News1 min ago
Is This Being Racist?
68 Answers
Oh dear, I was trawling through the Guardian's web-site looking for the story regarding that Mentally ill Black lad who was given such a harsh sentence for merely shop lifting, when I came across this gem.
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Answers
No I don’t think she’s being racist. It’s just her preference and we’re all entitled to that. However, I cannot help but think if a white person had expressed similar sentiments there may have been a different reaction: “I love my black family but there’s an elegant joy in a room full of white faces” Or “The power of being surrounded by white...
15:14 Sat 29th Aug 2015
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No it's not racist .
You should try exploring in a little more depth what the concept of racism actually is, and how it is applied.
Let me start you off.
Advising that you would not want to live next door to a black family because your position is that a proportion of black people behave badly, and not confirming that you would feel equally cautious about living next door to a white family, who are equally likely to behave in the same antisocial manner is, in my view, racist.
An article by a black woman who has lived her life being an object of curiosity and difference as she has grown up, finding comfort in the company of people who do not regard her as different, is not racist.
If you find the two concepts confusing, I don’t.
You should try exploring in a little more depth what the concept of racism actually is, and how it is applied.
Let me start you off.
Advising that you would not want to live next door to a black family because your position is that a proportion of black people behave badly, and not confirming that you would feel equally cautious about living next door to a white family, who are equally likely to behave in the same antisocial manner is, in my view, racist.
An article by a black woman who has lived her life being an object of curiosity and difference as she has grown up, finding comfort in the company of people who do not regard her as different, is not racist.
If you find the two concepts confusing, I don’t.
No I don’t think she’s being racist. It’s just her preference and we’re all entitled to that. However, I cannot help but think if a white person had expressed similar sentiments there may have been a different reaction:
“I love my black family but there’s an elegant joy in a room full of white faces”
Or
“The power of being surrounded by white people is that the sheer sense of community is enough”
Or
“I was adopted into a black family, lived and went to school in a place where mine was the only white face for miles…”
But of course I forgot that no white person has ever felt isolated and the odd one out in a black community have they?
I must say I similarly lost the will to live after a few paragraphs of Ms Carroll's ramblings. But what I did read left me a little puzzled. Er…why did she marry a white man? Why did she pursue a career that was so dominated by white people? Why did she choose to live in an area where predominantly white people live? She may not have had any say about her adoptive parents but she certainly was able to choose who to marry.
Unfortunately, andy, lots of people don’t like other people for all sorts of reasons. Some of these are well founded, some of them are, as you point out, the results of prejudice. But what annoys me is that this characteristic is only ever mentioned of white people. But as it happens, as some white people do not like black people, some black people do not like white people. And it doesn’t stop there. Many (I would go as far as to say most) black people from the Caribbean do not like Africans. More importantly as far as this topic goes, many of them are not fond of black Americans. Many Asians are not fond of Africans. Many Indians despise Bangladeshis. Bangladeshis are not fond of Pakistanis (a word which I'd be surprised to see pass muster under AB’s censorship). Many Africans don’t like other Africans because they are from another African nation. Almost all of these dislikes are reciprocated. If these dislikes amount to racism then it’s rife across the races and nationalities. But we seem to only ever to hear of white racists.
“I love my black family but there’s an elegant joy in a room full of white faces”
Or
“The power of being surrounded by white people is that the sheer sense of community is enough”
Or
“I was adopted into a black family, lived and went to school in a place where mine was the only white face for miles…”
But of course I forgot that no white person has ever felt isolated and the odd one out in a black community have they?
I must say I similarly lost the will to live after a few paragraphs of Ms Carroll's ramblings. But what I did read left me a little puzzled. Er…why did she marry a white man? Why did she pursue a career that was so dominated by white people? Why did she choose to live in an area where predominantly white people live? She may not have had any say about her adoptive parents but she certainly was able to choose who to marry.
