[Julise]

Why is it that when some white people get mad at someone of another race, they tell that person to 'go back to where they came from,' or they say, 'Get out of my country'? I think the only people who have the right to say that are American Indians. Have whites forgotten that their ancestors are from Europe and not America?

Also, why is it that when whites commit a crime, the assumption is that they must have had a messed-up childhood or some psychological disorder, but when a person of another race commits a crime, whites just think that race as a whole is deviant?

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Name : Julise, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : African Methodist Episcopalian, Age : 22, City : Roseville, State : MI Country : United States, Occupation : clerical, Education level : Technical School, Social class : Middle class, 

[justin26890]

in responce to your first question, i think that's an old people thing. you hardly hear that from folks who grew up in the age of multi-culturalism. old people have that attitude because the only immigrants they view as legitimate were the european ones that came a generation or two before them. as for why crime is seen as an abberation in white culture and as expected in other cultures, well, it all comes down the fact that the only unsegregated domain in the u.s. is the workplace. i think that if people of different races grew up together (i.e. ban and procecute racist realestate practices and activly dicourage 'white flight') there'd be a realization that crime is abberant in all communities and you'd see that reflected in the newsmedia. on a side note, i see crime being associated with blacks by whites even when the object is to be anti-racist, such as that when many white people seek to identify with blacks, they try to identify with black criminals instead of normal middleclass black people.

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[Rick29970]

I don't think the majority of white people behave the way you suggest. The ones who do, do so for a very simple reason: they are ignorant.

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[Maya21868]

The easy answers to these questions are, in my mind: Racism, Yes, and Racism.

Going deeper, I think that yes, many white Americans have forgotten where our ancestors came from. It's part of the deception of whiteness - that we're all the same, that we all have the same culture, that we all think the same things. It's a great loss, for those of us who disown our ancestry when we come to the United States. On the other hand, I understand there is pressure on new immigrants to conform to white standards and 'become' white, so perhaps the choices our ancestors made to ignore our heritages and speak English only were understandable.

As for the second question about whites committing a crime, this is, for me, one of the many instances in which white people pick and choose information in order to fulfill pre-determined opinions and assumptions. We can find evidence of messed-up childhoods in just about everyone alive. White people do this more for whites, I believe, because it's more threatening to see one of 'our own' stray than someone who is seen as 'different.'

Let me be clear: I don't think this is right. I think it's how racism works, and it's important to point out when we do this things so we can relearn.

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[Steve]

The same trite, non-thinking, reaction again when someone refers to the American Indian. Read your history and you will find that the American Indian immigrated to this land as well. They simply came here many centuries before the rest of us.

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Name : Steve, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 43, City : Orlando, State : FL Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, 

[Katya-Ivanova]

Hello, I maybe have to say 'Sorry' at the very beginning, because I'm not going to be too polite I prefer to be honest. I am an imigrant woman. Straight, white, married, working, studying. I came to Canada one year and a half ago, I came because Canada is democratical country and I wished to live in stable economical and political situation, which we all know was built by the immigrants from Europe and not by American Indians. If I wanted to share the life style of American Indians I would go to live with them. But there are not too many people who want that. In fact, there too many people who want to move to a developed society, which was built by White Europens. They are creators of this society and they are not perfect as all of us, so they sometimes take advantage of the situation, this is pretty understandable. I don't feel like I somewhen will be as tough as they are, but I also don't want to blame human weaknesses. Unfortuately, all people can be unpolite when they are mad and strong, not just white ones.

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[Carl]

Here the operative qualifier is 'some' white people. I believe that the thinking behind the 'go back to where you came from' comment, is that if a person cannot abide by the societal norms of the USA, which, let's face it, are Anglo, then that person should take their antisocial behavior to their country of origin. Some whites feel entitled to say that it is 'their' country because it was founded by whites, who in turn devised all the institutions that have kept the USA and its democracy vibrant for two centuries. Racial chauvinism perhaps, but also perhaps patriotism and a desire to maintain unity and integrity. It is also my experience that the targets of anti-immigrant ire come in all shades of colour and tend to be the most recent ones off the boat, so to speak. Lastly, even Indians are immigrants to this country, so they deserve no special consideration. I think that crime afflicts and is perpetrated by people at the bottom of the socioeconomic spectrum and most people realize this. If one race has a acquired a stereotype for committing crime, then there must be some truth to it, otherwise it would not become a stereotype. The reasons why the race has acquired the stereotype, e.g. large number of poor, inadequate education, etc., are the factors that truly matter, but are certainly a subtext that some people will not consider when making a judgment.

