[N.F.]

I think that whenever people are competing in a society, one group is going to try to disassociate with the other to make themselves feel better. It’s happened in history. Back in the day, the Irish were considered worthless by the WASPs of the day, so they in turn treated blacks terribly, etc. It’s kind of funny that you posted this question because my parents are Trinidadian and I lived there some years back. Half the population is Indian and half is ‘black’. While I was there, there was a definite segregation between the races, but since I’ve been back in the States I’ve become friends with quite a few Indians. I know there are a lot of misconceptions about us. One of my friends who came straight from India asked me if all blacks lived in ghettos! And he wasn’t being sarcastic or mean. He really wanted to know. He said back home that was the image that the media always portrayed, and that I was the only person he could ask because he didn’t want to offend anybody. Obviously, we had a long, drawn-out discussion on race issues after that. But the point is, ignorance is rampant. Not that we always have to bear the burden for our race, but we can take the opportunity and learn about others’ cultures while teaching them about our own. To be honest, I couldn’t even be that mad because most of the black West-Indian people I know consider themselves better than black Americans. The media always portrays black Americans as lazy and on welfare. While some are, so are a lot of whites. It’s just the media and the people in power pitting us against each other, which unfortunately has been working. We are all minorities, and we all suffer from discrimination.

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Name : N.F., Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Seventh-Day Adventist, Age : 22, City : Aurora, State : CO, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, 

[Jill30678]

I date a Vietnamese man (we’re both 26), and while I consider him an amazing person, he does seem to have disturbing racist views toward black people, and I don’t understand why. From what I have gathered, however, it may be because he had never seen a black person until he came to the United States. He said he would stare at black students in his first days of high school. I have been working on the issue with him, and it seems like he is having problems with the cultural differences in behavior of blacks and Asians. South Asia is plagued by poverty and lack of education. This may be a big part of it.

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Name : Jill30678, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 26, City : Honolulu, State : HI, Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[G-Neil]

I’ve noticed that, too. It’s very prevalent. I agree it’s because they’ve learned or heard somewhere that it is acceptable to treat blacks that way and that we occupy the lowest position in American society.

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Name : G-Neil, Gender : M, Race : Black/African American, Age : 26, City : New York, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : attorney, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Katrina26726]

From what I’ve read, there’s a lot of racism in Asia, too. There’s still a lot of resentment toward the Japanese from countries Japan occupied and exploited during World War II. A Chinese friend from Indonesia says the native Indonesians are really resentful of the Chinese immigrants. So it doesn’t just happen here. I’ve certainly seen what you’re talking about, though. I’ve been in a 7-Eleven just browsing around aimlessly not knowing what food I wanted and haven’t heard a word from the clerk. But when a black guy came in and started doing the same thing the clerk started verbally abusing him and telling him to buy something or get out. I left.

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Name : Katrina26726, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 43, City : Beverly Hills, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Computers, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

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