What is you experience with bigotry?

[EFerrari]

It's seemed to me that since the Republicans took Congress, there has been a renaissance of bigotry of every kind: anti-semitism, racism, sexism, what have you. It seems to me, anyway, to have accelerated under the current regime.

I thought it might be useful for us to figure out where DUers are with this situation. What is your experience with it? Have you experienced bigotry aimed at a group that you belong to? Are you aware of bigotry directed at groups that you don't belong to?

This isn't a thread about immigration. This isn't a thread about Israel. It's about your experience. So, please do not post your beef about those situations here -- there are plenty of other threads for that. What we are talking about here is a Republican tool for manipulating us via hatred of an out group, beginning from our own experience with hatred.

My hope is, if it works, this poll will give us a sense of where DUers start from, when they think about this issue.

Edit: This is about our general experience in life. ef

[William769]

1. On Du? or life in general?

[EFerrari]

2. In your experience. Not at DU.

:)

[AZBlue]

107. That was my question exactly.

Sadly, I experience it here much more than real life.

[ThomWV]

3. I Am A Child Of The 1950's South

I lived in a segregated world and as a youngster watched the Civil Rights Movement take its place. I remember Little Rock, I remember that an axe handel got a drug store owner a Governorship.

Do you want to know what I think really ended the era of segregation in the US? No one will agree, but I think it was the bullet in George Wallace's spine that was the very end of it as an institution.

[mike_c]

4. me too-- I'm not even sure how to answer this poll....

Clearly #1, but that just seems so simplistic.

[EFerrari]

6. Well, when you read around DU -- which I take to be a microcosm

roughly, it isn't all the simple or evident for many people here.

/ack typin'

[EFerrari]

5. Wow. Can you expand that? I'm familiar with the events but

would like to know how you are making the links.

[Glorfindel]

25. I , too, am a child of the 1950's south...

fortunately, I had extremely progressive and (thank God!) Democratic parents who taught me that racial discrimination is wrong and evil. And ol' sorry-ass Lester Maddox owned a restaurant named the Pickrick, not a drugstore. :hi:

[EFerrari]

32. Pickrick? What does that mean?

I feel so stupid. lol

[Glorfindel]

67. You're not stupid! It's a word Maddox made up, I think...

his ads in the Atlanta Constitution said "You pick it out, we'll rick it up" = pickrick (referring to food). I never ate there, of course, but his ads were ubiquitous at the time.

[Annces]

7. I don't think Republicans have a corner on bigotry

I think of republicans basically as the money party.

My own experience with bigotry? Having been the only white person in different situations in schools and work places, I can say that I have seen bigotry. And also I think a big factor that overcomes that divide is the romance between men and women. Where a group of people may try to keep you out in the cold, often an individual will act of their own free will. This subject always makes me a nervous wreck.

[EFerrari]

12. Good point. Republicans don't have a corner on bigotry.

I was just thinking that they consciously employ it as a political tool.

[SharonAnn]

31. I left the Republican part in the early 1980's over three things: Bigotry

(which includes racism, sexism, etc.), Anti-environmentalism, and the Religious Right politicizing the Republican Party in Ohio when they ran stealth campaigns to get their fundamentalists on the local school boards and state school board.

Those three things are very important to me:
1. Equality of rights
2. Protection of the environment
3. Separation of Church and State

This hasn't changed in for me in 25 years. Those are the three cornerstone principles I hold by and I believe in them. If we hold to those and try to act accordingly, then we can have a fair and just society. Without them we have totalinarianism of one kind or another.

[MrSlayer]

8. I live in South Philly.

Almost everyone is a bigot of some sort and many of those are flat out racists, white and black.

[EFerrari]

14. So, what's up there, Mr. Slayer? n/t

[rosesaylavee]

9. the basis of bigotry is FEAR

and as that is what this administration is all about promoting to get what they want, is it any wonder that bigotry is more acceptable these days than it was in 2000.

[EFerrari]

21. Imho, they need it. It's just one more way to enhance terra.

But, all that terra directed at people who turn out to be us or our neighbors is having a chilling effect on any effort we mount to counter them. Just my .02

[rosesaylavee]

52. I don't understand...

when are the terra-ists turning out to be our neighbors? This is not something I am aware of - unless you live near in Miami near those poor kids who got picked up earlier this summer.

[EFerrari]

56. It's like they made up this whole category "be scared of these

people" and then, they are making "these people" US!

[Selatius]

10. I live in Mississippi

Some of us Democrats made a homecoming parade float for the college football game, and of course we got some booes and stuff thrown at us, which was nothing, but we were the subject of utter hate when later on that night somebody had the brazen audacity to torch the parade float outside the home we had gathered in to have a party that night.

I couldn't help but think it was either bigoted Republicans or even individuals with Klansmen sympathies who sent us the message of hate that night. What's worse was the float was parked up next to the home. If the wind was blowing the "wrong way," it would've turned out differently.

[Bobbieo]

15. I live in SW Arizona and on the whole this is a very friendly area.

Whites, Indians, Hispancis prevail - very few Blacks, tho, but people smile at one another until the winter visitors arrive.On the whole, the WVs are quite unfriendly and very biased!!

[Sapphocrat]

11. Non-Christian lefty lesbian with no money, and a foreign-born partner.

The only way I could experience any more bigotry would be if I were black.

