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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

You're white. You haven't experienced racism

999 replies

PatricksRum · 04/06/2020 00:29

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

OP posts:
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23
ItsInTheShed · 04/06/2020 01:06

@rosiejaune to me ( in my head) no man holds the Social power!

Who says men hold the social power?

schoolsoutforcovid · 04/06/2020 01:07

@PatricksRum I'll never "get it"...but I get it as much as I can and I'm here x

redbigbananafeet · 04/06/2020 01:07

I might just be white but I have heard of google search. So you've no other sources then?

PatricksRum · 04/06/2020 01:07

Educate youself OP.

@KingSheathBelle Educate myself?
My first experience aged 2-3 being shouted at and called a nigga. Education was forced onto me. I have no choice.

OP posts:
redbigbananafeet · 04/06/2020 01:08

Vietnamese people weren't taken to America as slaves. Does that mean that Vietnamese people can't experience racism? Racism is specifically and exclusively about slavery?

Porcupineinwaiting · 04/06/2020 01:09

So @rosiejaune are you saying that antisemitism isnt a form of racism, or that some Jewish people arent white? Or that white Jews dont experience antisemitism?

savingallday · 04/06/2020 01:09

@AvranaKernsBestSpider mine was a bit of both but instead of a knee...it was a machete...I would would say that constitutes a racist attack! I was in a bar...with friends of mixed races. I was told to "go home white girl...you're not wanted!"

@OP I feel very strongly about what is going on right now...it's wrong on so many levels. Black lives DO matter...FACT! And I am educating myself every day on this. I can hear your frustrations and anger!! And I will never truly understand. My ONE experience knocked me for a while...I can't imagine what a lifetime of it can do!

It's true whites are a majority in many countries but not everywhere. Your title in itself is actually also racist...truth be told. But I can see why you would feel and think that way,

I'm sorry if my post comes out wrong I'm not really good at articulating what mean sometimes

Madein1995 · 04/06/2020 01:09

OP if your tired you need to go bed, obviously. Not post angrily on mn turn behave rudely and flounce when people ask questions. It's the mn equivalent of posting on fb that you're having a shit day and then getting pissed off at the 'u ok hun' messages
'Do not tell me how to cope with this' indeed, odfod. I've no hands in this having never experienced racism personally. Other posters have. Also I watched a documentary a few years ago set in a southern African country where whites were actually being discriminated against. And look at the experience of travellers who have certainly experienced racism.

Also why post on a mn thread and then refuse to discuss your peeve beyond a few words, tell people to read some article rather than explain your point because you're tired apparently and then behave extremely rudely when others dont take kindly to that. That usually isnt how mn works. Its usual for the op to explain the issue, not post a link and have a tantrum instead

HTH

mylittlesandwich · 04/06/2020 01:09

I don't believe anyone, the OP included, is saying that white people haven't and don't have struggles in life. Just that the colour of their skin hadn't made it even harder.

PatricksRum · 04/06/2020 01:10

@changeitupagain
You are of an ethnic minority and therefore will have sadly experienced it too.

Being of an ethnic minority yourself, how do you think it's possible to think you superior to a, for example 70% majority race compared to your 1.2%?

OP posts:
schoolsoutforcovid · 04/06/2020 01:10

"I might just be white but I have heard of google search. So you've no other sources then?"

Fucking really? Confused

Casualbride · 04/06/2020 01:10

Yanbu op, I agree.

PatricksRum · 04/06/2020 01:10

@redbigbananafeet
lmgtfy.com/?q=racial+prejudice+vs+racism

OP posts:
YgritteSnow · 04/06/2020 01:11

Yet you typed this...on this thread what exactly are you "educated" in

I did yes. And I don't see a problem with it. Are you telling me I am racist for typing that? What exactly is problematic about what I typed?

Cornana · 04/06/2020 01:11

So white people can be prejudiced against individually, ie, attacks due to being white, or living in a country with a lower percentage of white people. But systematic racism is not a thing white people experience, ie, society being discriminatory at every level, doesn’t happen to white people.

I would agree with that if I am understanding correctly. (I am white, if that’s relevant.)

PatricksRum · 04/06/2020 01:12

Maybe I haven’t experienced racism but I refuse to feel guilty for being white

Confused

Please use your privilege to help our fight.

OP posts:
YgritteSnow · 04/06/2020 01:12

@schoolsoutforcovid I see you expressing horror at another posters input? But again no explanation of what exactly is so problematic. What are we doing wrong for you?

Madein1995 · 04/06/2020 01:12

And for fucks sake stop acting like a stroppy toddler. Yiu come on here stating people arent educated enough. Then shiut at someone saying it's not your job. Well then why bother posting? Were you expecting flowers and a pity party?

CharlottesPleb · 04/06/2020 01:13

You don't know what someone has or hasn't experienced by looking at the colour of their skin.

If you think you can, you have persuaded yourself it's ok to be racist. Well done you.

PatricksRum · 04/06/2020 01:13

It’s the same as men having not experienced misogyny-

This is the best way I can describe. Thanks namechange
I hope we can find peace and reduce racism significantly.

OP posts:
Interestedwoman · 04/06/2020 01:13

I know the theory, but I've experienced a lot of racism from Asian men. They have a low opinion of white women has been my experience, often seeing us as cheap or something. And it has lead to tangible abuse- it's not that they're never in a position to do us harm or take advantage.

themental · 04/06/2020 01:14

I get it
It’s the same as men having not experienced misogyny- even if some men have faced sexism sometimes. It’s about cultural power within a system rather than individual experience.

THIS

Jesus this thread is shocking.

I'd like to believe it's just ignorance but I think the time for using ignorance as an excuse is long overdue.

The people arguing that they're white and they've experienced racism, you sound like the fannies with their but..but... "all lives matter".

You're white. You haven't experienced racism
Interestedwoman · 04/06/2020 01:14

*led

schoolsoutforcovid · 04/06/2020 01:15

@YgritteSnow rather than trying to argue with me why don't you look at the post directly above your last?

PatricksRum · 04/06/2020 01:15

*The OP's point is that racism is a form of systemic discrimination (like sexism and the other types) that affects members of the social minority.
I.e. anyone who isn't white, and in combination with colorism, the darker your skin tone, the worse it can be. Which is one reason (though not the only one) black people are at particular risk.

If you are a member of the social majority (i.e. white), which is not the same thing as the numerical majority (there are more people of colour than white people in the world, but they still don't hold the social power, as a group), then you may experience racial bigotry from individuals of other races, but you are not a victim of racism. Because it is still your racial group who has always held the social power in the world, and oppressed others via that lens.

To draw parallels with sexism, a man calling a woman a cunt, is worse than a woman calling a man a dick. They are both sex-based insults potentially based in that person's bigotry, but only one is systemically sexist, because men hold the social power.*

Rosie puts it more elegantly than my blunt OP Grin

Thank you Rosie

OP posts:
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