What Is Racism
60Racism At Work
I do not do laundry mats but since my washing machine was broke I had no choice. It was a nice clean laundry mat so it was not to bad! I was very bored waiting for the clothes to wash so I read the signs on the wall. There was one that said no children in carts,another said no children on tables. The signs were in both English and spanish.
The lady that worked there was busy cleaning the laundry mat the whole time I was there, There were three little spanish girls that came in with thier parents and they ran right to the worker. I found out a little later that the reason they ran to her is that they must have been frequent customers, She went into her office and came back with a hand full of candy. It really was sweet of her she even opened the candy for them.
After my clothes washed I decided to go ahead and dry them instead of taking them home. The whole time there were three black ladies and a baby who took up half of the tables and carts. They had clothes everywhere and carts in the middle of the floor. There was one time that a spanish lady bumped into the cart of one of these women. I did not see it but I did have to hear it for twenty minutes after. There was one lady out of the three black women who kept threatening to beat the spanish ladies butt. I do not know if the spanish lady understood her or not. The point was it was an accident and the lady would not stop running her mouth. About fifteen minutes later the woman that worked there asked her to please take the baby seat out of the cart and the baby off the table. That got the lady shouting at the cleaning woman and threatening her. She said she was not going to put her baby in the floor! There were chairs and the one girl who was apparently the mother was not folding laundry anyway could sit with the baby. As a matter of fact the baby had been in the floor earlier with the mother in the chair.
There were signs everywhere so what was the purpose of all that yelling and carrying on. I am sure the woman or at least one of the women could read. My impression was that this lady did not like spanish or white people. If the other lady that worked there had of told her to move the baby would she had acted this way. Oh yeah the other lady was black that worked there.
My conclusion to all this noise was she was either prejudious or a very miserable person. How in the world are we to ever change this world if we can not get along? I know no matter what people say we are not all the same. We all come from different backgrounds. Why can't we just try to learn from each other? We should teach our children about a world that is filled with love for each other rather than hate!
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Comments
Thank You Froggy213!
I agree! I think sometimes some of us walk around with chips on our shoulders. There is racism on every side of a race; however, I think it is a minority now with still some work to be done.
By the way, your shepard has a cute smile :)
Thank You DarleneMarie my baby is my dog Ziggy!
Racism at it's simplest form is pure ignorant. It comes in all colors, religions and cultures. The only difference here is the intent behind the act of racism. Some people behaved racist because they're simply too ignorant to realized that color has no significant other than the melanin which protect us from the sun and the positive side of reducing the risk of skin cancer. As far as I'm concern that's the only difference that exist between blacks and whites. Most blacks has more melanin than whites but does it mean that blacks are superior because of it, no. But some whites on the other hand act racist because it's in their interest to do so. Those folks practice what I call subliminal racism which is racism among a circle that protect each others interest.
What you described in your story is just plain stupidity, prejudice the most but not racism. Knowledge can reduce racial tension among us because it permits us to look at character instead of color. A man character is determine by all the knowledge that he has come to accept as true. As long as we continue to compete for jobs, racial discrimination will always exist.
Thank You for your comment Coolbreezing!
There will always be racism as long as people are different. For some reason people like the other people they know to have the same ideas and politics and religion as them. Being a woman of multiple ethnicities I really do see many sides. I look like an average brunette caucasion but I am Cherokee Indian, Filipino, Austrian, German and who knows what else. I have passed for Italian, Greek, & European but never anything that I am. I lived in Detroit and had black friends as well as white who really didn't mix well. I moved to California and had Mexican friends as well as many other races and yet everyone makes the ethnic jokes behind everyone else's back. i say if you cannot tell a joke in front of that race then it isn't funny. My kids have always been into basketball and our travel games were sometimes all black except for my daughter. She had issues every now and then but handled like girls will. Kids are mean to each other often but a team ususaly finds a bond that becomes color blind. I think jokes are o.k. if you make people laugh not hurt someones feelings. O.K. here is my black joke, I know you will like it Coolbreezing! Why are black people so good at basketball? Because...........
they can shoot, steal & run! Now if you find this offensive that you are way to sensitive and should get over yourself.
