@@richardchantlerrico Trying to think which country that would be, because it rules out Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia...
My husband is white and used to work in steel warehouses. The amount of times customers tromping up with their and saying overtly racist tripe in normal conversation with him was insane. I'm half black and used to hearing dogwhistle idiocy and microaggressions, but racists love to state their vile opinions with their whole chests when they think they're in safe company.
It's long past time we made racist not just feel unwelcomed but unsafe as they make everyone else that's not them feel uneasy to put it mildly. It disgusts me to see teens parroting this vile garbage when I was a teen, Clinton was President. Social media has emboldened them.
Yeah. My ex is of Asian descent and I'm white and about 30 years ago we had a situation where we were chased down the street by a bunch of frat boy types yelling, "Stay away from our women," and "Race traitor." Was really shocking to me. Luckily a cabbie saw what was happening and pulled up to us yelling to get in. An Indian guy who refused payment for the short ride. I think things are better since 30 years ago but better is relative.
I labored under a delusion to the contrary for some time. Working in the service industry taught me otherwise. Including a middle aged woman claiming that she wouldn't have bought those burgers if she had known a "n-word made it.", a woman demanding that another customer being indian should somehow prioritize them over her in the store's returning policies. And a man aggressively stating that the last two burgers he had felt like being "r**ed by two nigerian homosexuals". Needless to say overt racism exists and is more common than we would like to think.
Leave it to republicans who more than likely have never washed their hands to complain about food service workers. The saddest part is that the nazis would still be complaining about the workers if the kitchen was all white. They'd just switch to class jokes about burger flippers and welfare queens.
I'm an old white guy and I may look a little maga-ish (not my fault, I was born looking like this). Not often, but there have been times when smeone would use the "n" word thinking I was one of "them", only to be shocked when I confront them luckily, I havent had my ass kicked yet.
I love the extremely layered humor available in saying something akin to "I know I look like a MAGA white guy but its not my fault...I was BORN THIS WAY." That's the seed of political stand-up comedy gold right there.
I think about this whenever a streamer has to apologize for blurting out the N-word on a livestream. Its not a word that can "accidentally" fall out of your mouth unless it's a word you _already use_ in your everyday speech.
I was so naïve when I was young I actually believed that as soon as all those older racist would die off we would be done with this mess. Sad, to say it wasn't true, we are never going to outgrow this low mentality.
I truly believed that as well having grown up in a northern state and having been raised by my family and school system better. Moving down south for 2.5 years showed me the reality... and now I see and hear it more up north in the right leaning small town I used to be proud to have grown up in.
You mean the Boomers? Silent Generation? They aren't all dead yet. They are dying, but they aren't dead yet. The youngest Boomers will be 60 next year.
This is why it's so important that white people (of whom I am one) fight whenever we can. A few years ago I worked for a small company that was administering a Canadian govt program that assisted micro business owners. I was talking with a contractor that worked for us and she expressed that she wished we only helped Canadians. Me being oblivious said something about everyone having to submit their social insurance number, did she have clients that weren't Canadians? She responded, "No, _real_ Canadians. You know what I mean." I can't remember how I reaponded; I was pretty shocked. But it just so happens that her contract was supposed to be renewed within the month. And it didn't after I had a chat with my boss. I then had to go through her files and deal with literally dozens of clients who had been let languish, all of whom had names of Asian descent. Even if racism is couched in dog whistles and more polite language it's still racism and still does damage.
Pre Covid, on a cruise, hung out with a guy at the bar bs-ing, nice evening until he BRAGGED about how his southern town defunded the public schools and sent all their kids to private school that the local black people could not afford, thus doing an end run around segregation. I was horrified and just walked away from him without further words.
And Steve's honesty talking about racism,most youtubers don't talk about it.Especially white youtubers,some black youtubers say racism no longer exists in america.I thought they were saying as not to offend or scare off their current white viewers or future white viewers.
I've been a critical care RN for almost 30 years. I can't tell you how many times patients or their families have "requested" a different nurse because they didn't want a black nurse caring for them or their family! Well, pre- covid we may have granted those requests. Post covid, baby, you are lucky you have a damn nurse at all! I loved when someone would request something this idiotic and ask for the charge nurse or house supervisor only to have me show up. My favorite response was "do you know what year it is?" or "what country do you think you're in?" Nothing sadder than a racist on their death bed. 😊
Tell them you've noted it in their chart that they've requested "colored" heaven?😁 And also I've thought of something sadder than a racist on their death bed... a broken shoelace.
My experience with overt racism was a short one. I was 11 at the time. It was just before classes started and I was sitting in the gym bleachers talking to my friends. Suddenly someone just blurted out the n-word directly to my face. I immediately said an offensive word to back to him and that discussion ended abruptly. I have not spoken to him since then. When provoked, anything goes. Luckily, nothing happened and went on with my day. I am currently 45 years old and that will never be tolerated in my vicinity. It's unfortunate that this still goes on currently, but when ignorance is valued over intelligence, this is the kind stuff that happens. The denial of the black experience is still the norm and the loop never ends.
THANK you. I'm up in Vermont, and remember one friend with dark skin telling me: "I never heard anyone use the n-word until I came up here." It's sad but true. Loved your bindle.
Or like, around white children from affluent backgrounds. God one of my highschool classes went ham on the n-word. We weren’t even all white, but the other white kids didn’t even think twice, it was just a meme to them. I didn’t feel comfortable enough to call them all out, but I did tell the one kid I was closest to that he really shouldn’t say it (Nobody in the class was Black or I would have flipped on all of them)
Ditto for me having lived my whole life in a small town in the midwest. That the overt kind of racism only exists in the south / former slave states is another common misconception.
Absolutely! The kids in my area are foolish enough to think that if their one minority friend tells them it’s okay, that they can use the n-word. They need to get out more and away from their parents.
My grandpa was really racist against Mexicans. I grew up in San Jacinto, CA. It had a rich Hispanic history and culture that had been there for generations before my grandpa and his family moved there. But he'd also say things like how great San Jacinto was and how it would be better if not for all the (b-word)s and (w-word)s. Dude had no subtlety and is the reason why I tried to avoid having my friend Marco come over as much as possible, often going to his place instead. My friendship with Marco was almost completely destroyed when he used slurs openly in front of Marco's parents when they came to drop us off after a day of fishing one day at Reflection Lake. I was able to remain friends with Marco after promising his family that I'd only go to their place to visit Marco, and Marco was no longer allowed to go to my place, and wont use any of the same language that my grandpa used. I don't know how my grandpa felt about black people, as I never introduced my friend Eric to him out of fear that he'd say even worse things about black people.
My mother's family comes from Monte Vista, Colorado, and yes, were very racist -- not only against Black people ( there weren't that many in southern Colorado ) but very overtly against Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. I remember one time I was arguing with my Mom and my grandmother told us to "stop acting like a bunch of Mexicans." I now live in New Mexico, and I remind people the Spanish colonized here ( and abused the Native Americans ) several centuries before the Anglos arrived.
