay already,slavery is over!!". It does not lend its self to your argument.
However please make sure that when you are locking up those people, that you include the teachers in Mississippi, I believe it was, that were just court ordered to teach their "inner city" students the same level of education that the rest of the state received, and please be sure to put away the employers that even with current affirmative action in place still receive cents on the dollar compensation for the same work as their white counter parts, and while your at it please lock away the store keepers that follow them around the store and insist on putting them away from good window seats in restaurants all the way to the back (because that just get's old)... So if you've noticed a chip, or distrust - understand that it wasn't formed over night and it's not going to vanish overnight. But if you go into situations with an open mind and the do-unto-others rule you will be doing your part to heal, you will probably be surprised at the response you get - plus your karma will be through the roof- hehe