Questions for white people

[Questionspandemic]

Why are white people offended by black people talking about racism?

Obviously not all white people are racist and name changed - in case of gaslighting.

@Itisbetter

The same way you benefit now from your clothes, food etc being made in impoverished countries by workers paid pennies.

True but I can't afford fair trade clothes

So why would they do that.

Because they can. That is sort of the point of the protests about it.

And that it's not having an effect is the other point.

So, why, indeed are the police stopping and searching more people of one group, even if it isn't an effective strategy?
Think...

@BlackWaveComing. I couldn't agree more!!

I'm not and I'm white.

I accept the BaME community is subject to racism, both direct and indirect in today's society, but it has improved on past generation. There is at least more recognition and attempts to address it, but still a long way to go. However I think racism is a natural, if undesirable, part of human nature. Racism occurs in all societies but it is the society in power who can exercise it over their minorities

@cosmicdoughnut

OP, you do know that "white people" are not one big homogenous group and have a long and varied history and disparate identities, cultures and traditions, often at odds with each other (Jews and Germans or Germans and Slavs for example).

The irony of a topic about racism generalising about a whole group of millions of people seems to be lost on people .

Here’s your post from September, when someone posted a thread saying they were intimidated by conspiracy theories in the US. You IMMEDIATELY deflected to Muslims. It’s hilarious how you’re so quick to vilify Muslims but defend whites people.

Conspiracy theories are not only the preserve of American Christians. Many Muslim and Arab countries believe that Jews control the world, they use the blood of children in their breads etc. This belief is endemic in many countries and many repeat these things in mainstream school texts books. Maybe a study should be done into belief in anti-Semitic conpiracy theories in Muslim countries too?

Asking why white people are racist isn't a stereotype, it's a fact.

Is it? I'm sure that black people and Asian people are also racist.

@GoatWardrobe

When the IRA was at its height Irish people were targetted, that philosophy should apply across the board. If grooming gangs are proven to be predominantly Asian then they should be targetted, if paedophiles fit certain characteristics ditto. White hooray henries may fit the cokehead/dealing/ tax-dodging box, so target them.

Colour should not mean we shy away from factual evidence with regard to who commits what type of crime and where.

What a remarkably silly post. Since when are 'Hooray Henrys', paedophiles or 'Irish people' a 'colour'?

And as an Irish person who was continually stopped and questioned at airports and ferryports entering the UK, and who spent much of my earlier time in the UK aware of the appalling miscarriages of justice inflicted upon the Birmingham Six and the Guilford Four, to mention only the two best-known instances, and that British police and judiciary's attitude to Irish people was not impartial, I would be very, very interested indeed to see White British people quietly accepting being racially profiled and regularly stopped and searched for evidence of membership of an illegal organisation their profile 'fitted'.

My point was that if your demographic is linked to certain crimes then why would you object to being stopped if by doing so the crimes were lessened or eradicated?

I apologise I should have written colour/demographic but as the original point related to colour I was trying (and clearly failing) to flesh out the characteristics further to show that being targetted for further investigation should not be limited to ethnicity, but whether you fit the profile.

I don't really care who objects to it being done (whatever colour they are) that doesn't mean it shouldn't be done.

The ONS breaks down crime stats into various categories and those figures should be used for targetted profiling and policing.

I think people are being disingenuous. OP said Questions for white people, not Questions for all white people.

@Cadent

I think people are being disingenuous. OP said Questions for white people, not Questions for all white people.

Yy she states in the op ‘not all white people’ maybe just the ones who have poor reading comprehension 🧐

Why? Because Europe is majority white, like Africa is majority black, like Asia is majority Asian. I don’t think this should change. If it did, we Asians would be majority EVERYWHERE and then how’d you all feel being a minority EVERYWHERE on the planet?

Or, because generally housing in rural locations is more expensive?

I don’t think it’s fair to stereotype white people as racist. It’s fair to say there is perhaps a large % of white people that are racist. The one thing I struggle with is, it feels like white people are held accountable for actions of other white people. So the question is, is this fair? But then on the other hand is it fair to say where people should acknowledge how their white privilege effects other races? Then the answer is yes

@tornadoalley

I'm not and I'm white.

I accept the BaME community is subject to racism, both direct and indirect in today's society, but it has improved on past generation. There is at least more recognition and attempts to address it, but still a long way to go. However I think racism is a natural, if undesirable, part of human nature. Racism occurs in all societies but it is the society in power who can exercise it over their minorities

You think racism is natural?

