Does Racism Exist for Middle-Upper/Upper Class Americans?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A staggering number of Americans think Barack Obama is not a real American citizen and that he's a Muslim! Would those idiocies persist if he were a white guy? Hell, no.

There were those who said McCain couldn't run since he was born in Pananma. It doesn't matter that when an active duty service member, or the wife of one, has a baby in another country that the baby is automatically a US citizen. They aren't issued birth certificates but Certificates of foriegn birth instead.

[Anonymous]

Obama was issued a birth certificate from the State of Hawaii. There is no comparison between McCain's certificate of foreign birth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A staggering number of Americans think Barack Obama is not a real American citizen and that he's a Muslim! Would those idiocies persist if he were a white guy? Hell, no.

There were those who said McCain couldn't run since he was born in Pananma. It doesn't matter that when an active duty service member, or the wife of one, has a baby in another country that the baby is automatically a US citizen. They aren't issued birth certificates but Certificates of foriegn birth instead.

There was a week of discussion about McCain, largely out of curiosity because the constitution has an undefined term that a president must be a "natural born" citizen. I saw no group dedicated to proving him ineligible to run. There was no barrage of information requests to the government on the subject. McCain has not faced people holding posters claiming he is a Panamanian. If you could point to a specific movement or group that you refer to as "those", I'd like to see it. All I saw was idle gossip from a few bloggers that never in a million years thought that John McCain would prove to be ineligible for the presidency.


These two things were not the same thing.

[Anonymous]

OP, ask your husband if he remembers a former senator's famous line, "hey you macaca over there".

[Anonymous]

OP - I am white (and blonde, and blue-eyed and ...) and come from a very waspy, uppper-class background, married a white waspy guy, live in NWDC, went to private schools, and my kids are in private schools. I have lots friends with different skin "colors," religions, and cultural heritage and yes, racism still exists in upper class America. Money certainly helps create a bit of a shield but there are still lots of white people who have funky ideas and stupid attitudes. They just do not talk about it unless they are with other white people who they can't imagine will disagree or call them out. Some are true racists who do not care and should know better and some are just stupid/ignorant/thoughtless people who can not see beyond their small narrow "pale" lives. I do believe that empathy is a talent that few people have. All that said, not all white people are racists, maybe not even most, but yes, they still exist even in well-educated, cosmopolitan, upper-socio-economic areas. Sad and sick, but true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A staggering number of Americans think Barack Obama is not a real American citizen and that he's a Muslim! Would those idiocies persist if he were a white guy? Hell, no.

There were those who said McCain couldn't run since he was born in Pananma. It doesn't matter that when an active duty service member, or the wife of one, has a baby in another country that the baby is automatically a US citizen. They aren't issued birth certificates but Certificates of foriegn birth instead.

There was a week of discussion about McCain, largely out of curiosity because the constitution has an undefined term that a president must be a "natural born" citizen. I saw no group dedicated to proving him ineligible to run. There was no barrage of information requests to the government on the subject. McCain has not faced people holding posters claiming he is a Panamanian. If you could point to a specific movement or group that you refer to as "those", I'd like to see it. All I saw was idle gossip from a few bloggers that never in a million years thought that John McCain would prove to be ineligible for the presidency.


These two things were not the same thing.

True but could it also be because he has a Muslim name, he and his mother lived in Indonesia--a place the largest number of Muslims,Obama's father had been a Muslim and was from another country and Hawaii had just become a state not long before Obama was born?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A staggering number of Americans think Barack Obama is not a real American citizen and that he's a Muslim! Would those idiocies persist if he were a white guy? Hell, no.

There were those who said McCain couldn't run since he was born in Pananma. It doesn't matter that when an active duty service member, or the wife of one, has a baby in another country that the baby is automatically a US citizen. They aren't issued birth certificates but Certificates of foriegn birth instead.