[EFerrari]

13. Why not go all the way?

:hi:

:hug:

[EFerrari]

16. And thank you, freepers, for checking in.

lol

[Catherine Vincent]

17. And who are you to tell us that we can't beef on this thread, young lady?

:hi:

[EFerrari]

18. Lol!

:hi:

[Karenina]

24. MiFa

Sol_Si_LaSolMiReMi____SolMiReMiSolMiReMiDo_MiSol....

[EFerrari]

27. I need a translation, I'm music stupid today.

But, just TODAY, okay?

lol


edit: c

[Karenina]

74. Hints:

Rodgers & Hart
Miles Davis did a GREAT up-tempo version.

Tee-hee! ;-)

[Karenina]

137. "I Could Write A Book"

Perhaps I should, but knowing how many are in DEEP DENIAL... :shrug:

[TahitiNut]

19. Duplicate

Gee, I already asked this question (in a different way, of course) at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1891431

It's somewhat stunning to me that so many voiced confusion about "what I meant". Are people really that obtuse? Is turning the question inside-out really that hard to comprehend? (Guess so. :shrug: )


:evilgrin:

[NNN0LHI]

22. Your poll had too many choices. It got me all confused

By the time I got down to the last choice I forgot what the first choice was. I must have a short attention span. Or the early stages of Alzheimers?

Don

[TahitiNut]

26. They weren't my 'choices' really. I merely summarized ...

... all the things that various DUers have been accused of being in these forums ... usually in very snarky ways, but repeatedly ... that I've seen. Hell, there're at least two in that list that I've been accused of.

The strange thing is that some actually seem to have embraced one of those "choices" - and seem to take a perverted kind of pride in it. I say "strange" because I see each of those "choices" as equally unethical/bigoted. It's strange to me that some wouldn't think so.

Go figure. :shrug:

[EFerrari]

85. I'm sorry! I was an English. Like we know from polls. n/t

[Justice Is Comin]

20. Archie Bunker

But I liked him. :hide:

[EFerrari]

23. We all did. He was our dad. lol

Our embarrassing, wrong dad. :)

[EFerrari]

28. Wow. No one is saying that they don't really think about this. n/t

[MuseRider]

29. I just got home from a meeting

that deals with this issue. We, as rights organizations, are all coming together for the first time in my city. Really together because it is getting out of hand here.

It is going to be a busy couple of weeks but we are finally working together, I am just really excited about it.

Great poll. I can't imagine that there are very many people who have not experienced it at some level in their life.

[EFerrari]

30. My hope is, since the poll is anonymous, people will tell truth

Let's see how we do.

[EFerrari]

33. To the voter that voted "I usually don't think in these terms"

Thank you for your honesty.

:toast:

[M0rpheus]

37. I honestly wish that lone voter was me...

But alas, It isn't. :(

[EFerrari]

46. Hey, welcome to DU

:)

[EFerrari]

34. It's sort of surprising that as of now, 89 percent of responders say

they have experienced bigotry.

:wow:

[Cleita]

35. Since I look more European than the average hispanic,

and even my maiden surname isn't Spanish, because of my anglo father, people tend to confide their prejudices to me, like in line at the store and elsewhere. Sometimes I just ignore them because I'm not in a combative mood, but when I am I do surprise and embarrass them.

I went through a lot of it though when it was directed towards my mother, who looked hispanic and spoke English with an accent. So I'm very aware of bigotry and how it's directed.

[EFerrari]

36. kick

[Jazzgirl]

38. I remember the seperate water fountains and

bathrooms and everything. I remember having to ride in the back of the bus and not being able to go everywhere. I remember a homeless white bum hollering "nigger" across the street to me when I was 17 walking down the street. I remember driving to Alabama once to pick up my husband in the late 70's and pulling up in front of a corner store to get directions and they turned the closed sign around. I remember a whole lotta stuff. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[EFerrari]

40. . . .

:hug:

[Cleita]

48. I do too!

I never lived in the south, but in 1948 my family disembarked from an ocean liner in New Orleans coming from Chile. (They usually disembarked in New York.) My dad bought a car in NO and we drove from there to Arizona. While in the south though, I was warned away from a drinking fountain for blacks and my mother got into it with one of the streetcar conductors in NO because she sat in what they called the Jim Crow car because it wasn't as crowded as the white car. She refused to move incidentally. I also remember the AAs having to go into a separate door at the movies.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

39. I'm sorry.... but it should be and remain one spouse to one

spouse. I just don't get that multiple spouse thing.... call me a bigot. :)

[EFerrari]

41. Oh, BOO!

:)

[HysteryDiagnosis]

43. I wish I could be more "up" but it's the gravity that's got me

down..... :toast:

[EFerrari]

55. Damn gravity.

:)

[BlooInBloo]

42. LOL!!!!

[pitohui]

44. considerable and depressing

as a woman of a certain age whose gifts are technical rather than people oriented, i have experienced enormous financial and employment hardship, harassment, discrimination on top of the violence that was just plain routine was i was young

of course when i first started working sexual harassment was not even illegal, but even w. today's rules i don't see tons of women in my field and i'm not impressed that much has changed

all i have to do is look at the senate or at the names of ceos to see that nothing has changed unless you're a wealthy, well-connected woman, the opportunity to rise by merit and talent alone is not a reality for most women

violence aga. women is no longer as accepted as it was, which is a real change from my youth, but we still have a long way to go

[Popol Vuh]

45. As a Chicano

Born and raised in Southern California. As a little boy I can still remember a sign hanging over the side of a railway bridge located at the edge of old downtown Torrance CA. The sign said in big black letters "If you're Mexican or Black be out of here by 5:00 pm".