I haven't come across racist babies.

@EDSGFC

Asking why white people are racist isn't a stereotype, it's a fact.

Is it? I'm sure that black people and Asian people are also racist.

Of course it is.

History tells the tale.

@LastResorts

I don’t think it’s fair to stereotype white people as racist. It’s fair to say there is perhaps a large % of white people that are racist. The one thing I struggle with is, it feels like white people are held accountable for actions of other white people. So the question is, is this fair? But then on the other hand is it fair to say where people should acknowledge how their white privilege effects other races? Then the answer is yes

It isn't a stereotype. It's a fact.

History tells the tale.

History does not reflect well on anyone.

Definition: A stereotype is “...a fixed, over generalized belief about a particular group or class of people.” (Cardwell, 1996).

@PatricksRum this is what I’m talking about (see above)

Belief of a particular group of people. Some people will say “all whites people” I understand that the thread says not all. But in real life, this view is commonly held of white people. I am living through this belief

My point was that if your demographic is linked to certain crimes then why would you object to being stopped if by doing so the crimes were lessened or eradicated?

With respect, that's the classic response of someone from a privileged majority demographic who has never been profiled, regularly stopped and questioned at airports or ferries, or treated with automatic suspicion by the police in the full knowledge of appalling miscarriages of justice upon people with your 'profile'.

How would you feel if, say, the EDL were outlawed for violent terrorist offences, and because its membership, though a matter of a couple of thousand, is white and British, you were regularly stopped and searched because you fitted that profile, and, should you object, were told that you should be happy to cooperate because it will lessen or eradicate EDL-related crimes committed by white British people?

@MintyMabel

Why? Because Europe is majority white, like Africa is majority black, like Asia is majority Asian. I don’t think this should change. If it did, we Asians would be majority EVERYWHERE and then how’d you all feel being a minority EVERYWHERE on the planet?

Or, because generally housing in rural locations is more expensive?

Lol. No, it’s not. Rural is always cheaper than urban. London is the most expensive place to live in entire U.K.

@EDSGFC

History tells the tale.

History does not reflect well on anyone.

I don't care.

History tells us that white people are racist.

@LastResorts

Definition: A stereotype is “...a fixed, over generalized belief about a particular group or class of people.” (Cardwell, 1996).

@PatricksRum this is what I’m talking about (see above)

Belief of a particular group of people. Some people will say “all whites people” I understand that the thread says not all. But in real life, this view is commonly held of white people. I am living through this belief

That's nothing to do with me.

I'm talking about this thread.

"Plus, lots of people don’t see themselves as privileged so struggle to acknowledge that they benefit from racism/white privilege. There’s a knee-jerk “but my life is hard!” reaction."

^That seems to sum up my family reaction to black lives matter, but I still don't get it. There's one of my relatives in particular who is extremely privileged, but can't see it at all, and would argue until they're blue in the face that they aren't.

My family are pretty racist in general, I was just pondering why that is, but maybe a better question is why I am not? What was different in my upbringing/life that makes me see things so differently to them? Purely personality?

Racism certainly isn't natural.

We may grow up to distrust groups of people, or people outside our community.
Or rather, we trust those we know or are familiar with, and need to take time to trust outsiders.
But the level of distrust in relation to other groups to the point of xenophobia, or the feeling and status of superiority to the point of racism towards, is acquired from our society.
And society can develop and encourage them, or discourage them.

When we mix freely, everyone becomes part of our group, as such. When we see and meet people of all sorts in all sorts of circumstances and positions, then there's no reason to distrust or feel superior to other groups or even to stereotype them.

Mind you, humans like patterns, so stereotyping is natural to us.
Racism and xenophobia are different things, although they are often connected.

@PatricksRum if you 'don't care' about your history, why should I care about mine?

GoatWardrobe

I don't think that an entire demographic should be targeted because of the actions of a minority because I don't think that's justifiable and I also don't believe that's happening, particularly in the UK.

I do think though that if the police have intelligence to suggest that a particular demographic pose immediate threat or are suspected of committing a crime then I support the police stopping people that fit that description.

If, for example, they have reports that a white man in his 20s has been seen brandishing a knife in the town centre why is it wrong for them to stop all white men in their 20s?

I don't care.

Ok. Good to know