Are/were your parents racists?

[dhinojosa]

Poll question: Are/were your parents racists?

We have remained or joined the democratic party because we believe all are created equal. But what about mom and dad? My mom on her last days used to say "I don't like black people" although her doctor was african american. I just rolled my eyes :eyes: at her ignorance, especially since we are hispanic.

So, my poll is: Are/were your parents racists?

[terrya]

1. Neither of my parents were racists.

They taught me NOT to be prejudiced. I learned a lot from these good people.

[dhinojosa]

3. Nice.....I think all parents will soon be like that...

I hope.

[roguevalley]

18. my dad used to get up on the bus in Portland during the thirties and

forties and give his seat to others, usually women. Some of them were black and Japanese and he would come to blows sometimes from people who didn't care for him doing that. My folks are pillars of decency, both of them and their parents too. I was very, very lucky.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

2. It's funny because they generally voted Democratic.

[Placebo]

4. Both sides of my family are...

and both vote democratic :shrug:

[dhinojosa]

5. Yep, my mom was....

and of course I am...doesn't make sense sometimes.

[khashka]

6. Yup, still are

I'll say this for them though.... they made sure that my sister and I were not raised with their beliefs. They know it's wrong but claim they can't change feeling what they were taught as children. There must be something to that (although I have a hard time believing it) because tried very hard to ensure that she and I grew up not to be racists and even not to know they were . Until we were adults.

They are racists but they didn't want their children to be. Strange, huh?

Khash.

[meow2u3]

7. My dad was but my mom was not

Mom thought racism was un-Christian--and she was a very devout, moderate Catholic.

[Straight Shooter]

8. My parents were emphatically NOT racist.

In fact, they may have been more sensitive to the issue than many Caucasians of their generation. My mother was an Italian war bride, and the discrimination she received from my grandmother (who called her "that Italian") probably made them aware that bigotry in any form is hateful and hurtful.

I was lucky in that respect. Very lucky, but I did have to deal with my grandmother's racism and could never convince her that skin color has nothing to do with a person's character.

[unsavedtrash]

9. My father was a member of the KKK until his death two years ago.

my family has a lot of both females and males that were/are members of the KKK and other racist groups. I am an alien when it comes to my family. I do not fit in with them at all.

[bigwillq]

10. My dad still is

But not my mom.

[shanti]

11. not outwardly

i'm white and was raised in a military family, the military being very racially mixed. i remember one day when i was about 6 or 7, we were on a family outing. all three of us kids were in the back seat. me and my sis started singing that ditty, "eenie meenie....". my dad squealed to a stop and whipped around to face me. he said, "if you EVER say that again, i will beat your ass black and blue." needless to say, we never said it again!

ironically, i married interacially (my ex is black), but he wasn't to happy about it. i don't have a great relationship with him (never have), but he never brings it up (he didn't like my first ex either who was white). he does mention movies, books, etc. about black/interracial issues that may affect me or my biracial son.

i'm not sure about my mother. she mentioned something about my son's skin tone once, but rarely even mentions my son. we aren't talking anway for other reasons. i think there may be some hidden racism there, but she is very PC and would never admit it. i was the first in my entire extended family to marry interracially too.

oh, on edit, both parents are lifelong dems.

it's one of those "it's ok for other people, but don't bring it home" kind of things, imo.

regarding your situation...i live in cali and work with a lot of latinos. a latino coworker has mentioned her elderly mother's negative opinions about black people several times, you know, like "be careful, he will steal from you", when discussing anyone black. seems to be just as much bigotry in the hispanic/latino community as white. :shrug:

[mvd]

12. No

They are progressives, like me.

[Droopy]

13. They are slightly racist

They'd never intentionally hurt anyone and they don't use ethnic or racial slurs. But my dad is quick to note when a football team doesn't have any white people on defense. And my mom would never live in a certain area of town that is predominantly black because the area is "too rough" for her.

[shanti]

16. exactly

when i told my mother i was taking a vacation to jamaica, she told me she would never visit there because it's too "poor" (read: black). i think she is afraid of black people to an extent. she said she'd rather go to hawaii!

[notadmblnd]

14. yes, and they threw a shit fit when I married a black man

"What will people think" they said. I told them when other people pay my bills and put food on my table, then I might give a damn about what they thought.

They've come a long way since then in their thinking, but sometimes their racist comments leak out of their mouths. even though my husband is dead now, I still call them on their racist BS.

[CelticWinter]

15. sad to say both my parents were

and mother still is (shes a * lover so what can I say there) but my seven brothers and sisters arent, go figure I guess we learned from watching how hateful the parents were.

[miss_kitty]

17. Mom wasn't, dad was n/t

[Floogeldy]

19. Nope. But I think they were prejudiced.

By that I mean, I think they had stereotypical perceptions of most blacks, until they got to know them.