It always offends me that racists have the gall to move to places full of PoC and then act like they were the ones who just got here. I’m Native Descended so it pisses me off whenever I hear a white person say “Go back to where you came from” to someone Indigenous or Mexican. Like, they were here before you! Stfu!
PoMC (Person of Many Colors) posting. When President Barack Hussein Obama II (full name used solely to enrage any Bubbas reading this) was elected, a PoC in an SF group I was in at the time posted ‘Finally! We live in a post-racial era.’ The friend who brought me into the group, also a PoC, not known for using profanity, immediately replied, ‘Post-racial, my A$$! We'll still be seeing sh!t, both subtle and overt.’ Wasn't long before he was proven right… 🥺
I find myself noticing that, since the election of a certain tangerine taco, there has been (anecdotally) a seeming rise in racists feeling comfortable from crawling out from under their rocks and openly using racist language and behavior. But, there have always been racists who have felt comfortable using that sort of language. And there have been others who have learned to try to dog whistle more as well. I find it that more seem comfortable using that language in the open than, say, 15-20 years ago.
The final statement is important. People who don't get pushed back on for saying nasty stuff will escalate to the point where they ARE pushed back. Get in early.
Truth. I'm at work and some very senior people at my work who will mention a Middle Eastern coworker getting hired and go "Oh, they hired another terrorist". And I'm... And then the guy turns to me and says, "Oh, but I'm not racist." ...
Sadly, it's very true. Here in Iowa, which used to be more blue than red, I remember hearing that word used a lot growing up. Sure, most of the racism has been pointed more towards Latinos in the last 30 years since more have moved to the state, but you can still hear the N word once in a while, but most of the racists here just use other language to express their disdain for black people. And then there was the family I knew from Louisiana who lived up here who were way too comfortable with that word. You're absolutely right, overt racism still exists here, no matter how much people want to believe it doesn't.
My favourite is the "well there's no black people here so no one should be offended!" Like, there's so much more to it then that. And even then, why do you need to use it? What purpose could it serve other than to be a slur?
Reminds me of some of the shit I ran into when I worked fast food. One time had someone start ranting about Jews and saying not to "be Jewish" about the amount of ingredients in his food. As the manager on scene I immediately called him out on it, and he made this face and acted like some little kid, going in a petulant voice, "I was just saying not to be Jewish about it." And then started using a lot of slurs until I kicked him out altogether. Later my Jewish cashier who had to listen to all that thanked me for standing up because, in her experience, no one ever stood up against anti-Semitism. Did I mention this was in Portland, OR? And if you want an example of a slur that a lot of people still use these days without knowing it's a slur, there's the word "gypped." Which is based on "gypsy." Which is a slur against the Roma people of Europe. Something I tried to explain to a coworker once who then openly said to my face "I've never heard of that before so I am going to ignore you." And these are just two examples of many many instances where I've heard this stuff constantly.
Never realized that 'gypped', meaning getting cheated or shortchanged, used when the shortfall is minor enough not to call the police but annoying enough to want to complain, (example: hey, I paid for large fries and got only half a container, I got gypped that time), was an elusion to the old slur gypsy... thankfully most people don't even know the word and I myself have not used or heard that phrase in decades, so I am grateful that you brought it to my attention, so I won't use it inadvertently. As much as I hate the idiot, I think we should all refrain from bringing back 'meatball' as a way to mock DeSantis...that stupid name-calling against Italian-Americans is not a great idea, and bringing ourselves down to that level doesn't work. He's an idiot, and absolutely sanctimonious, so mockery directed at his evil ways is warranted...making fun of his ethnicity should be off the table. This is what TFG has done...brought back open racism to politics. Lee Atwater was correct that a politician couldn't say racial slurs openly, but now the cancer pustules have erupted, and they are using all the old zombie words... that's the trouble with the Morgoth element; evil, like cancer, comes back unless you are ever vigilant.
I was told by a guy in my building that he was happy I moved in bc the last tenant was Puerto Rican and he knew all about Puerto Ricans bc he used to live in New Jersey. He was overtly racist twice in that statement.
I had a co-worker who would make everyone uncomfortable with racist jokes. Management wouldn't do anything about it, so I started asking him to explain why the joke was funny, usually in front of others.
I do this when ever someone is says a vague racism sentiment, like “because you know ‘they’ are like that.” Like what? Who do you mean? How do you know they’re like that? I dislike when someone is relying on me to fill in the gaps in their racist sentiment because I’m white. I refuse. Fuck them. Once racist a-holes have to explain themselves, they get embarrassed.
Roughly 2009 or 2010 I had someone at the gas pump next to me say, "you know, I think we need an exterminator to go clean up that c**n problem in the White House." I literally looked around to see if there was someone else nearby he was talking to, and then, when I realized he was aiming the statement at me, wondered if I was either, A) on a TV show, or B) about to be put on some Federal watchlist...or both... Fortunately the gas shut off, and I got into my car and drove off pretending like I'd not heard a word.
I live in Australia even and I hear it out loud in public racist and homophobic comments and slurs whilst people of coulor and openly gay people are around them and say it to them, Absolutely disturbing and disappointing
I think this is a large reason as to why they want trump back in the White House. If he got in now, at this time, even with all his political strife, it would send a message. “I can still come back into power, and while I have this power I’m going to make sure I put things in place that will last much longer than 4 years”
I live in Washington County too. I see and hear this shit all the time. My neighbor does the “I’m Not Racist But…” and then it’s “you know those black people” etc. I moved out here from Anne Arundel county and it could get pretty nasty there, but the right in your face racism out here in Western Maryland is off the charts.
Here’s a story of my ex-husband’s. He’s white and Mexican American. His dad is white, so he has an Anglo name. He visually looks white. A few years ago, he was helping his friend Lou pack up his house. Lou had other friends who were helping. These other friends had no issue saying all kinds of derogatory things about Mexicans and people of Mexican descent in front of someone who’s Mexican.😩 I remember reading about this type of “bonding “ in White Fragility. It’s so weird to me. I think, “Y’all white people can’t find another way to bond? You really have to spout some racist nonsense to bond? Weird.”
I'll never forget the one and only time I ever rode in a taxi cab. It was 1990 and my soon-to-be first wife and I were in San Antonio, Texas, just two kids fresh out of high school and a thousand miles away from home. The cab driver was the typical garrulous sort you'd see in film and television and everything seemed to be normal until, out of absolutely fucking NOWHERE, he says: "This job would be great if it wasn't for all the [N-WORD] and [S-WORD SLUR FOR HISPANIC PEOPLE]." We were so shocked that we couldn't muster up any response and just stayed quiet until we reached our destination. White privilege is absolutely a thing, but it's also annoying when racists assume you're just as bad simply for being white as well.
