individuality, racism, etc.
I am thinking a lot this afternoon but I have been thinking about this subject a lot lately. The school I attend is a big melting pot of eclectic personalities, different races and people from all over the world. Our clients are also from everywhere, I've had Czech clients, South American clients, Asian clients, Middle-Eastern clients and Latino clients.
I like meeting people from different countries and cultures. It's interesting when the tell you about their country, etc. I also enjoy working all types of hair. I enjoy working on ethnic hair because there so much you can do with it that I can't do to my own hair.
I was just thinking about what divides us and my first encounter with racism personally. I remember when I was a girl, I think around 8 and was at Freedom Park in Charlotte. My mother use to take me there a lot. I played with an African American girl all day that day. We had such a blast. I asked my mom if she could come for a sleepover. My mom was fine with it but was pretty submissive to my father so called him to ask. He wouldn't allow it because of her race. I remember being sad about it at that time. Now I always try to look at people for who they are no matter what. With all the different ethnicities coming in the school/salon and students I work with I look at their attitude and who they are. If they have a bad attitude or are negative in general I stay away from them regardless. I have recently discovered if I am going to be successful one of the keys to life is surrounding yourself with positive individuals.
Any similiar experiences, insights, etc?
Re: individuality, racism, etc.
There are so many nations and so many different backgrounds. If we all just kept to our own, how ingrown would be become? The world is getting more and more mixed that way. I think you have a great attitude for meeting and working with lots of people with different backgrounds. That helps everyone.
Re: individuality, racism, etc.
I was the only Asian in my school growing up. I'm only half-Japanese, but I remember as early as age 6 people would make slanty eyes or ask me if I ate cats. Not all of it was malicious, as they didn't know better. However, I had my first real encounter when I was 11. You see, I had a classmate who would call me Jap, Chink, Gook, slant-eyes, etc. every day. The teachers didn't do anything, as back then only the N word was considered racist. I'd ask him to stop, but he wouldn't. One day, after several months of this, I looked at him in the eye and said, "You know, calling me those names would be the same as me calling you a n*****." He freaked out, screaming that I was racist. He told everyone that was around, and went to the principal. Luckily, the principal saw right through that hypocrisy. However, word got around about what had happened and I once actually heard, "Omigod that Jap girl called Tony a n*****." Am I the only one to see the absolute fucking hypocrisy in this situation? That situation taught me that all racism is not viewed as equal.
Sadly, that wasn't the last time this has happened. A couple weeks ago, a man (who happened to be African-American) started the "Me ruv you rong time" and "Oriental wimmin have the tightest little pussies and you know how to treat men" bullshit. Somehow I doubt that he's be so forgiving if I had even accidentally mentioned fried chicken or monkeys or something around him. You'd think that people like them would have a modicum of fucking empathy, as they have had racist encounters, but noooooo. Note: I am not targeting black people, I am targeting people who are hypocrites who violate the taboos that they hold so dear.
I wish that all racism was seen as hateful and taboo. Why is it absolutely taboo and verboten to make slurs about black people, slightly less taboo but still taboo to make slurs about Hispanics, but okay to make fun of Asians? Shouldn't they all be equal?
Re: individuality, racism, etc.
I was the only black kid in school for a lot of the time I was there and one of about 10 black people in a town of 84,000 people. This was in England in the 70s. I had to deal with a lot of racism from a very early age but I befriended pretty much everyone who ever called me names at school.
I was denied the chance to learn ballet and the violin amongst other things due to my skin colour but thats about the worst experience I had.
When I moved to Australia in 1986 Ive passed as white most of the time. Its been quite interesting experiencing how the other half live!
Re: individuality, racism, etc.
The junior high school I went to in NY was mostly white, but had a good mix of asian & black. At the time I was in an advanced class, which consisted of myself and 1 other black student who ended up becoming my best friend. I never felt any blatant racism, and I had both white & asian friends I looked forward to greeting everyday.
It wasn't until I was in high school that I went to the mall and saw 3 of my friends from school shopping over the weekend. It occured to me that I was never invited to any sleepovers or hangouts with these same girls from my class. I knew their secrets, family problems, who they had crushes on, we passed notes to each other. But our friendship happened only within school walls. I wondered why that was...maybe their parents would have an issue with my race, or they felt our differences would finally come out if I spend more time with them? Who knew.
Anyhow, I am still a fan of diversity, anywhere I live I am sure that the school district is a good one, and there is a good mix of backgrounds. I have some friends that go straight for the all white schools and that is there perogative. I don't want my daughter to feel like an outcast or that she needs to change things about herself to conform. She can be around people similar to here while learning about others and their cultures. Even though most kids kept in their circles mostly divided by race, I still learned lots of new stuff. Going to synagogues, bat mitvahs, eating greek food, etc.
