Is it possible for white people to experience racism?

[FrozenLeaves]

Okay, I'm posting this here because it seems like the most appropriate section. This topic got brought up in another thread and I'm curious about what other people have to say about it.
I want to know if anyone thinks it's possible to be racist towards a white person/white people in general. And when I ask this, I'm not saying that any racism they experience is on the same level or scale as that of minorities, but I want to know if anyone even thinks it can happen. Please note that I'm not implying any discrimination against white people justifies discrimination against anyone else ever, or vice versa.

With that said, I think it does happen. Even though I'm not white myself, it kind of irks me when I hear people say that it's not possible since white people have privilege and advantage in society (and by that I mean western society). Just because someone is in an advantageous position doesn't mean they are immune to discrimination. I've seen several instances on blogs supposedly dedicated to addressing racism, where people have commented that white people can't experience it, even so far as saying that whites have no culture and only steal from the cultures of other people.
To me, that's also racism. It may not carry the same weight and repercussions, and it may not be systemically embedded in society, but it is racism. Just because something happens on a smaller scale doesn't mean it isn't real.

I know this is a really touchy and often volatile subject, especially given all the police murders happening and seemingly 24 hour talk of terrorism, but I'm curious.

[FairyPrincess]

As a white person, I believe no, white people can't experience racism. Like you said, it doesn't carry the same weight or repercussions, and it's not systematically embedded in society. That is what makes racism harmful.

[FrozenLeaves]

I see your point, but I would also argue that the degree of severity doesn't determine racism. Racism, as I'm sure most everyone knows, is simply prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone based on their race. That's the dictionary definition. So a non-white person using a slur about white people is still racist, even if it has very little affect in a societal sense. I think racism can be harmful even when it is not deeply engrained. For instance, even though men currently still hold more advantages than women do, it is possible to be a misandrist. Even if, theoretically, only one person in the entire world hated men, it still counts as prejudice.

Basically, it seems like a lot of people think it's not possible simply because it has much smaller effects. While it may not seem harmful now, thinking that it is harmless can lead to an increase of this behavior. Racism develops over decades of thinking prejudice isn't harmful, or that it's even the right way to think.

[cerise]

Yes, any race can experience racism. However, white people do not generally experience the systemic racism in Western society towards POC.

[OPsMom]

Racism against Whites DOES exist and DID exist.
Ottoman Empire
Mongol Empire
Persian Empire
Empire of Japan
Muslim Conquests

I am a white person who lives in a city where whites are the minority, and racism against whites is very common here. Many gang fights are targeted towards caucasians here.

Whites in Western countries (not sure about others) do not have any special privilege whatsoever. If you believe that they do, I ask you to answer these three questions:

Name 5 laws that racially discriminate against people of colour in Western countries
.

Give me 5 instances of provincially approved privileges given to whites only
.

Provide me with 5 examples of white privilege supported by solid facts with sources that are not isolated cases.

Good luck.

[FairyPrincess]

I don't think the dictionary definition of racism really conveys the true meaning of racism. After all, it was written by white people, who, in my opinion, have never experienced racism. I guess this is just something that people have different opinions on.
As a white person, knowing even just a small amount of the history of oppression created by white people, I wouldn't feel comfortable claiming that somebody calling me a cracker is racism. Especially knowing that the person who is probably calling me a cracker faces real, daily and harmful consequences because of their race.

[FrozenLeaves]

I don't think the dictionary definition of racism really conveys the true meaning of racism. After all, it was written by white people, who, in my opinion, have never experienced racism. I guess this is just something that people have different opinions on.
As a white person, knowing even just a small amount of the history of oppression created by white people, I wouldn't feel comfortable claiming that somebody calling me a cracker is racism. Especially knowing that the person who is probably calling me a cracker faces real, daily and harmful consequences because of their race.

Even though I don't fully agree you make some good points and I understand your reasoning. Since this issue relies somewhat on personal subjective experiences, I doubt there will ever be an infallible standard on when exactly something should be considered racist or not.