Unfortunately, andy, lots of people don’t like other people for all sorts of reasons. Some of these are well founded, some of them are, as you point out, the results of prejudice. But what annoys me is that this characteristic is only ever mentioned of white people. But as it happens, as some white people do not like black people, some black people do not like white people. And it doesn’t stop there. Many (I would go as far as to say most) black people from the Caribbean do not like Africans. More importantly as far as this topic goes, many of them are not fond of black Americans. Many Asians are not fond of Africans. Many Indians despise Bangladeshis. Bangladeshis are not fond of Pakistanis (a word which I'd be surprised to see pass muster under AB’s censorship). Many Africans don’t like other Africans because they are from another African nation. Almost all of these dislikes are reciprocated. If these dislikes amount to racism then it’s rife across the races and nationalities. But we seem to only ever to hear of white racists.
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N.J. Yes you are correct in your observations, which only highlight the failure of so-called multiculturalism, please see my thread;
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New Judge - "Er…why did she marry a white man?"
Er … because she loved him? Love sees no colour.
““Why did she pursue a career that was so dominated by white people? Why did she choose to live in an area where predominantly white people live?”
Because she did not select her career or her neighbourhood based on the skin colour of its residents. (She probably accepted the risk we all live with, that our neighbours may turn out to play loud music and have loud parties – that’s a basic risk of living next door to anyone, and most civilised people accept it, and don’t base their choices on skin colour)
“She may not have had any say about her adoptive parents but she certainly was able to choose who to marry.”
Probably her adoptive parents brought her up to love and respect people regardless of the colour of their skin – and she didn’t select her husband as a token protest about race issues, she married him because he was a decent man who loved her like she loved him.
Er … because she loved him? Love sees no colour.
““Why did she pursue a career that was so dominated by white people? Why did she choose to live in an area where predominantly white people live?”
Because she did not select her career or her neighbourhood based on the skin colour of its residents. (She probably accepted the risk we all live with, that our neighbours may turn out to play loud music and have loud parties – that’s a basic risk of living next door to anyone, and most civilised people accept it, and don’t base their choices on skin colour)
“She may not have had any say about her adoptive parents but she certainly was able to choose who to marry.”
Probably her adoptive parents brought her up to love and respect people regardless of the colour of their skin – and she didn’t select her husband as a token protest about race issues, she married him because he was a decent man who loved her like she loved him.
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All of what you say is very true, Andy and what I would expect anybody asked those questions would say.
So why does Ms Carroll have to keep prattling on about race? As has been said, why did she feel the need to justify marrying a white man by adding that he was an academic? As I said, if a white person made similar remarks there would be outrage (e.g. "I married a black man [but I can justify it] but he is a professor."). (The implication being that I would not otherwise consider marrying a black man.)
It's just a load of unnecessary twaddle.
But race obviously has a big
So why does Ms Carroll have to keep prattling on about race? As has been said, why did she feel the need to justify marrying a white man by adding that he was an academic? As I said, if a white person made similar remarks there would be outrage (e.g. "I married a black man [but I can justify it] but he is a professor."). (The implication being that I would not otherwise consider marrying a black man.)
It's just a load of unnecessary twaddle.
But race obviously has a big
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AOG
There's a typo in your opening piece.
You wrote:
"I was trawling through the Guardian's web-site looking for the story regarding that Mentally ill Black lad"
where I think you meant:
"I was trawling through the Guardian's web-site looking for a race-based story which I could use to demonstrate racism in black people, because that's my raison d'être on AB"
I have absolutely no problem with that. AB would be a much more boring place without the conversational grenades you occasionally lob into the playing field. But please don't characterise it being you 'looking' for the story I posted. There was a link in my post, so no-one had to perform a search. All you would've had to do is click on the link, and you're taken right there.
There's a typo in your opening piece.
You wrote:
"I was trawling through the Guardian's web-site looking for the story regarding that Mentally ill Black lad"
where I think you meant:
"I was trawling through the Guardian's web-site looking for a race-based story which I could use to demonstrate racism in black people, because that's my raison d'être on AB"
I have absolutely no problem with that. AB would be a much more boring place without the conversational grenades you occasionally lob into the playing field. But please don't characterise it being you 'looking' for the story I posted. There was a link in my post, so no-one had to perform a search. All you would've had to do is click on the link, and you're taken right there.
