Friday, August 2, 2019

RACISM

    Every once on a while I have to make a few comments on racism so that I'm thinking about the issue.

   President Trump made it easy to comment on the topic with his recent comments.

   My father was a racist. He was not a man full of hatred for others. He was just ignorant. He was a dummy when it came to racism. He used the n word. He fully used all the Jewish stereotypes. As a result he gave me a good education in racism. He thought white people were at the top on the totem pole. He was most surprised when he met some one who didn't fit this stereotype of what they should be. To him Chinese should run restaurants and do laundry. They should also talk funny and he imitated them. To repeat, my Dad was just ignorant of things. Because I grew up with him I had all of his prejudice. 

    All the people in our small rural district were the same. They strengthened each other's prejudice.

   So in 1957 I finished high school and set out into the big world. I think most people were the same at that time.

    I drifted into teaching aboriginal people with my prejudices firmly attached. We were given some information about different people in our one week orientation but most of the prejudice stayed with me.

    The big bomb shell hit when I went to someone's house and knocked on the door. I could hear them talking inside and they said it was a white man at the door. It struck me like a knife. I'll never forget that instant. I have gradually changed from then on. For two whole years I was called the white man (kabloona). I didn't mind that term. I became used to it.

    Now I'm very picky about what people say. I don't like to hear people joking about issues. 

   It has to go much further than chat. We have to be able to live and work  on a daily basis with other races. 

   Where I live there are many racists and white supremacists.  Much  work needs to be done by society to teach us what racism is and in that way just maybe racism will be come a bit less.

35 comments:

  1. Interesting post. I grew up with no exposure to the "other", but I never understood the cruelty of racism. I was in high school during the beginning of the civil rights movement and we listened to/watched the national news. That's where I became aware of racism.

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    1. That was a very nasty time. We didn't gain as much as we thought.

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  2. Red I sure know what you mean about home taught racism. I saw and heard a lot of it as a youngster. For whatever reason it mostly escaped me, thankfully. Am glad to know you have mostly over come it too.

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    1. You use a good word "overcome". That's exactly what it's about. I still catch myself saying inappropriate things.

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  3. What I’ve learned about Trump ... Listen to what he says and then know that the opposite is closer to the truth. For example, just this week he said he was the least racist person in the world. Now, if you’ve been watching what he does you know the opposite is much closer to truth. Sadly, I think racism in the USA is getting worse in the last few years. I think you are exactly right, we need a lot of teaching by society so we can all get along better.

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    1. I think that the racism that's just below the surface now has permission to rise.

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  4. Of course racism also exists in non-white, non-Christian communities. Sometimes media reports on racism suggest that it is all one way traffic. It's not. I love the term "kabloona". It sounds like someone who is always making mistakes and tripping over as if in a silent movie. Such a meaning could not possibly be attached to you Red!

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    1. Yes, racism definitely goes both ways. Kabloona is an inuit word meaning white man. And yes some of us are clumsy...including me.

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  5. Hello, I would have thought racism would have been over years ago. Apparently people can not change, they may hide it well. Since Trump has entered office he makes it Ok to be a racist, he seems to incite trouble. Sorry, he makes me rant. Enjoy your weekend!

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  6. It does make a difference where and how you were raised. I was brought up moving around a lot, since my father was in the Air Force. We lived on military bases where there were plenty of diverse people, so I didn't get the same dose of it you had, Red. It is a learned thing, and can be unlearned just as well. You are great example of that.

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    1. I still find myself saying inappropriate things.

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  7. The first eight years of my life were spent in a very diverse inner city neighborhood in Newark, NJ. When we moved to the suburbs I remember my first day of school when I came home and told my parents that everyone looked the same. Everyone was white and had blond hair. I am brown-skinned and Jewish, so the transition blew my mind. I had a dream once that we would all see each other as fellow humans, one species on our one and only planet, but that dream has utterly faded.

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    1. Your dream may have faded but there is no doubt that that's what we need.

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  8. I did not become aware of racism until I was in the 5th or 6th grades and certain things that happened enlightened me immmensely.

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  9. My parents raised us to take people one at a time, to judge them by who they are and what they do, not by the group they belong to. And so bigotry still has that bad effect on me.

    Oddly enough not all of their children took the lessons to heart. One of the reasons I've had a permanent falling out with my sisters is that to one degree or another both turned out to be bigots.

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    1. Judging each person as an individual is what it's all about. You were fortunate to have had good guidance.

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  10. We saw it in Alaska when we lived there in the 90s. In the villages you had the Park Service people who were white on one side of town and the other side were the Natives. Not all the relationships were racist but some were.

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    1. Inuvik , NWT is set up the same way. Whites live on one side and aboriginals on the other side. Many whites knew very little about the aboriginals.

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  11. I must say my father educated me in much the same way. Fortunate over the years he met people of various background and gradualy changed hi views through positive experiences for that I give him credit and my mom for helping him along...:)

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    1. Exposure to others is important .We have to see the world as others see it.

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  12. You hit the nail on the head when you say it comes from ignorance. Racist people are often completely inexperienced in actually dealing with diverse groups of people, and all their assumptions are based on stereotypes. When they MEET people of different races they're often shocked to find out that -- surprise -- WE'RE ALL HUMAN!

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    1. Very true Steve. In some areas we are not exposed to diversity.

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  13. Wow. You said it well. My parents were under the radar racists. they never said a word, but their treatment of black, Mexicans, India, was clear.

    My siblings and I (two have passed) haven't inherited that attitude. We moved out of that rural area and saw a difference.

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    1. You not only saw a difference but recognized what it meant. Thanks for visiting Hiawatha House.

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  14. You are right — racism used to come from ignorance. In today’s world and the Information Age, there is no excuse for ignorance. Racism now comes from entitlement and anger, a failure of empathy and loss manners and kindness, mob mentality and the prevailing Me First attitude. This past weekend has left me feeling so sick at heart. Thanks for writing about this subject, Red.

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    1. It seems like racism is spread more widely with the digital age.

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  15. A very thought-provoking post Red, evocative. I grew up in the UK so my dad being a police officer, he had several interpreters he used in his work. Some of those interpreters he brought home and mum cooked them dinner. We were introduced to other cultures at an early age. I've been very grateful to my parents for those early teachings.

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    1. We only saw others in pictures. We heard all the stereotypes.

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  16. I was brought up in a multi-cultural city by parents who had friends in different cultures. I've founds white supremacy (or black supremacy for that matter) totally anathema. The hatred of man by man makes me weep.

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  17. this is powerful and precious post dear Red !

    not i nor you will live forever but your honest words and insightful thoughts will guide others for long

    here before our migration to village there lived Hindus but muslims were in majority
    i used to listen same stuff about them ,there were hardly few who liked each other on bases of humanity

    simply it was matter of ignorance
    things can change bit faster if nations who have ability to influence other nations start to accept their equality

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