Reply to Why is it okay and not considered racist to call someone "white trash"?

Forum Index » Political Discussion

Reply to "Why is it okay and not considered racist to call someone "white trash"?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It's not okay. As for racist, think a lot of that usually applies when you use derogatory names for minorities with little power, not the majority with most of the power.[/quote]I know that people define the term this way. I'm a sociologist and I know that there are sociologists who use this definition but I personally don't care for it. I understand the intention behind it but it leads to arguing about whether black people can ever be racist. Which is ridiculous and diverts us from addressing the real problems characterizing race relations. Racism is racism.  What is significant to me is how much the racism matters to the well-being of the person on the receiving end. As an upper middle class white professional I can think of one time in my life where I was worried about a black person discriminating against me because I was white because in that situation she held power over me and my family.  But in the vast majority of situations, it just doesn't matter because the person exhibiting racist behavior just doesn't have much power in society at all.

So my interpretation is not all that divergent from the argument that minorities can't be racist but to put it that way is too much like giving someone pass on bad behavior just because they're not a member of a more powerful demographic group.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics