All things Racist...USA edition (8 Viewers)

[Farb]

I was looking for a place to put this so we could discuss but didn't really find a place that worked so I created this thread so we can all place articles, experiences, videos and examples of racism in the USA.

This is one that happened this week. The lady even called and filed a complaint on the officer. This officer also chose to wear the body cam (apparently, LA doesn't require this yet). This exchange wasn't necessarily racist IMO until she started with the "mexican racist...you will never be white, like you want" garbage. That is when it turned racist IMO

All the murderer and other insults, I think are just a by product of CRT and ACAB rhetoric that is very common on the radical left and sadly is being brought to mainstream in this country.

Another point that I think is worth mentioning is she is a teacher and the sense of entitlement she feels is mind blowing.

https://news.yahoo.com/black-teacher-berates-latino-la-221235341.html

 

[samiam5211]

The US is more like a salad bowl than a melting pot, but the lettuce keeps picking fights with the tomatoes and cucumber and the dressing just wishes someone would put it in the blender.

 

[Saintamaniac]

Especially when so many Republicans are busy abandoning the most identifiable aspect of American culture, which to me is the right to vote and thereby participate in our government.

Republicans are only abandoning the aspect of the right to vote for people voting against them. They don't want it to be harder for their supporters to vote. They want it to be harder for everyone else to vote.

 

[Paul]

Is 'American culture' so readily definable?

Yes, American culture is very obvious to a foreigner. However, it is not like the culture of nations that are much older.

 

[Paul]

I always find comments about adopting American culture funny. American culture is vastly different by region, race, religion, and economic status. Different combinations of those things output massive cultural differences.

I do not like the idea of balkanization. Most successful nations in the world have a common theme that unites them.

There is no American culture. That term is just code for "act like a suburban white dude".

I have head the term acting white before. What does it mean to you? To me the term has no meaning. How in the world does a person acts according to skin color?

 

[Paul]

The US is more like a salad bowl than a melting pot, but the lettuce keeps picking fights with the tomatoes and cucumber and the dressing just wishes someone would put it in the blender.

The USA is heading to balkanization. There is no unity. All I see is tribalism.

 

[Paul]

I tend to think people should keep their identity and culture as much as possible. I like that we're all different and unique and I feel like I'm a better person for it when I learn a little about what their lives are like. If we all assimilated and behaved a certain way, life would be boring imo.

The only caveat I have to add to all that is I think that immigrants should learn the language of the country they move to, more for communication purposes than anything else.

As I said: Balkanization does not work.

 

[Paul]

But you still didn't answer the question. are you Latino, or just born in Latin america. because there is a difference.
For example, if two people from Portugal live in Brazil their whole lives and become citizens, and have a child, that doesn't really make the child latino.

I am form Latin America. I am a Latin American and feel some kinship to other Latin Americans that speak Spanish and have some similar cultural values. The Brazilians are bit different. When I encounter one we simply slow down our languages and understand each other quite well.

 

[Paul]

Andrew Yang got ripped to shreds with this exact viewpoint
==================================

Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang made a stunning argument in a Washington Post op-ed this week: To combat the recent surge in hate crimes and racism amid the coronavirus pandemic, he suggested, Asian Americans should showcase just how American they are through acts of patriotism and community.

Effectively, he wrote, Asians can help end racism by being the best citizens we can be:


Yang, who came to this conclusion after an unsettling experience of his own, appears to believe that contributing civically in a visible way is the best approach to respond to acts of prejudice.

While it’s entirely fair for him to want to confront such biases in his own way, the application of his reasoning is where things get concerning. There’s certainly a worthwhile case to be made that everyone, regardless of their background, should be stepping up and helping their communities during this devastating crisis. But Yang’s point is specifically aimed at Asian Americans.

In fact, he suggests that Asian Americans, as a group, need to demonstrate that they are positive contributors to society just to be treated as equals. It’s a deeply flawed argument that puts the onus on Asian Americans to make themselves more palatable to those who would discriminate against them. And it’s also among the latest to advance a misguided theory of “respectability politics.”.

As Damon Young explained in the Root, “respectability politics” is an idea that picked up momentum in the 1990s and has been used to urge black Americans to dress or behave in a certain way as a means to neutralize racism. “It’s generally defined as what happens when minority and/or marginalized groups are told (or teach themselves) that in order to receive better treatment from the group in power, they must behave better,” Young writes.

Yang’s argument pushes for action in response to such incidents, but in the wrong way. Suggesting that Asian Americans “need to show their American-ness” places the pressure for combating racism on people of color — and echoes a longtime pattern of doing so.

Respectability politics has always put the pressure on people of color to address racism​

The issue with arguments that favor respectability politics is that they ignore how racism works: They argue that people of color need to change in order to achieve baseline equality in how they are treated, when the issue is that the people perpetuating these biases are the ones who should change their behavior so that they aren’t, well, racist............

