Closet Racists and the Things They Say

 
David WAn replied
What angers me more is how the asian community actually buys into the lie that these people arent racist. My family members and their friends automatically assume that anyone who has an asian girlfriend or wife is nice to asians. These people are so blind that makes me want to hit them.

I personally know several of these people who are completely racists, and would intentionally isolate their asian girlfriends and wives from the rest of their families and other asians both verbally and physically.

When you try to bring awareness to this issue, you get crap like" ooh that cant be true, why would they want a girl that they dont like", and then brush off the whole conversation. How do you get through people like that?

Jessica Lee (UCSD) replied to David's poston 23 April 2007 at 20:38
"I personally know several of these people who are completely racists, and would intentionally isolate their asian girlfriends and wives from the rest of their families and other asians both verbally and physically."

D:

Sorry to be stereotypical, but you don't take an Asian girl away from her family. Blasphemy!

Taylor Yu (Catholic University of America) replied to Jessica's poston 23 April 2007 at 20:41
could happen if she hates herself

Jessica Lee (UCSD) replied to Taylor's poston 23 April 2007 at 20:42
or her family. lol


Brittany Houston (Georgia State) wroteon 23 April 2007 at 21:38
I've observed this as well. It's so easy for people to claim that they are not racist,but their attitudes,views,and perceptions about other races are so narrow and negative,that they look like they could be KKK members. In the White community, it's not so much popular to be openly and blatantly racist as it was 40 years ago. So many of them resort to subtle and closet racism. A lot of them deny white privilege and institutional racism. Reverse racism and discrimination are hot topics for fearful whites.As if white men and women aren't progressing socially and economically.It's hard dealing with the dominant majority,white americans. Some of them dont want to loose their power through the media,socially,economically, and politically, and they will go out of their way to use every negative stereotype and generalization associated with an ethnic group/race against them. Although any individual or group can be racist, racism and discrimination from White Americans is the most harmful to this country.


Kao Xiong (St. Cloud) wroteon 23 April 2007 at 22:14
Am I racist, if I hate white people who are racist..? I do have white friends too...


There goes one of my example...


David WAn replied to Michelle's poston 23 April 2007 at 22:39
doesnt really matter now. There is a big difference between racists who hates people vs racists who can and actually wants to hurt you badly. But many people dont dare to refer themselves as racists so now we have all these weirdos out there doing racist things that just pisses me off.


Post 11
Robby Cheng wroteon 23 April 2007 at 23:26
reminds me of the frat guys in borat. when they are drunk and talk about it... they talk racist issues.


Mikey Dedeesque replied to David's poston 23 April 2007 at 23:30
i think michelle is #2...she beat the crap out of this white girl for looking at her the wrong way and for being white lol hahaha


Robby Cheng wroteon 23 April 2007 at 23:34
i understand what you guys mean. i admit i do joke about koreans because my fiancee is korean and i experience the stuff im joking about. but i can see how it can be wrong. we shouldnt generalize overall how races are just because we are connected to someone that are that race.


Yoo-Hyun Oak (UC Davis) replied to Robby's poston 23 April 2007 at 23:44
yeah i know friends that do this...i guess i dont mind a great deal unless i know they are coming from a bad place. but i can see how it can be misconstrued. i dont think people should be PC but to say fuck it i'll be racist is a little extreme. mass ignorance isnt really a great solution.

hopefully we can work to make people more aware

people that are racist are not necessarily bad evil people. we are all under the influence of the media, of history, of dominant culture, society. the change will happen slowly when more and more people try to change or come to realize why the little things they say are reflective of a larger racist belief.

there is a lot of closet racism in america. the kind of things people joke about, say at the dinner table. ive heard a lot of these things- sometimes its hard to refute because they are talking on a whole different plane and if you started to explain then theyd be offended because your giving them a history lesson about how they are being racist lol. idk teachers and parents of friends dont appreciate that. however, i will state my opinion in a less blatant manner.


