iryohei

To answer the question: What to do with racists? Informal sanctions (ridicule, being ostracized, shamed), and if they're taking part in illegal workplace/structural discrimination/racism, formal and harsher sanctions (warned, written up, coached, fined, fired). I think there's a difference between racist comments/actions and racist people though. There are people who right out KNOW what they're doing. But then there are the many people who don't mean to be racist, maybe it's out of ignorance of what's going on, a lack of being informed about what constitutes as underlying and instilled indirect racism from family and upbringing, or a lack of exposure to diversity so they don't realize different people with different backgrounds exist and find things as such offensive. And still, too many people let others get away with passive racism without calling them out on it (or again some people hear it and don't realize it's racist). A step would be to deter this kind of behavior by trying to educate them/be direct with them, but of course that doesn't always go planned. I personally had to cut one of my friends off because she didn't realize all the racist things she spewed and the amount of derailing she did to minorities, even after I tried to tell her their probable POV. Be the bigger person. Kill them with kindness. Pity them on the fact that they're either a product of their environment or have internal problems to the point where they feel they have to hate an entire group of people based on something so low as skin color and are too stupid to realize not all people of that group are the same. That they're too delusional to realize that they're no better than the next man. It's a hard questions, since there's not much you can do to racism on a larger scale as one person in a society where people constantly deny that racism exists. *A little story: At my last job (Sonic Drive-In), I was close with my store manager (since I was a shift leader), and I was told that his boss was forcing him to hire more white people. Even though our store was doing exceptionally well compared to the past few years of an majority white running. Even though the store had seen more good reports, secret shops and complimentary calls to corporate office. I assume it was wanted because, a majority minority store doesn't "seem as welcoming", since I'm also assuming people would apply their stereotypical idea of what blacks act like to the functionality and performance of the store. Shit really sucks. Hours had to get cut to accommodate it. Man I thought I could escape the topic of racism on this site but it seems like it's everywhere. I know you only asked a simple question but I just feel like I have to rant about prior comments. It's the internet after all. No one will probably read it but whatever. 1.) Having a racial preference is definitely a LITTLE racist. It's basically like you're applying your perceived stereotypes, your idea of typical "black" behavior and typical unattractive "black" features to EVERY black person. Not all blacks are thugs, participate in "urban culture", look alike, act alike, think the same, etc. I see a preference as liking or disliking long hair, short or tall, not a whole group of people. Also, not everyone who partakes in/lives within whatever "urban black culture" is, acts in a way aligned to that culture (and even if they are, a lot of blacks know how to turn it on and off) or are unfit to perform a job. And yes it may not be racist to submit people into college based on merit and have mostly whites and Asians because they worked hard for it, but it could inherently leave out other minorities who've been constantly disenfranchised by the system in the past and may not have the resources, and can only seeks to somehow keep the minority community in a cycle of stagnation of not valuing things like education. It's a iffy topic and I see where both sides of the argument are coming from. 2.) Colonialism? Colonizing mass groups of people thinking that you'd be their savior? Isn't that the same concept of manifest destiny? For the natives, didn't that only cause conflict, death and the forced relocation of people? The idea that colonialism is saving people just because their culture and practices don't match yours and seem "primitive" in your eyes doesn't mean it's okay. And I thought one of the reasons Africa was still "lagging" and is now victim to corrupt rulers was BECAUSE European colonialism didn't allow for the people to build their own infrastructure in the end? That lack of development lead to Africa's dependence on only few exports and services? And now the selling of those resources is still being encouraged and supported by the former colonial powers. They never had the chance to learn to use their own resources to aid themselves. I don't see how that's good at all. And then the fact that the fittest Africans were supposedly being sold off by their own government/forcefully taken from their land didn't make the lack of the developmental process better. 3.) I have never seen BLM state that ONLY black lives matter, nor have I seen them suggest segregation/real like "safe spaces". But then again, if they actually are, there's a difference between being forcefully segregated by your oppressor because you're hated and they think you're less than human, and willingly "segregating" yourself just to be around people like yourself for a while. Whites did it out of hatred, why can't blacks do it out of wanting community, unity and being free from judgement? And yes, not all whites are racist, but when a majority of whites chalk all black people's concerns and community problems up to them being over dramatic, lazy and entitled it's hard for them to feel safe around them in a non-psychical, political and mental sense; without having the feeling that you just might be mocked for your feelings. On another topic of BLM, I think there's a problem with it being that there's no real "figure head" or "management" of the things people "do in the name of BLM"; no official platform for them to announce the things they align themselves with and to punish individuals who go overboard. But BLM is about resisting police brutality. I know blacks aren't the only people who experience police brutality/death, but I personally don't see the problem with them addressing the issue and making people realize that police brutality is still prevalent. There could be good in them prompting reform in the system and it has the probability of benefiting everyone? (Also, not saying anyone said this, but being that whites are killed at a higher rate, why don't they work for reform too?) It's your responsibility of delineating radicals of the group that are doing and asking for ridiculous things from the people who are actually working towards the goal of social reform (you wouldn't call all men rapists, all Muslims terrorists, all priests child molesters, etc etc). I have definitely seen those people that give BLM a bad name get called out (especially during that police shooting in Dallas when a bunch of BLM supporters were GLAD that those servicemen got shot. A lot of the online community chastised those idiots for saying shit like that.) And when did wanting social equality, wanting to live without fear of discrimination, and wanting equal protection mean wanting handouts and feeling entitled to benefits? When is wanting to be looked at as a regular person and not a probable drug-carrying hooligan something unattainable? People readily say "All/Blue Lives Matter", but then they have a problem with someone saying "Black Lives Matter" in a non-radical context. Why is that? I think the real problem they have is with the term "black" and them stereotyping everyone who believes in the ideology. And sure, even if it's not like black people are the most killed by police, with black people only being a small part of the population it's understandable that with the amount of videos and reports of death and police brutality surfacing people would be outraged. It's something that's traumatizing and scary to them to watch. Blacks probably feel like they can't even own a gun (aka second amendment right) without it being inherently seen as a threat and a way for people to justify their death if they become a victim of unwarranted police brutality. Also, not saying anyone said it here, but there are many problems in the black community (disproportionate unemployment (which could still be a structural problem), high crime rates and incarceration (which is a result of blacks not having families that value education/ having parents who aren't educated therefore don't have resources to provide themselves with so they turn to alternative things), the lack of social capital in communities, few positive role models, teen pregnancy and single mothers etc, etc it could go on all day), and to believe that its all blacks people's fault when the system has historically been against them (aka slavery, Jim Crow/Grandfather Clause laws, the gov't not funding their communities and education, haven't even been gone THAT long) is a STRETCH.