As a little boy I can still remember that we (Mexicans) could only live in a certain area. Some nicer houses and apartments just across the way would not rent to Mexicans. I still remember the landlords telling my dad and uncle that Mexicans live over there not over here.

As a boy of "ten years old", I was doing what any boy would do, I was riding my bicycle. A Torrance motor cop stopped me and wrote me a traffic ticket for riding on the wrong side of the street. The street where we lived. A street with hardly any traffic and no sidewalks at that time. The street all of kids always played on.

I can still remember as a young boy the many occasions of feeling as a lesser person because of being Mexican because of "seeing" how society treated my parents.


Still makes me choke up a bit.....

[Cleita]

47. They used to do the same thing in Beverly Hills too.

All the black and Mexican domestic workers had to be gone by sundown or they would be stopped by the cops and told to be on the next bus out of town.

[EFerrari]

82. Once on vacation, my mom had to make us get up and leave

a restaurant because apparently brown people aren't supposed to eat in Glendale. That was my first experience with group hate. I was seven.

[Cleita]

89. Wow, speaking of Glendale, my late husband

worked in a architectural firm there. They used to have an annual Christmas party for the staff at one of the partner's houses every year. The hostesses would insist on splitting up couples and sitting them at tables with strangers so they could mix and get to know each other.

One of the secretaries who was a Glendale native was sitting at my table one year. The conversation was about how Glendale had changed since she was a girl and how they used to keep out the riff raff in the past. One of the husbands of one of the other women employees leaned over to me and whispered that back then the only Mexicans allowed into Glendale were busboys and dishwashers. He was of course being sarcastic.

But I couldn't keep my mouth shut and forced her to say exactly what riff raff she had in mind. The most racist bigoted conversation came out of her mouth. She said how she didn't feel safe anymore. Needless to say I outted myself then by saying that she couldn't possibly feel safe around me then and that she should really watch her purse the rest of the evening. The table sank into silence. The guy who started it just grinned.

Fortunately, the woman left that job for another one after that and I didn't have to see her the following year.

[GRLMGC]

94. Ack, I'm from Glendale

I've never really liked it but its, luckily, only minutes from LA. I doubt I'll settle down there in the future, that's for sure

[hunter]

49. I'm a tall white straight guy.

My wife, and many of our friends, are not. My world is not the same as theirs. I've seen so much through their eyes -- too much bigotry directed toward them. I can walk into a shop just a little bit behind my wife, and the salesperson will ignore her and welcome me. Little things like this happen all of the time.

I've never been harassed by department store security while I'm hanging out doing nothing while my wife is shopping nearby. I have a friend who is black who doesn't like shopping with his wife (who is white) because this is common. If he wanders too far from her side he becomes instantly suspicious to store security.

Alert, alert! Unaccompanied black man loitering in aisle 12!

I'll never experience a DWB. Almost everyone I know who isn't white has been pulled over by the police for no good reason. The community I grew up in was notorious for this. Nice car, not white... well... you must be up to no good.

We go out with friends who are gay and I see their entire demeanors change depending where we are. It's automatic with them, a self protective reflex; it's safe to hold hands here, not safe to hold hands there...

Anyone who thinks bigotry is fading away in the United States is fooling themselves. You hear that claim a lot from dense white guys calling talk radio shows, that bigotry is a rare thing now. And sometimes you read it on DU.

[EFerrari]

53. hunter

Thank you. :)

[Solon]

108. Hunter, it sounds like we share many of the same experiences...

except for that I'm average rather than tall! :)

I've seen some ugly shit, I remember my childhood best friend getting his driver's and taking me for a spin. He got pulled over, for Driving while Black. I remember going out with a Puerto Rican woman, and noticed the looks we got, didn't really matter where we were, and at the time, I figured it was water off a duck's back, but it still bugged me. Now I'm not about to change for anyone, I hang out with, date, whomever I please, I just wish, sometimes, that I can wave a magic wand and change the world. Unfortunately I can't, so instead, I confront the bigots straight on, I really hate those assholes.

[Triana]

131. It's true about salespeople, people at parties, social events and darned..

..near everywhere. As a female, if I'm with a guy, they will look and talk right over me directly to him. No matter the subject. I don't have babies so they can't talk about that. If that was the subject (rather than - say - computer or network technology or any work subject) then they'd talk to me. And, they always ask the male "What do you do?". They NEVER ask me. They assume I'm a housewife I guess.

Bigotry abounds. Some of the males I hang with (not even dates, just friends/acquaintances, siblings, work peers) deny it and pretend not to notice - but it's there.

EVERYWHERE.

I have to be PARTICULARLY nasty with car salesmean. I NEVER bring a male with me because the salesman will be trying to sell the car to HIM - that happened when I went with my brother once. At least 6 times he had to tell them "SHE's buying the car, not me, talk to her!". I rake those bastards over the coals because I guess it just pisses me off and I consider their behavior sexist, illogical, unreasonable, and RUDE! They KNOW they're dealing with somebody when they have to deal with ME. And, I've even gone so far as to tell them why. Stomped out of one dealership and told them they lost the sale because of their chauvinsim, sexism, and bigotry. It was true too. I got my last new care ELSEWHERE for just that reason.

