Hey there, I was wondering if I’m the only one who feels like this or not.
So I grew up thinking that we people all look different and never had a concept of something such as “white” and “black” people.
But especially in the last years I noticed more and more that a lot of people make such a big thing out of whether someone is “black” or “white” and what their ethnicity is.
It feels like it’s to the point where they make this define their core identity as if it’s very relevant how people look and how bright/dark their skin is as if this changes their personality.
It’s like so many of these people constantly bring this up to the point where it’s brainwashing and they literally even use racial slur as slang that was used in the past to devalue and enslave people based on their skin tone.
Since I experienced this it made me very uncomfortable since I never had this concept before and now I constantly have to obsessively think about it and feel like it’s manipulating me and these people still bring it up all the time.
I think this is driving me insane cause I never would think about humans so strongly because of their skin or something since it simply isn’t relevant and it just feels wrong but I can’t escape it since so many people continue to make such a big deal out of it.
Edit: To the people saying people have different advantages because of their skin, I’m fully aware of that and I wasn’t intending to debate that. My question was primarily about if other people have the same uncomfortable feeling that many people differentiate between people based on their skin and make such a big deal out of it (so more a personal feelings question than a generale debate about why it exists) because imo in a healthy society this shouldn’t be the case. But in my opinion the fact that we continue this behaviour instead of changing it is the exact reason we have racism and the issues of inequality based on someone’s skin in the first place. We need to start to change at some place and not just give up on it. If we continue to see people as “black” or “white” instead of just seeing them as “people” and only look at the past we will never end this issue. Ignorance is certainly not the solution. I found these videos where I think Elon Musk and Morgan Freeman are pretty much hitting the nail on the head.
I’m not sure who you mean by “you people” but that sounds kind of racist.
No but seriously, I don’t think it’s racist at all to describe shared experiences, as long as you don’t presume to know someone’s life experiences by the color of their skin. For instance, a lot of black people experience police discrimination in America. Being pulled over for no reason, needing to stay calm and respectful in the face of fascism, these are normal, common experiences that can traumatize a person. Talking about those experiences with people who have lived them can help you process and heal from the trauma.
A white person can also be pulled over by police for no reason. It could be because of the way they look. They may have been afraid that the police would randomly decide to murder them in broad daylight. This experience can happen to anyone, but because it disproportionately happens to black people, they are able to discuss it in short hand. “You been pulled over?” “Yeah, DWB. Motherfuckers.”
Two white people would not have the same conversation. “I got pulled over.” “Speeding?” “No, no reason at all.” “That happened to me once. Broken tailight, the cop was really nice about it.” “No, man, like he seemed angry and suspicious, and I thought he was going to arrest me or shoot me or something.” “For real?! That’s wild. You should call a lawyer and sue his ass.”
It’s not racist to describe these two realities. It’s not racist to ask about these experiences to learn from other cultures. It is racist to assume that these experiences are universal. You couldn’t say for sure that these are the experiences of a particular individual based on their race.
No matter how many excuses you will find to justify racism it’s just not morally acceptable. As long as we won’t stop making such a big thing out of what peoples skin color or ethnicity is we will never get rid of it.
The fact that people get discriminated and unfairly treated because they have dark or bright skin is a shame and it NEEDS to stop now instead of trying to justify why it is the case and keep on doing it.
So we stop it by pretending it doesn’t happen? Act like nobody experiences discrimination, and they won’t? Forgive me, but that’s incomprehensible logic.
Racism isn’t acknowledging differences, it’s demanding them. And demanding we treat everyone the same ignores the reality that different races live. We stop racism by celebrating our differences and learning from each other so that we might be more open to each other. To pretend we’re all the same is to ignore that which makes us special, and it is racism to expect the same from everyone regardless of their life experiences.
No that’s the exact wrong thing to do! Instead of ignoring it or trying to justify racism we need to STOP it and start tackling it by the root problem. There is no problem with different cultures and people cause that is what makes us so special in my opinion. But to devalue or discriminate someone solely based on their skin and make such a big thing about it is just wrong in my opinion. If you guys don’t see this very simple logic then I’m lost for ideas
But being black or white is part of who they are. By ignoring their race, you are in fact devaluing who they are as a person. Black and white are different. Not better, not worse, and not limited to preconceived definitions.
It’s like the Stephen Colbert bit where he pretended he couldn’t see color. It was humorous because he acted like it made him anti-racist, but actually it was extremely racist. Your original point is the sort of well-meaning pandering naivete he was satirizing.
You are not different by your skin color its human made. This idea is very outdated and not supported by any scientific research. There is one human race which is called Homo sapiens sapiens. Thinking someone is different because of their skin is human made and the definition of racism.
You are different by your skin color. People are all literally different colors. And because racism exists, that affects every aspect of your existence from the moment you’re born. You cannot overcome racism by saying “let’s just all pretend we’re all the same.”
Set race aside for a minute, because I think you’re trying too hard to be un-racist. Consider height for a bit. Everyone is a different height. It doesn’t make you a good or bad person to be tall or short. Certain things are easier or harder, and people at each height bracket have similar experiences. People also face discrimination based on their height. It is discriminatory to make assumptions about a person’s qualities based on their height, but it is not discrimination to identify people as taller, shorter, or average height. Pretending height difference don’t exist will not counteract height discrimination, and in fact will foster attitudes that do not account for individual differences.