10 Mistakes White People Make When Talking About Race

[KamaAina]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/heather-wood/10-mistakes-white-people-_b_68694.html

2. Using Culture-Specific Slang to Relate to Other Races

K-Fed, you ain't. And you just shouldn't try to be--ever....

4. Thinking Race Is Only an Issue for Minorities

The tendency is to think of "race" as something that only black/brown/Asian/Hispanic people have - whereas "white" is the default setting ( i.e., we say "American" to mean white, but "Black American," "Asian-American," etc. to identify other Americans of different colors). Everyone has a race. This is a nation of immigrants, from England, Ireland, France, Germany, Poland, Africa, Asia, and beyond....

6. Believing Stereotypes

Yes, black Americans dominate most sports, more Asians are accepted into MIT than any other race, and Latinos have been known to tear up a dance floor. Though some race-specific stereotypes seem like positive assumptions, imagine yourself on the other end, with high expectations placed on your shoulders simply because of a scrutinized minority. White people don't have the pressure to be the best in math or sports; they just have to be good enough. Everyone else should get the same slack.

7. Thinking Affirmative Action Has Anything to Do With Someone's Success

One of the most controversial issues of the past 20 years is affirmative action, a term widely over-used and often misunderstood. It was supposed to explain educational and hiring policies put in place to encourage more diversity on college campuses and in the public sector. The naysayers made it sound like minorities were given hand-outs, which has resulted in an assumption, even years after most of those progressive policies have been killed, that a successful minority must have been given an easy ride. How about you ask Oprah if she was given an easy ride when networks constantly told her she looked and sounded too "ethnic" early in her career? Do you think the late CBS anchor Ed Bradley was given a break when he accidentally became the first African-American White House correspondent, a result of his network sending him to cover what they thought would be a Jimmy Carter loss? And of these two "View" hosts, who do you think earned their coveted role more: Lisa Ling, a trained journalist, or Elizabeth Hasselbeck, a "Survivor" contestant?

[Heidi]

1. Kick.

Recommended.

[miscsoc]

2. re: affirmative action

I've benefited from affirmative action - I'm white but I was given more leeway re: Uni entry because I was from a p. poor background and my parents hadn't been here.

Affirmative action should be taken to its logical conclusion i.e. race, class background, gender, sexuality etc etc should be taken into account in everything. Job allocation, educational opportunities, everything. If all the people who should have affirmative action had it, it would be supported by a huge majority of white people, for the simple fact that in society right now the majority gets fucked over. Specifically, let's be straightforward in promoting quotas.

[NOLALady]

4. How does the majority get fucked over in this society?

Please explain?

[miscsoc]

5. i.e. the non-ultra rich

I don't mean white people. I meant that presently western society is grotesquely unequal and discriminatory - concentration of wealth etc, absence of social mobility

Being white is pretty much the best thing to be, racially; no doubt about that.

What I meant is that all forms of disadvantage should be taken into account. Like, if you are poor and white, you will be more willing to accept that black people face more discrimination than you if your own disadvantages are taken into account. Like, I talked about my own benefiting from affirmative action - I think my experience of that makes it easier for me to accept the idea that some black guy has had disadvantages I have not had, and that it's legitimate that he should be given some degree of preference over some person from the privileged white race.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

3. Fuck yes! Kick and Recommended!! n/t

[TriMera]

6. Kick and rec. n/t

[Hissyspit]

7. It is misleading to say "Indian" went out of style a long time ago.

Native Americans refer to themselves as Indians all across the country. Persons of non-ethnically indigenous American ancestry can use the term, as well, without perceived insult. It depends on context. "Native American," in fact, is sometimes seen as silly or belittling depending on the context.

[opihimoimoi]

8. You tellum Guy... KnR :o)

I nokea...I only went Castle....

[racaulk]

9. K&R!

:applause:

[miscsoc]

10. ALSO

Black people have a wide array of colorful terms that come in and go out of style and can be used in a myriad of different ways. White people, it will be extremely tempting to try and incorporate these terms into your everyday language. Don't. When you guys start using our words, that's when we know it's time to stop using them.

- Nick Adams, author Making Friends With Black People

I'm not sure about this bit. White people use terms originating with black people through the normal process of language. I know it's a bit different in the U.S. with the history and all but this strikes me as a very damaging sort of attitude. This myth of the negro as cool and the white as not is deeply problematic and essentially rooted in white condescension towards blacks.

[foxfeet]

11. K&R nt

[Kablooie]

12. Yes. But Jesse Owens was certainly a credit to his race.

He was a credit to his long jump too.

[Swamp Rat]

13. The most important mistake was left out: Not listening