Bigotry gets worse when Republicans are in power because they hate women, blacks, hispanics, gays - well - most everyone but themselves. Bigotry is much more blatant when it is sanctioned (silently of course) by the government. And right now, it is.

[Zhade]

50. I've experienced a "trifecta" of bigotry in the past few years.

Anti-GLBT bigotry. Anti-liberal bigotry. Anti-atheist bigotry (including, sadly, here on DU).

It's getting easier to spot...because it's happening more often these days.

[EFerrari]

66. Is it happening more often? Seems like it to me but I was hoping

to get perspective from you all.

[hedgehog]

51. I am a woman trained in a traditional "man's" job (engineering)

There were enough good people that i was unprepared for the jerks that I ran into. the worst times I ever had were working at jobs that I needed to support my family, knowing I was better at my job than the people around me and literally being shunned by some of the men I worked woth.

[EFerrari]

57. Why do you hate freedom?

I know. Me, too.

[Cleita]

61. At least you got to study engineering.

Back in my college days places like Cal-tech and MIT didn't admit women. I know what you mean though. I was a bartender back when few women were breaking into being behind the bar instead of in front of it. There was no warm welcoming committee from the guys. Today, most bartenders I see are women.

[nsd]

83. Small correction.

I'm not disputing your basic point, but in the interest of accuracy: MIT has admitted women since shortly after its founding. The first woman to receive a degree was Ellen Swallow Richards in 1873. I'm not certain about Caltech, but I would guess that something similar holds there too.

[EFerrari]

87. Welcome to DU, nsd

:)

[Cleita]

88. I know for a fact that Cal-Tech barred women.

One of my roomates' boyfriend was a graduate student there. Maybe I jumped the gun on MIT. It seemed that at that time only men attended. I always assumed they weren't welcome like at Cal-Tech. Maybe the women didn't apply. I don't know, but Cal-Tech was a boys club until the early sixties.

[pitohui]

110. that's not a very nice "at least"

besides the fact that, as the other poster pointed out, women could study anything they liked since the 1800s -- colleges were happy to lie to us and take our money, it was too late by the time we found out the reality of the work world

i would have been better off if i had been honestly told, look, honey, it ain't gonna happen, you're a chick

we only have so many years, to take our money AND our time in a field where we weren't going to be allowed to work is just not right

i'm glad it's a little different now, but as i said, in my day sexual harassment was not even illegal, i went to college so i didn't have to fuck some horny creep to get a job, only to find out -- if i was not fucking or a child of somebody in my field i was not going to be tolerated

and it isn't like i'm in my 90s, i'm in my 40s

this planet sucks, beam me up

[bleedingheart]

79. I have been shunned by both men and women for being a

woman engineer...

[EFerrari]

54. visibility kick

[question everything]

58. I agree that the incidence increased by will not place it at the door

of the Republicans, not entirely.

The Internet and the message boards and blogs just let many fire up without ever bothering to check and to edit their messages. It allow many to post anonymous outrageous and, yes, bigoted posts that they would not (one hopes) say in public.

I did say not entirely.

Certainly hate radio is the sole province of the Republicans. With Limbaugh "feminazi" or simply "Hillary!" With all the Faux News gang.. There are many people in the world who feel disenfranchised like, yes, the "liquid bomb" gang from Britain, who will always look for someone to blame and the first are the "traditional" Jews, Black, gays, Latino, perhaps even Catholics.

Before Air America came on line, John Margolis wrote this, in the Chicago Tribune:

The niche is disappointed people, mostly men. Andrew Kohut, the highly regarded pollster for Times-Mirror, has described "the typical Limbaugh listener" as a "white male, suburbanite, conservative better-than-average job but not really a great job. Frustrated with the system, with the way the world of Washington works. Frustrated by cultural change. Maybe threatened by women."

Somebody, in short, who is not as rich, powerful or famous as he thinks he should be, and who wants to blame outside forces. The talk- show hosts help. They blame cultural (but rarely economic) elites and the government for the world's ills and regularly reinforce the listener's sense of being scorned and ridiculed.

[EFerrari]

60. Point taken. Gives a whole, clearer meaning to "culture wars"

doesn't it?

:)

[porphyrian]

121. Unrealistic Externalization of Responsibility

It can manifest in both the negative (Black people are the reason I didn't get into college, rather than my shitty test scores) and the positive (God gave us a baby, rather than our unprotected sex and subsequent monitoring and care for its growth until birth). I don't trust people who carry either strain.

[fleabert]

59. white girl married to brown man- too many experiences to list...

the worst is when white people show their hand before knowing who I am, or who my husband is... I have ended several fledgling friendships after that revelation.

[EFerrari]

62. It's a wallop. My husband and I can both "pass" and are both Latinos.

Sometimes being Latino is a mixed blessing.

[Skittles]

63. as an American child in England during the Vietnam war

I remember stereotypes being fixed on me - like being wealthy - that just were not true - I was one of six kids of an elisted serviceman fer chrissakes. I remember resenting people just automatically thinking things that were not true.