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[Alisha-R31409]

In regard to the statement of 'go back to your own country': I have heard this comment when individuals stated an unhappiness about living in the United States. However, I do agree with your statement about the American Indians and that we all must remember where we come from. I think that in order to understand other people and their culture, you must first understand your own. I believe that for many reasons this is why we still have racism today. If we understand our own culture, we are more apt to teach others about it, and this will develop a society that is 'multiculturally understanding.'

To answer your second question: I do see this sometimes as well, but to say that whites say this is stereotyping. I believe each individual who commits a crime had some sort of 'unhappy' childhood event. However, I do not believe this excuses the criminal behavior in any case (white, black, Hispanic, asian, etc.). I believe that as a society we look too much at statistics, and that is where many of our stereotypes come from, because as we all know, one statistic can be interpreted in many different ways, depending on what it is that a person wants to get from that statistic.

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[Pete]

In response to the first question, I have to say that I've generally heard those statements directed to people who are complaining about the country. More of a 'if you don't like it, get out' attitude than a 'this is my country, not yours' attitude. I have heard these comments made from whites to whites also. I find your second question more interesting. I feel that that kind of sentiment is going to be around as long as there is a Black vs. White vs. Hispanic vs. etc. mentality in this country. Thinking of another group as just that, a group, will keep you in the mindset of lumping them all together. Your saying 'when a person of another race commits a crime, whites just think that race as a whole is deviant' is, in fact, doing exactly what you are accusing whites of doing. Say a black man commits a crime. Then say that a white person jumps up and yells 'blacks are criminals.' You're doing the equivalent of jumping up and yelling 'whites are racist' Believe me, there are just as many white people sitting at home thinking the the black criminal must have had a messed-up childhood, as there are blacks sitting at home not committing crimes. As I was saying earlier, as long as it's an 'Us vs. Them' attitude in this country their will always be people who concentrate on the color of someone's skin instead of the content of their character.

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[Mark Ginzo]

As to 'go back to where you came from', I recall in the late 70's there was an Indian comedian who would appear on the Tonight Show who would come on and point at the audience and sing, 'One little two little three little whiteys.', then ask 'Does that piss you off too?' Later he would relate a story of how he was performing in Texas (yes, I know that's a stereotype too) and some guy in the audience yelled, 'Hey, why don't you go back to where you came from.' Then the comic would say, 'So, I camped out in his back yard.'

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[R.W.J.]

Firstly, there is no native anmerican population, what there is, is a set of decendents from a pre-mogolod race who immigrated here during on of the ice ages, possible the same genetic stock from which the caucasians developed from. Secondly, the essential trait of an 'American', meaning a citizen of the United States of America, is the internalization of a family of political and social ideals. While there is much in our (yes I consider myself to be an American)collective history which I would rather not have in it - slavery, force assimilation of the American Indians, the treatment of the non-anlgosaxon europeans, I do have to point out that only in the American Tradition do we see a historical example of the majority and impowered race/class/ethnicity shed blood and treasure to remove opression from the opressed. It was white abolitionists and white soldiers that won the Civil War. It was white abolitionists that attempted reconstruction. It was rich and newly created middle class Americans that initially worked to pass civil rights legislation like the 14 & 16 Ammendments to the US Constitution, a white man who integrated the US Armed Forces after World War II. These whites were not segragated into a single political party but whites in the Republican, Democrat and Progressive Parties. Even such unreconstructed slave holders as Jefferson and Washington recognized that slavery and race and ethnicity based discrimination were contrary to the very founding principals of this country and atepmted to corect these injustices to the best of thier abilities and strength. It was the internalization of our secular orthodoxy that allowed all o these things to happen as expressed in the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and The Bill of Rights, to include the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 10th ammendments most especially . And it is in the implicit disparagement of that secular orthodoxy that multiculturalism, anti-americanism, racism, classism, white guilt and separatism pose the clearist present danger to the continuation of this grand experiment, that undermine this shining city o the hill that is known as the USA.

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[Brian]

This is your own country. Lots of stuff is stil screwed up, but, ignore the dummies.

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[C.J.]

I've been online for over 6 years and have read many post from all over the world concerning this matter of race. However i must say you are the second person that answered with understanding, honesty and intelligence i am 20 years your senior and i have learned something from you. our world stands a chance. I am humbled by you. thank you c.j. email me sometimes honesty is hard to find

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