Evan Ou (UCSD) replied to Alvin's poston 24 April 2007 at 02:22
50 BUCKS says radio talk show host Jeff Vandergrift pulls the "I'm not racist, my wife is Asian" card.

http://ucsd.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2214375888&topic=3048


Matthew Messer (Detroit, MI) replied to Yoo-Hyun's poston 24 April 2007 at 07:30
excellent post, you pretty much summed up my sentiments.

i would just like to add that much of the closet racism i've experienced and witnessed isn't so much about the words as it is body language...which in my opinion can speak volumes without words....sometimes when in those situations, i feel like it would be better if the words were just said out loud!!


Anonymous (MIT) wroteon 01 May 2007 at 16:01
Vince Su just posted this in another thread, but I wanted to put a copy here for this thread's records (hope you don't mind Vince):
-----
"A few of my "friends" back in high school were closet racists, now that I think about it. They'd talk crap about blacks and hispanics, and other asians, but then quickly say "but not you, you're not like THOSE asian kids". Needless to say, I'm not friends with them anymore."


Vince Su (UConn) replied to Alvin's poston 01 May 2007 at 16:08
No, not at all Alvin. I actually have an add-on to this story after further thinking about it.

One of the girls in my group of friends, who was white, dated a black guy for a while. Earlier during that week at school, she was talking about having him come hang out with us during the weekend. The other kids started "joking" around with "better watch your stuff when he's at your house, man" and other crap like that. Then one of the guys who had already met the boyfriend said "Nah don't worry guys, ::name:: is a GOOD black person!" and gloated like he was proud of himself. I still can't believe I hung out with those idiots.

And they're not rednecks or hicks either, they're upper middle class white kids from CT with wealthy parents, nice, large homes with 3 car garages, trust funds, and a few of them now attend Ivies.


Taylor Yu (Catholic University of America) replied to Vince's poston 01 May 2007 at 17:13
I totally understand, when I was in the CRs I observed this first hand, being one of the "good minorities" that my white friends felt it was okay to make snide racial comments in front of since they thought I would not mind.


Duong Pham (Montreal, QC) replied to Taylor's poston 01 May 2007 at 18:01
I respond to subtle racism with in your face blatant racism. A white guy once told me about how he couldn't understand why all Asians in America couldn't integrate into society as well as I did (I guess I'm one of the "good ones") and I told him it was because Asians simply aren't as good at raping, pillaging and stealing like white people were.


Caroline Hugh (Cornell) replied to Duong's poston 01 May 2007 at 18:05
nice! how'd he react

integration is cultural suicide. why is there the need to assimilate? americans are way too effing obsessed about homogeny. back in the early 20th century, those who couldn't assimilate or function well enough in society were called "feeble-minded." in fear that this was a hereditary state of being, these people were sterilized.


Taylor Yu (Catholic University of America) replied to Duong's poston 01 May 2007 at 18:08
oh this racism was not subtle at all. like I said, I was one of the "good minorities" that these snotty young repubs thought they could behave like their true selves around and I got to hear all the minority bashing that many white do engage in behind closed doors. I recall someone posted a comment on a thread about how when the minorities aren't around, whites let all their racism fly out. Long story short, this is one reason I am a Dem these days.


David WAn wroteon 01 May 2007 at 18:23
come on it all depends on who has the rights to change the street signs in the first place. If it happens to be a bunch asians then just let it be, it's democracy afterall.


Duong Pham (Montreal, QC) replied to Caroline's poston 01 May 2007 at 18:24
"nice! how'd he react"

Deer in headlights.


Taylor Yu (Catholic University of America) replied to Onome's poston 01 May 2007 at 18:48
actually I agree with you. nothing bothers me more than having to go to a Chinese restaurant in NYC and all the menus are in Chinese. But in the end if stores do that, they will end up losing business so I don't think government should get involved.