Racism against Whites DOES exist and DID exist.
Ottoman Empire
Mongol Empire
Persian Empire
Empire of Japan
Muslim Conquests

I am a white person who lives in a city where whites are the minority, and racism against whites is very common here. Many gang fights are targeted towards caucasians here.

Whites in Western countries (not sure about others) do not have any special privilege whatsoever. If you believe that they do, I ask you to answer these three questions:

Name 5 laws that racially discriminate against people of colour in Western countries
.

Give me 5 instances of provincially approved privileges given to whites only
.

Provide me with 5 examples of white privilege supported by solid facts with sources that are not isolated cases.

Good luck.

I agree that it exists, but I would like to point out much of gang violence (in the US at least, I can't speak for other countries) is against non-white. Black gangs, hispanic gangs, whatever race makes up the gang, usually go after others in their own community.

As for white people having privilege: they do have less directly observable advantages as civil rights have progressed. Most of it what is left is either systemic or just individual unconscious biases.

Examples of privilege:
-less likely to be arrested
-more likely to go to college
-more likely to have better housing options
- less likely to be viewed as angry/hostile
- more likely to be portrayed in a positive light

Also I'm not saying ONLY whites are shown privilege. What I'm arguing is that they are more likely to have the most, which makes sense (even if it's unfair) since white people are still the majority in the US.

Here's a link to a New York Times article on the subject: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/24/opini ... .html?_r=0

This site also has good links within the article showing bias in incarceration rates, particularly for drug use:
http://www.timwise.org/2014/12/far-more ... ce-system/

Lastly, I want to point out that I don't think every single instance of unfair treatment toward minorities is because of racism. But it's also important not to deny that this stuff still happens. We are not in a "post-racial" world yet, and I don't know if we ever will be.

[RoseHammer]

Especially knowing that the person who is probably calling me a cracker faces real, daily and harmful consequences because of their race.

The thing that irks me about the whole racism/prejudice/systemic racism subject is that while on a larger level, yes, blacks and other minorities are at a disadvantage depending on the area.

BUT

I don't tolerate anyone who comes for me because of my skin color when I have done nothing wrong to them. I don't give a flying fuck if you're black, hispanic, latino, asian, whatever the hell you are. I've grown up in a very diverse area all my life and the fact is, disrespect is disrespect no matter how you spin it.

It pisses me off when white people who grew up in largely all-white areas go around spouting off about race relations with info based solely on the media and the internet. People who have never stepped foot in the ghetto, have been yelled at, assaulted, or intimidated repeatedly throughout their lives in their hometown. Not accusing anyone here but this is just a general observation I've made.

[RustinCohle]

Yes, any race can experience racism. However, white people do not generally experience the systemic racism in Western society towards POC.

White people can experience prejudice, not racism. I'll attach a video which explains prejudice VS racism in more detail.
[youtube][/youtube]

Racism against Whites DOES exist and DID exist.
Ottoman Empire
Mongol Empire
Persian Empire
Empire of Japan
Muslim Conquests

I am a white person who lives in a city where whites are the minority, and racism against whites is very common here. Many gang fights are targeted towards caucasians here.

Whites in Western countries (not sure about others) do not have any special privilege whatsoever. If you believe that they do, I ask you to answer these three questions:

Name 5 laws that racially discriminate against people of colour in Western countries
.

Give me 5 instances of provincially approved privileges given to whites only
.

Provide me with 5 examples of white privilege supported by solid facts with sources that are not isolated cases.

Good luck.

Are you a KKK/Aryan brotherhood member or something?