[tinfoil tiaras]

64. I havent personally experienced bigotry

-I'm a white heterosexual female (sexism really isn't that big down here, at least where i am), but everyone, and i mean EVERYONE uses gay as an insult (e.g. "That's so gay!", "You're such a fag!", etc). And I get really mad when people do that because I believe in equality and love. Ironically, it's the kids at my church group that use anti-gay slurs the most often (I go on a church trip and I couldn't count the number of times the word "gay" or "fag" or whatever was used in a negative context). So much for them "loving Christians"...:eyes:

[EFerrari]

65. Can't live with them, can't live without 'em.

lol

[EFerrari]

68. I'm very surprised that a majority of responses indicate having

experienced bigotry first hand.

[countryjake]

69. kick for the night crew

[EFerrari]

70. and one more

[ThsMchneKilsFascists]

71. bigotry can come in different forms

About 5 years ago, while working for a previous employer, several co-workers and I were selected for a company initiative at our sister facility in a neighboring district.
It consisted of 3 days of meetings and alot of free time to kill in the evenings.
Our last evening there, it was decided somehow that we'd go as a group to karaoke at a local motor inn.
The senior person among us was from head office and had traveled about 1500 miles to attend.
He had a tele-conference but said he'd stop by eventually when he was free.
Fast forward - it's karaoke night in this little town in the middle of nowhere.
As I suspect is the case with karaoke most nights in most places, it was slightly pitiful.
However, one young lady got up to do a Gladys Knight song.
She was very good.
She also happened to be black.
The place gave her a big round of genuine applause.
10 mins. later in walks tele-conference guy from head office and sits down beside me.
Pleasant chit chat ensues.
Then it's announced that the girl who can actually sing is going to get up again and do a Diana Ross song.
She walks past our table and I comment to the late arrival, " This should be pretty good"
He announces loudly and with great indignation in front of our rather large group, "That was a pretty racist thing to say"
I explained that she'd got up and sang earlier and did a great job. I expected that she'd probably do a great job again.
To be called a racist for an innocent comment in front of an influential set of co-workers by a superior was one of the most awkward situations I've ever been in work-wise.
I realize that there was likely some serious projection on his part but for a split second there I did feel like slugging him, I'll admit.

[Raine]

72. I'm a WASP, though I don't look it...

I'm half Norwegian and the other half English and Irish, I have black hair and brown eyes. People who are stupid and know nothing for some idiotic reason assume that anyone with dark hair and eyes is Hispanic so I have gotten my share of bigoted treatment and remarks. My brother (who also has dark hair and eyes)and I have been stopped numerous times by the police while driving. We have done nothing wrong and once the cops come over look at our IDs, see our European last names and our address (white area) ALWAYS let us go without citing us for anything. I've had remarks made that are so ugly and hurtful I don't even want to repeat them. :-(

[NMMNG]

73. The Right-wingers have institutionalized bigotry

And now they're trying to make it a protected religious right by having eradicated laws that protect gays/lesbians from discrimination and hate crimes. And when gays have been eradicated whose rights will be next on the chopping block? My guess is women...

[EFerrari]

76. They're already going after women via the abortion issue

and that whole home schooling movement.

[NMMNG]

98. And the birth control and HPV vaccine issues

Because women don't deserve protection from unwanted pregnancies and cervical cancer. :sarcasm:

[EFerrari]

75. Morning kick

[Catherine Vincent]

77. I voted in the poll but in all honesty, I can't think of a time

when I experience bigotry except after I entered the work force. But thinking back when I was a kid, I don't remember. I guess it's because we always lived segregated where there were only blacks and my family stayed away from predominately white areas. We lived in a large city, so that wasn't hard to do. But when we visited my grandparents in Louisiana, in a small town, I saw more white people and I knew that we would be treated differenly if we were white.

I remember when I was in elementary school, it was all black students. Except in my class, there was one white girl. But I don't remember any bigotry toward her, in fact, she was treated very good and I guess it's because she was the only white in the school. Her parents must have been liberal because I know there is no way conservative parents would want their little child attending an all black school.

[EFerrari]

78. My family was the only brown one in a working class Irish

neighborhood. My uncle used to have to clean up curse words and insults that someone kept painting on the side of the house.

Once, one of my teachers asked if I was sure that I wasn't Italian because she didn't want me to be Latina. lol

[bleedingheart]

80. I have witnessed both racial, ethnic and religious bigotry

I have experienced religious bigotry as a Catholic...

and I have been looked down upon because of my "hunky" eastern european roots.

I have also seen extended family..uncles make fun of others because of their background...

My father was Croatian..he didn't like Italians
My mother didn't like Wasps ...then her two daughters married men with Waspy backgrounds and that one dropped off the radar...

[Odin2005]

81. I've seem bigotry against Hispanics and Native Americans.

My hometown in NW Minnesota is not too far from an Indian Reservation and a common remark was "be careful if your driving through 'the Res' because they'll scalp you." I've also heard people takinf about how the "dirty, lazy Mexicans are stealing our jobs."

[MUSTANG_2004]

84. Sometimes it's not exactly bigotry

Some of bigotry isn't so much a dislike of a race, as being more comfortable with your own "clan".

