If we’re not socialized with other races while young, then we grow up thinking of other races as “them” instead of “us”. It’s instincts from when we lived in tribes and anyone that you didn’t grow up around was the enemy. But the same as a dog needing to be exposed to other animals while young so they’re used to them as an adult.
Which is why adult racists have an issue with non-segregated schools.
They want kids to grow up and be racist like they are. They want the next generation to only look as deep as skin color to determine if someone is friend or foe.
Same reason Alabama banned Sesame Street long after PBS had it in every other state.
The individual racists probably don’t understand it, but the ones leading the mobs understand the psychology behind this shit. Like how in American History X Ed Norton didn’t understand what he was doing, but the old asshole in charge was playing chess. Dont discount racists as idiots that don’t know any better. Some are actually smart and manipulating the mob of uneducated idiots.
Same reason Alabama banned Sesame Street long after PBS had it in every other state.
My mother would edit our episodes on VCR with all the spanish parts and visiting other countries out. So we could only watch that show on tape, never off the TV itself.
There is a reason why I have never felt the need to introduce her to her grandchildern.
I remember flipping channels as a kid and happening upon a Spanish-language channel that was playing a fully subbed and dubbed Spanish recording of Sesame Street. I just remember watching in awe as I saw the exact same show I’ve always watched but in a completely different language
I firmly believe that lack of exposure to people of different cultures or races leads people to be racist and not necessarily realize it. If you’re never around X, how can you know you have an inappropriate reaction to X?
To illustrate this, I didn’t know about my escalator phobia until I moved away for college. I entered the mall, saw these moving stair-things, and felt a deep fear in the pit of my stomach. I hadn’t seen an escalator since I was a toddler and, if you’d asked me on high school, I’d have denied having a phobia.
(I’ve successfully worked on my phobia over the last decade, showing that changing inappropriate reactions is possible)
I dunno, white people in the antebellum south had lots of exposure to people of different cultures/races (aka the slaves on which they were economically dependent) and they still managed to be racist as fuck. I think waving away racism as just the result of ignorance obscures its real character as straight-up exploitation of other human beings.
I don’t believe ignorance or lack of familiarity is the root of all racism, or even most, just a factor in some of it.
I grew up in a practically all-white school system because I grew up in a practically all-white rural county. I had to unlearn a lot of things when I move to New England. A lot of people never leave their comfort zone.
I believe exposing kids to people from varied backgrounds helps them not grow up to be bigoted. I don’t believe it’s fair to expect minority kids to represent their minority–I had a small taste of that growing up with an unusual last name and accent in my town. I don’t know how to reconcile those two beliefs.
Yes. My experience has been that nobody is as racist as Northern men who move to Florida. My ex said he went to “the white school” in Michigan, up north is segregated for real. We had enforced school integration but as a kid I was not aware of it, just went to school with school kids - it still got sort of segregated but not really, and my kids even less so, it does work.
But then those guys move down here and are not prepared for how diverse our population is. And they react badly.
Pretty much the same in any country with a majority ethnic population. They lived in an area for hundreds, sometimes fighting wars for it, and so it’s not easy to have them give away their lands to people who are completely different down to the religion and imagine a completely different future. America is being pushed to have a civil war over it though likely to other countries interest. One that is very ethnically populated mind you.
Humans are animals…
If we’re not socialized with other races while young, then we grow up thinking of other races as “them” instead of “us”. It’s instincts from when we lived in tribes and anyone that you didn’t grow up around was the enemy. But the same as a dog needing to be exposed to other animals while young so they’re used to them as an adult.
Which is why adult racists have an issue with non-segregated schools.
They want kids to grow up and be racist like they are. They want the next generation to only look as deep as skin color to determine if someone is friend or foe.
Same reason Alabama banned Sesame Street long after PBS had it in every other state.
The individual racists probably don’t understand it, but the ones leading the mobs understand the psychology behind this shit. Like how in American History X Ed Norton didn’t understand what he was doing, but the old asshole in charge was playing chess. Dont discount racists as idiots that don’t know any better. Some are actually smart and manipulating the mob of uneducated idiots.
My mother would edit our episodes on VCR with all the spanish parts and visiting other countries out. So we could only watch that show on tape, never off the TV itself.
There is a reason why I have never felt the need to introduce her to her grandchildern.
I remember flipping channels as a kid and happening upon a Spanish-language channel that was playing a fully subbed and dubbed Spanish recording of Sesame Street. I just remember watching in awe as I saw the exact same show I’ve always watched but in a completely different language
I firmly believe that lack of exposure to people of different cultures or races leads people to be racist and not necessarily realize it. If you’re never around X, how can you know you have an inappropriate reaction to X?
To illustrate this, I didn’t know about my escalator phobia until I moved away for college. I entered the mall, saw these moving stair-things, and felt a deep fear in the pit of my stomach. I hadn’t seen an escalator since I was a toddler and, if you’d asked me on high school, I’d have denied having a phobia.
(I’ve successfully worked on my phobia over the last decade, showing that changing inappropriate reactions is possible)
I dunno, white people in the antebellum south had lots of exposure to people of different cultures/races (aka the slaves on which they were economically dependent) and they still managed to be racist as fuck. I think waving away racism as just the result of ignorance obscures its real character as straight-up exploitation of other human beings.
I don’t believe ignorance or lack of familiarity is the root of all racism, or even most, just a factor in some of it.
I grew up in a practically all-white school system because I grew up in a practically all-white rural county. I had to unlearn a lot of things when I move to New England. A lot of people never leave their comfort zone.
I believe exposing kids to people from varied backgrounds helps them not grow up to be bigoted. I don’t believe it’s fair to expect minority kids to represent their minority–I had a small taste of that growing up with an unusual last name and accent in my town. I don’t know how to reconcile those two beliefs.
Yes. My experience has been that nobody is as racist as Northern men who move to Florida. My ex said he went to “the white school” in Michigan, up north is segregated for real. We had enforced school integration but as a kid I was not aware of it, just went to school with school kids - it still got sort of segregated but not really, and my kids even less so, it does work.
But then those guys move down here and are not prepared for how diverse our population is. And they react badly.
In the South a black guy can be your neighbor but never your boss, in the North a black guy can be your boss but never your neighbor.
Pretty much the same in any country with a majority ethnic population. They lived in an area for hundreds, sometimes fighting wars for it, and so it’s not easy to have them give away their lands to people who are completely different down to the religion and imagine a completely different future. America is being pushed to have a civil war over it though likely to other countries interest. One that is very ethnically populated mind you.
You can call it faith if you want. I think humans can share resources with other humans even if they are different without civil wars.