Some people do start becoming more racist, actually, because of the aggression they're treated with for crimes they did not commit. It breeds anger. For example, my cousins aren't racist but they do have some animosity toward black people due to experiences with one of them being harshly bullied by black people in school--jumped, etc. for being the white minority.
If their response to being bullied was "wow black people are mean" as opposed to the more natural response of "wow those kids were mean", then I'm sorry to say but they were racist to begin with and black kids being mean to them did not trigger that. It may have reinforced that racism, but no, it was not the cause. Society has been conditioned to treat black people like they are violent when in reality it's just not true. I am positive what you were describing wasn't a strictly race based hate crime. Not saying that anyone deserves to be bullied or anything, no it's wrong no matter who is doing it, but I find it really hard to believe some black kids saw a white kid and went "yep, they're white so we are going to attack them now".
I don't really know what people are trying to accomplish by antagonizing police, many of them for things they haven't actually done wrong. It makes them start to feel that way against the people they're being targeted by--and yes, I say targeted, as in victimized, because many of them haven't done anything and they're being punished anyway.
This is an odd transition in topic. It sounds like to me that you are seeing this as 'police vs black people', when in reality, the situation is 'people in power vs people not in power'. I am a strong proponent of ACAB (All Cops Are bad) and what that means is that the institution of police is bad, not the individual police officers. I can explain more on that topic if you want, but I understand that with such an aggressive tagline, it may not be the best conversation starter.
I myself have always been a huge advocate of diversity and frankly, I have a preference attraction wise for people who aren't white, but even I have been tempted to say some things out of sheer anger before when racism was directed toward me in retaliation for racism I've never in my life committed. It makes people feel justified in being racist--"well you do it to me, so I'll do it to you"--which is immature, but so are a lot of people, and then both sides are feeling the same way about doing the same thing. There shouldn't even be "sides" in the first place and it's so stupid, but anger is not the way you resolve it. Attacking people who haven't done anything is not the way you resolve it, it just creates war. That anger people feel about it makes people feel like "well maybe you deserve it" as well. I personally don't feel this way, but again, a lot of people do.
I think this is a little weird of a tangent to go on. Firstly, your attraction to people of other races doesn't absolve you of racism. I'm not accusing you of being racist, mind you, I'm just saying that adding that doesn't help your case if that was what you were going for.
Controversial opinion here, but I do think racism against white people exists. Now, do I think it is as harmful or widespread as other forms of racism? Nope. There's a reason why cracker isn't even a slur and why we can't even bring ourselves to actually say the N-word. It's hard for me to sympathize with a 'both sides' argument because one instance makes you a little annoyed and the other is literally a threat to life.
White people aren't being denied housing because of the color of their skin, for example. Black people are. There's no equivalent that black people can do to white people that white people have done to black people. Period. A white person will never have their near immediate ancestors be victims of slavery and other forms of systematic provisions to keep them from being treated like human beings.
If you are arguing, in any capacity, that white people are being oppressed in the ways black people are, let me know now because I will not continue if so.
You're actually missing my point. My point is that it's happening to a white person also, therefore why is it automatically racism when it's happening to the black guy? I'm not saying it's racism with whites also, I'm saying you can't chalk it up to racism based on pure suspicion. People do these things to people period, and sometimes it has nothing to do with racism at all, and yet it gets attributed to it when it's not. Racism exists, but the fact that it happens to white people also just goes to show that's not all there is to things when it's often treated like it is anyways.
This ignores context. This isn't as if someone was getting less meat in their bowl at Chipotle, this is an interaction with the police. The US Police (in the form that we know it as) started out as Slave Patrols. We live in a country where for a majority of its history, black people were property. Police are more likely to arrest a black man over a white one. Black men spend more time in jail than white men for the exact same crimes. There's a precedent for it being racist. At this point in history, the question should be whether or not it
wasn't racially motivated because racism is baked into the genetics of the police system.