Have been to Hagerstown many times. Can confirm 100% true. Yeah, that area of MD or PA takes about 0.25 seconds to run into someone saying exactly that after 11pm and a couple drinks. I used to smoke menthols and only menthols. The first time I heard something like that... I'd never before had hate directed at a pack of smokes. Yep, AT SMOKES!!! I was just dumbfounded. My youngest brother is black, and I've heard stories he'd tell, and I'd just think "How in the world do you run into that many nutjobs like that?"... I just never had been the target of them or had friends who talk like that... I was naive. So I was genuinely shocked that a modern human would speak like that to a stranger. I thought that was rare. I was wrong. The first time, I didn't even know how to react. I thought, no... I heard wrong. That's just not possible. Understand, I'm from Indiana, which is bad enough that I had college friends who refused to stop for gas or anything else in a few particular small towns in the southern part of the state. I was of the "racism is hidden" mindset. That it was real, that it was dangerous, but that it was hidden behind a polite mask. But the 50-75 mi radius around Hagerstown or Gettysburg makes southern Indiana look downright polite in comparison. I used to go up for the premium outlets and dinner, but we've run into enough people that we just don't want to go anymore. I never take my son to those areas. Anywhere you can go into a Denny's and see NewsMax playing on the TV... you're both dumbfounded that, considering the history of Denny's, they're that dumb. And second, you immediately understand the type of crowd you are around. I've seen that two places. Indiana and Maryland. Of the two, Maryland is deceptively worse, because it doesn't take a small town of 2000 to find the overt, loud racism. And, btw, dang, I didn't realize you were right next door all these years.
I remember seeing a bumper sticker in SW DC in 2012. It was anti Obama and read: Don't renig. I'm slightly surprised that Western MD is that bad. My family are from Eastern Shore and that part of MD is very racist.
I live in Massachusetts (you know, one one of the bluest blue states) and I still hear it up here. I used to work for a guy who owned a business and he would often make comments under his breath about certain customers when they would walk into his store. Sometimes I'd try to speak up, but I was younger then and didn't really have the right words. I didn't stay at that job long. He went out of business a few years ago and blames it on "those kind of people" despite the many MANY mistakes he made as a business owner.
I went to a funeral of my white neighbor, I am black. I sat in the middle pew and ALL the white folk got up and moved to the left pew. This was last year.
You wanna hear something REALLY messed up? I'm Canadian, and I've had White people overtly use both the N-Word and Anti-Brown people slurs in front of me (casually, as if I would be cool with it) up here in CANADA. That's not the messed up part. The REALLY MESSED UP part: I'm of ASIAN descent, and look completely Asian! My head was spinning at so many things: the racism, of course, but on top of that, the completely twisted logic that was at play. "Um...what you said is really racist, eh?" "Oh, come on. You know it's different when it's OUR colour." Like, WTF??? So, it's not just when there are, "no Black people around," that some White folks can behave this way. Their racism is SO bustin' outta them, that if there are no WHITE people around at the moment, they'll IMPROVISE, and choose ANYBODY with light skin...even ME! Holy f*cking shitballs, Batman!
African American here. I get called the n word way too often and out and proud neozazi’s in my area literally were doing the salute to a Hispanic kid minding his own business and to me to my face. Those people are still out there and most people probably know one.
Well, I'm black and I used to walk around town a lot and could reasonably expect that at some point some jackass would drive by and shout the n-word at me, because it happened a lot. And this was in New Mexico. Of course, I can't recall that ever happening in Maryland but I was in the black part of Baltimore and I guess most racists aren't so suicidal as to drive up into the hood and start shouting that word. Not that I was in the hood, I was in a fairly nice if declining neighborhood. But once you got to the bottom of the hill it was all hood and got worse the further you went.
Oh, absolutely. For me there is no question. I still hear this shit in the city, whether it be a friend a group I just met... and yet especially when it comes to a group dynamic it's a lot harder to challenge. If it's a beloved friend, it could be even harder. It is still very much alive and "normal" behavior. I live in Washington State by the way. For all the progressive politicians we have, many people on the ground still act in ways that disparage others whether its intentional or not. Also, I was born in Texas. My Dad moved back a while ago (he moved there in 2012 left in 2015 and he passed away in 2018) and decked a friend because he was doing the very same shit Steve is talking about with Obama. It doesn't leave us that easily. The effort has to be more overt to kill in us these racist notions.
I grew up in NY very near to NYC. Though my experience was not quite as overt as yours, I knew which towns were (and some still are) KKK and neo Nazi enclaves. Sometimes I think it’s worse up here.
I'm a white presenting Latinx individual and I've had people use slurs about my own background to my face thinking I was just another white racist like them. It happens all the time.
I grew up in rural Minnesota. There was exactly two students of color in my 2010 graduating class. One of them was adopted by a white family. And then there was me- fair skinned, blond hair, blue eyes, the PICTURE of whiteness-- but mom had black hair, hazel eyes, and while she was born fair skinned she's proceeded to spend so much time outdoors she gets mistaken for Native American-- which meant *I* got mistaken for being mixed race whenever she's in the room. And people say some terrible things to your face when they Assume You Are Mixed Race. They ask weird questions that make no sense unless one was already thinking of themselves as mixed, with the regularity that makes You Feel Stupid for not having an answer. People were asking what reservation I'm from before I knew what the reservation system was. People wanted to know how my parents met and were intensely disappointed to find out they were high school sweethearts who dated and lived together before tying the knot. I got asked if I felt weird attending a white school before my autistic ass had a working concept of race or had learned about segregation. The Venn Diagram of people who are comfortable looking at a white man and a Very Tanned woman and assuming their kids have taken on Mixed Race as part of their identity, and People who are comfortable saying slurs aloud? Is a circle.
Not many years ago, me and my roommate took his girlfriend down to a medical facility in Kentucky. On the way back to Ohio, we stopped to get something to eat at a McDonald's. There were signs on all the doors that cleary said "No Smoking", yet there were ashtrays on every single table... That should have been our first clue. While we were eating, we can hear an employee yell from back "Guess what these here n****rs in the drive thru want? That's right, they wants chicken." And the entire staff erupted into laughter. I dont remember how mamy customers were in the place, but the employees obviously had no concern if there was, as they were loud enough for entire store to hear. Needless to say, but we packed up our stuff and left promptly. I'm pretty sure I heard the banjo from Deliverance as we were leaving. But yea, overt racism doesn't exist anymore... /S
I'm a stocky bald white dude with a goatee. You wouldn't believe the horrible things people say to me a propos of nothing while waiting in line at the gas station because I look like a receptive audience.
Dang Steve, you actually brought tears to my eyes while listening. I grew up white in the Deep South, and let me tell ya, yes, what you say is true, sadly. I have VERY good friends that I see as family, that happen to be black, and I could care less. If I ever heard someone refer to them with the N word, I would become a very angry soul and probably get arrested. At the very least, beat up. My wife and I do not engage in such banter, nor will we. We try not to define "others" as others. We choose love, and care and sharing and despise the limitations others put on people. It would do a lot of white people some good to realize that genetically, we are newcomers to the planet, and that the "Mother Race" was not, and is not, white. It was brown skin built the Pyramids, and in ages past, settled this entire planet. We could all do with some proper teaching so we all RESPECT those great souls that paved the way for us to have the amazingly diverse world we have today! And lose the N word to history...for all time!