Asian Americans don’t have to prove their Americanness to anyone

Andrew Yang argues that Asian Americans should work to prove their Americanness in order to fight xenophobia.

www.vox.com

The majority of hate crimes against Asians are perpetrated by POC. Therefore, this technique ill not work.

 

[Saint by the Bay]

The USA is heading to balkanization. There is no unity. All I see is tribalism.

Its not heading toward, it has been that way since before we were a nation. You can’t have this many different ethnic groups, regional uniqueness, variety of religions and such a vast economic spread and not have regional cultural pockets. The south and the northeast have never been culturally the same, for instance. It goes further than that though. Using blacks as an example, blacks in the NE, blacks in the south and blacks on the west coast are culturally very different. Within that are religious difference. Within the south black Catholics and black Protestants are very different.

This country has never had a homogeneous culture. Irish and Italians were always different culturally from each other. The story of America is a tale of rich cultural variety. If you don’t like cultural diversity then you don’t like America because that’s all we’ve ever had, in spades.

 

[MT15]

Paul: Is that fact or your perception? Do you have any proof?

 

[MT15]

Spot on SBTB

 

[SaulGoodmanEsq]

Yes, American culture is very obvious to a foreigner. However, it is not like the culture of nations that are much older.

What is it? I honestly don't know or what anyone would perceive it to be.

 

[MT15]

Not only are there cultural differences due to people’s ancestors’ countries of origin, but there are stark regional differences. It has always been that way. So I too am curious about Paul’s statement.

It reminds me of the girl from Iran that I befriended in college. When the hostages were taken she was just amazed that regular Americans took offense. She kept saying to me that Iran had no problem with the American people, just the American government. That struck me funny, and it took a while for me to realize that in America, the people are the government. We elect everyone from President to dogcatcher, lol. She didn’t, maybe couldn’t, comprehend that.

 

[Paul]

What is it? I honestly don't know or what anyone would perceive it to be.

It is a colonial inheritance. The colonized kept some of the old traditions and this is not surprising.
The work to live mindset rather than the live to work of other nations.
A touch of the Ugly American when abroad.
Baseball, apple pie, hot dogs.
Not as warm as us from Latin America.
Small town community
Farming
Work ethic

I would say it is based on Western values and is very much like Canadian or Australian culture. This is not surprising as 90% of the population in 1920 was of European origin. Today that number has gone down to 60% and we see a marked African and Hispanic influence in music, art, language, sports, celebrities, media, etc. However, this segment of the cultural is under the umbrella of the greater Western culture. Sadly, no one pays much attention to the Native Americans because they are a tiny number and live apart. Asian Americans are nowhere to be seen culturally as they americanize and intermarry. They climb the economic ladder with ease, but they are not that interested in the spread of Asian culture. Perhaps because there are so many different ones.

 

[Paul]

Not only are there cultural differences due to people’s ancestors’ countries of origin, but there are stark regional differences. It has always been that way. So I too am curious about Paul’s statement.

It reminds me of the girl from Iran that I befriended in college. When the hostages were taken she was just amazed that regular Americans took offense. She kept saying to me that Iran had no problem with the American people, just the American government. That struck me funny, and it took a while for me to realize that in America, the people are the government. We elect everyone from President to dogcatcher, lol. She didn’t, maybe couldn’t, comprehend that.

See my post above. BTW, most Iranians I know are very western in nature.

 

[Paul]

Paul: Is that fact or your perception? Do you have any proof?

I am describing what I see. that is my personal experience.

 

[Paul]

Its not heading toward, it has been that way since before we were a nation. You can’t have this many different ethnic groups, regional uniqueness, variety of religions and such a vast economic spread and not have regional cultural pockets. The south and the northeast have never been culturally the same, for instance. It goes further than that though. Using blacks as an example, blacks in the NE, blacks in the south and blacks on the west coast are culturally very different. Within that are religious difference. Within the south black Catholics and black Protestants are very different.

This country has never had a homogeneous culture. Irish and Italians were always different culturally from each other. The story of America is a tale of rich cultural variety. If you don’t like cultural diversity then you don’t like America because that’s all we’ve ever had, in spades.

I hear you, but in 1920 America was 90% white. Sure, they didn't get that well either. We evolved in tribes.

 

[Bigdaddysaints]

Can I ask why it matters so much? Why do these arbitrary boxes mean so much? Will you take his opinion in a different way if he 'latino'?

Yang is correct. World population migration from the beginning of time will tell you that.

because I'm wondering why he's ashamed of his latino heritage (if there is any). I am not afraid or ashamed of mine, and if someone doesn't like it, too bad, I'm not gonna lose it or pretend to be someone I'm not to make them feel better about 'murica...
I have an uncle like that. he's 50% Puerto Rican. he definitely can't deny it, he looks it.
but he acts like that part of him doesn't exist. hell one day on Facebook he shared a picture of a confederate flag that had share if you aren't ashamed to be white.. I was like, dude, you aren't white.. he just unfriended me for saying that..