OK, but referring to black people as pretty much anything is taken that way these days and you pretty much have to walk on eggshells, yet you turn on predominantly black TV shows and it's, "white people this, white people that, white people white people" my point is anything is racist when used in a racist way and half the time I don't even know what to say because people are offended when you say things like African American, too, but I don't mean it in a racist way, and meanwhile I don't even know what the fuck Caucasian even is but I'm still not getting all offended about it. I honestly often feel like I can't look in the wrong direction even without someone pulling the racism card and I do feel like I walk on eggshells even with my black friends and family. It's like...either you agree with everything they say and learn the individual preferences of each before opening your mouth or else you're a racist. That's pretty much what it's come to these days.
Again, I am not calling you racist. I don't think there is a single black person who likes to be referred to as "the blacks" though. The only time I can ever see a conundrum with what to call the demographic is with "Black vs African American" and that is a very simple and easy discussion to have. African American implies their origin is from Africa. Black American implies their origin is from America. Were they born in Africa? No? Not African American. Boom, easy.
Caucasian is synonymous with white. Don't know what to tell you there. I guess it has the implication of European descent but the connotation is "white" whereas African American has a literal meaning that people incorrectly use as a blanket term. Do you get what I mean?
And I would say for the rest of this point, maybe if you are constantly being accused of racism, maybe instead check yourself as opposed to getting angry and defensive? Microaggressions exist and some people have a lower tolerance for it than others. Sometimes we do things on accident and without even knowing it. But your response should be to try to learn from it, not bite your tongue and suppress it for when you want to rant online, y'know?
I have a bigger bone to pick with the "everyone is offended by everything" mentality though. It's simply not true. I think the tolerance for intolerance has lowered, but that doesn't mean that "all of a sudden" everything is offensive. It's late at night, otherwise I could articulate this better, but the whole "everyone else is wrong for being angry" thing is a huge pet peeve of mine. Sometimes, you gotta just take an L and admit you were being out of line and you can't just get angry at people for pointing out that there is in fact a line you can be out of. (Not
you specifically, but the nebulous "you".)
EDIT:
Btw, yes, racism is a thing for whites as well, but it comes from black people. That's why when I walked to my ex bf's house he flipped out because I was a white girl walking through a black neighborhood, like "wtf are you doing, you cant come here like that, youll get shot or raped, youre a white girl" that's not white privilege
(Me saying 'whites' was automatic btw, didn't even think about it.)
Referring to white people as "whites" is just as bad of a look as calling black people "blacks".
I think your ex's concern was more of a sexism thing than it was a racism thing. Sexism is bad too, but we're specifically talking about race here. Plus, there is a precedent for the stereotype and imagery of "innocent white woman accosted by black people". I think your ex was being racist, to both you and himself.
Also, this does not negate your privilege as a white person. If anything, it kind of exemplifies it because the situation being presented is "Oh no, you, as a white woman, are entering an area inherently dangerous because it is occupied by *gasp*
black people". Because I can tell you with the utmost confidence that a black man walking in his white girlfriend's white neighborhood wouldn't just be an aside for an argument. It would be a phone call to the police. It would be getting chased out by a man with a gun and a neighborhood watch badge. It would be a lynching.
Yeah, you realizing after the fact that you were in a dangerous environment is bad. But if something happened to you, no one would justify it. If something happened to your ex for walking in a white neighborhood, I guarantee there would be counter protests about how he was no angel to begin with. No one would even dare give your attacker the benefit of "maybe it was self defense". But if it was a black man the victim? Well, there's just no proof he wasn't the attacker himself.
I hope this is the start of a dialogue (unless again, you are arguing that white people are oppressed. That is an argument I won't engage with, sorry). I know talks of race aren't easy. I will reiterate one more time that I don't think you are racist, but do encourage you to self reflect on your actions and ask yourself why these interactions are so unbearable because maybe there are some internal biases at play.