Its not a word one hears very often in the UK, although blatant racism is certainly pervasive. I live in a shared house, with 5 other men. The 5th recently moved in, and is originally from Nigeria. The other day, I asked my house mate, Damian (who is a Polish immigrant) if he had met the new guy yet. He replied "What? You mean the black N*****?", which he followed with laughter. I looked at him with disgust, and said "that's not funny to me man". Damian has not spoken to me since. GOOD! This is my preference, but also makes me sad, as I had been getting better acquainted with Damian (I've only been here 3 months), and to share a residence, you hope to like the people you live with. Of the 6 housemates, 3 of us are immigrants (myself included), and xenophobia is as pervasive as racial prejudice in the UK. It has always vexed me when people who are themselves recipients of bigotry, still maintain bigoted attitudes towards other groups. There's a lesson there somewhere. There's still a lot of work to do. I wish I could afford to move out.
Exactly. That’s been my experience my whole life, too. They always think you agree, because, well, you’re white! I always hate it when it comes from someone I really liked, and didn’t expect it from. It’s happened too many times to count
Used to work in a paint store, I'm white with blond hair and blue eyes and you'd be shocked the things other white people would say to me one on one when they thought they were in safe company. Honestly sick, and aside from the worry the racism itself caused in me, I was also concerned about why they assumed I would be that "safe company".
Holy shit! My family has lived in Hagerstown since January 1977. I attended high school north of Chicago, later 80s, with family in Hagerstown. I felt safer wandering downtown Chicago, including alleys, when gangs were out of control than downtown Hagerstown.
Ellicot City, a hard blue town, you can still hear the N word in bars. I am not surprised. I live in Dark Blue Philly and I can hear the N word on some worksites. He said this in front of his friend who is black and when his friend got offended ... he literally said you're not black you're one of us. Very interesting how people view color and racism. Racism is real and odd.
A while back a friend and I (both black) got hollared at by a passing car while walking along the side wall in historic Ellicott City. They did not say the n word but some other stereotypical ish. It’s funny because that area is like a 10 min drive from West Baltimore, so it’s not like we were some enigma. And you also know they wouldn’t have had the guts to say that to our faces on foot.
Speaking as someone who grew up in California, that overt shit still exists here too. My hometown went full mask off after Trump won the election to the point that i would never consider moving back.
Shortly before the events at Charlottesville, my father told me that racism was over. It was such a ridiculous statement that I've remembered his phrasing and how completely gobsmacked I was in response.
I'll be 70 in a few days & grew up in a small town in Oregon, 'bout 100 miles south of Portland. I heard the use of racist slurs & racist comments before I was "old enough to hear cuss words." Still do, from people of my own generation. The baffling thing about it to me, & one I've never heard explained when I call people out, is why they have these opinions when they have never been around many people of color, especially African-Americans. In high school, we'd play against black athletes twice during football, when a Portland team played a non-con game & when we played Corvallis, because Don Reynolds was my age & he has several younger brothers. Then we'd play against Corvallis in other sports. That was it, sum total. Had 1 Hispanic family in town. I left there before age 20, & met people of all races; never had any issues w/ anyone in higher percentages than I did w/ home town people. Probably less problems, truth be told. I hear people I've known my entire life make racist comments & ask them, based on what are you saying that? You've never been around... (fill in the blank, race) ... what do you know? Mostly, I'll hear it from people, both male & female, who have never left the 98% white environ they've known their entire lives. They're just parroting stupid chit, for stupid, personal reasons. Bottom line, stupid people say stupid chit; call them on it when they do.
Yeah, considering how in recent years they have increased their efforts to normalize the word, even to act as if there's nothing wrong with using it, claiming they're no longer overt is incredibly ignorant.
Lived in MN and ND for 30 years. Have heard many, many, many, many people use all the most racist words you can think of. Sometimes out of hate, usually because they think they are being funny. It is always pathetic. But yes, people very much do use these words. Even around strangers.
I am only 30 years old, and I remember being called the N word by a group of men who were driving by while I was simply sitting at a bus stop when I was in 9th grade. This was the same year that a student at my school got into a fight after being called the N word and another student made a terrible joke about lynching black people. So yeah, racism, in every form, is alive and well and always has been.
Dude, it is 2023 and I still have a cousin that looks at me twice before changing the subject, clearly deciding whether the fight is worth saying the N word in front of me again. It might look like I am correcting his behavior, but it just means he is having trouble not saying the word in my presence because he still uses it so often that it is a real struggle for him. He openly admits that he debating whether I have gotten old enough for him to be able to take me, lolol before thinking better of it. Standing up against overt racism is not always easy, it still exists and the losers who are this type of person want a fight. They want to prove that might makes right and it is impossible to fight them all. Kudos to you for standing up when you did, getting assaulted is never fun and it is safe to assume violence will be the outcome in this situation. It always did for me, but I am from Kentucky... and being from the same breed, we cannot help but stand up for what we think is right, we just disagree on what is right because one side only thinks one color of human has value aside from what you could sell them for...
Your hometown in Maryland reminds me a lot of my hometown in Maryland (Rising Sun) by the sounds of it. It’s still the most racist place I’ve ever lived by a WIDE margin and I’ve lived in Florida for the last 18 years.
This happened to me in Baltimore from a white cab driver. Absolutely this happens. I couldn't believe that he thought just because I was white he could say the things he said. He dropped the n-word just 2 minutes into the drive. This was a few years ago and I don't exactly remember how it came up. I think he was asking about the mayor at the time.
That is "political correctness", i.e. replacing explicitly racist terms with terms more palatable for detached, white voters. The racism is still overt, but wrapped up with a wink and a nudge.
From Birmingham, Alabama. I had to fire the HVAC technician working on my home because he kept using the N word. I don’t hear the N word that often, but I do hear it from time to time.
I don’t think I’ve heard it since I was very young and used to dramatically “run away” with my bindle containing necessities like saltine crackers and underwear.