Duong Pham (Montreal, QC) replied to Taylor's poston 01 May 2007 at 18:57
I don't have a problem with people integrating or not. Anyone who lives in a major city will tell you that it's possible to get everything you need from your little slice of New York, Paris, London, Toronto or whatever but it comes at the cost of sacrificing opportunities. It only becomes a problem to me when people hold ethnic neighbourhoods to a different standard. It's cute when someone spends their entire life in the Plateau (a Montreal neighbourhood) but if they spend it in Cote St. Luque (a mostly Jewish neighbourhood in Montreal) all of a sudden they are "segregating" themselves.

This doesn't mean you have to start buying khakis and eating steak and potatoes everyday to integrate though. To me, integration means exploring other people's roots in addition to keeping true to your own.


雷 欣欣 (N.C. State) replied to Onome's poston 01 May 2007 at 19:01
Well really they are the ones losing out the most by refusing/not taking the time/being unable to learn English. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to have signs in another language in a community that is predominantly some ethnic group. I suppose having signs in English along with them would be good as well. but really, if not many people come in the area that need to read in English, who's going to waste the money on that? and also on that same note, what's the point of putting signs up only in English if most of the people in the community can't read them?

also, I don't think it's a bad thing to learn Spanish. The reality is that learning Spanish (or some other language) will really boost your success in future careers.


雷 欣欣 (N.C. State) wroteon 01 May 2007 at 19:07
One of my current housemates the other day busted out the "I'm not racist, but..."
I'm moving out and we're trying to find someone to take my place. Pretty much what I got from him was that he's not interested in someone who calls him up, 'talking ghetto' (a black guy) because they sound like they'd be irresponsible and not pay rent/bills...etc.


Duong Pham (Montreal, QC) replied to 欣欣's poston 01 May 2007 at 19:12
I love that excuse.

The best I've ever heard was "I'm not racist, I just don't like Jews."



雷 欣欣 (N.C. State) replied to Duong's poston 01 May 2007 at 19:46
Now that I think of it...
I remember once he said, "I'm not a homophobe or anything, I have lots of friends who are homosexuals."

ha! man. but other than that he is a nice person in general... O_o


Post 33
Whitney Schwandt (UNL) replied to Alvin's poston 01 May 2007 at 19:47
Oddly, I was just talking about this to a friend. There's a racist Malay at my school and in his defense he has a "Real Chinese" friend so he can't be racist. Ha ha ha....I am glad to see I am not the only one who has encountered hits :)


Post 34
2 replies
Rocky Hu (UF) wroteon 01 May 2007 at 19:58
Everyone's a closet racist at times. This will sound like I'm turning a blind eye to things but if people aren't free to think what they want as long as they don't act overtly crazy over their thoughts, then I couldn't really care less. I probably utter at least a million slurs to myself when I'm driving and someone cuts me off, lol.


Raphael Lee (Brown) replied to Rocky's poston 02 May 2007 at 13:26
Actually, I agree with you here. I've given up on the idea that people can become totally non-racist. For me, if you're not so attached to your preconceptions about other people that you notice counterexamples and adjust your behavior accordingly, that's good enough.

And it's not like we as minorities are totally non-racist, either.


雷 欣欣 (N.C. State) replied to Onome's poston 02 May 2007 at 13:58
I think making it illegal for signs in other languages is a bit extreme (and I doubt that would get passed)... I mean for the most part, many Americans have the audacity to expect things to be in English when they go to visit other countries. I just think that in areas where it's a high concentration of some immigrant group, it doesn't hurt to have signs in their original language, to make things easier (but I do say that English signs should also be there). If you come here when you're older, it's harder to completely grasp another language...In addition, doing any sort of grassroots activism in those communities is easier when you are not only communicating in english.

But also, for the immigration reform stuff... what would this mean for all of the people who are coming to America for political asylum? For the most part, a lot of these people are being horribly mistreated when they are put into detention centers or even prisons because they've been denied asylum. Will there just be an end to letting in those people? The majority of the people who are denied political asylum have also been people of color. even though at the same time, LOTS of white people have been immigrating to this country on political asylum.


