Was the ‘race card’ pulled??

"Ugh" might not be an argument, Piglet89, but it's sometimes the best you'll get when folk don't like lived experience being mentioned unless it's that of a preferred group

Though retired now I was very lucky in that the sector meant those I recruited were about 80% south asian - mainly because the vast majority were the most wonderful people, but also because it was instructive to ask a tiny majority why they'd howled "racism" on failing to get a job, when the person appointed would usually be of the same race

I never got a coherent answer though; it was either a sneer, a sly giggle or just a stalking-off, and it bears saying that their hoped-for colleagues had no patience with it either, feeling that it reflected badly on them too

Fortunately it didn't, because like most I recognised that every community has a few tossers, and while I'd just happened to meet theirs I could go on enjoying my association with the countless other decent members

I don’t think it is an uncommon experience for people to have witnessed accusations of bigotry that weren’t motivated by bigotry. Bigotry is the new heresy, and accusations of it is the contemporary version of the dunking stool.

There is no shortage of bigoted people but there is no shortage of people being wrongly accused of bigotry- with accusations being made in good and bad faith.

Critical theory isn’t fact. It’s a theory with significant flaws but none the less provides a powerful lens to look through,

If someone attributes someone’s evaluation of events as ‘playing the race/sex card’, they are either right or wrong in their evaluation. Refusing to explore the accuracy of this claim due to them having a certain characteristic seems shortsighted to me.

I can understand why someone would have little appetite to engage, or may feel that doing so would not achieve much - but refusing on a matter of principle reflects a principle ripe for challenge.

This is someone’s perception/ interpretation of a situation - likely a highly biased one.
I don’t think there is any objective evidence that being from a racialised minority confers particular/ unfair advantages in the workplace. There’s a lot of evidence of the reverse.

Maybe that they were being an asshole? Because it has nothing to do with race. I don't even believe this scenario as you have described it for one second. What race were these people?? I find it highly unlikely that a family would try and jump in front of you in a queue then cause a scene about you not letting them do this as you are a white oppressor. Seriously, pull the other one. If this was a common occurance, no one would need a 'race card'

Sorry, but your post is passive aggressive. If you think it's a "majority white board" fair enough. We aren't going to apologise for being white, inasmuch as we wouldn't expect you to apologise for being black. If you think the race card is used as a weapon, I trust we can look forward to seeing you on the next thread, which hugely minimises antisemitism.

Again, how could it be “anything”?
If I point at someone I don’t know and say “I know exactly why that person did x/y, it’s just another example”, what could I possibly be basing my judgement on apart from the way the person looks and maybe speaks?
I can’t imagine judging someone by the way they are dressed to such an extent that I’d say to my child “I know exactly why they behave like that (just look at their posh coat).”

So how would you describe the way these people reacted? It was clearly a race issue?

I don't actually disagree. But I refuse to talk to white people about POC who do that. We do it amongst ourselves. (I similarly refuse to talk to men about women who "play the sexism card".)

That's because the accusation of "playing the race/sex card" is used as a weapon to shut down discussion of actual racism and misogyny to a far more damaging extent than any POC/woman could hope to inflict by doing it in bad faith.

I don't have much tolerance for the latter - but like I said, I am not going to be drawn into that discussion on a majority-white board.

Yes you are racist. You are minimising what is an inherently racist terminology and suggesting that people who find the use of 'the race card' racist are wrong. If people are telling you your language is racist, perhaps you should start listening. Unfortunately in your case ignorance is compounding your error . . .

But it does, in the previous example of someone who was pulled up at work over their lazy/bad work and it was instantly dropped because he cried racism, thus meaning he could do as little work as he wanted, as badly as he wanted and would go completely unchallenged. Please tell me how he hasn't used that to his advantage?

I remember a million years ago reading the Victorian novel, The Way of all Flesh by Samuel Butler with its investigation into morality. One of the turning points is the protagonist's realisation that just because someone is a poor person, they are not automatically a good person. The same applies to all groups in society.

The British are well known for forming orderly queues. To queue jump is regarded as ill mannered unless there is a very good reason for it, which wasn't the case in this instance. The whole family sound ill mannered and entitled. If they wish to make this about race rather than rude behaviour, that's on them not you. I'd just brush it off, you did nothing wrong.

@Tandoraa response of “ugh” isn’t an argument. I’ve seen similar things happen in my place of work: absolutely useless workers who claim “racism” whenever any feedback is given. Not being discriminated against because of their race, but because of their woeful incompetence!

It definitely happens and to pretend otherwise is just to ostrich the problem.

Yes you are racist. You are minimising what is an inherently racist terminology and suggesting that people who find the use of 'the race card' racist are wrong. If people are telling you your language is racist, perhaps you should start listening. Unfortunately in your case ignorance is compounding your error . . .

Could have been anything. How they were dressed? Maybe she simply meant they came across as arrogant / entitled?

Anything like what though?
The other woman said: “you know exactly why she thinks she needs to be in front of us, this is another example”.
What could it be an example of?

ugh.

He may well have felt targeted because of his race. These feelings may be based on previous experiences, or simply from knowledge / learning / understanding he’s gained from living in a racist society.

Alternatively, It may have been something that he didn’t really think/ feel, but said just to try and make you feel bad.

Maybe it was a little bit of both.

You on the other hand cannot necessarily know or control the extent to which your actions/ feelings may have been somewhat influenced by latent racism. Maybe a white kid would have annoyed you less ? You should never totally refuse or exclude the idea that subconscious racism is a thing, because it is a thing that affects us all, and we all have the responsibility to work on it.

Either way, there is no meaningful sense in which that boy was able to confer some kind of advantage over you or oppress you in some way through that interaction, by “playing the race card”. All he did was make himself more exposed/ vulnerable/ more of a target. He didn’t elicit any sympathy, he made you angry.

And as for you - the worst that happened was you got your feelings hurt. If his words hurt- reflect on them, at the end of the day that sort of reflection will cause you no harm, and may very well do some good.

No it isn’t. They were cf who tried to queue jump. Pisses me off intently. Most theme parks eject people who try it on.

That's literally what bias is - assuming something because it fits your preconceptions.

It's very weird, for a few years there when eveyone was undergoing anti-bias training, they always started out by saying, all people have biases based on their ideas about the world, but also because of their real personal experiences.

Then they go on to talk about how white people don't realise x, y, and z are racist because of their bias. But they don't seem to make the leap, which is totally supported by this theory, to point out that anyone who has the idea that racism is rampant, or has experienced a lot of racism, is likely to make the opposite mistake of attributing things to racism that are actually something else - mistakes, people being generally nasty, whatever.

Ridiculous comment. Are you suggesting that no one EVER flags up their protected characteristic cynically as the reason they have been treated in a certain way?

I’m gay and I can tell you that some LGBT people conveniently scream ‘homophobia’ even when that is not the motivating factor. Am I therefore homophobic if I call someone from my community out on pulling the homophobia card? Give your head a wobble.