Can confirm much the same from almost everywhere I lived in Michigan too. Random white people I just met, some I once tried to be friends with and enough (But definitely not all) members of my own family do the same in my life too. They do so to me and with my family they do so knowing that I do not agree with them and will call them on it but assuming it is a regular thing even to just disagree on something like this or they can change my mind or get me to admit their right and others in my family who don't agree with them are just weird or foolish to not agree. While I don't fear my own family members who are racist attacking me for disagreeing I don't doubt that some of their friends or the racist strangers I meet will do that so. This can be a culture with a group, at a bar or over most of a work place and if you need to be there or work there and can't just speak your mind or leave it is not pleasant and at times can feel threatening and oppressive. Often if you keep to yourself or just don't engage when you can avoid it you'll be sick at not confronting them but be able to do what you want or need to in peace but sometimes you are stuck in it and you have to either disengage without making things worse or quietly bare it and listen if you are not willing or able to call them. In a workplace you could lose your job or get someone fired and that can lead to retaliation from them or their allies or you could be harassed until you quit. Other times like at bars or parties you can't be sure if you confront them it is safe though especially with alcohol involved because if they outnumber you and yours or things escalate, violence can ensue and I have seen it happen for no real reason other than somebody calling someone out even without alcohol involved. Racists who are willing to talk that openly are not lacking either in confidence, inebriation or sometimes often enough both and that usually makes them very vocal and also unreasonable to debate or dismissal especially if they feel there are with support. They usually use it to test their own comfort with strangers, actively seek out trouble, drive out those that don't agree with them from public spaces and to find people to vent at or abuse with their own repressed anger and such. Alcohol just makes them more inhibited to do so. If they find someone else or a place that agrees with them they get comfort and validation. If not they can feel like their some repressed truth speaker believing they are right and proudly standing up for their misguided beliefs.
I am a Black person who used to work in book retail, in Southern California. People went out of their way to use slurs towards me, or near me about other people.
I was living in Southwest Florida during the 2020 elections. I had my earbuds in, but off for a reason that escapes me at the time. Walking in Publix, looking for ground beef, I pass about three white older gentlemen. I might have given a little nod or a slight smile, but I really didn't acknowledge them. They said, with the confidence of thinking I couldn't hear them due to my earbuds "Look at this Biden Vote over here". It doesn't have to be vile, friends. It just has to simply mark you out as being the other. Not like us.
I grew up in outside of Hagerstown in Maugansville. I was the only Black kid in my elementary school back in the 70's. I heard the N word constantly. I moved away as soon as I could once I graduated from North High.
Here in Australia we're currently gearing up for a referendum to possibly change our constitution. The question being asked is along the lines of "should we change our constitution to acknowledge our First Nations People, and allow them an advisory Voice in federal parliament to speak on matters that would affect First Nations peoples?" Pretty simple, right? And all the arguments I've heard for the No side have been laughable. It's unknown what the consequences will be! It will divide us as a nation! It opens us up to activism! If you don’t know, vote No! You could say the same things about giving women the right to vote back in the day. The amount of open racism I've heard recently... a notable one being, "Yeah, but it won't affect *real* Aborigines; the ones up in Arnhem Land. All the ones around here are half-castes and liars." This being from my MiL. There's also some new 2-3 bedroom houses being built at the end of her street. These are Aboriginal housing, according to her. Never mind the housing bill the government has been trying to get through parliament hadn’t been passed yet when they started building them.
@2:07 Steve: "I'd just need to go to any random bar here in--" Me, watching this on the MARC train from work in DC back home to Baltimore: "He's gonna say Hagerstown."
It’s not just the language. It’s the inference of an entitlement (in fact, a duty) to treat “others” as inferior and to be obliged to bully those others to prohibit them from feeling and behaving as equals.
Wow, small world. Greetings from Towson. I agree wholeheartedly about western MD, though I am lucky enough to have friends out there who won't tolerate such behavior even in an all white gathering. But there's more to consider that you didn't mention. We still have Klan gatherings and rallies. Granted, the last one was a few years ago, and moved to PA due to public outcry, but that there was still someone in MD willing to host such an event shows that our state isn't quite as developed as we'd like to believe.
worked a cashier job, first day, owner told me while training 'above all, you gotta watch out for those n-words.' hard R. i bit my tongue, cause i needed the job, but he saw my expression change. told me not to be offended. that's just how he talked. i stole so much crap from that store.
My father and his mother never flat out used racial slurs, but they definitely were racist. I remember one instance in particular. It was my senior year of high school and this girl I had known since fourth grade lived in the house behind ours. Her brother was over at my house just hanging out and my father walks in. I explain who the kid was and that he is the brother of one of my friends. He made an offhand remark in front of her brother “You can sleep with black girls all you want, but don’t get her pregnant because I’m not bouncing any black babies on my knee”. All her brother and I could do was sit there and stare at each other like “Did he seriously just say that?”
A customer walked up to me not long ago. There were some teen girls at the front of the store. One of them was screaming at the top of her lungs just to be annoying, as it turned out. But the customer said, "So, your manager is okay with black girls running around the store creating disturbances?" I think we know what the key word was. There are plenty of white kids who come in and cause problems. There were a couple of white male teens who even physically pushed some older people. It instantly pissed me off but I never directly confronted him though I could tell he was mad because I was not agreeing with him. I knew what he expected. Two older white dudes with nobody else immediately around and he expected I'd agree with him about the "black" girls. I still hear Conservative talking heads claim there's no real racism now, the occasional neanderthal, but that it's isolated here and there,
I'm a white person from a very black part of the DC Metro area. I'd hear it from kids sometimes, but I think adults mostly had enough sense not to say it around black people. My dad wasn't quite as overt as you describe and would use the word in private if quoting something, or talking about the discourse around black people using the word (which wasn't his lane, obviously), but he would tell some really racist jokes. My dad hides a lot of his shitty views behind humor. I'm glad I grew up having a diverse friend group, because maybe that helped me break away from my conservative family's views, though I know it doesn't always work like that. When my parents were able, they moved to a richer, somewhat whiter town. Our next door neighbor for a long time (he moved) was very anti-affirmative action and regularly implied that black people are less capable. Still in a very black, very liberal county.
You hear slurs and overt racism all the time in Louisiana. We were interviewing a landscaper who kept using racial slurs to refer to his Mexican workers in casual conversation with us. Once in the grocery store parking lot, an old man ranted to my husband about the great replacement theory and spouting off about how we can’t allow black people to vote because they’ll ruin us. I’m grossed out by how many times I hear a racist comment said to me and the white person says, “you know what I mean, right?” Overt racism is everywhere. This person is lucky if they haven’t been the target or witness to this kind of racism.
Growing up in Missouri, my experience has been the same. If it’s not the n-word, it’s overtly racist jokes. I worked with a guy for years, who every year on MLK day would yell “happy n-word day!” First thing in the morning. Only, he didn’t say n-word…
This reminded me of working in a working mens club in the UK twenty years ago and confused when other white people couldn't understand just how uncomfortable the racism there made me because I'm white. There is still a long way to go.
My job has me interacting with truckers all night. The way some of them just start saying blatantly racist shit to me like I'd agree with them is baffling.
I hear this crap a lot in truck stops, the CB, shippers and receivers. Why? I’ve never understood the logic of racism. I’ve tried to even ask for logic from racists… and nothing that is logical falls out of their mouths.
