Can white people ever experience racism?

[LittleRedCourgettes]

Following a discussion on this topic with some students, I was reading this article and am interested to hear your honest thoughts on this question.....

https://www.nas.org/blogs/article/wherediddwegetttheideaathatonlyywhitepeopleecanbeeracist

It depends which definition of “racism” you want to use. This has been lifted directly from the Equality Act 2010.

What the Equality Act says about race discrimination:

The Equality Act 2010 says you must not be discriminated against because of your race.

In the Equality Act, race can mean your colour, or your nationality (including your citizenship). It can also mean your ethnic or national origins, which may not be the same as your current nationality. For example, you may have Chinese national origins and be living in Britain with a British passport.

Race also covers ethnic and racial groups. This means a group of people who all share the same protected characteristic of ethnicity or race.

A racial group can be made up of two or more distinct racial groups, for example black Britons, British Asians, British Sikhs, British Jews, Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers.

You may be discriminated against because of one or more aspects of your race, for example people born in Britain to Jamaican parents could be discriminated against because they are British citizens, or because of their Jamaican national origins.

What a ridiculous question. What an incredibly narrow perspective.

Try living in much of Asia or the middle East. I've been refused accommodation, abused and discussed in front of my face when it was thought I didn't understand the local language, and work place discrimination is routine.

You do also realise that non Muslims have a lesser value than Muslims in Islamic countries? Especially women.

[quote AIMD]@Devlesko
I have seen and heard comments made about gypsy and traveller groups from people who wouldn’t ever make that comment about other groups. For some reason people feel more justified in being hateful towards travellers, I wonder if that’s partly because many are white skinned and people don’t view it the same way.[/quote]
I think you have a point there, and also I'm sure many aren't aware that travelling is the culture not something we just decide to do.
Oh, and that we pay tax, and all other household bills, especially if on council or private site.
The thing I don't get is how it's accepted, right down to companies and organisations refusing to serve us, or following us round Primark.
The bouncers who call forward to not allow us in clubs and restaurants.
The funeral of a litle girl where the whole town closed and they couldn't even get a cup of tea.
The wedding receptions cancelled at short notice as they got wind it was travellers.
Don't get me started on Pritti racist Patel, Gove, Boris and Moggy.
They are all similar even some labour Politicians have been pulled up for their racism.
I just wish that all races could be accepted, we are lucky to have so much diversity.

Yes lots of Scots dislike the English but they look the same as each other so is it really "Racist" ???

It's tribalist/"ethnicity-ist" just like we have where I'm from.

Also some black people from European/American countries are also prejudiced against black people from African countries and vice versa.

@Afromeg It was more some of the comments that I found slightly questionable.

I wondered what people would think if the discussion was reversed.

"Im Scottish born and bred but my dh is English. Hes been called a English bastard a few times. Scots tend to hate everyone else from the uk."

Do we?

"There’s no reason good enough for someone to be referred to a coloured use the correct terminology it’s not hard Black, Asian or whatever race the person is you need to use the correct term."

Person of colour is correct (and means exactly the same as coloured).
I'm not sure what you mean by 'whatever race the person is' as there are no clear definitions of race. I wouldn't know what 'race' someone identifies as just by looking at them, only their skin colour.

I grew up in area which had a large Pakistani population. As a teenager I was constantly being called a white slag, white whore, white trash by the men and boys. Groups of men in cars asking how much I charged when I was walking home from school in my school uniform. It certainly felt like racism to me. And misogyny

"Jewish people experience antisemitism because they are Jewish. White people do not experience racism due to the colour of their skin."

Antisemitism is a form of racism.

No. Racism is systemic.

Antisemitism is a form of racism.

Of course it is.

"He called you racist because he (wrongly) believed not giving him money must have been because you don't like him (as a black man)."

Or more likely because he had mental health issues or an addiction. I wouldn't take seriously what a beggar on the metro said to me after I refused to give him money.