As far as the laundry room situation, there are stupid people of all colors and sizes that just love to fight and argue. It is how they were rasied or lack of.
That was a good one ...very funny and true. I'm sensitive about how I make others feel but when it comes to my feelings, it takes a lot to pinch my nerves. Since I take a logical approach to everything, I always analyzed the intent behind what is said before coming to a conclusion. Very often people say things that they don't mean.
As far as “There will always be racism as long as people are different” is not true. Being different is not what triggers racism because if we all were similar this world would be a boring place to live in. In a sense being different can only be seen as strengths. As you should noticed that the world is a unit of one yet it comprised of many people with different cultures. Growing up from a different culture permits me to see things from a different perspective than someone else who grew up in America. Whereas a person who grew up here can help me acknowledge what would seem to me awkward.
What triggers racism is ignorance & interest which often back up by money. Slavery was immoral but the interest behind it was triggered by money. Labor is a cost that anyone who operate a business must contributes into, it deduct from their total profit. Having not to pay for labor increases your profit and the value of your company.
Ignorance on the other hand. Are those whites who were given very little to guard the slaves, thinking that their were better off while their superior pocketing all the cash. We should understand that if blacks couldn't unionized and were allowed to do the same jobs that whites were able to do would have caused whites to received an unfair pay for work render. This my friend is the colonial idea behind divide and concur, it doesn't exclude any particular race but the rich race which can be viewed as the green race.
Hello, Yes we live in a racist world and that is not unique to the U.S. by no means. People have these pre-conceived thoughts because of ignorance learned by there parents, or fed to them through media such as television, movies, documentaries ,etc. My reaction to your statement about the black women having clothes and carts everywhere and in the middle of the floor was somewhat racist in nature and I thought had nothing to do with the ignorance they showed towards the Spanish women. I do my laundry at home and spread clothes out to properly sort them. Many people do that. I am not saying your racist, but sometimes what comes out of our mouths says things about people they are not aware of about themselves. Have a great day!
I am not a racist, anyone that knows me can vouch for that. I think anyone can miss read things to thier own thinking like they do with the Bible. I could have been talking about a white person or a spanish person or a chinese who had this attitude. I can tell you this lay was miserable and I can honestly say I am glad I am not her, but taking it out on others is not the way to go wheather she was rasist or not. I am always taking up for people more than they take up for themselves. I have never stated what I am whether it be black,white or spanish. I have lived in two different countries where I have been treated badly because I did not belong, so I think I do know what racism is. I know I saw it at the laundry mat that day!
Racism,
My favorite Topic for Dinner, I come from a very racially diverse family, Mostly Native American, Black, Irish, Philipino, Mexican, and a Few Italians here and there. I found as I traveled, most of the mixed folk are of this combination. Add in some Jew and a little eastern European and you got the whole gambit.
I know most of my generation and all of my children’s generation wouldn't know what racism was if it weren't for the news and school. It is funny to me that the two institutions that should get rid of this concept are the ones that keep the flames fanned the hottest.
You have to ask yourself why this is. My Grandfather always said, “Son you always get what you pay for.” So I can only assume the Interest that pays for our Government and Media must want us to be racist. Why else would they pay for it? When you tear it down further you find that racism and the use of animosity toward immigrants has been a fundamental tool in the Robber Baron toolbox in order to rob us from the fruits of our labor.
Yet, we are so caught up in it, we seldom see past our skin color to realize we are being manipulated into thinking that there is Black/White, Democrat/Republican, and Conservative/Liberal and so on and so on. When in reality it is the Have's and the have not’s and the Have's keep selling us these Child like good and evil answers to every question and it just doesn't add up, when you get past the surface. DNA proves there is no separate races only the Human Race. Just as DNA Proves Wolves are just Dogs nothing more nothing less, but look how the evil of misclassification affects the perception we have.
We know these classification are false, we now must educate the rest and cast of the yokes.
TMG
Well said TheMoneyGuy
Froggy213 says:
13 months ago
Amen!! Great Hub!!