Just to add, a couple of instances from my own life: My grandfather, in response to something going on during Obama's term, said, "That's what happens when you put a N***** and a woman in charge." - referring to Obama and Hillary. My mom seems to take a delight in quoting other people saying the n-word. Almost like she's found a loophole in the rule. Though she had dropped a hard-r at least once in my recollection. She also made a statement, when we were signing me up for college courses back when I was fresh out of high school, that she wished people would stop coming to our country for education that they would then go back and use against us. This was upon seeing a girl wearing attire that might have been Muslim, but might have been Hindu. Either way, non white person in non white attire. I attended a community College, odds are she grew up in my state. She still claims, to this day, that she isn't racist. I don't live in the deep south. Hell, I don't even really live in the south despite what my neighbors say, but this shit isn't particularly uncommon.
Very well put. As a white man, I’ve had lots of other white folk come up to me and use racial slurs and tell me racist jokes, as if I’m supposed to be some other guy tired of being told not to feel like he does. And often, if I feel the inclination to call these morons out, they justify their racism with “I’m not a racist, but …” or “I’m not talkin’ about the good ones”.
With respect to you Steve if I had any criticism of the skit itself it’s that driving to the south is a pretty easy and obvious target. As you correct in this video, it happens all around us.
People who've heard many racial slurs in public: we exist. EDIT: in fact that viewer is lucky to not see this, if it's even true. Unless "they don't say that any more" meant since the last time he heard it. He should go on X (actually I wouldn't wish that on anyone)
"Racists don't talk that way anymore"
BWAHAHA!
Who was this poor, innocent sheltered summer child?
The person who said that (surprisingly enough) lives in a bubble themselves.
Probably someone that doesn't live in the US, rather somewhere that such behaviour is not tolerated everyday.
@@richardchantlerrico
Trying to think which country that would be, because it rules out Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia...
@@richardchantlerrico I can think of Equestria, Narnia and possibly Valinor.
@rotwang2000 that's pretty good
My husband is white and used to work in steel warehouses. The amount of times customers tromping up with their and saying overtly racist tripe in normal conversation with him was insane. I'm half black and used to hearing dogwhistle idiocy and microaggressions, but racists love to state their vile opinions with their whole chests when they think they're in safe company.
It's long past time we made racist not just feel unwelcomed but unsafe as they make everyone else that's not them feel uneasy to put it mildly. It disgusts me to see teens parroting this vile garbage when I was a teen, Clinton was President. Social media has emboldened them.
Yeah. My ex is of Asian descent and I'm white and about 30 years ago we had a situation where we were chased down the street by a bunch of frat boy types yelling, "Stay away from our women," and "Race traitor." Was really shocking to me.
Luckily a cabbie saw what was happening and pulled up to us yelling to get in. An Indian guy who refused payment for the short ride. I think things are better since 30 years ago but better is relative.
The last person you want to be around is a racist who tells jokes. Seems like every joke they tell has to bring up their biases.
A cabbie 😂😂🤣
And aren’t 99.99 percent of blacks born in the US part White? 💭 I know I hv them in my blood. They are in my family. I thought everyone had them
I labored under a delusion to the contrary for some time.
Working in the service industry taught me otherwise.
Including a middle aged woman claiming that she wouldn't have bought those burgers if she had known a "n-word made it.", a woman demanding that another customer being indian should somehow prioritize them over her in the store's returning policies.
And a man aggressively stating that the last two burgers he had felt like being "r**ed by two nigerian homosexuals".
Needless to say overt racism exists and is more common than we would like to think.
Burger King?
It attracts the worst people for some reason.
Leave it to republicans who more than likely have never washed their hands to complain about food service workers. The saddest part is that the nazis would still be complaining about the workers if the kitchen was all white. They'd just switch to class jokes about burger flippers and welfare queens.
I'm an old white guy and I may look a little maga-ish (not my fault, I was born looking like this). Not often, but there have been times when smeone would use the "n" word thinking I was one of "them", only to be shocked when I confront them luckily, I havent had my ass kicked yet.
My husband - a bald white man - has the same curse. He gets unprovoked racist comments all the time from other Maga people.
I love the extremely layered humor available in saying something akin to "I know I look like a MAGA white guy but its not my fault...I was BORN THIS WAY." That's the seed of political stand-up comedy gold right there.
Thank you for calling these MAGA idiots on their racist bullshįt 🤘
I bet because the people who say it so openly, but only around people they think are safe, are cowards
I think about this whenever a streamer has to apologize for blurting out the N-word on a livestream. Its not a word that can "accidentally" fall out of your mouth unless it's a word you _already use_ in your everyday speech.
I was so naïve when I was young I actually believed that as soon as all those older racist would die off we would be done with this mess. Sad, to say it wasn't true, we are never going to outgrow this low mentality.
Racism,sexism,prejudice,ignorance are never going-AWAY-ever. Nor will we out grow them-NEVER.
I truly believed that as well having grown up in a northern state and having been raised by my family and school system better. Moving down south for 2.5 years showed me the reality... and now I see and hear it more up north in the right leaning small town I used to be proud to have grown up in.
You mean the Boomers? Silent Generation? They aren't all dead yet. They are dying, but they aren't dead yet. The youngest Boomers will be 60 next year.
This is why it's so important that white people (of whom I am one) fight whenever we can.
A few years ago I worked for a small company that was administering a Canadian govt program that assisted micro business owners. I was talking with a contractor that worked for us and she expressed that she wished we only helped Canadians. Me being oblivious said something about everyone having to submit their social insurance number, did she have clients that weren't Canadians? She responded, "No, _real_ Canadians. You know what I mean." I can't remember how I reaponded; I was pretty shocked.
But it just so happens that her contract was supposed to be renewed within the month. And it didn't after I had a chat with my boss.
I then had to go through her files and deal with literally dozens of clients who had been let languish, all of whom had names of Asian descent.
Even if racism is couched in dog whistles and more polite language it's still racism and still does damage.
Pre Covid, on a cruise, hung out with a guy at the bar bs-ing, nice evening until he BRAGGED about how his southern town defunded the public schools and sent all their kids to private school that the local black people could not afford, thus doing an end run around segregation. I was horrified and just walked away from him without further words.
You’ve become my favorite RUclipsr over the last six months. I came for Star Trek, stayed for the politics.
And Steve's honesty talking about racism,most youtubers don't talk about it.Especially white youtubers,some black youtubers say racism no longer exists in america.I thought they were saying as not to offend or scare off their current white viewers or future white viewers.
I've been a critical care RN for almost 30 years. I can't tell you how many times patients or their families have "requested" a different nurse because they didn't want a black nurse caring for them or their family!
Well, pre- covid we may have granted those requests. Post covid, baby, you are lucky you have a damn nurse at all!
I loved when someone would request something this idiotic and ask for the charge nurse or house supervisor only to have me show up. My favorite response was "do you know what year it is?" or "what country do you think you're in?"
Nothing sadder than a racist on their death bed. 😊
Thank you for your service
Tell them you've noted it in their chart that they've requested "colored" heaven?😁 And also I've thought of something sadder than a racist on their death bed... a broken shoelace.