[florenceenvirons]

I don't think racism exists for white people. Xenophobia and prejudice certainly, but not racism. Citing examples such as Irish people and Italian people in America etc regards cases in which white people were the instigators of exclusionary behaviour.
And if you're talking about such nonsense as "oh but black people don't want to be my friend/look at me/they make fun of me because I'm white" then you seriously have to think of their personal context. As in, years of slavery, years of systematic racism, a world that constantly cuts them (and other POC) out of the picture too often and too gladly, to then say "WELL they've never done THIS before so clearly they're not competent of it" as if it was not the removal of these people from the picture that created this weird white person superiority complex in which we seem to think we're both above non white people and so badly wanting to be oppressed as they are in order to justify these feelings.
God, that was a run on sentence. Sorry.
As white people we simply cannot face anything near to what is defined as racism, and we need to work hard on ourselves to recognise when WE are perpetuating acts of racism and when we are told that actually, we're not quite as good at Not Being A Racist as we thought we were.

This post got rather rambly and a bit personal as tbh, I find the question asked a tiny bit bullshit and nonsense. I mean, there's some silly stuff on this forum anyway but no, white people cannot experience racism. Sorry! Actually no, I'm not.

[KimiSoYeah]

Yes, any race can experience racism. However, white people do not generally experience the systemic racism in Western society towards POC.

White people can experience prejudice, not racism. I'll attach a video which explains prejudice VS racism in more detail.
[youtube][/youtube]

Racism against Whites DOES exist and DID exist.
Ottoman Empire
Mongol Empire
Persian Empire
Empire of Japan
Muslim Conquests

I am a white person who lives in a city where whites are the minority, and racism against whites is very common here. Many gang fights are targeted towards caucasians here.

Whites in Western countries (not sure about others) do not have any special privilege whatsoever. If you believe that they do, I ask you to answer these three questions:

Name 5 laws that racially discriminate against people of colour in Western countries
.

Give me 5 instances of provincially approved privileges given to whites only
.

Provide me with 5 examples of white privilege supported by solid facts with sources that are not isolated cases.

Good luck.

Are you a KKK/Aryan brotherhood member or something?

Seriously? Grow up.

[kofi]

Reverse racism doesn't exist and has never exist. Racism is systematic.

There is, however, a certain prejudice towards certain groups of white people, but this prejudice is not perpetuated by POC (hence why it isn't reverse racism), but by 'favoured' groups of white people. For example, the situation of Aryan Caucasic whites (Englishmen, Germans, Frenchs...) is more favorable than that of Mediterranean whites (Spaniards, Italians, Greeks...), who have to face stereotypes that type them as lazy, untrustworthy and morally/mentally inferior than Aryans.

[TrixieMattel]

No. Reverse racism isn't real.

[KimiSoYeah]

Exactly, there is no such thing as reverse racism. There is only racism. Anyone can be racist, and anyone can be be the victim of it.

[bxch]

Yes, personally I think people of any race or cultural background can be a victim of racism and I don't see why if someone is of a certain colour they cannot experience racism; despite largely being portrayed as more privileged in media and society compared to people of other races/cultural backgrounds.ts

I am a Tumblr user, I use the website a lot and love it, however I often come across "white kids be like" or posts about "black parents be like" etc. Whilst I do understand that this is commonly seen as a type of internet humor, I don't think stereotypes should be used to make jokes about people with different skin pigmentations.

However, back onto the question, racism towards white people can happen, however it's usually towards black people.

[Nareehs]

I don't think racism exists for white people. Xenophobia and prejudice certainly, but not racism. Citing examples such as Irish people and Italian people in America etc regards cases in which white people were the instigators of exclusionary behaviour.
And if you're talking about such nonsense as "oh but black people don't want to be my friend/look at me/they make fun of me because I'm white" then you seriously have to think of their personal context. As in, years of slavery, years of systematic racism, a world that constantly cuts them (and other POC) out of the picture too often and too gladly, to then say "WELL they've never done THIS before so clearly they're not competent of it" as if it was not the removal of these people from the picture that created this weird white person superiority complex in which we seem to think we're both above non white people and so badly wanting to be oppressed as they are in order to justify these feelings.
God, that was a run on sentence. Sorry.
As white people we simply cannot face anything near to what is defined as racism, and we need to work hard on ourselves to recognise when WE are perpetuating acts of racism and when we are told that actually, we're not quite as good at Not Being A Racist as we thought we were.

