"Are you a racist?" I jokingly asked a friend who talked about the weird hair style of a black man we saw on bus . Without hesitation, she answered, "Yes, I am." I was not only shocked by her answer, but also astonished by her shameless atitude of saying that.
This event brought me back to three years ago when I asked the same question to a friend who said Indonesians were noisy, rude, and uncultivated. She gave the same answer without a second thought. She even justified her thoughts by questioning me how I didn't notice the stupidity of Indonesians.
Gosh! Admitting yourself as a racist means that you are superficially judging people by their colors and races, not by their behaviors and personalities. It is totally unjustified to hold one person responsible for the behavior of another person or a collective of persons.
Well, there are racists in every country. I don't expect them to disappear in this century, but at least they need to pretend that they are not racists and to feel ashamed of their superstition and bias.
5 comments:
That is pretty shocking to hear - racial issues are usually very difficult to discuss because of the fact most people are too worried about offending someone with their comments or beliefs. The knowledge that there are still people who will openly admit to being racist shows that there is still a lot of work to do on the issue.
I prefer open racism. At least you know who's side people are playing for.
I loathe people though who pretend there are NO differences between the races. Ignoring our ancestry and cultural differences is what made us who we are today. to paint everyone with the same brush is just a polite form of stereotyping.
we are NOT all the same, but we are all equal.
except for carry-que. he's special.
correcting a typo- we can NOT ignore our ancestry and cultural differences BECAUSE they made us who we are today.
Matt,
I hope that this post doesn't offend anyone, because it's hard to deal with this sensitive issue.
Mike,
I think I also prefer with open racism. In Chinese, we ususally say a public villian is better than a hypocrite. However, my point is less about the differences of our ancestors, but more about how some people think they are inherently better than other members in the groups.
well if thats how you define racism- I suffer from a form of it. I think the US is the best place in the world. Bar none- that is a very nationalistic view where you place yours above that of others.
sure i shouldn't think that way (if i wanted to be PC)
But I wouldn't want to live in a country I didn't think was the greatest. If I thought that Guatemala was the best place in the world, i'd be packing my bags and singing its praises.
But I don't- thats why I'm still here
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