But what if God is the 1960 version of Harry Belafonte?
@@fred5399 Or it really *is* Morgan Freeman?
@@thing_under_the_stairs I think it's that God is Morgan Freeman, and Harry Belafonte has taken over as Guardian of the Gate.
My experience with overt racism was a short one. I was 11 at the time. It was just before classes started and I was sitting in the gym bleachers talking to my friends. Suddenly someone just blurted out the n-word directly to my face. I immediately said an offensive word to back to him and that discussion ended abruptly. I have not spoken to him since then. When provoked, anything goes. Luckily, nothing happened and went on with my day. I am currently 45 years old and that will never be tolerated in my vicinity. It's unfortunate that this still goes on currently, but when ignorance is valued over intelligence, this is the kind stuff that happens. The denial of the black experience is still the norm and the loop never ends.
THANK you. I'm up in Vermont, and remember one friend with dark skin telling me: "I never heard anyone use the n-word until I came up here." It's sad but true.
Loved your bindle.
“No one talks like that anymore”.
How to tell someone you’re not an online gamer without telling someone you’re not an online gamer.
Or like, around white children from affluent backgrounds. God one of my highschool classes went ham on the n-word. We weren’t even all white, but the other white kids didn’t even think twice, it was just a meme to them. I didn’t feel comfortable enough to call them all out, but I did tell the one kid I was closest to that he really shouldn’t say it
(Nobody in the class was Black or I would have flipped on all of them)
Ditto for me having lived my whole life in a small town in the midwest. That the overt kind of racism only exists in the south / former slave states is another common misconception.
Absolutely! The kids in my area are foolish enough to think that if their one minority friend tells them it’s okay, that they can use the n-word. They need to get out more and away from their parents.
Absolutely! I grew up in metro detroit in a majority white area and overt racism (including using the n word) was not uncommon.
My grandpa was really racist against Mexicans. I grew up in San Jacinto, CA. It had a rich Hispanic history and culture that had been there for generations before my grandpa and his family moved there. But he'd also say things like how great San Jacinto was and how it would be better if not for all the (b-word)s and (w-word)s. Dude had no subtlety and is the reason why I tried to avoid having my friend Marco come over as much as possible, often going to his place instead. My friendship with Marco was almost completely destroyed when he used slurs openly in front of Marco's parents when they came to drop us off after a day of fishing one day at Reflection Lake. I was able to remain friends with Marco after promising his family that I'd only go to their place to visit Marco, and Marco was no longer allowed to go to my place, and wont use any of the same language that my grandpa used.
I don't know how my grandpa felt about black people, as I never introduced my friend Eric to him out of fear that he'd say even worse things about black people.
My mother's family comes from Monte Vista, Colorado, and yes, were very racist -- not only against Black people ( there weren't that many in southern Colorado ) but very overtly against Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. I remember one time I was arguing with my Mom and my grandmother told us to "stop acting like a bunch of Mexicans." I now live in New Mexico, and I remind people the Spanish colonized here ( and abused the Native Americans ) several centuries before the Anglos arrived.
It always offends me that racists have the gall to move to places full of PoC and then act like they were the ones who just got here. I’m Native Descended so it pisses me off whenever I hear a white person say “Go back to where you came from” to someone Indigenous or Mexican. Like, they were here before you! Stfu!
PoMC (Person of Many Colors) posting.
When President Barack Hussein Obama II (full name used solely to enrage any Bubbas reading this) was elected, a PoC in an SF group I was in at the time posted ‘Finally! We live in a post-racial era.’
The friend who brought me into the group, also a PoC, not known for using profanity, immediately replied, ‘Post-racial, my A$$! We'll still be seeing sh!t, both subtle and overt.’
Wasn't long before he was proven right… 🥺
I find myself noticing that, since the election of a certain tangerine taco, there has been (anecdotally) a seeming rise in racists feeling comfortable from crawling out from under their rocks and openly using racist language and behavior. But, there have always been racists who have felt comfortable using that sort of language. And there have been others who have learned to try to dog whistle more as well. I find it that more seem comfortable using that language in the open than, say, 15-20 years ago.
The final statement is important. People who don't get pushed back on for saying nasty stuff will escalate to the point where they ARE pushed back. Get in early.
Truth. I'm at work and some very senior people at my work who will mention a Middle Eastern coworker getting hired and go "Oh, they hired another terrorist". And I'm...
And then the guy turns to me and says, "Oh, but I'm not racist."
...
Sadly, it's very true. Here in Iowa, which used to be more blue than red, I remember hearing that word used a lot growing up. Sure, most of the racism has been pointed more towards Latinos in the last 30 years since more have moved to the state, but you can still hear the N word once in a while, but most of the racists here just use other language to express their disdain for black people. And then there was the family I knew from Louisiana who lived up here who were way too comfortable with that word. You're absolutely right, overt racism still exists here, no matter how much people want to believe it doesn't.
My favourite is the "well there's no black people here so no one should be offended!" Like, there's so much more to it then that. And even then, why do you need to use it? What purpose could it serve other than to be a slur?
Reminds me of some of the shit I ran into when I worked fast food. One time had someone start ranting about Jews and saying not to "be Jewish" about the amount of ingredients in his food. As the manager on scene I immediately called him out on it, and he made this face and acted like some little kid, going in a petulant voice, "I was just saying not to be Jewish about it." And then started using a lot of slurs until I kicked him out altogether.
Later my Jewish cashier who had to listen to all that thanked me for standing up because, in her experience, no one ever stood up against anti-Semitism.
Did I mention this was in Portland, OR?
And if you want an example of a slur that a lot of people still use these days without knowing it's a slur, there's the word "gypped." Which is based on "gypsy." Which is a slur against the Roma people of Europe. Something I tried to explain to a coworker once who then openly said to my face "I've never heard of that before so I am going to ignore you."
And these are just two examples of many many instances where I've heard this stuff constantly.
Never realized that 'gypped', meaning getting cheated or shortchanged, used when the shortfall is minor enough not to call the police but annoying enough to want to complain, (example: hey, I paid for large fries and got only half a container, I got gypped that time), was an elusion to the old slur gypsy... thankfully most people don't even know the word and I myself have not used or heard that phrase in decades, so I am grateful that you brought it to my attention, so I won't use it inadvertently.
As much as I hate the idiot, I think we should all refrain from bringing back 'meatball' as a way to mock DeSantis...that stupid name-calling against Italian-Americans is not a great idea, and bringing ourselves down to that level doesn't work. He's an idiot, and absolutely sanctimonious, so mockery directed at his evil ways is warranted...making fun of his ethnicity should be off the table. This is what TFG has done...brought back open racism to politics. Lee Atwater was correct that a politician couldn't say racial slurs openly, but now the cancer pustules have erupted, and they are using all the old zombie words... that's the trouble with the Morgoth element; evil, like cancer, comes back unless you are ever vigilant.