There was a week of discussion about McCain, largely out of curiosity because the constitution has an undefined term that a president must be a "natural born" citizen. I saw no group dedicated to proving him ineligible to run. There was no barrage of information requests to the government on the subject. McCain has not faced people holding posters claiming he is a Panamanian. If you could point to a specific movement or group that you refer to as "those", I'd like to see it. All I saw was idle gossip from a few bloggers that never in a million years thought that John McCain would prove to be ineligible for the presidency.


These two things were not the same thing.

True but could it also be because he has a Muslim name, he and his mother lived in Indonesia--a place the largest number of Muslims,Obama's father had been a Muslim and was from another country and Hawaii had just become a state not long before Obama was born?

Are you arguing that Obama might be a Muslim? Because he's not. He's said he's not. This point is clear. He's a Christian. He goes to Christian churches. What's so hard to believe?

Why play devil's advocate on such a ridiculous, stupid point? HE'S NOT A MUSLIM.

Hey, and guess what?! If he was a Muslim, which he's not, it shouldn't matter.

Nice job proving OP's point, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the money in the world does not lessen the sting, moreover, the violence, of bigotry. I grew up white and working class and attended public schools with a mix of working, middle, and upper middle class AA and white students (very small numbers of Asian Pacific Americans and Latinos). Some of the top students in my class were AA, went on to great schools, and have had fabulous careers (we had our 25th reunion last year). But even their parents' high incomes and their academic successes did not preclude a handful of fellow classmates from making racist remarks during our school years. And some have talked to me about needing to be three times as good lest their one little mistake get magnified three times.

Here in DC, I have AA friends who had to sue a realtor who lied about the availability of a house in NW DC - I saw all the court docs, so this is not hearsay. I've also been walking through a hotel lobby with these same friends and witness a white guy mistake my friend for the valet - "It's the silver Beemer with Maryland tags."

So if white folks from a range of SE backgrounds commit these overt and insidious racist acts in social settings, I am fairly confident they commit them in the workplace.

I saw an interview with Robert Johnson, founder of BET and the first AA billionaire. He told a story of a white guy who had been hired to do some work at his horse farm and did not know the owner was black. When he saw Mr. Johnson near the horses, he said something that indicated he assumed that Mr. Johnson was another hired hand probably because a black man couldn't possibly be the owner of a million dollar horse farm. Mr. Johnson didn't say anything but shortly thereafter someone introduced him as the owner and the worker apologized and was very embarrassed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - I am white (and blonde, and blue-eyed and ...) and come from a very waspy, uppper-class background, married a white waspy guy, live in NWDC, went to private schools, and my kids are in private schools. I have lots friends with different skin "colors," religions, and cultural heritage and yes, racism still exists in upper class America. Money certainly helps create a bit of a shield but there are still lots of white people who have funky ideas and stupid attitudes. They just do not talk about it unless they are with other white people who they can't imagine will disagree or call them out. Some are true racists who do not care and should know better and some are just stupid/ignorant/thoughtless people who can not see beyond their small narrow "pale" lives. I do believe that empathy is a talent that few people have. All that said, not all white people are racists, maybe not even most, but yes, they still exist even in well-educated, cosmopolitan, upper-socio-economic areas. Sad and sick, but true.

that's extremely depressing.

[Anonymous]

Race is a crapshoot nowadays, which is an improvement over the "white guy always wins" narrative of 50 years ago.

If the deck was stacked 95% against non-Whites in 1960, it is probably stacked 40-50% against non-Whites today. The deck is also stacked 15-20% against non-wealthy Whites these days.

1. Whites will occasionally get passed over for promotions, etc., due to tokenism, at least often enough to sustain the "oppressed white people" narrative of the Teabaggers hold dear.
2. There are more programs, etc., to help poor black kids than poor white kids (or poor kids of any race). OP's DH is right in that a Black kid from McLean or Fairfax is probably more advantaged than a White kid from Norton or Marion. But a Black kid from McLean or Fairfax is still probably -- on balance -- less advantaged than a White kid from McLean or Fairfax.
3. Driving While Black/Brown exists, as does Shopping While Black/Brown.
4. Blacks have a harder time getting a job. This is documented fact.
5. Once hired, lazy white managers let lazy black workers get away with quite a bit -- the lazy white manager is scared of getting the race card played on him and hence doesn't even try.
6. Everyone thinks Asians are smart.
7. We DID elect a Black president, and under-40 whites split evenly, IIRC. (I've even read that Obama is a secret Jew, and that 30% of those thinking he's Muslim voted for him.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Race is a crapshoot nowadays, which is an improvement over the "white guy always wins" narrative of 50 years ago.