Anonymous (MIT) replied to Raphael's poston 17 October 2007 at 20:07
"Actually, I agree with you here. I've given up on the idea that people can become totally non-racist."
--
Yeah someone raised that point last night, about how people can be racist against certain ethnic groups or even genders within ethnic groups, but not racist towards others. Weird as hell, a lot of it has to do with media generalizations that influenced them I think.

 

Xu Hui (Texas) replied to Taylor's poston 18 October 2007 at 16:20
Exactly

You gotta love all these AF enablers for White racists...


David WAn replied to Xu's poston 18 October 2007 at 16:22
aaah i shouldnt have clicked where you were replying to, bringing back bad memories again


Anonymous (MIT) wroteon 06 November 2007 at 14:27
Look at this Youtube clip about a closet racist against nonWhite immigrants in this country, with interview clips with Annabel Park, who was with Eric Byler when they came up to talk in Boston:




Anonymous (MIT) wroteon 16 January 2008 at 19:46
From Amy Tam in Chatzy just now:

Anyways here is an example about fake esteem, the cousin's husband is a racist jerk and started talking crap to my husband, "Oh fucking chynks, how are there so many of you if you have so tiny dick?" She giggled and said "Oh he's joking, isn't he funny?"

then she said to me "You know, he told me he really sees me not as Asian but just like him!"


Post 44
James Chou (Rutgers) replied to Alvin's poston 16 January 2008 at 19:52
You mean as his Asian doll?

Anonymous (MIT) wroteon 16 January 2008 at 20:47
http://www.hyphenmagazine.com/blog/archives/2007/08/on_asian_americ.html

Sakomoto and AV, that's why I hate how America is trumping up the virtues of interracial dating. As long as white men aren't losing too much, it's all good. It's all right because it's all white. Interracial dating and marriage has caused more strife and animosity in minority communities than helped. Then there are idiots that believe interracial dating proves racism is dying. It's so stupid that it's beyond comprehension.

Ironically, some of the most racist white men are married to Asian women.

Some recent examples from the news include:

1.) White sheriff in Farmer's Branch, Texas said that as long as he was chief, there would be no "gooks" on his police force. He's married to a Japanese woman. The good news is that he was turned in by other white people.

2.) Producer for NBC's Law and Order constantly referred to Asians as "Chinamen." His wife is Chinese.

3.) JV from the talkshow "Doghouse" constantly made anti-Asian male remarks. He's married to a Korean import model.

If I was a white man and wanted to rid the country of minorities, I would push interracial marriage because it's the only way to absorb a minority community.

In the words of King Edward the Longshanks: "The problem with Scotland is that it's full of Scots. If we can't get them out, we'll bred them out."

As much as it's the PC thing to say and do, being colorblind is dangerous. It sounds good on paper to be colorblind, gender blind, religion blind, and sexual orientation blind.


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Post 49
Ike Mao (Olin) replied to 's poston 17 January 2008 at 06:37
The U.S. citizenship test is TOUGH. I remember helping my grandfather prepare for it. I'm sure if I took it now, I would fail.

Post 50
2 replies
Ike Mao (Olin) replied to 's poston 17 January 2008 at 06:49
[now, here's where i'll fire a shot: i think it's not the same thing for a man of color to be with a white woman, especially AM/WF, because first of all, the numbers are so unbalanced, and even if the asian man is a self-hater, like it or not, because of what the gender roles represent in terms of the balance of power, i think it does far more good than harm for the image of the asian man to see AM/WF than AF/WM.]

/sigh

All right, I'll bite. But only because I like you.

A self-hating AM in a relationship with a WF is not helping Asian Americans. Why? He promotes white beauty ideals and probably doesn't even want to identify with being Asian. He probably spends a lot of time putting down other Asian Americans and making himself an "honorary white". He will not teach his children about their heritage, and they will become absorbed into mainstream whiteness. Plus, self-hating AFs will point to him and say "See, men do it too, so it's okay."

Pretty much the ONLY thing he does that will help YOU is that you might see him and think "Hey that guy is Asian and can get a white chick. Maybe I can too." Will it actually help you get women? No.

