I grew up around alot of racism and this is what I know

[LynneSin]

First, it's a learned concept. If a young person is racist there's a good chance that apple didn't fall too far from the tree.

Second is that it's an excuse for people. Your life sucks? Blame the someone not white or not American or not Christian or not Straight. It's easier to blame someone then say 'perhaps I fucked up too much on the job and that's why I was fired' or 'perhaps I was such a piece of shit to my girlfriend and that's why she left me'. People don't have shitty lives because these unknown minorities or gays or non-christians are out to get them - they have shitty lives because the wallow in their own self-pity instead of doing something about it.

Finally, these people are so easy to manipulate. They aren't the smartest knives in the drawers - if they were they wouldn't be blaming everyone for their shitty life. And one thing about these people is they couldn't organize worth a damn - usually there's someone else leading the pack, someone looking for a group of dimwits to do their dirty work for them so they can get around screwing over the little folks. Did you ever see the movie 'American History X' with Edward Norton - racists act alot like what you see in the movie and behind a bunch of racist people is usually one smart person who knows enough to get these dumbasses to do their dirty work and stay out of the picture. Sometime it's a local that leads the way, sometimes it's the person spewing propaganda on the radio or TV.

This is what I learned about racism by growing up near racists. I thank the lucky stars for my parents because when I heard racist shit from someone at school they corrected me quite promptly at home!

[NYC_SKP]

1. I'm mid 50s, when I was a teenager I would have sworn we'd be united by now.

And, instead, sometimes I think it's worse than back in the 60s and 70s.



.

[LynneSin]

2. I know I keep hoping these shits will just die out of old age

[Hoyt]

3. There's a whole generation of Young Republicans to replace them.

[ELI BOY 1950]

6. their kids will be the problem then..

[Lone_Star_Dem]

7. Things are improving.

It's just easy to overlook our improvements in light of such overt hate. The internet gave hate groups a new tool to gather and recruit members. As a result, there are more reports of the deeply disturbing types of hate in our faces, and more organized hate groups out there.

I've worked with children from impoverish homes with racist parents who do not share the views of their family members. At one time this was an extremely rare social structure to overcome. Now, thanks in part to a vastly more inclusive entertainment industry, these kids do overcome the prejudices of their parents more often. Not all of them, but many more do than in the past.

We're not close to being united. I doubt we will be in my lifetime. We are making steps in the right direction though. It's just a painfully slow process.

[madokie]

16. Same here

[pampango]

4. "Your life sucks? Blame the someone not white or not American or not Christian or not Straight."

So true. For too many it's easy to blame those who are born a different color, gender, nationality, ethnicity or sexual orientation. My problems must be caused by a "them", not by the "us" of folks who are like me.

[upaloopa]

5. I grew up in a poor white family in a poor white neighborhood. African Americans live on the west

side of town. We didn't mix much at all. My dad took me over to the "west side" when he wanted his car fixed for a low price. He bought food at the street market on the west side.

My dad was a factory worker all his life and acted like a racist. I could not understand why he did business on the "west side" when he hated the residents there so much. Then one time a Black family was going to move to our block. All the neighbors had meeting and tried to buy the house so the Black family couldn't move in. My dad would not go along with it mostly because he didn't have any money to contribute.

We were surrounded by factory workers and I learned that their racism came from sense that they were so low on the totem that they had to have someone lower than they were. My dad did never taught me to be a racist. I think he only acted out of the need to be accepted by others in his group.

After I went with my dad to the "west side" and came home I got on my bicycle and rode to the
"west side" to see what all the separation was about. I saw a lot of people who looked poorer than me. Over time I learned about what so many here call White privilege. I never felt superior to anyone in my life and learned a lot about what life was like in the Black community.

I think I learned that I could not help being born a white male and any privilege I got was given to me. I had nothing to do about that other than how I treated other people.

[rurallib]

9. wish I could rec a response - well said.

[Skittles]

10. worthy of its own thread

[Scuba]

17. Great post, thanks.

[uponit7771]

18. "I had nothing to do about that other than how I treated other people. " Amen!!!

[Useless in FL]

8. Upbringing is an important contribtion... however,

even though my parents/grandparents were "racist," my education helped me to overcome this prejudice. So, I truly believe that education will overcome the propaganda. Education is the key, but we are moving farther and farther away from an educated society.... and I think that's what the right wing really wants to happen. I'm 67 years old and I don't hope for much anymore now that my violet glasses have been removed...many years ago. Why do I care? Because I want earth to survive...I want our history to survive, but I want earthlings to be caring and supportive of our future... forget capitalism, our future is survival of the species and it's not going to happen with our current trajectory!

[Care Acutely]

11. I must say, you are certainly not useless at all

and I hope sincerely that you don't feel that way about yourself.

To the matter of education, I agree with you. It is the key. I grew up in a very vanilla town and racism was probably the norm among elders but a culturally expansive education broadened my horizons and that of my peers. It probably didn't "cure" everyone - but I'm confident it helped.

[qwlauren35]

12. I can only agree with the first premise.

I think racism and other such -isms are learned.

But one of the things that makes them so insidious is that there are extremely rich and powerful people, successful people, who feel this way, and have the power to perpetuate it. It is not the poor who make hiring and firing decisions. It is not the poor who were forced to hire and promote African Americans under Affirmative Action. I recall Marge Schott some team owner who called her players ni**ers. Her life doesn't suck and she's not easy to manipulate.

