Only logged in members can reply and interact with the post.
Join SimilarWorlds for FREE »

Can only white people be racist?

I’ve seen it around, some people claim only white people can be racist.

Mariam Webster defines racism as: : a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.

Do you believe anyone can be racist? Is the rumor only white people can be racist a racist phrase?

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

SW-User

Here’s the entire definition:

Based on the definition, individuals of any race can hold racist beliefs about people of any other race. These things always seem to framed as white versus black, but there are other examples beyond that. For anyone old enough to remember the LA riots in 1992, one of the major flash points was between the black community and the Korean community, which started when a Korean grocer shot and killed a young black girl and only received probation. When the riots broke out, Korean businesses were prime targets as a result of that tension.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Dvwn4aXE8s]

The one element of the definition where there is some ground to stand for the counter argument is 2a and 2b, and I think that’s where those who argue that only whites can be racist are standing. When I’ve heard that argument in the media or online, it’s being discussed in systemic terms and being pointed out that the social system was engineered by whites for the benefit of whites creating an uphill battle for everyone else. That’s an argument that has merit if viewed over the course of history.

Quizzical · 46-50, M

@SW-User I remember that very well... It was actually the first time I realised that other races COULD harbour resentments and racist attitudes towards each other and that it wasn't JUST a white person thing.

SW-User

I couldn’t find the clip, but I remember seeing footage (perhaps in a documentary) where a group surrounded the entrance to one of the those stores in South Central and repeatedly told the shop owners to go back to Korea. This was before the riots broke out and was around the time that woman was sentenced to probation. @Quizzical

Quizzical · 46-50, M

@SW-User It was certainly an eye-opener

4meAndyou · F

@SW-User The social system in the United States used discrimination regularly prior to the 1960's. Jews were excluded from country clubs. Jews regularly hid their religion in order to "blend in". Blacks were excluded from white society and from white neighborhoods and both openly Jewish people and blacks were not hired at high paying jobs.

It was a very difficult uphill climb for Jews and for blacks to become normalized and accepted in a society that wished to exclude them. What is SO unfortunate, now, is that some people of color wish to start excluding and demonizing the Jews...again. People of color in the United States, (you would think), would understand what discrimination is like...therefore they would never dream of doing it to another human being. You would think that, wouldn't you?

After almost 60 years of attempting to correct the social errors of the past, we now have some people of color who believe, (apparently), that social justice will not be done until the white people are cringing in corners. Which proves absolutely that having sh!t for brains is not a function of race.

And ALL the progress people of color and Jews have made will come to nothing if they begin to demonize each other. We do not wish to become the battleground for the wars of the Middle East.