At this point, the only relationships that HELP the image of Asian Americans as a whole are Asian/Asian relationships.


雷 欣欣 (N.C. State) replied to Ike's poston 17 January 2008 at 07:35
I feel like a lot of Asian Americans will be forgetting a lot of their heritage as the generations continue in America. As the rapper Jin has said, we can speak our language but we can't read it. In addition, many Asian Americans speak with American accents. Thus, we continue further and further - not being able to read and speaking the language funny (I think I've heard some Chinese people-3rd generation or so, speaking Cantonese and they were as bad as a white person's mimic).
traditions and beliefs are lost, except for really big things that are hard to forget (like Chinese New Year). This is probably one minor point where I have (sort of) agreed with Alex Chen - way, way back in the day, when I was in high school and assumed I would grow up, marry and have kids, I was expecting to marry a Chinese man (from HK) so he would help me teach the kid(s) the language and culture. Funny how that is. Now I don't really expect to do any of that, especially the kids part. ha, ha, ha.
anyway the main point is, the jook sing (for you cantonese people) have in general already lost a lot of their heritage...at least from our parents' point of views.
we're going to turn into white people in America (losing our original roots-culture,language, etc). except we're not white. (fyi ---- [/sarcasm] )


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Post 54
Anonymous (MIT) wroteon 25 January 2008 at 23:35
Ricky found a clip I've been looking for a long time. It's a Mad TV clip of a Black guy and White women couple, where the woman reveals her racism as they talk. Same thing applies to certain Asian-White couples.




Edwin Hollins (E. Illinois) wroteon 02 April 2008 at 11:14
Man I've heard alot of closet racist crap the past 2 months.


Post 58
Brittany Houston (Georgia State) replied to Edwin's poston 02 April 2008 at 11:17
tell us about it Ed


Ken Yeh (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) replied to Edwin's poston 02 April 2008 at 11:46
That is because anyone that cannot admit to themselves they are a little racist is lying.

What is worse saying racist things (I'm sorry that does NOT neccesarily make you racist), or being racist. People definitely misconstrue these two a lot. Or just call me a hater racist i don't really care...

Brittany Houston (Georgia State) replied to Ken's poston 02 April 2008 at 11:55
I actually prefer people hide their racist sentiments.


Ken Yeh (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) replied to Brittany's poston 02 April 2008 at 11:56
i cannot stand that....the wonder makes me mad.


Edwin Hollins (E. Illinois) wroteon 02 April 2008 at 13:27
I might give a small recap later. It's not really anything interesting specifically just that there seemed like so much of it.

Anyway I prefer the out in the open racists.

Ike Mao (Olin) replied to Edwin's poston 02 April 2008 at 14:11
Hehe, while we're picking favorites, I choose non-racists and anti-racists! =P


2 replies
Edmund Chen (San Francisco, CA) replied to Ken's poston 02 April 2008 at 14:27
"That is because anyone that cannot admit to themselves they are a little racist is lying.

What is worse saying racist things (I'm sorry that does NOT neccesarily make you racist), or being racist."


wait, everyone's a little racist, but saying racist things doesn't necessarily make you racist? that doesnt make sense man

Brittany Houston (Georgia State) replied to Edwin's poston 02 April 2008 at 15:23
Why? I think the fact that they go out of their way to hide their racism, to avoid confrontation, is great for their sake. And what do you want, people to let their racist lights shine openly in all situations? That's not popular and it wouldn't work these days.


I say "Keep your little racist shit to yourself"

Brittany Houston (Georgia State) replied to Ike's poston 02 April 2008 at 15:26
lol@non- racists

Brittany Houston (Georgia State) replied to Edmund's poston 02 April 2008 at 15:40
I saw that as well, but I wasn't in the mood to point it out.

*sigh*

Edwin Hollins (E. Illinois) replied to Brittany's poston 02 April 2008 at 15:53
I'm just sick of dealing with people who smile and act cool to our faces and hearing about the anti-black crap they say when they're behind closed doors. I've dealt with WAAAY too many people like that and it's just beyond irritating.

