Interesting topic in class today about interracial dating... it was intriguing for me because the white dad that was talking about the difference in the culture of black people and white people, not judging wether one was better or worse, but rather stating what he felt was fact. I felt it was almost like someone saying "no offense" before something they know will be offensive to you. I felt it has half hearted and he was disguising a clear distinguishment in his head between black and whites. However the black family I felt came off much better in saying they had nothing against the white girls that his son was dating but asked "why no black girls" "do you have a problem with your own race" Those questions came off better just because of the way they asked them to their son, it was not racist they just wanted to see what their son was feeling. So I guess what I am trying to get at is wether or not it is racist to differentiate people because of their race in small ways. Things we don't always see as blatantly racist, but are we secretly a little racist but don't say so.
Examples:
You see a young black man driving a really nice sports car, you might in your head assume did he steal that?
You see a white kid driving the same really nice sports car, you might assume that his dad let him borrow the car.
Also Mr. Smith's example of getting pulled over 17 times in a single year, most likely because of his race.
PLEASE COMMENT! LET ME KNOW YOUR OPINION
I think we only notice our secretly racist tendencies when we bring to light some other example of someone else being tolerant because otherwise, our racist-ish-ness is just a normal part of being uncomfortable with new people. Referring to the video, the white dad only seems racist-ish because the black mom is so open and appears as though she's presenting a more appealing, more "warming" argument.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to what the dad is saying because if I were to bring home a guy of any ethnicity other than Japanese, they would feel uncomfortable (at least at first) culturally as well as linguistically. It's more comfortable not to change tradition because it makes more sense by intuition. It's not the same; it's not even the same with any other variation of asian.
Adding to your examples, maybe here's another example of appearance playing a role (and maybe race would tie in here too, but I don't to be seen publicly stereotyping which races are more shy than others :P ):
When people get caught cheating (on homework or on tests or whatever), it's never the quiet, innocent, diligent-appearing kids who get caught. To be honest, teachers may just glance over what you did and give you a full grade for the assignment if you're the good kid. On the other hand, though for the annoying, talkative, late-for-class kids (not judging, just adding descriptions), they may make you flip through all the pages both sides to check if you did all the work and deny you a stamp/credit if it isn't good enough.
It helps to be on anyone's favorite side.