You've seen one end of it. But there is another.

[LynneSin]

14. Really?

even people who have money will still blame others for the reason that their taxes are so damn expensive (all those 'welfare queens') or why their marriage is so horrible ('must be those gays').

Trust me, even the wealthy will find excuses as to why their life is miserable and they will blame anyone but themselves.

[ErikJ]

13. The 1% "Look down, not up"

THey own the corporate media and have successfully been able to brainwash the low-info voters to look down as the source of your problems, while they steal the fruit.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

15. My grandparents on both sides were racists.

My mother and father were not. My mother was fiercely anti-racism. She Wouldn't tolerate it in her house. I was raised well.

[deaniac21]

19. Why did they have to correct you

for hearing something?

[LynneSin]

22. No I repeated some things

Mind you I was just a young kid, probably 2nd or 3rd grade so I didn't know any better.

[Boxerfan]

20. Excellent post...I was from a wealthy family in Texas...saw a lot 1st hand.

And yes the past tense is correct as my father re-married & we were written out of his will (3 of us-all minors with no legal help). He then was killed on a fox hunt in England.I am trying to get SSDI while my step mom refuses any financial aid & lives high in the horsie set-all on my Fathers money. Aside the point but I'm pointing out how cruel these bastards can be.

My Dad was Republican-My mom a hippie...

I walked the fence between living in California & staying with my Dad in Texas.

My Grandma had a "servant" and he was a truly fine man who taught me more of life than I remember-including how to fish for small mouth bass. But he was treated like property by my Grandmother & had a small 12 x4 foot "closet" on the side of the garage in her mansion.

In my families history I learned they lost a lot of "property" IE Negro slaves after the Civil War. They had nobody to do free labor for them & most of the farms failed.

And to this day I think the south has never let that go...

Sad as I really loved visiting there & always felt a great deal of hospitality-especially being a kid from California-But the racism & use of N word jokes & general attitude. It was obviously a generational problem.

Just before my Father died he lived in Midland Texas. I went to school there & instantly made friends with the guys "from the wrong side of the tracks". Which was a literal thing-crossing the RR tracks and you were in a much poorer down ridden area. Unpaved roads and basically forgotten by the general population.

Age is the only cure I'm afraid-as I wholeheartedly agree-it is taught. Babies are not born racist...

[Sick of the GOP]

21. Most of my family is racist

They tossed the n word around like they got a dollar every time they said it all during my development phase, yet I never adopted their racism. I was born knowing it's wrong, I guess.

What I know about racism is the usual: "But I got black friends," or "I'm not racist, but." If you ever hear someone say those things then you got a surefire racist.

[LynneSin]

23. Hate can be unlearned

Even though I was around 8-9 years old when I realized what the kids said about minorities was a load of crap, it took me longer to understand homosexuality and that it was not some 'creepy thing that pervs do'.

One of the things that Harvey Milk believed that if people knew gay people that they wouldn't vote for Prop 6 and he wanted people to come out of the closet and let their families know that gay people are normal just like everyone else. I have to say that it took me working with 2 gay men to finally realize that homosexuals weren't the deviant freaks that the kids where I went to school claimed them to be. They were just like everyone else and honestly, 1000% nicer than those kids who told said bad things about homosexuals. Not proud that at one time I bought into the gay-hating memes out there but I'm glad that my mind was opened up to the fact that it was all bullshit. That was almost 30 years ago.

BTW welcome to DU

[Sick of the GOP]

28. Thanks for the welcome

I know a LOT of hardcore RWers personally. I've noticed that those with gay relatives or those who personally know someone who's gay, are a lot less homophobic (even if just by RW standards) than those who don't. Back when I had a job, I even had a few RW coworkers come up to me and tell me that just being around me and seeing that I was just like them changed their attitude towards gays.

[RebelOne]

24. I am 73 now and grew up in Miami, FL.

When I went to high school in the '50s, I was a racist. It was unheard of for blacks and whites to attend the same school. I remember the separate bathrooms and fountains for blacks and whites. Also, that blacks had to sit in the back of the bus. After I was married and I went to New Jersey with my husband, I was shocked seeing blacks in restaurants in movie theaters and seeing interracial couples. That was unheard of in the deep South.

But times have changed and I have accepted the changes. My two nieces here in Georgia are married to black guys and no one gives it a second thought.

[Jack Sprat]

25. The neonazi was easily manipulated

and an introvert, but his stepmom said he wasn't brought up with those teachings nor did he display any bigotry in his youth having personal friends of other races. He seemingly sought out the hate as an adult and discovered it on his own.

[Historic NY]

26. angry white male..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1082753

[turtlerescue1]

27. Congrats, this is one of the BEST threads I've ever ever read.

Honesty. Growth. Perceptions.

Too bad it can't be a "common" conversation EVERYWHERE. IT gives a cause for hope, it opens doors, doesn't build walls.

Thankyou.

As for racism, it never made sense to me for the simple reason under that layer of skin, there is no difference. Made it easy for me I guess. Still there were little pieces that hinted racism exists growing up. My parents didn't seem then or in retrospect to be racists. Dunno where my sister grew her's. She did marry "status" so maybe there is where she got her's.

IT has to be a learned attitude.

Per homosexuality, sexual preferences, that's a personal thing. What I do know is I spent a lot of years working in health care, and the BEST caregivers I ever worked with were gay. Says something special about that person to me.