As far as my experience, I have an obviously Hispanic name. In college I saw that "John Smith", a friend whose work experience was almost identical to mine, got far more calls for employment than I did. I doubt it was blatant anti-Hispanic bigotry so much as, when given a choice, people prefer to deal with people who they most identify with. And, unfortunately for me, more people identity with "John Smith" than "Juan Carlos".

[EFerrari]

86. Good point. Discomfort with the unfamiliar does shade

into bigotry for some people. Not for everyone, though.

I (unfortunately) heard DeWine yesterday talking about multiculturalism as if it was a plague. He might or might not believe that but he sure is selling it.

[demosincebirth]

90. Didn't think it was racism or bigotry? You can't have a much

better example of racism.

[everythingsxen]

91. I have noted plenty of bigotry...

all sorts of all types.

One of my favorites though was several months back, when they were talking about the Mega-churches on the Daily Show. I was on the phone with my girl and she was freaked out because John Stewart seemed kind of freaked out. It was about how the Mega-Churches were being use as political bases. This lady at work who I was sort of friends with asked me what was wrong and I explained that my girl, who is Jewish, was freaked out because John Stewart, also Jewish, about hardcore Christians taking over and using churches as political rallying points. Her response:

"Why is it any of her business? She's a Jew. She is just being a hysterical Jew." The way she said it too.... :scared:

[Bjornsdotter]

92. My grandfather referred to my Dad

...as a stupid DP, displaced person to the younger crowd. My grandfather would have been great buddies with Archie Bunker.

Whenever I complained to my Mom, she would just say he didn't mean it. Yes he did, he meant every hateful word.

Cheers

[bobbolink]

93. THere's a tremendous amount of bigotry against poor people!

The assumption, when you have to apply for any help, is that you're lazy, ignorant, and just plain a bad person who needs to be watched all the time.

It's what black men must feel like when they see people crossing the street to avoid them.

I've often felt like I should should "UNclean, unclean!" wherever I go.

The funny (haha) thing is, it doesn't matter whether it's a Dem or a Rep..... the bigotry against poor people takes the same form.

Why... I've experienced it right here on DU. Who'da thunk...?!

[EFerrari]

95. DU is like everywhere else. We have all the flavors right here.

Thanks for bringing this up. :hug:

[bobbolink]

115. Hugs always help! The problem with the bigotry with poverty

is the isolation!!

If you're a person of color receiving the bigotry, it's ugly and hard to live with. However, there are other people in the same boat to get support from.

Same with being gay, Jewish, etc.

Being poor and discriminated against is a whole different case--often we are not in touch with others who are experiencing the same thing, and there is NO ORGANIZATION dedicated to our protection. And, often, on top of that, we are not believed.

Yet, we're supposed to handle it all with grace and applomb. A huge expectation!

[bobbolink]

140. And, as if on cue, we have the added "flavor" of trashing those who

are unfortunate enough to have a label of "mental illness" hung on them!!

Methinks it's time for many to reread their Jung!!

"The Shadow(self) knows...."

:pals:

[Mr_Spock]

96. I was called "one of them" at a bar

I guess having white skin, but wavy brown hair is all one needs to be tied to OBL.

:eyes:

I'm bigoted too - against bigots.

[EFerrari]

101. What is the matter with people.

Really, "one of them"? Geezus.

[Mr_Spock]

103. He repeated it several times too - embarassing me in front of everyone...

Good thing he was just an old drunk RW bigot, I was clenching my fist - ready to take him out.

[EFerrari]

104. Well, I'm glad you didn't waste skin cells on him.

And you have to know that somebody will eventually.

[Beausoir]

97. Some people hate me for the way I look. DU has a lot to learn about this.

Some people consider me beautiful.

Some people don't.

Bigotry is almost always based on physical perception.

[EFerrari]

102. I posted this poll because it's clear that the Thuggery are using

bigotry as a wedge. The more we understand, the better we can counter it.

:)

[Joe Bacon]

99. I deal with it everyday

I'd like to go through a single day without it, but I doubt I will live to see that day come to pass :-(

[EFerrari]

100. Hi there, Joe.

I'm thinking the deal is to furnish you life with good people. There's a bunch of good people in the world.

I haven't read you before. Welcome to DU.

:)

[Solon]

105. Don't know how to respond, honestly...

OK, let me see if I can explain, I'm a white guy, as far as experiences of bigotry directed at me, personally, never happened. However, I do have a tendancy to take the bigotry directed at other groups personally. I think its mostly because most of my friends, and girlfriends, in life, weren't/aren't white. In addition to this, in the past, to "keep the peace" so to speak, especially in workplace enviroments, I've usually kept silent when racist, bigoted remarks were said in my presence. However, I have simply lost my tolerance of it entirely, and when I find myself in a group of WASPs, SOMETHING is going to happen, most likely an argument, and so far, only once, an actual fight(He threw first punch). Anyways, at this point in my life, I generally avoid white people entirely, outside of family and good friends. I know its a generalization, but in my experience, most white people are racist, and I simply don't feel comfortable around them anymore.