[Allenberg]

24. Same here.

[BlueIris]

20. Yep.

Nothing to add to qualifiy that--because, why would I...you know, now that I've stopped kidding myself?--just...yeah.

[Zuni]

21. nope

My mother, although very conservative on some issues has always been liberal on social issues
my father grew up in the southern part of Baltimore, where working class whites and blacks generally lived amongst each other. He was always comfortable around blacks, especially those of his generation who came from similar circumstances

[halobeam]

22. Both, but Mom more than Dad.

eh... maybe it's equal...it's all ugly. I grew up in a very segregated area, my parents did too and so did theirs. Family memories of the adult talks during after dinner drinks on the holidays were filled with shocking statements (those that stand out even now I still remember) I was so young I heard it, but didn't understand it. Now, I am ashamed of them. I'm glad my family always felt me the "outsider". (Now that I understand who they are, I no longer wish to fit in... I wish they fit in with me).. Oh well. I picked good people in my life (husband, friends) you can't pick your parents.

[johnnie]

23. Yes and no

My parents didn't sort people out by the color of skin or where their ancestors came from, but they do generalize sometimes.
No matter what people say, I think everyone is judgmental in some form, be it race, color, height, weight, hair color, sex, sexual preference, region where someone lives and a plethora of other generalizations that most people sometimes don't realize they are being bigoted about.

[doc03]

25. Hell, when I first saw Archie Bunker I thought he was my dad.

He used the same language that Archie used and you know after a while that show actually changed him later in life when he saw how stupid it was to hate everyone. Both my parents voted straight Democrat and they thought FDR and JFK were the best Presidents ever. My mother was like Edith Bunker.

[KG]

26. the 'n' word was never spoken in my house growing up.

if they were racists, they kept it to themselves.

[ms liberty]

27. My dad is - very bigoted; my mom was not...

My mom was raised in a pretty un-bigoted way for a rural NC farming family. One of her grandfathers was a captain for the Confederate army in the civil war, too. She was a great lady, my mama. She changed with the times and grew throughout her life; she didn't get set in her ways.
Now my dad, well, he's one of the most bigoted people I've ever met. He's also a * supporter of course. He's in real bad health now, so I don't get into any of it with him anymore, it helps that he lives about a 7 hour drive from me.
My parents divorced when I was in the 7th grade, about 1972. Very nasty, ugly divorce. Luckily for me, my mom made sure he didn't get anything - including custody of me! Lest you think I'm being harsh here, I'll give you the dime version: alcoholism, adultery, verbal abuse.
With him as an example, is it a surprise I was single til age 35?

[libhill]

28. I wasn't raised that way

Although I am now an agnostic with little use for religion, I was raised be parents who were church goers, and who taught me that God loved all people, regardless of race or skin color. We even got invited to Black church services from time to time.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

29. They tended to stereotype different races often.

They weren't intentionally hateful or anything but they clung to their preconceived beliefs.

[hyphenate]

30. My parents were of two minds on racism

We lived very close to a project where there were an awful lot of minorities living. As with many inner city/urban projects, there was and still has a large amount of crime there, from murders, to burglaries, and everything in between. She hated the people there, for good reason: twice she was attacked by people when she was near there. (The "good reason" applies to my mother's thinking, not mine--just to make that clear!)

On the other hand, both of my parents had friends who were of different races, and both worked with them as well. My dad rarely made any comments, and my mom only did it in reference to those who she believed attacked her. Neither one of them likely had much experience with a lot of people of different backgrounds, because I'm sure the Canadian Maritime provinces weren't especially filled with them before WWII.

[Lars39]

31. My parents

were raised in a time and place that could have formed them to be the worst of racists.
They outgrew their background as they discovered a much bigger world existed.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

32. I believe that my parents (both still living, BTW) are not rascists....

But I grew up in a lily-white neighborhood, and our schools had no minority students that I remember...

I didn't actually go to school with any black students until I got to college...

I did not know how to behave around them, and tended to be shy...

BTW, my parents are moderate Republicans...but they can't stand * and they liked and voted for Clinton...


I couldn't care what color a person's skin is...I do care about the quality of his/her soul...

[SnohoDem]

33. NO

and I was born in Northern Louisiana, so they were very exceptional.

[GOPisEvil]

34. My parents are a mixed-race couple. No racism at all.

Dad is caucasian, and my mom is Asian (Japanese). So, uh, no. No race issues at all. In fact, one of my earliest memories is looking at an Atlas with my mom and mispronouncing "Niger". :)

My parents taught me respect for all people, and that just because people have different customs doesn't make them bad people.

I have awesome parents. :)