Brittany Houston (Georgia State) replied to Edwin's poston 02 April 2008 at 16:00
Oh that's different when you eventually find out they are racist and the whole time they played tolerant with you. Effed up!

Ken Yeh (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) replied to Edmund's poston 03 April 2008 at 12:22
I believe laughing at racist jokes and telling them does not make you racist. Laughing at stereotypes doesn't make you racist everyone does it. My old roomate, this white dude, told me he hated racial humor and thought it wasn't funny. But i caught him in the act, because he would laugh because i feel stereotypes are true enough to where people can relate. He also used to be pissed when i sent him stuff about white people... now he's more open and will laugh at it.

Racism will be using that same stereotypes but then actually applying them to your life. Like being in an elevator with a black person and clutching your wallet. A girl telling an indian guy he's extra small due to that condom thing. Asking every mexican in your neighborhood where to find under the table work. I feel there is a line where it goes overboard when you start applying what you have seen and heard in media to the things you do in your every day life. I like Carlos Mencia and Sarah Silverman sometimes, but if he said some of the stuff he says in my old neighborhood in Brooklyn or to me, i would have to fire back or i feel people would jump them.

Anonymous (MIT) replied to Edwin's poston 03 April 2008 at 12:25
[I'm just sick of dealing with people who smile and act cool to our faces and hearing about the anti-black crap they say when they're behind closed doors. I've dealt with WAAAY too many people like that and it's just beyond irritating. ]

i agree it's lame as hell. however, to be honest, i wish asian americans at least had that. people don't even care about being PC in front of my face, or in media too, some are just blatantly discriminatory or racist or xenophobic and expect they you to just take it, or laugh along.

Ken Yeh (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) replied to Alvin's poston 03 April 2008 at 12:26
you are not pc back tho? i'll show you how to play the race game....come to the New York Stock Exchange Third Shift LOL. it's race war!!!! i wasn't used to it at first because every race goes hard at every race. it's black vs. white vs. asian. vs. indian vs pakistani vs. south america vs. spanish haha. you could pick up pretty much every discriminatory thing you could say about someone in the matter of 8 hours. Actually it seems like white people are afraid in that shift.

Brittany Houston (Georgia State) replied to Ken's poston 03 April 2008 at 12:57
smh@ you finding Sarah Silverman and Carlos Mencia funny

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Edmund Chen (San Francisco, CA) replied to Brittany's poston 03 April 2008 at 16:31
sarah's alright but carlos is wiggity wack

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Post 76
Malia Dixon (Southern Miss.) replied to Ken's poston 03 April 2008 at 21:46
"I like Carlos Mencia and Sarah Silverman"

God Sarah Silverman is the dullest comedian I have ever seen in my life. I'm not anti-extreme comedy..but sleeping with a piece of cheese? How lame can you be? Her comedy sucks ass.

Malia Dixon (Southern Miss.) replied to Alvin's poston 03 April 2008 at 21:55
"i agree it's lame as hell. however, to be honest, i wish asian americans at least had that. people don't even care about being PC in front of my face, or in media too, some are just blatantly discriminatory or racist or xenophobic and expect they you to just take it, or laugh along."

Oh my god! Tell me about it! I can't stand that. Its like they have no respect. I have honestly heard way more racist Asian crap than I have anything else.

I had a guy text me one time and ask me, "So, are you cooking boiled Rottweiler lips tonight?" After I cussed him out..it was like "I didn't know that would offend you." WTF!?!?

Honestly...if you are racist..I would prefer you to just stay away from me and keep the comments to yourself.

Brittany Houston (Georgia State) replied to Malia's poston 03 April 2008 at 22:02
Sarah sux!
co+sign. I've seen plenty of her comedy skits and stand up. I cant quote 1 joke nor do I ever remember laughing.

"Honestly...if you are racist..I would prefer you to just stay away from me and keep the comments to yourself."

same here!