This post got rather rambly and a bit personal as tbh, I find the question asked a tiny bit bullshit and nonsense. I mean, there's some silly stuff on this forum anyway but no, white people cannot experience racism. Sorry! Actually no, I'm not.

But... being racist, by definition, means to think that one person is inferior to another just because of their race. It's usually said that racism is when a person thinks their own race is superior to another, but as a MEXICAN, I can tell you a shitload of people here think that white folk are superior to us. Hell, we're racist against our own people just because there are different shades of brown. Some of the people I know are brown as burnt toast and they think they're superior to 'indios' (indigenous people) because they're darker than them.

Having said that, I do think there's racism against whites. Most people in Mexico are mixed race (mexican-spaniard) but in very poor parts of the city/country people are darker and they tend to go hard against ligther people. They won't trust 'gringos' or 'blanquitos' (whities) and will accuse them of being thiefs, liars and -ironically- racist. A white kid (meaning pale af, blond, blue-eyed) can be severely abused at schools from these sectors, both from other children and adults alike.

I get where you're coming from. White people never have and probably never will face the kind of abuse that POC have faced in the past. They have been slaves but not in the magnitude or with the cruelty that black people were. They don't get publicly accused as a whole race of being rapists or useless parasites by leaders of other nations on international TV. They don't get banned from places just because of their race and most importantly, they aren't guilty 'till proven otherwise when a crime occurs, even without proof, just because they're white.

But let me tell you this: A person doesn't have to act on their racism for it to qualify as such. If I think you're inferior to me because you're white, I am racist, even if I don't rape, kill, enslave or insult you at all. I still hate you only because of the colour of your skin.

[fihe]

Of course. Anyone can be racist, or sexist, for that matter.

[niki900]

Honestly, reading through this thread...
Racism can be experienced by anyone, no matter the race. Saying 'reverse racism' implies in itself that racism is only tied to POC and if white people were to experience it, it would be 'reverse'. So let's not even go there.
If you google racism, about 200000000 results will pop up. There's as many definitions of racism as there are people in this world. Some go so far as to define racism as 'the prejudice of the white race against every other race'.
At its foundation, racism implies the discrimination of a group of people based on their skin colour/ethnicity. Prejudice implies the preconceived notion of a how a person should be, based on what group they belong to. People warp and shift this definition to what they need it to be, so talking about definitions and using them as arguments is pointless.

Here's where I personally stand. I am pro-equality of gender (including reassigning gender, genderfluidity etc), sexuality, race. Essentially I believe the characteristics that you are born with and do not choose shouldn't be a reason for a person to be treated lesser. But that isn't enough for most feminists and Tumblr users.

After being on Tumblr for a while, I've received more abuse, hate and racial slurs from 'progressive SJWs' than ever from homophobes or bullies in school. Just because I am a white cis gay male. I am a 'piece of shit cracker' because I identify with my assigned gender. I can't understand financial hardship because I am white and not from a third world country, doesn't matter if I was raised by a single mother who struggled finding a job. I cannot understand abuse because I am a man, because other men only abuse women and not other men, and women certainly never abuse men. I cannot understand or experience racism because I am white, even if I my opinion is constantly belittled or excluded because of my race and, at university, POC notoriously treat a lot of white people like scum, just because 'white people cannot experience racism'. Oh, and the next time someone yells at me about repaying for slavery... I am from a Catholic European country, how am I, or my ancestors, to blame for crimes committed in America centuries ago?

Do you see what I'm getting at?

The current trend in Social Justice seems to be that white people (and especially white men) shouldn't have a voice in the larger society because they don't experience prejudice or racism. How is that not racism? How is that not a movement in society that attempts to exclude a whole group, based purely on the colour of their skin?
This is akin to the same argument that men cannot be on the receiving end of abuse from women. It's absolute bullshit.

