Your Experiences of Racism

So I was trawling round on the 'net earlier on, when I found some information about the lunatic asylum that is the Westboro Baptist Church.

From which I found this and this.

I occasionally still encounter this bigoted opinion of the Irish people; that we're all idiot drunkards with nothing to contribute. You'd think the world had moved on since the 1930s, but apparently not everyone has. Now, obviously I don't put any credence in the words of the WBC (primarily because they couldn't find two brain cells to rub together between them), but this willful, self-righteous ignorance still irks me.

Share your stories of racism here, that we all might commiserate; lest we forget.

"You can only come to the morning through the shadows."

Any racism?

Well, I've been bullied before for being white, but it wasn't really that serious...

"No, no, white boy, can't sit here, go to the white table blah blah blah"

Any racism at all. It's all fucked-up, after all.

"You can only come to the morning through the shadows."

Little kids have called me beaner and I've been in fights with racist rednecks. I've been called a terrorist by my friend's boyfriend and accused of being an immigrant because of a mild speech impediment.

"It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt." - Some guy with a snazzy hat.

That entire forum is a scam intended as some sort of parody upon Baptism/fanatism. More information on their Wikipidia page.

edited 1st Jun '14 3:49:03 AM by tachi

Scaramouch, scaramouch will you do the fandango?

Well that's a relief! Thanks for the protip. Nevertheless, it's barely any worse than the genuine God Hates Ireland page.

@Kitsune; I'm sorry to have to ask this, but what does "beaner" mean?

@Tachi; holy crap. Why did they take English being spoken so badly?

edited 21st Apr '11 11:55:58 AM by DanEile

"You can only come to the morning through the shadows."

Ughhh... don't get me started on this. Slavic people hate each other more than anything.

I go to school with many foreign people where I have to listen to my classmates' complaints daily about lack of jobs because of immigrants in the first place who can barely speak Slovenian and will work for smaller pays. Since it's practically a rule here that if you mess with one of them, they will come after you with their entire family (that's what family entertainment means here) and beat the crap out of your people.

There is also a disturbing amount of them who would rather kill everyone else for merely existing (like that one little nihilistic shit in class who keeps saying "I hope Fukushima explodes" and/or "Who the hell cares, just drop a nuke on them"). I have never seen more apathetic and nonchalant people in the world and I've seen the internet.

"Liar liar on the wall, give the world to me..."

Thump.

edited 1st Jun '14 3:49:21 AM by tachi

Scaramouch, scaramouch will you do the fandango?

It's a racial slur against Mexicans. It has to do with how their food often has beans in it.

So, in the U.S., randomly stripping is a signal that you want to sing the national anthem? - That Human

The English are generally quite hostile toward Scots, but without any specific focus for it; they don't seem to know why they don't like us. I think it's possibly because their monarchy is half-Scottish and half-German, our banks own all their houses and all the best Englishmen actually come from Edinburgh.

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown probably didn't help matters, mind you.

'All he needs is for somebody to throw handgrenades at him for the rest of his life...'

You have free universities and Scrooge McDuck. If nothing else, I'll always love you!

edited 21st Apr '11 12:16:30 PM by Tachi

Scaramouch, scaramouch will you do the fandango?

I was in New York recently, and I asked a girl what the whole "the Irish beat their wives" thing was about. Apparently that's a stereotype of American drunks, and since the Irish are drunk all the time...well, put two and two together.

Later we made out in the bathroom. I kinda wish I'd asked for her last name.

Nicely done, fellow countryman.

Yeah, the Irishman stereotype seems to swing both ways in America; we're either mocked and disliked, or affectionately mocked and inexplicably loved.

edited 21st Apr '11 12:51:16 PM by DanEile

"You can only come to the morning through the shadows."

Over here the stereotypes of Irishmen are built upon Leprechauns, whiskey and temperamental redheads with freckles.

All I know is that the Irish accent is adorable, and I don't get half of what you're saying.

edited 21st Apr '11 12:57:03 PM by Tachi

Scaramouch, scaramouch will you do the fandango?

That's... A relatively positive stereotype, insofar as it's not exactly harmful, if a little inaccurate.

I've encountered far more damaging stereotypes in parts of Britain and America though.

"You can only come to the morning through the shadows."

Mild case; when I lived in Cinci, I was literally the only "white"*

kid in the school. Most people were okay with it, because my stepfather was black and because I spoke with a flawless accent (I can do this with basically any accent, mind you).

However, there was this one teacher that occasionally made little aside comments and such. At one point, he was screaming at me because I wouldn't write out a sentence a hundred times *

and called me a 'cracker'.

Needless to say, the principal was on his ass like white on rice, and he lost his right to teach in America.

My name is Cu Chulainn. Beside the raging sea I am left to moan. Sorrow I am, for I brought down my only son.

Cheers, lad. It wasn't that hard. We make smalltalk for like two hours and then she dragged me off. I think what did it was either my snazzy new suit or my accent. Either way, I felt like a boss.

"Irish Accent" is incredibly vague. Pretty much every town with more than 1000 people has its own accent in Ireland.

edited 21st Apr '11 1:03:59 PM by SoberIrishman

Sweet dancing Jesus. Racial slurs coming from a teacher would make at least the evening papers here.

edited 21st Apr '11 1:04:42 PM by DanEile

"You can only come to the morning through the shadows."

You think? My history teacher once called me a "fat fenian fuck".

Wow. That's pretty brutal. To be honest, I suppose it depends on the area. In Dublin, certainly, calling someone something like that would earn a suspension/dismissal and an appearance in the local media, I'd wager.

Also probably depends on the slur. "Fenian" doesn't bear quite the sting in the South that it used to. Some even revel in the idea.

edited 21st Apr '11 1:09:05 PM by DanEile

"You can only come to the morning through the shadows."

Even up here it's not quite as bad as it used to be. "Taig" is usually considered slightly worse.

I was going to take her up for it actually, but someone beat me to it. Turns out she has no qualifications at all. Plus she nearly let a student die from an asthma attack because she didn't like them.

edited 21st Apr '11 1:12:51 PM by SoberIrishman

I am not proud of this story. Though it is funny in a twisted way.

edited 21st Apr '11 1:15:52 PM by Leradny

Thump.

edited 1st Jun '14 3:50:03 AM by tachi

Scaramouch, scaramouch will you do the fandango?

The weird thing is, I'm not even Mexican. Hicks are pretty goddamn stupid, so why should anyone expect more of their young?

"It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt." - Some guy with a snazzy hat.

Hmm, The only account I recall was from second grade with the bitchy teacher nobody liked. It would seem that she would mark down my work despite my work usually being done correctly, and it wasn't an issue for the other students. My mother being the activist that she is intervened readily. May sound like punishment for a troublemaker except I never quite was and was basically only one of two black kids in the class so something was obviously up.

After that, nothing, but then when you're in Africa for 5 years you get beat down on for many things not related to race.

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