If the deck was stacked 95% against non-Whites in 1960, it is probably stacked 40-50% against non-Whites today. The deck is also stacked 15-20% against non-wealthy Whites these days.

1. Whites will occasionally get passed over for promotions, etc., due to tokenism, at least often enough to sustain the "oppressed white people" narrative of the Teabaggers hold dear.
2. There are more programs, etc., to help poor black kids than poor white kids (or poor kids of any race). OP's DH is right in that a Black kid from McLean or Fairfax is probably more advantaged than a White kid from Norton or Marion. But a Black kid from McLean or Fairfax is still probably -- on balance -- less advantaged than a White kid from McLean or Fairfax.
3. Driving While Black/Brown exists, as does Shopping While Black/Brown.
4. Blacks have a harder time getting a job. This is documented fact.
5. Once hired, lazy white managers let lazy black workers get away with quite a bit -- the lazy white manager is scared of getting the race card played on him and hence doesn't even try.
6. Everyone thinks Asians are smart.
7. We DID elect a Black president, and under-40 whites split evenly, IIRC. (I've even read that Obama is a secret Jew, and that 30% of those thinking he's Muslim voted for him.)

1. Not where I work. You often still find long-time minorities (Asians and Blacks) training white males who will eventually get promoted over them.
2. I am sure the lazy manager is failing his job all around and allowing every employee to get away with quite a bit, regardless of race. That's one of the reasons he/she is lazy. Or are there not any lazy white subordinates in your world.
3. Not everyone. Just the bigots.

[Anonymous]

http://chicagobreakingbusiness.com/2010/08/justice-dept-gets-involved-in-willborn-race-discrimination-case.html

The justice department has decided to sue chicago couple and realtor after they backed out of selling their home to Black radio personality. After agreeing to selling the house, thre couple googled the couple and find out they were Black and decided not to sell. Although, the house was still listed for sale for another couple, assuming White, were interested in purchasing. Yeah OP, racism exists for upper income people in this country. The house was listed for approximately 1.8 million dollars.

[Anonymous]

Racism is color blind. I know or have observed racist AAs, racist white folks, racist Asian folks, racist Hispanics ...

[Anonymous]

My husband is Hispanic. I can't even count the number of times he has been ignored when asking for help at a store. We were at Bloomingdales one time and my DH asked to pay for an item. The sales lady said to him "you will have to wait" and she turned around to me and said "is there anything I can help you with?" I told her I was just waiting for my husband. She said, "oh, where is he, I can help him". I pointed at my DH and she made a disgusted look and said "wow, he is very lucky". I looked at her and said "no, I am the lucky one". We the walked out. It's quite pathetic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Not where I work. You often still find long-time minorities (Asians and Blacks) training white males who will eventually get promoted over them.
2. I am sure the lazy manager is failing his job all around and allowing every employee to get away with quite a bit, regardless of race. That's one of the reasons he/she is lazy. Or are there not any lazy white subordinates in your world.
3. Not everyone. Just the bigots.

1. That's true -- forgot about the old boys' club that can help SOME whites out. Makes it even more of a crapshoot.
2. This may be true, but if the Black subordinate plays the race card (or a lazy White manager fears its playing), that just adds another level of hassle. At my work, there's one Black guy who got away with stuff for years, there's one Black woman who's been held back for years, another Black woman who was eventually kicked out sideways, there's one White guy doing work 2 grades above his salary, and another White guy doing work 1 grade above his salary (that being me). Yay, there's enough oppression for everyone!
3. Hah! Good one.