If you're keen to hear some more of the arguments against this kind of thinking, I strongly suggest r/TumlrInAction on reddit. Comments under each post always engage in a debate and either debunk or agree with the arguments given in Tumblr posts.

[delilahdots]

Racism is discriminating against someone because of their race. Sometimes It's a general xenophobia, sometimes it's dangerous stereotyping, sometimes it's fear

I'd say racism can be experienced by everyone but at different levels. Recent events over the past few years, shows some people in the U.S for example view some black people as dangerous or violent, which is yes racist. It's people who are often non-black using a negative stereotype towards a racial group for their own bias

On the other hand If there was a majority Asian or black or other community who used a stereotype of all white people being dangerous or violent then yes this would be racism.

Also all you have to do is look at Irish and Eastern Europeans, majority white and often treated like crap. (Although most often by other white groups so maybe this is more xenophobia).

[Dumbo]

Honestly, reading through this thread...
Racism can be experienced by anyone, no matter the race. Saying 'reverse racism' implies in itself that racism is only tied to POC and if white people were to experience it, it would be 'reverse'. So let's not even go there.
If you google racism, about 200000000 results will pop up. There's as many definitions of racism as there are people in this world. Some go so far as to define racism as 'the prejudice of the white race against every other race'.
At its foundation, racism implies the discrimination of a group of people based on their skin colour/ethnicity. Prejudice implies the preconceived notion of a how a person should be, based on what group they belong to. People warp and shift this definition to what they need it to be, so talking about definitions and using them as arguments is pointless.

Here's where I personally stand. I am pro-equality of gender (including reassigning gender, genderfluidity etc), sexuality, race. Essentially I believe the characteristics that you are born with and do not choose shouldn't be a reason for a person to be treated lesser. But that isn't enough for most feminists and Tumblr users.

After being on Tumblr for a while, I've received more abuse, hate and racial slurs from 'progressive SJWs' than ever from homophobes or bullies in school. Just because I am a white cis gay male. I am a 'piece of shit cracker' because I identify with my assigned gender. I can't understand financial hardship because I am white and not from a third world country, doesn't matter if I was raised by a single mother who struggled finding a job. I cannot understand abuse because I am a man, because other men only abuse women and not other men, and women certainly never abuse men. I cannot understand or experience racism because I am white, even if I my opinion is constantly belittled or excluded because of my race and, at university, POC notoriously treat a lot of white people like scum, just because 'white people cannot experience racism'. Oh, and the next time someone yells at me about repaying for slavery... I am from a Catholic European country, how am I, or my ancestors, to blame for crimes committed in America centuries ago?

Do you see what I'm getting at?

The current trend in Social Justice seems to be that white people (and especially white men) shouldn't have a voice in the larger society because they don't experience prejudice or racism. How is that not racism? How is that not a movement in society that attempts to exclude a whole group, based purely on the colour of their skin?
This is akin to the same argument that men cannot be on the receiving end of abuse from women. It's absolute bullshit.

If you're keen to hear some more of the arguments against this kind of thinking, I strongly suggest r/TumlrInAction on reddit. Comments under each post always engage in a debate and either debunk or agree with the arguments given in Tumblr posts.

I agree with everything you wrote here! It's unbelievable that people still say that there is no racism against white people. Yes it's not as severe as it is against other races but saying it doesn't exist is just mind-boggling.

I was quite recently assaulted by a black man in a room full of people just because I sat next to him. I got called pale ass piece of shit and other not so nice things, he violently shoved me off the chair and then kept following me around the room when I tried to get away from him, still yelling at me. And that was just for sitting next to him. How is that not racist? If the roles were reversed, I would have been burned at the stake and labeled most racist person ever. And that's not even the first time something like this has happened and I can't even talk about it publicly because I will end up being the racist in the situation.


Also seeing how someone got labeled as a KKK member for believing that racism against white people exist just proved to me how f*cked up people are. I, honest to god, am absolutely ashamed of my skin colour. And to be honest, I do feel like that's how I am suppose to feel at this point.