<p>Lots of people think negatively about the "predominant culture" of a particular racial group (aka, they hate "black culture" or "hispanic culture"). But at the same time, they could respect specific people who rejected their own "racial culture".</p>
<p>How prevalent is this type of "racism", compared to the other type of racism, where you look down on anyone of a particular race regardless of what s/he does?</p>
<p>Or maybe it comes in degrees? Maybe many people are somewhere in the middle. They're willing to be "close friends" with someone of a different race, but they're generally cold towards people of that race (unless they prove otherwise) and are willing to say negative things about that race.</p>
<h1>3 fits my dad. He’s white. We live in New Mexico, near the southern border. His only friends are black and hispanic, but whenever he gets road rage he literally will just exclaim comments like “F**king Mexicans don’t know how to drive”. Plenty of other instances like this in public, too.</h1>
<p>I think that happens a lot because most people are no longer racist, but they still have persisting stereotypes of racial groups.</p>
<p>Even if a person is not racist, they automatically associate unknown things with mental stereotypes. So when a person sees someone that they don’t know, they associate them with past experiences involving similar people, even if they know that it is irrational to do so. Due to various reasons, some legitimate and some not, many people have negative mental associations with black people.</p>
<p>If you know someone personally, then you don’t think of them as an abstract member of a category, so your stereotypes don’t come into play.</p>
<p>To me, there’s a difference between being racist and being prejudiced. I don’t think it’s okay or fair to be prejudiced or to believe too much into stereotypes. I also think that it’s more okay to be racist… because isn’t it a natural human tendency to categorize or stereotype groups? I mean, that’s why we have classes and orders of plants and animals and stuff, right?</p>
<p>Unfortunately we stereotype based on races and different things. It seems to me that people are just straight up racist, racist and dont show it, or they dont care. I try not to stereotype, I am friends with other races and stuff. I treat everyone the same. My dad can be racist sometimes tho, its sad:P</p>
<p>In my experiences, the line between stereotype and racism is blurred at times.
I remember reading “To Kill a Mockingbird.” in freshmen year and some students were so appalled by the constant use of the N word, but at the same time they would go along with some stereotypes. When my teacher asked them if they believed that it was okay to accuse tom, I remember one classmate saying, “well yeah, black people are always on the news for committing crimes so the guy probably did it.” I felt that that was somewhat hypocritical. </p>
<p>I find that people will often claim that they are joking after saying racist statements. One of my classmates is Puerto Rican (sweetest guy ever) and people still hassle him and say things like, “How fast did you run to get over the border? O I am just joking!” and they try to downplay it by making seem like they were not being serious. </p>
<p>My third and final example is when people think that they are being kind but it sounds racist. For example I have heard , “So and so is pretty smart…for a black person.” or “wow I was not expecting a latino to be so hardworking!” (yes I have truly heard both of those) </p>
<p>I am sorry if some examples were offensive, but kids at my school honestly say things like these and it absolutely infuriates me! </p>
<p>Offensiveness aside, that doesn’t even make sense! Puerto Rico is part of the US, last time I checked.</p>
<p>@LaTina: I do not understand. How are you defining racist and prejudice? To me there seems to be no reasonable justification for racism, but prejudice is simply a part of life.</p>
<p>@Mosbymarion:
MY SENTIMENTS EXACTLY! saying that to an actual Mexican American is unacceptable but the fact that they are spewing this garbage to a kid who is from a different place is even more ridiculous.</p>
<p>I’m not racist. I have many black and spanish friends. </p>
<p>However, I just would like to say that black people among black people and spanish people among spanish people GENERALLY don’t make for the best people (in my school in florida).</p>
<p>The black and spanish kids who hang out with kids proportionally to the school’s population regardless of race (they hang out with white people since the school is mostly white) and are in the honors classes are nearly indistinguishable from white kids except for skin color.</p>
<p>I do not agree. I did not say that they should have called my friend a different slur. I stated “saying that to an actual Mexican American is unacceptable” I do not believe that anyone should be adressed in such a derogatory manner. Saying a racist statement to anyone is unacceptable in my book. I did not mean to convey that I felt otherwise, sorry about that</p>
<p>Basically, to me, racism is when you acknowledge the differences between different races or cultures. I know the term “racism” has that negative-ness to it and it can also mean discrimination or intolerance, but I don’t know what other word to use to describe it when you acknowledge the differences between different races or cultures.</p>
<p>And prejudice is pretty simple:
</p>
<p>I’m just saying, it’s more okay to be “racist” because I believe it’s a natural human tendency to categorize and stereotype things. So I believe it’s more okay to say stuff like “Asians are good at math” or "Asians have small… "</p>
<p>But I also believe that it’s just plain not okay to be prejudiced against someone or harass people based on race or stereotypes.</p>
<p>Anyway, just my opinion. I don’t want to argue semantics here on what racism means and all.</p>
<p>Honestly, I’m scared by the way people dress/look. Race doesn’t matter, but some people inherently look tougher than others, and thus scare me more.</p>
<p>@FunStuff Spanish people are white, are you referring to Latino’s? </p>
<p>And racism will exist as long as we humans come in various skin tones. Sometimes I wished we were all blue and look all alike. I wonder what people will judge then.</p>
<p>I would call what you’re describing bias. Bias is when you believe certain things to be true in general about certain groups. It is unavoidable and automatic for all humans. Prejudice is when you then apply these biases on an individual basis, assuming, for example, that a black person is poorer because you have a bias that black people are, in general, poorer. Prejudice is necessary for people to be able to handle a complex world, but it is to be avoided when it causes you to unfairly dislike a person.</p>
<p>Racism is a more insidious thing.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Everyone has biases (and it would be irrational NOT to have them), but we can try not to let our biases unfairly affect our decisions (prejudice), and we can choose not to be racist.</p>