"And that bloody book “Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race”. What an awful, passive-aggressive title which I will NEVER read because I don’t like my opinion invalidated based on the colour of my skin, funnily enough."

I felt a bit defensive when I read the title too, but curiosity got the better of me and I found it interesting in the end.

"another member of staff taking the mick out of my accent (she didn't know I could hear her) and the rest of them joining in. Been told 'well you're an 'Englander'' whatever that means and told to 'go back to England'."

Go back to England is clearly offensive. Is 'Englander' offensive? And mimicking accents is something childish people do everywhere, even to people from the next town.

[quote LittleRedCourgettes]@Afromeg It was more some of the comments that I found slightly questionable.

I wondered what people would think if the discussion was reversed. [/quote]
Hmm, someone here wrote they've chosen to be friends only with mixed race people or white people and not black people, due to their experience. I read the same thing there as due to the posters' experience, they've also made their choice of friendship circles.

I see it as the same as someone saying they'd never have anything to do with any man because they were abused by one.

Though, I don't agree with tarring everyone with the same brush or making generalizations against a group of people because of the actions of one or two or a few, I think people have a right to decide who they want to let into their lives if it makes them feel better (and I hope people who do so understand this when it's done to them too).

That said, the thread went off track because some people didn't respect the simple request: "Only want to hear from black people". I find it incredulously funny for people to keep going where they're clearly not wanted. I sure wouldn't.

@LittleRedCourgettes

The English/Scottish example is about Ethnicity though. "Race" is about having different physical characteristics - skin colour or hair texture for example.

No. There is no strict definition of race. Ethnic discrimination also comes under racism. Different ethnic groups can also have different physical characteristics.

@Gwenhwyfar

"He called you racist because he (wrongly) believed not giving him money must have been because you don't like him (as a black man)."

Or more likely because he had mental health issues or an addiction. I wouldn't take seriously what a beggar on the metro said to me after I refused to give him money.

Yes that too or drunk and I also agree with not taking it seriously.

" I think people have a right to decide who they want to let into their lives if it makes them feel better (and I hope people who do so understand this when it's done to them too)."

Yes, if it's choosing friends, but obviously not if it's choosing an employee or a tenant.
You could decide all your friends have to be 45 and short if you want to.

I have experienced three types of racism despite being white, blue eyed and blond

*My mother moved to rural Wales around the time letter bombs were often sent to English holiday cottages. A small mostly Welsh speaking secondary school was not an easy place to be at that time. Us little cohort of English children were basically hissed abuse at walking down the corners. Headmaster would always take the Welsh child's side if trouble

*Living in a very diverse community I often come across young men that think all white people think the same. Their paranoia of racism actually makes them racist in their behaviour and/or language.

• My family are Jewish (I reckon I don't need to explain that one🤷‍♀️)

Yes I meant friends as it's what the thread was about.

I agree with the poster saying the majority of cultures have some sort of derogatory rivalry and whilst both sides view themselves superior to the other I don’t view this as racism. I think some of the things said can come across that way however it would be very ridiculous for me to call someone with the same skin tone as me “black ” when we have the SAME skin colour.

This argument of the English/Scottish is weak it’s like that in a lot of cultures and tbh it’s ridiculous. It’s more of a clash and a misunderstanding than racism.

@Afromeg
I see it as the same as someone saying they'd never have anything to do with any man because they were abused by one.

When I was younger one of my cousins said to me that she had a distrust of black people because she was mugged by some so this was her main experience of them.

I had grown up in a very multicultural part of London & found this, whilst truthful, to sound pretty racist.

@LittleRedCourgettes what part exactly did you find truthful?

That these were her feelings I guess.
We had very different upbringings. And I think she was trying to explain the way she felt to me. I didn't feel the same way or agree with her. But I don't think she was lying to me.

I suppose that I think judging anyone, based on what someone else who looks like them has done is wrong. Whichever colour or sex or nationality they happen to be. But that's not to say it doesn't happen all the time.