Re: individuality, racism, etc.
I'm half Filipina and half white, but here in West Texas, I didn't LOOK different from a lot of young Hispanic girls growing up. My first negative racial experience that I recall was telling my parents how I planned to go to some school banquet with a good friend of mine. He was a black guy, maybe 2 years my senior. My parents refused to allow this but made it clear that THEY don't have a problem with his being black. They just "didn't want me to go through something bad" as a result of being seen on a 'date' with a black guy. ::) Whatev.
Re: individuality, racism, etc.
I live in a small-town, probably 90% white just to give a quick background....
Growing up there were 2 black families that were neighbors. One across the street is still lives there and knew his kis, even though they were older than me, until his wife left and took the kids. The other just up the street. Growing up I didn't think of them as black or anything, the neighbor across the street is Charlie, to me that is who he is, being black never had anything to do with it,; the neighbor up the street, Betty, also was a good friend of the families and it was always Betty and her kids by name (who babysat) me, and even slept a week at their house when my parents went on vacation (away from my bro and I :D ). So you can see I didn't really even know that they were black back then 4-5 years old.
One day I'm in another kids house/basement playing and I see a kid, highschool aged, cut through his back-yard. I didn't know who he was, so I asked my friend who he was, and he goes "oh thats [forgot name],.....he's black."
I had to ask my friend what he meant, and told me what the difference between black and white was, but, it always amazed me that growing up I never knew the difference until that point, and it didn't matter what color a person was, it was who the person was, were they good, etc....just something that has always stuck with me.
Re: individuality, racism, etc.
I believe the OP was about not only racial discrimination, but about discrimination within the races themselves.
Here are some examples of that -- Hutus vs. Tutsis (African ethnic groups), Serbs vs. Bosnians (remember that?), Sunnis vs Shiites, and Japanese vs Chinese (WWII). Sometimes there is just SO MUCH HATRED out there, unjustified and ignorant as it is.
Re: individuality, racism, etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
threlayer
I believe the OP was about not only racial discrimination, but about discrimination within the races themselves.
Here are some examples of that -- Hutus vs. Tutsis (African ethnic groups), Serbs vs. Bosnians (remember that?), Sunnis vs Shiites, and Japanese vs Chinese (WWII). Sometimes there is just SO MUCH HATRED out there, unjustified and ignorant as it is.
Ive never lived anywhere thats had a black (African descent) population. I was pretty much the only one in Se Qld when I moved to Australia and its only in the last few years that that has changed ;D
Incidently Im mixed race but Ive never copped any flack from other black people for "not being black enough". Im not saying it doesnt happen of course but I think its more of an American thing than a British one.
Re: individuality, racism, etc.
Isn't it beautiful how children don't really see color? They will ask any other kid to play or sleep over, and they instinctively know that the other kid is not a threat to them.
At what age does that innocence die for children? When do we stop trusting?
I think I told this story before in another thread, but I'll repeat it - My first time being discriminated against was by another kid when I was going with my mom to collect rent from some bad neighborhoods on the east side of Buffalo. She owned rental properties. I was waiting for her to return to the car when I saw a little black boy on a balcony of the second floor. I looked up at him, smiled and possibly waved to say hello. He scowled and said, "What are you lookin' at, UGLY?". I could tell he had some kind of true hatred and distrust in his tone. It really hurt me, and I asked my mother why he would say this and she confirmed my feeling that it was because of my race.
Of course it goes both ways. Another time I was at a bridal shower with my mom and grandmother (her mom). We were waiting for my grandfather to come pick us up outside of some church in an old polish neighborhood, although it wasn't so polish anymore since a lot of blacks were living there as well. I was running around and playing with some toys and making them dance on top of a garbage can. My grandma grabbed my hand and made me put it inside my pocket saying, "Don't touch anything. There are coloreds in this neighborhood!".
Both memories have left a particularly bad emotional imprint. I actually saw my grandmother as being unnecessarily paranoid for her comment, even at a young age. I wondered how a person who is supposedly wise could be that way.
Re: individuality, racism, etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MsQwerty
Ive never lived anywhere thats had a black (African descent) population. I was pretty much the only one in Se Qld when I moved to Australia and its only in the last few years that that has changed ;D
Incidently Im mixed race but Ive never copped any flack from other black people for "not being black enough". Im not saying it doesnt happen of course but I think its more of an American thing than a British one.
When I was 10 or so we moved to a 'bad' city where the two neighboring families were mixed race families and their kids got beat up constantly at the public school for it. As if they could help it. It was moving there that drove home the point that I was 'white' and others were 'black'or whatever.