Cry, the Beloved Country shows many examples of racism in the 1940's. What about now? Have you ever encountered racism? Describe your experience. If not, explain how you feel racism is overcome (in your experience).
I have encountered the racism in school even though here is a multicultural place. It was happened the second day that I arrived to the campus. When I was waiting to go to the testing center and take the placement test, there was a girl, who comes from pacific island, asked me where did I come from. Then, I told her that I came from Hong Kong. Surprisingly, she said something mean to me, "oh!please! Hong Kong again? So many people from Hong Kong here! I do not want to feel like I am in Hong Kong! I want to be in Hawaii!" I was shocked and insulted at that time. And from that time, whenever I see her or say hi to her, she does not smile to me and ignore me as if I am a second class.
I really dislike racism. Everybody should be equal even though they come from any countries. I do not think that some countries are on the top of other countries. Every country has their own value.
As I become a teacher after I graduate from here, I must teach my students that everyone is equal.
I am somewhat fortunate that I am from the Bay Area in California where it is incredibly diverse. I personally have not experienced any blatant racism towards me. However, I still see it on our campus. Not as blatant and hateful as it is depicted in the media or on the mainland, but in most cases, friend groups on campus are clearly made up of the same race. Polynesian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Filipino, American, etc.
I understand that some reasons are because of cultural comfort and language/communication, but shouldn't it be more interesting and engaging to learn about other cultures? It's so boring talking about the same things that we're familiar with. Yes, there is a "connection", but connections between other cultures are much cooler and meaningful.
Looking on the bright side, one of my favorite things I witnessed since being here in BYUH was Culture Night. It was ridiculously adorable and awesome seeing petite Asian girls dancing in the Tahitian club performance. Why aren't there more Polynesian more White students in the Asian clubs (Hong Kong, Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean, etc)? Just something to think about. I would love to see that.
I experienced racial discrimination when I came to study English to Provo, Utah. My appearance does not look different from others Americans, but my accent let them know that I'm from a different country. When they heard my accent, they shied away from me and did not want to talk to me later after. However, I should say that this attitude I felt mostly from Utah people. There were many good people from California. They were more opened and friendly to different denominations. Those were the ones I made relationships with. Vivat!
I have seen encounters of racism many times in my small town in Washington. There are many people of Latino descent and many high school students find it funny to make fun of the race. They use the word "Mexicans" in a derogatory tone and many acts of racism have been shown. The way that they are treated in stores or restaurants because they cannot speak perfect English is very rough. It is not everywhere you go, but it definitely happens on many occasions. Outside of that, I really have not experienced much "racism." I have experienced a lot of other "isms" that hurt feelings, but not racism in particular.
I grew up in a small town in southeast Texas where the KKK still comes around! Because of the reality of racism in my hometown, in my entire high school there were only 2 black kids, none of which were in my graduating class. The rest of the majority was Caucasian. People on one side of the town still hang their rebel flags (as a sign of their ignorance!). One night I was driving home with my parents and my dad saw these 2 college guys had this middle-school aged black boy cornered and causing trouble. So my dad pulled up, picked the boy up and brought him home. So, yes racism still exists, but I do feel it is not as bad as was in the 1940s.
i don't know if i have ever experienced racism. i've lived in the philippines, hawai'i, california, and utah and i don't think i ever felt racial injustice. i guess when i think about racism, i automatically reflect on slavery and the civil rights movements in this country years ago. on a smaller scale i guess i see it all the time here in campus. for all the cultural understanding and unity in this diverse university, there is a lot of separation from cultural preference. from my experience, i know a lot of locals that don't like being around caucasian students that much. i have always felt strongly that the reason why is because they just can't relate and have a difficult time feeling comfortable. in some ways i think it's a great shame that a lot of my local friends stick with the preference they have to hang out with other locals. i feel like they are limiting themselves. that's all.
In my hometown of Hillsboro, Oregon I had many experiences with racism and racial prejudice. In Oregon there are many people of Latino descent and I have witnessed a number of fights brought on by cultural differences. Often people from back home have asked me when I am headed back to the "burro" or "Hillsborito". I don't like the negative connotations behind these titles. Two of my best friends were from Guam and Mexico. I especially hated it when people judged them based off of bad experiences with other people of their nationality.
Im from southern califonia i grew up with many differnt races around me, but still have seen racism among people i knew. The acts of racism were small, but hurtful to not only the people they were saying it to, but to many people aroung them.
As far as full on racism against me the worst i have had was probably on my mission in Tacoma, Washington where several Afican American men threw some comments and gestures our way or maybe the occasional angry hawaiian in the water thats mad that theres so many people out(but as a whole the hawaiians are always cool in the water).
To be sincere, I don't remember any time that I had suffered racism. My wife, on the other hand had suffer a little bit back to my country. She is from Brazil, but left in Portugal two year before we married. In Portugal, my country, people do not accept very well Brazilians. Because of that, my wife was a little bit discriminate. People would see her as a person who come from a inferior country, and that in my opinion, is one of the most popular ways of racism in our days.
For me, I haven't experienced any racism that hurt me badly. But in here BYU-Hawaii, I can feel what is racism. Though I think this is a multicultural place and people may be more friendly, it turns out that some people in here are not really that friendly to other races. I don't mean to hurt anybody or criticize anyone, but I think people from any places are proud of their coutry. Like some people from the states, they don't really want to make friends with people other than people from the states. Some people from the islands may not like to make friends with us. I just feel there's something between different races and make us be in racism. But anyways, it is not a really big problem nowadays as people see racism a very serious matter in this time. People are getting more equal status.
Racism has calmed down since the past but is definitely still present today. When I say I am from Vegas people automatically have this predetermined notion that I live right by the strip, but I actually live twenty five minutes away or so in a nice suburban area called Summerlin. Anyway, Summerlin is a very nice part of Vegas that is occupied with a majority of rich white people, to be blunt. There, I see racism when I'm at the store, food place, or when I was in high school. I went to a high school that consisted of more than sixty percent of white students. Because white people were the dominant race, I saw a lot of disrespect and looking down on by others. The high society pretentious majority don't want to associate themselves with other races such as Mexicans and blacks for the most part. I have witnessed their attitudes toward these races. They don't treat them the same. It's sad that I can attest to this because my dad is racist toward blacks with a few exceptions. He says it's rare to find a good black person; he was always indifferent when meeting my African American friends. This example is only one of many of when I've experienced the racism I see present now.
Racism is everywhere, there is no escaping it. Since people love to explore and are so curious of other cultures, there is probably not a single place where there isnt some outside cultre that has entered and made it partly their home. In hawaii it's apparent in the conflict with the locals and what we call haole's (white people/foreigners). Although, not all haole's are bad a lot of the time we tease and make fun of them. Since i am half haole i did get some of it. During elementary school, probably around 5th grade, some one asked me if i was "haole" and before i could answer they asked "are you full hawaiian?" to that i had to say no, so then they went off calling me and everyone else "haole" which was a little offensive, but since we were not full hawaiian's that ment we were of "foreign decent" so we were all haole's. Although, i dont really live by that philosophy now, i still remember being like im local not haole. although its not nice to be racist, all we can do is brush off whatever racist jokes people have about us and try not to tell them ourselves.
ok so i had this long story about my brothers wedding, then next thing you know when i tried to post it my entire post was deleted. So I'll give you the condensed version. We were outnumbered 20-200 in California for their wedding (family wise). I was pissed at some of my sister in-laws family because they thought they were better than us, and I almost punched her uncle.
After reading some of the comments that my classmates have posted I just want to say that racism is in everywhere. I had the opportunity to live and Peru and Bolivia where I saw how the Indians where discriminated by white people. And I have seen how native people Indians in Bolivia do not really like people who are white, so in my opinion it is a hot topic that we can discuss in the class :)
It happened to me when I visited one of my neighboring countries. We have similar cultures and customs, and have conflict at the border as well. I and other 15 people were supposed to visit one of the islands in that country. They did not allow us to go there when they realized that we come from Cambodia. We tried to ask them for reasons, but they didn’t explain clearly. From this experience, when I meet people who come from that country I want to slap them.
Last year, at the Costco, my husband and I were at the cashier, and I gave the cashier my membership card. There was an assistant for the cashier, when the assistant saw my card he started to laugh. He pronounced my name in weird way and did this over 15 times. My husband warned him not to do, but he didn’t stop and saying he was just reading the customer’s name for the cashier. I was almost cried because I got so angry. Finally he said sorry to me but hardly even looking at me. I'm not sure whether it was because of racism or not, it was one of the most unpleasant experiences since I’ve been in Hawaii as a foreigner. I think racism can come from everywhere; from lack of the knowledge of other culture or negligence of other culture from unconscious, so we have to be aware of it all the time.
I have encountered racism both at school and at work. When i first came here to BYUH, i was surprise of many people that don't know where Cambodia is. I introduced myself to a classmate. I told her where i'm from. And by looking at my skin, she asked me that "is Cambodia a city in Africa?" and she continue "do you have a TV at your home?" People make their own judgment base on stereotype. One time at work (i work at customer service), there was a guest looking for help. I offer him a help by asking "How may i help you?", but he didn't bother to answer or even look at me. He waited till my American coworker ask him. I was so sad about that because i expected that i'm coming to a church school, and everyone would be nice to me and take care of me. But i realized that men are not perfect, and they have their own opinions.
For me, I didn't encounter any racism so far,because I grow up in a unique culture atmosphere. There are not many foreigners in my hometown. The only thing I want to say is that people from my hometown easily accept white people than black people. Most of people from my hometown hold the opinion that white people are much diligienter than black people, look much nicer than black people. People from my hometown always think black people are much inferior than chinese. For example, I have a black friend in china. I invited him to visit my hometown, but my friends said:" why you wanted to hang out with black guy." In my opinion, each person should respect different race people. Human should build a harmony society and respect each other.
Growing up, in Juneau, Alaska I could say that the Native Americans are kind of looked down upon. At school, you'll see separation of everyone else from the Natives. They would sit by themselves at lunch and hangout with each other and others that were with them were gothic. They were off to everyone else and were of lower class. Most the Natives were poor and it seemed like they did anything they wanted; skipping classes, getting in fights, always showing inappropriate affection with their boyfriend/ girlfriend, etc. Everyone would also make jokes of them for example one would say, "Look your girlfriend is coming," and point at a Native. It would always be a joke to everyone, but i don't even think they know still, that they're looked down upon. Or that's how they act at least. Like nothing is bothering them.
I have encountered the racism in school even though here is a multicultural place.
ReplyDeleteIt was happened the second day that I arrived to the campus. When I was waiting to go to the testing center and take the placement test, there was a girl, who comes from pacific island, asked me where did I come from. Then, I told her that I came from Hong Kong. Surprisingly, she said something mean to me, "oh!please! Hong Kong again? So many people from Hong Kong here! I do not want to feel like I am in Hong Kong! I want to be in Hawaii!" I was shocked and insulted at that time. And from that time, whenever I see her or say hi to her, she does not smile to me and ignore me as if I am a second class.
I really dislike racism. Everybody should be equal even though they come from any countries. I do not think that some countries are on the top of other countries. Every country has their own value.
As I become a teacher after I graduate from here, I must teach my students that everyone is equal.
I am somewhat fortunate that I am from the Bay Area in California where it is incredibly diverse. I personally have not experienced any blatant racism towards me. However, I still see it on our campus. Not as blatant and hateful as it is depicted in the media or on the mainland, but in most cases, friend groups on campus are clearly made up of the same race. Polynesian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Filipino, American, etc.
ReplyDeleteI understand that some reasons are because of cultural comfort and language/communication, but shouldn't it be more interesting and engaging to learn about other cultures? It's so boring talking about the same things that we're familiar with. Yes, there is a "connection", but connections between other cultures are much cooler and meaningful.
Looking on the bright side, one of my favorite things I witnessed since being here in BYUH was Culture Night. It was ridiculously adorable and awesome seeing petite Asian girls dancing in the Tahitian club performance. Why aren't there more Polynesian more White students in the Asian clubs (Hong Kong, Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean, etc)? Just something to think about. I would love to see that.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI experienced racial discrimination when I came to study English to Provo, Utah. My appearance does not look different from others Americans, but my accent let them know that I'm from a different country. When they heard my accent, they shied away from me and did not want to talk to me later after. However, I should say that this attitude I felt mostly from Utah people. There were many good people from California. They were more opened and friendly to different denominations. Those were the ones I made relationships with. Vivat!
ReplyDeleteI have seen encounters of racism many times in my small town in Washington. There are many people of Latino descent and many high school students find it funny to make fun of the race. They use the word "Mexicans" in a derogatory tone and many acts of racism have been shown. The way that they are treated in stores or restaurants because they cannot speak perfect English is very rough. It is not everywhere you go, but it definitely happens on many occasions. Outside of that, I really have not experienced much "racism." I have experienced a lot of other "isms" that hurt feelings, but not racism in particular.
ReplyDelete-Connie
I grew up in a small town in southeast Texas where the KKK still comes around! Because of the reality of racism in my hometown, in my entire high school there were only 2 black kids, none of which were in my graduating class. The rest of the majority was Caucasian. People on one side of the town still hang their rebel flags (as a sign of their ignorance!). One night I was driving home with my parents and my dad saw these 2 college guys had this middle-school aged black boy cornered and causing trouble. So my dad pulled up, picked the boy up and brought him home. So, yes racism still exists, but I do feel it is not as bad as was in the 1940s.
ReplyDeletei don't know if i have ever experienced racism. i've lived in the philippines, hawai'i, california, and utah and i don't think i ever felt racial injustice. i guess when i think about racism, i automatically reflect on slavery and the civil rights movements in this country years ago. on a smaller scale i guess i see it all the time here in campus. for all the cultural understanding and unity in this diverse university, there is a lot of separation from cultural preference. from my experience, i know a lot of locals that don't like being around caucasian students that much. i have always felt strongly that the reason why is because they just can't relate and have a difficult time feeling comfortable. in some ways i think it's a great shame that a lot of my local friends stick with the preference they have to hang out with other locals. i feel like they are limiting themselves. that's all.
ReplyDeleteIn my hometown of Hillsboro, Oregon I had many experiences with racism and racial prejudice. In Oregon there are many people of Latino descent and I have witnessed a number of fights brought on by cultural differences. Often people from back home have asked me when I am headed back to the "burro" or "Hillsborito". I don't like the negative connotations behind these titles. Two of my best friends were from Guam and Mexico. I especially hated it when people judged them based off of bad experiences with other people of their nationality.
ReplyDeleteIm from southern califonia i grew up with many differnt races around me, but still have seen racism among people i knew. The acts of racism were small, but hurtful to not only the people they were saying it to, but to many people aroung them.
ReplyDeleteAs far as full on racism against me the worst i have had was probably on my mission in Tacoma, Washington where several Afican American men threw some comments and gestures our way or maybe the occasional angry hawaiian in the water thats mad that theres so many people out(but as a whole the hawaiians are always cool in the water).
To be sincere, I don't remember any time that I had suffered racism. My wife, on the other hand had suffer a little bit back to my country. She is from Brazil, but left in Portugal two year before we married. In Portugal, my country, people do not accept very well Brazilians. Because of that, my wife was a little bit discriminate. People would see her as a person who come from a inferior country, and that in my opinion, is one of the most popular ways of racism in our days.
ReplyDeleteFor me, I haven't experienced any racism that hurt me badly. But in here BYU-Hawaii, I can feel what is racism. Though I think this is a multicultural place and people may be more friendly, it turns out that some people in here are not really that friendly to other races. I don't mean to hurt anybody or criticize anyone, but I think people from any places are proud of their coutry. Like some people from the states, they don't really want to make friends with people other than people from the states. Some people from the islands may not like to make friends with us. I just feel there's something between different races and make us be in racism. But anyways, it is not a really big problem nowadays as people see racism a very serious matter in this time. People are getting more equal status.
ReplyDeleteRacism has calmed down since the past but is definitely still present today. When I say I am from Vegas people automatically have this predetermined notion that I live right by the strip, but I actually live twenty five minutes away or so in a nice suburban area called Summerlin. Anyway, Summerlin is a very nice part of Vegas that is occupied with a majority of rich white people, to be blunt. There, I see racism when I'm at the store, food place, or when I was in high school. I went to a high school that consisted of more than sixty percent of white students. Because white people were the dominant race, I saw a lot of disrespect and looking down on by others. The high society pretentious majority don't want to associate themselves with other races such as Mexicans and blacks for the most part. I have witnessed their attitudes toward these races. They don't treat them the same. It's sad that I can attest to this because my dad is racist toward blacks with a few exceptions. He says it's rare to find a good black person; he was always indifferent when meeting my African American friends. This example is only one of many of when I've experienced the racism I see present now.