[EFerrari]

106. This is a very difficult topic and thank you for your honesty.

I think we'd do well to try to get up a vocabulary, a way to converse, because it's about to get much worse as the Thuggery pulls out the stops. :(

[Solon]

109. I have about 2 people to thank for my attitudes on racism...

my parents. OK, let me put it this way, my parents are rather progressive in many ways(Mom's a firebrand Feminist and Socialist!). Anyways, let's see if I can explain, OK, the first time I heard the word "nigger" was in the movie "Roots", which, as a child, I was "forced" to watch(Mom's educational period). Actually, that is probably inaccurate, I probably heard the word in school first, but without any real context, I didn't understand what it meant, and I was close to 10 at the time! Anyways, after I watched Roots, I understood the context, and was frankly repulsed by the meaning of the word. All my Mom said was that it was an ugly word that bad people use against blacks for no good reason.

OK, here's a little more context into my life, my Grandmother wrote integration legislation(A matter of pride for the family) for University City, Missouri back in the 1960s or so. Not to mention that my Grandparents didn't participate in "White Flight", and when I spent the night at their house I don't remember any of their neighbors who were white. Given this history, when my Grandmother was AGAIN bugging me about getting married, I thought I'd ruffle her feathers when I talked about a woman I dated(went away for college, it sucks), who happened to have been of Japanese/African American descent, I even mentioned she was Buddhist(Grandma's a STRONG Catholic). My Grandma's only response was that she always wanted to be in a Traditional Japanese wedding! Considering the woman I was dating said the EXACT same thing on our first date, that sort of freaked me out in a deja vu sort of way! :)

Hopefully she will be back in September, though I thought her trying to cram 2 years of college into 1 is crazy, but knock on wood. :)

[EFerrari]

111. Good luck to both of you and, lol, I think we had the same grandma.

I traveled to El Salvador with mine. We were in an ice cream parlor when a guy walked in and pulled a gun on the cashier -- he wanted back pay. The whole place froze! But, my grandma got up, went over and took the gun out of his hands. "Stop this RIGHT NOW. You have no business pulling a gun in a room full of children . . ."

:scared:

:)

[Solon]

114. Damn, that must have been scary...

My Grandmother is a world traveler herself, though I don't know HOW she would handle that situation, your Grandma is brave, I think I would have froze myself.

As far as the woman I was going out with, let me just say that timing isn't my strong suit. Ask her out, find out than in 3 months, she's moving to Hawaii for college, but still said yes, so I become standoffish instantly because of the cloud of her leaving. Awkward, but fun at the same time, went out at least once a week every week, and talked almost every night on the phone, even after we went out. I lost count of how many poems of heir's she read to me over the phone. After she moved, she called a few times, but the conversations, for practical reasons(time difference) were short, and just not the same. In addition to this, she was using her mom's computer at home for e-mail, and didn't have a computer for school, so e-mails were out. Talk about aggravating, and eventually the calls just stopped. To be honest, I don't really KNOW what's happening with her, I'm really bad on the phone, usually if its not a scheduled call, its missed rather easily, and I almost never check messages(bad habit).

In fact, both of us are introverts, basically, every time we went out, we would say to each other, "I'll call tomorrow, but if I don't, it doesn't mean I don't want to talk". Not to mention that we both, under normal circumstances, would have to be dragged outside to go anywhere. Yet, we hung out damned near everyday and did stuff together as if we knew each other for a lifetime or more. Plus the fact that she called almost every night, and I waited by the phone, hell, I would get home from just dropping her off, and I would get a call from her, and we would talk till the wee hours of the morning. I don't know, it just seemed like I met the "ONE" and let her go. At this point in time, I could say I'm over her, but damn, sometimes we just have too many regrets and stuff. Let me just say that she left an impression, I'm sure it shows. :)

[Evoman]

112. I'm hispanic...from South America

My siblings and my dad look as hispanic as you can get, but I inherited my moms german genes. I have heard the term "dirty spic" more times that I needed. I almost beat the shit out of a guy once for saying it..had him against the wall and was gonna crack him, but I gained control. I didn't want to be that violent guy.

I have also heard countless racist statements about other nationalities from people who think I'm white. I don't fucking get it...why do people think its okay to confide to other white people their prejudices.

My brother was accused of a crime he didn't commit...twice. Once, when he was a janitor, they accused him of hacking into one of the computers in that building and using it to surf the web. Lol..my brother knows shit all about computers. Not only that, but the webpages were all arabic pages, and my brother doesn't speak arabic. The manager of the janitorial company, who fingered my brother, was an Arab...but they didn't accuse him, just my innocent brother. Another time they accused him of breaking into the Janitorial Companies building and stealing computers, and even said that they found his DNA in the building, just to try and trap him. They caught the guys later, but my brother, hispanic that he is, was the first suspect. They thought it was him because they thought he was getting revenge for their prior accusations.

If those were my only stories....
My family and I have deep suspicions about cops. Actually no...sorry, but most of the time I have a hatred of cops, if I am completely honest. I have heard too many racist comments from cops who didn't know I wasn't Hispanic, about Native Americans and Blacks. Its disgusting.

On edit: I am sometimes uncomfortable around large groups of white people for these very reasons. My gf is white, and so our two of my best friends, but I have never heard the same kind of racist remarks from people who were not white. I am definitely NOT saying that all, or even most, white people are racist....but a lot of the ones I've met have been, until they find out my nationality. And I really hate when they START with affirmative action complaints, then go on about racism against whites...and usually finish up with some sort of racist comment. Its disconcerting how many times this happens.

[EFerrari]

113. I have brown hair and green eyes and have had the same

experience -- having people confide their hatreds to me. Yuck!

