You're white. You haven't experienced racism

[PatricksRum]

I'm so sick of repeating myself today.
AIBU or is ignorance just bliss?

@PatricksRum
I am so sorry you had to though that.

In the 70s the vicious behavour towrard Irish people was shocking
One occasion I recall being in my teens and a woman spitting in my face calling me a dirty Irish bitch.

OP
Where are you from?

@namechange240817 Genuine question, how do folk know if someone's a traveler? I've heard folk in pubs in Ireland in particular comment about others in the pub being travelers and looking at them I'd never know. Is it an accent? Thanks and no offense meant.

@changeitupagain finally found if

Regarding your grandparents views of white people.
Not condoning it of course.
Totally disagree.

Whilst you may believe or they may have said they believe they are superior to white people we know this not to be the case.
Mixed up with this racism is the power element I mentioned before. To be superior over another means you are at a higher rank. Your grandparents are not at a higher rank. White people, in this circumstance are at the top of the hierachy. Your grandparents have no means to act out on their beliefs not do they have any influence over the people in power (white) to alter white people's rights.
Essentially your grandparents have no authority and therefore cannot use power to overpower white people.

Another thing to point out is a knee-jerk reaction from oppressed people.

Apologies I do have more to say. Breastfeeding toddler has decided to swap boobs every 30 secs and erased half my text. I had an analogy but it'd completely fine.

Completely gone *

And my teacher tellimg me and many of my classmates we would amount to nothing because of our Irish surnames.

Irish isn't a race.

@flax that's the problem. Our history is wiped

I didn't mention Irish travellers

OP

'@namechange240817 I'm really sorry to hear this.
I'm not sure if you saw up thread where I mentioned gypsy ethnicity and the suffering you face.'

An Irish traveler was talking about her experiences and you talked about Gypsy ethnicity and the racism they (she) faced.

Where is your current abode then OP ?

Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to physical appearance and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against other people because they are of a different race or ethnicity

OP your are taking this “superior” view to the extreme. No one here is disputing the ‘black lives matter’ campaign. But you are continuing to belittle other people despite their own experiences

no one in living memory has been a white slave master

This isn't true

On at least three separate occasions. Irish Traveler families have been convicted of keeping English slaves, or I think one was a conviction in Wales?. This was in the last few years. One slave, who had severe mental health problems, was kept in a dog kennel

@PatricksRum

You conflate racism and racial power (power stemming from and individuals race), yes they often do go together (white racists exerting the power that comes from being white) but they are in fact two different things.

No one is 'superior' to anyone (At least not based on race). And anyone who believes they are is wrong.

White people may have more power in society, which is why I said they will never experience entrenched systematic racism, but they don't have more power in every scenario.

They have plenty means to act out their beliefs - Case in point, my white boyfriend being rejected by my grandparents, they are rejecting him because of his race, he has no power here.

But again, although this is an issue it is not nearly as pressing as the killing of black people because they are black. That does not mean anyone who hears my grandparents being racist should let it slide but it does mean that pulling them up on it should be in addition to campaigning for the BLM movement, and if there is only room/time for one of these things then BLM should be prioritised, no questions asked. Then if and when ignorance becomes the main issue (I.e. no one is being killed for their race) only then should the focus go to ending the ignorance. Never should the ignorance be ignored or excused but never should it be the focus whilst more important issues, the issue of black people being killed, continue.

flax that's the problem. Our history is wiped

What country are you residing in?

I didn't mention Irish travellers

You mentioned the "ethnic gypsy" quote in reply to a post about Irish Travelers. Who are not ethnic gypsies. They are ethnic Irish

@changeitupagain great post!

Anyone coming on here to 'defend' white people and share your stories of racism, you're part of the problem. And the people sharing examples of 'racism' against white people in SA and certain other places is BEYOND a joke. The racial aggression toward whites in those areas is as a result of white atrocities committed there. People of colour in many places are extremely wary of white people, even though there are good white people out there. Just like many women are very wary of men. Because of the terrible history of white atrocity.

What we are witnessing in America is terrible white atrocity now, before our very eyes. This is part of a pattern of white atrocity that has been going on for 400 years.

There is NOT a level playing field. Come and talk about your experiences of racism when you're afraid for your children each time they go out, or you're wary of travelling or relocating because you might be ostracised or even attacked, or you're followed around shops every week, and people constantly expect and communicate you'll amount to nothing because of the colour of your skin. Where you're afraid of the police killing you while you go jogging or sleeping at home or walking home from work.

Yes some white people have unpleasant experiences because of their skin colour. But your whole life is not defined by it, you're not constantly on edge, wondering who will next deny your humanity even though they're smiling in your face today. And even if you're in a country facing racist acts toward you as a white person you know you can go somewhere else where you'll be fine.

OP is showing you a gaping wound and saying she's hurt more than you. You're jumping on and saying BUT I GOT A SCRATCH IN 1992 WHAT ABOUT MEEEEE...