ReplyDeleteRacism is everywhere, there is no escaping it. Since people love to explore and are so curious of other cultures, there is probably not a single place where there isnt some outside cultre that has entered and made it partly their home. In hawaii it's apparent in the conflict with the locals and what we call haole's (white people/foreigners). Although, not all haole's are bad a lot of the time we tease and make fun of them. Since i am half haole i did get some of it. During elementary school, probably around 5th grade, some one asked me if i was "haole" and before i could answer they asked "are you full hawaiian?" to that i had to say no, so then they went off calling me and everyone else "haole" which was a little offensive, but since we were not full hawaiian's that ment we were of "foreign decent" so we were all haole's. Although, i dont really live by that philosophy now, i still remember being like im local not haole. although its not nice to be racist, all we can do is brush off whatever racist jokes people have about us and try not to tell them ourselves.
ReplyDeleteok so i had this long story about my brothers wedding, then next thing you know when i tried to post it my entire post was deleted. So I'll give you the condensed version. We were outnumbered 20-200 in California for their wedding (family wise). I was pissed at some of my sister in-laws family because they thought they were better than us, and I almost punched her uncle.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading some of the comments that my classmates have posted I just want to say that racism is in everywhere. I had the opportunity to live and Peru and Bolivia where I saw how the Indians where discriminated by white people. And I have seen how native people Indians in Bolivia do not really like people who are white, so in my opinion it is a hot topic that we can discuss in the class :)
ReplyDeleteIt happened to me when I visited one of my neighboring countries. We have similar cultures and customs, and have conflict at the border as well. I and other 15 people were supposed to visit one of the islands in that country. They did not allow us to go there when they realized that we come from Cambodia. We tried to ask them for reasons, but they didn’t explain clearly. From this experience, when I meet people who come from that country I want to slap them.
ReplyDeleteLast year, at the Costco, my husband and I were at the cashier, and I gave the cashier my membership card. There was an assistant for the cashier, when the assistant saw my card he started to laugh. He pronounced my name in weird way and did this over 15 times. My husband warned him not to do, but he didn’t stop and saying he was just reading the customer’s name for the cashier. I was almost cried because I got so angry. Finally he said sorry to me but hardly even looking at me.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure whether it was because of racism or not, it was one of the most unpleasant experiences since I’ve been in Hawaii as a foreigner.
I think racism can come from everywhere; from lack of the knowledge of other culture or negligence of other culture from unconscious, so we have to be aware of it all the time.
I have encountered racism both at school and at work. When i first came here to BYUH, i was surprise of many people that don't know where Cambodia is. I introduced myself to a classmate. I told her where i'm from. And by looking at my skin, she asked me that "is Cambodia a city in Africa?" and she continue "do you have a TV at your home?" People make their own judgment base on stereotype. One time at work (i work at customer service), there was a guest looking for help. I offer him a help by asking "How may i help you?", but he didn't bother to answer or even look at me. He waited till my American coworker ask him. I was so sad about that because i expected that i'm coming to a church school, and everyone would be nice to me and take care of me. But i realized that men are not perfect, and they have their own opinions.
ReplyDeleteFor me, I didn't encounter any racism so far,because I grow up in a unique culture atmosphere. There are not many foreigners in my hometown. The only thing I want to say is that people from my hometown easily accept white people than black people. Most of people from my hometown hold the opinion that white people are much diligienter than black people, look much nicer than black people. People from my hometown always think black people are much inferior than chinese. For example, I have a black friend in china. I invited him to visit my hometown, but my friends said:" why you wanted to hang out with black guy." In my opinion, each person should respect different race people. Human should build a harmony society and respect each other.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up, in Juneau, Alaska I could say that the Native Americans are kind of looked down upon. At school, you'll see separation of everyone else from the Natives. They would sit by themselves at lunch and hangout with each other and others that were with them were gothic. They were off to everyone else and were of lower class. Most the Natives were poor and it seemed like they did anything they wanted; skipping classes, getting in fights, always showing inappropriate affection with their boyfriend/ girlfriend, etc. Everyone would also make jokes of them for example one would say, "Look your girlfriend is coming," and point at a Native. It would always be a joke to everyone, but i don't even think they know still, that they're looked down upon. Or that's how they act at least. Like nothing is bothering them.
ReplyDelete