When I worked as a telephone operator, one of my friends was always late because she got stopped by the police. Driving while black. :mad:

[porphyrian]

116. I'm a White guy, so most of my experience has been in observing...

...bigotry towards others. However, I have had an experience that stands out. I was still in high school and kind of a long-hair. I was at the mall some time near the holidays, so it was kind of packed. I think all I wanted to do was get to the arcade, but there were these business suits blocking my way and strolling kind of slowly. As I got close to them, the balding weasley-looking one glanced at me and moved his wallet to his front pocket. That's the personal experience that stands out, for what it is.

[EFerrari]

118. Sometimes the gestures are really small, aren't they? I wonder

if that weasley guy was even aware of what he was doing.

I've had similar experiences when walking around a suburb in work clothes. Something that small, the appearance of being a laborer, can really set people off. I imagine if Lincoln walked to the 7-11 after a day framing the cabin, he'd get the same reaction.

lol

[porphyrian]

120. Oh, definitely.

Tallahassee still has an enormous number of blue collar tweakers shlepping about, so that reaction isn't too common in most places around here, but it happens. I've said before, it's virtually impossible to separate racism and classism here in the South, as the two have both been institutionalized. Progress is slow - five steps forward, four back, but there's some progress, thankfully.

[Philosoraptor]

117. I'm in a motorized wheelchair.

A whole other level.

[EFerrari]

124. I have no experience with mobility issues at all. Well, one of my

my friends is a blind entertainer and he uses his experience with discrimination in his act so he literally gets the last laugh.

I'm pretty ignorant of that whole other level, mostly. :(

[Philosoraptor]

126. It's amazing all the places we can't get into.

But I've always related to and taken lessons from the black civil rights movement. I've tried to get dozens of places made accessible, with no luck whatsoever.

[EFerrari]

130. Please forgive my ignorance. Is there a network you can hook into?

I know there are advocacy groups here in San Francisco.

But, I also know that they are fought, tooth and nail, by the real estate lobby.

[Philosoraptor]

132. there are a few

But they seem somewhat toothless. The places that don't comply use the grandfather clauses and antiquities loopholes. They CAN make them accessible, but choose not to.

It sucks packing up and going somewhere and you can't even get in, then when you can, you can't get in the tiny restroom or its downstairs.

[porphyrian]

133. Here's a good website...

...to check out for disability-related info, specifically with relation to assistive technologies:

http://www.resna.org/taproject/


They also have a listing of state organizations, presumably with state-specific laws and sources (including funding) of assistive services and technologies.

[Philosoraptor]

134. Thanks! bookmarked.

[EFerrari]

135. Thanks, porphyrian!

:)

[im10ashus]

119. I have definitely experienced bigotry.

If you call having a gun put to your head and called "sissy fag" bigotry. Also from my own father who has called me anything but a son when he figured out I was gay. Bigotry hurts.

[EFerrari]

122. Yep. It hurts because it's hatred aimed at the core of yourself.

:hug:

[im10ashus]

127. So true.

Dear old dad and I still don't speak really. I'd almost rather have a gun to my head than deal with his silence. Years of therapy have helped ease the pain. This isn't about me. It's about him and his bigotry. Funny thing though. I was kicked out of the house at 15 and have done more with my life than all of my 5 siblings. I am the only one to have gone to college. I've been a professional actor and now I work for an enormous law firm in NYC. Go figure.

:hug:

[EFerrari]

128. Living well is the best revenge, my friend.

:)

[im10ashus]

129. Amen, my sister.

Amen. My aunt (on my mother's side, of course) said the same thing. She said she thinks his disdain for my being gay has turned into utter contempt for my making something of myself.

[Jazzgirl]

136. Thats because...you are 10ashus.

:evilgrin:

[im10ashus]

138. You rock my world.

That's how I got the name. A director I worked with said that to me. I kind of liked it. Nothing like positive reenforcement.

:hug:

[Karenina]

123. Indeed it does.

:hug:

[im10ashus]

125. Thanks, sweetie!

Back at you!

:hug:

[EFerrari]

139. So, what's with this 5% freeperish response?

lol

This is one of my favorite threads and I don't start very many. God, I love DU. :)

[Bluerthanblue]

141. in many ways yes, and I'm ashamed to admit I've also

held some very bigoted views during my life- some are so glaring that I cringe believing I actually embraced them, and others I probably still am having unveiled to me-

This question brings up quite a few issues in itself- Things all of us could do well to examine ourselves about as individuals- You are an encouragement and an inspiration to me Stefexpat-

Underdog is my 'superhero'- but even that begs the question "am I prejudiced against those who aren't 'the little guy' or the oppressed?"-

As Jewel sang to my pre-pubescent son years back- "

..........
I was thinking, that it might do some good
If we robbed the cynics and took all their food
That way what they believe will have taken place
And we can give it everybody who have some faith

So please be careful with me, I'm sensitive
And I'd like to stay that way

I have this theory, that if we told we're bad
Then that's the only idea we'll ever have
But maybe if we are surrounded in beauty
Someday we will become what we see
'Cause anyone can start a conflict
It's harder yet to disregard it
I'd rather see the world from another angle
We are everyday angels
Be careful with me 'cause I'd like to stay that way"-

peace,
blu