This is not about you. Stop making it about you. Educate yourself on the atrocities of the white race that continue to this day.

This is not a debate. Do not argue OPs semantics. This is not about your feelings. Innocent people are being murdered. Wake up wake up WAKE UP

I think you've done the BLM movement a huge disservice with this thread OP. I've seen lots of persuasive and engaging commentary on MN lately (e.g. the burning house analogy) which I hope has given people pause for thought and enabled them to see that, right now, we are talking about racism towards black people. Not other racism and discrimination. That is all that matters right now.

You could have started a thread to ask people to respect the 'terms' of the discussion, and explained why it heartbreaking for white people to retort "ALL lives matter", but instead you just made a staggeringly wide and sweeping statement about the lived experiences of an entire race.

Irish aren't a race? Who are you to decide?
Travellers aren't a race? Who are you to decide?

Your attitude stinks and I hope no one is listening to you.

I think part of the reason people are getting upset is because when you say 'white people don't ever experience racism' you are erasing people's personal experiences. Of course they are going to come back with their experience because it's important to them and they don't want it erased.

Similarly I fully support the BLM movement. However when one black person said to me 'you don't know what it's like to be oppressed because of the colour of your skin', as a Bangladeshi woman I said actually I do, because as a woman of colour I have been oppressed because of the colour of my skin. I felt no need to bring this up before because the discussion was about them. I was supporting them through their oppression and they had not asked about or mentioned mine so I had no want or reason to being it up. However the moment they tried to erase my experiences of course I brought them up because no one deserves to have their experiences erased. The problem isn't people who speak up when you try and deny something that happened to them, they're defending their own experiences and ensuring they don't get erased.

The problem is the people who speak up when you're speaking about your own expertises to 'add' theirs on. To make it clear theirs matters too even though you never denied it did, you just didn't mention it because this time is yours (black peoples) and right now your experiences matter more because they are of violence and horrific entrenched systematic racism and more people need to hear yours. The problem is people who try and take away time and focus from BLM just because they're not getting any attention right now. These are the people to be angry at. Not the people who's experiences you have erased with one sweeping comment.

@Flaxmeadow

flax that's the problem. Our history is wiped

What country are you residing in?

I didn't mention Irish travellers

You mentioned the "ethnic gypsy" quote in reply to a post about Irish Travelers. Who are not ethnic gypsies. They are ethnic Irish

Travellers are recognised as a minority ethnic group in Ireland. They are not called ethnic Irish. In the UK they are recognised as a minority ethnic group. And in Northern Ireland they are recognised as a 'distinct racial group'.

@dilemmadame 'done the BLM movement a huge disservice'... Lol. Is it her job to behave perfectly so that people care about innocent people getting murdered? It's not on OP to advertise or evangelise the BLM movement.

*I felt no need to bring this up before because the discussion was about them. I was supporting them through their oppression and they had not asked about or mentioned mine so I had no want or reason to being it up. However the moment they tried to erase my experiences of course I brought them up because no one deserves to have their experiences erased. The problem isn't people who speak up when you try and deny something that happened to them, they're defending their own experiences and ensuring they don't get erased.

The problem is the people who speak up when you're speaking about your own expertises to 'add' theirs on. To make it clear theirs matters too even though you never denied it did, you just didn't mention it because this time is yours (black peoples) and right now your experiences matter more because they are of violence and horrific entrenched systematic racism and more people need to hear yours. The problem is people who try and take away time and focus from BLM just because they're not getting any attention right now. These are the people to be angry at. Not the people who's experiences you have erased with one sweeping comment.*

@changeitupagain - 100% this.

Ilikeyourhairyhands I am in the USA. Two of my best friends came across Stephen Lawrence and held him when he was dying in Eltham so there is plenty of racial hatred in Britain. That part of SE London was pretty notorious for having the BNP headquarters a few miles away.

The histories of the UK and the USA although profoundly linked are obviously very different. For a start the USA is enormous and should really be compared to the whole of Europe for more of a comparison. The UK is about as big as California. Then obviously the USA had slavery on its shores for hundreds of years. The UK was very much responsible for the establishment of slavery in its colonies before the America Revolution, but obviously our experience of its affects were very different as its horrors were kept far from our shores. Although London banks funded it and the British economy benefited from it considerably. It's amazing what millions of peoples free labour will do for your bottom line. (This is sarcasm before anyone misunderstand me).

I do believe the majority in both the US and the UK want a less racist society and as much as I have encountered racism at all class levels of British and American society, I do think we seem to be coming to a time of reckoning where people want profound change.

@ryanbergarasteeth I'm white, have experienced racial aggression, and I'm not in the least offended by the OP. My experiences are NOTHING in comparison to black people's. Nothing. That is the issue.

And I'll reiterate.
INNOCENT PEOPLE ARE BEING MURDERED. WAKE UP.