We have to start ignoring race altogether
It’s the only way to get rid of racism. Stop referring to people as Asian or Black, instead call them “people” and “human beings”.
shareTo get rid racism, you have to get over thinking it’s bad to call someone black or Asian.
shareIt’s not bad, but we need to stop acknowledging skin color because talking about it doesn’t help. White People never acknowledge themselves as White and it’s why they hardly deal with racism because they can’t get offended if their skin color isn’t part of their identity. Blacks on the other hand make such a big deal about “being black” that it only hinders them.
shareI admitted to a friend of mine recently that on the rare occasion I run into a Black person, I will say I ran into a Black person, even though I wouldn't say I ran into a White person. I am aware of it, and admitted it.
But I had the opportunity to run into many different people in a line of work, and I always was happy to get the chance to service a Black person. I wanted to prove to them and myself that I was perfectly comfortable, perfectly happy, to give that person the best service I would give anyone, maybe even better.
I truly felt, in a small way, I might be breaking down some of the crappy experiences maybe they have had in the past, or feel are being imposed on them now.
I think they can tell when they're being patronized.
shareYou can think what ever you want. I enjoy all my clients, and I especially enjoy treating my non-white clients with warmth and good humor. It's not an act. I hope when we part ways they think to themselves, he sure is a nice young man.
Perhaps you have difficulty being cheerful and genuine with strangers, but I don't. And since I live in a predominantly white community, I try to make sure everyone knows we all belong here, in my own humble fashion.
[deleted]
Dont feel bad. If I refer to someone unknown, then the listener only has me as an example.
Then I may seek to differentiate the unknown person from myself. I am a white male, early 40s, art and science centric interests, short, and lean.
The unspoken understanding between the listener and me is the assumption by default that I am describing someone similar to myself. Or the listener may envision someone like themselves instead of theyre a narcissist ;)
They assume this until something differentiates. So I may list differences from me to correct the assumptions.
If I use a pronoun Im already hitting gender, maybe I drop a "she" and now the mystery person is female. I may call the person a kid or a dinosaur, separating their age from me. Maybe this lady believes in aliens or maybe she's a rocket scientist, both differ from me.
If I never mention race, the listener is seeing my race. Now I say black and that changes too.
Simple character descriptors, and they all have stereotypes. The kid might be seen as silly or unwise yet could be 1000x more intelligent, perhaps even more wise, than an old person. A kid with no hate is far wiser than a racist old codger.
ALSO there are times when the context is so overbearing that I do in fact specify the color of another white person. Like if I talked about visiting India and how I kept running into white people, it was annoying.
Do I hate whites? No, I just came for India, and running into other white people is annoying because half of them are tourists, and my goal is to avoid tourist areas to see the real India, the daily life.
I can tell a racist joke to my non white friends because they know its a joke. I can happily talk about their race because thwy have never seen me flinch or cringe or stiffen up when a racial issue comes around.
They see that I treat race as a simple detail, and a historical footnote.
A racist person can be spotted without them ever saying anything racist.
This is how shoplifters are spotted.