I was told by a guy in my building that he was happy I moved in bc the last tenant was Puerto Rican and he knew all about Puerto Ricans bc he used to live in New Jersey. He was overtly racist twice in that statement.
I had a co-worker who would make everyone uncomfortable with racist jokes. Management wouldn't do anything about it, so I started asking him to explain why the joke was funny, usually in front of others.
I do this when ever someone is says a vague racism sentiment, like “because you know ‘they’ are like that.” Like what? Who do you mean? How do you know they’re like that?
I dislike when someone is relying on me to fill in the gaps in their racist sentiment because I’m white. I refuse. Fuck them. Once racist a-holes have to explain themselves, they get embarrassed.
They never have an explanation other than "It's just jokes!"
Roughly 2009 or 2010 I had someone at the gas pump next to me say, "you know, I think we need an exterminator to go clean up that c**n problem in the White House." I literally looked around to see if there was someone else nearby he was talking to, and then, when I realized he was aiming the statement at me, wondered if I was either, A) on a TV show, or B) about to be put on some Federal watchlist...or both... Fortunately the gas shut off, and I got into my car and drove off pretending like I'd not heard a word.
I live in Australia even and I hear it out loud in public racist and homophobic comments and slurs whilst people of coulor and openly gay people are around them and say it to them, Absolutely disturbing and disappointing
I think this is a large reason as to why they want trump back in the White House. If he got in now, at this time, even with all his political strife, it would send a message. “I can still come back into power, and while I have this power I’m going to make sure I put things in place that will last much longer than 4 years”
I live in Washington County too. I see and hear this shit all the time. My neighbor does the “I’m Not Racist But…” and then it’s “you know those black people” etc.
I moved out here from Anne Arundel county and it could get pretty nasty there, but the right in your face racism out here in Western Maryland is off the charts.
Here’s a story of my ex-husband’s. He’s white and Mexican American. His dad is white, so he has an Anglo name. He visually looks white.
A few years ago, he was helping his friend Lou pack up his house. Lou had other friends who were
helping. These other friends had no issue saying all kinds of derogatory things about Mexicans and people of Mexican descent in front of someone who’s Mexican.😩
I remember reading about this type of “bonding “ in White Fragility. It’s so weird to me. I think, “Y’all white people can’t find another way to bond? You really have to spout some racist nonsense to bond? Weird.”
I'll never forget the one and only time I ever rode in a taxi cab.
It was 1990 and my soon-to-be first wife and I were in San Antonio, Texas, just two kids fresh out of high school and a thousand miles away from home.
The cab driver was the typical garrulous sort you'd see in film and television and everything seemed to be normal until, out of absolutely fucking NOWHERE, he says:
"This job would be great if it wasn't for all the [N-WORD] and [S-WORD SLUR FOR HISPANIC PEOPLE]."
We were so shocked that we couldn't muster up any response and just stayed quiet until we reached our destination.
White privilege is absolutely a thing, but it's also annoying when racists assume you're just as bad simply for being white as well.
Have been to Hagerstown many times. Can confirm 100% true. Yeah, that area of MD or PA takes about 0.25 seconds to run into someone saying exactly that after 11pm and a couple drinks. I used to smoke menthols and only menthols. The first time I heard something like that... I'd never before had hate directed at a pack of smokes. Yep, AT SMOKES!!! I was just dumbfounded. My youngest brother is black, and I've heard stories he'd tell, and I'd just think "How in the world do you run into that many nutjobs like that?"... I just never had been the target of them or had friends who talk like that... I was naive. So I was genuinely shocked that a modern human would speak like that to a stranger. I thought that was rare. I was wrong. The first time, I didn't even know how to react. I thought, no... I heard wrong. That's just not possible. Understand, I'm from Indiana, which is bad enough that I had college friends who refused to stop for gas or anything else in a few particular small towns in the southern part of the state. I was of the "racism is hidden" mindset. That it was real, that it was dangerous, but that it was hidden behind a polite mask. But the 50-75 mi radius around Hagerstown or Gettysburg makes southern Indiana look downright polite in comparison. I used to go up for the premium outlets and dinner, but we've run into enough people that we just don't want to go anymore. I never take my son to those areas. Anywhere you can go into a Denny's and see NewsMax playing on the TV... you're both dumbfounded that, considering the history of Denny's, they're that dumb. And second, you immediately understand the type of crowd you are around. I've seen that two places. Indiana and Maryland. Of the two, Maryland is deceptively worse, because it doesn't take a small town of 2000 to find the overt, loud racism.
And, btw, dang, I didn't realize you were right next door all these years.
I remember seeing a bumper sticker in SW DC in 2012. It was anti Obama and read: Don't renig.
I'm slightly surprised that Western MD is that bad. My family are from Eastern Shore and that part of MD is very racist.
I live in Massachusetts (you know, one one of the bluest blue states) and I still hear it up here. I used to work for a guy who owned a business and he would often make comments under his breath about certain customers when they would walk into his store. Sometimes I'd try to speak up, but I was younger then and didn't really have the right words. I didn't stay at that job long. He went out of business a few years ago and blames it on "those kind of people" despite the many MANY mistakes he made as a business owner.
I live in "Woke" Silicon Valley and even I have had some white men use the N word in my presence thinking I was some kind of fellow traveler.
I went to a funeral of my white neighbor, I am black. I sat in the middle pew and ALL the white folk got up and moved to the left pew. This was last year.
You wanna hear something REALLY messed up? I'm Canadian, and I've had White people overtly use both the N-Word and Anti-Brown people slurs in front of me (casually, as if I would be cool with it) up here in CANADA. That's not the messed up part.
The REALLY MESSED UP part: I'm of ASIAN descent, and look completely Asian! My head was spinning at so many things: the racism, of course, but on top of that, the completely twisted logic that was at play.
"Um...what you said is really racist, eh?"
"Oh, come on. You know it's different when it's OUR colour."
Like, WTF???
So, it's not just when there are, "no Black people around," that some White folks can behave this way. Their racism is SO bustin' outta them, that if there are no WHITE people around at the moment, they'll IMPROVISE, and choose ANYBODY with light skin...even ME!
Holy f*cking shitballs, Batman!
African American here. I get called the n word way too often and out and proud neozazi’s in my area literally were doing the salute to a Hispanic kid minding his own business and to me to my face. Those people are still out there and most people probably know one.
Well, I'm black and I used to walk around town a lot and could reasonably expect that at some point some jackass would drive by and shout the n-word at me, because it happened a lot. And this was in New Mexico. Of course, I can't recall that ever happening in Maryland but I was in the black part of Baltimore and I guess most racists aren't so suicidal as to drive up into the hood and start shouting that word. Not that I was in the hood, I was in a fairly nice if declining neighborhood. But once you got to the bottom of the hill it was all hood and got worse the further you went.
Oh, absolutely. For me there is no question. I still hear this shit in the city, whether it be a friend a group I just met... and yet especially when it comes to a group dynamic it's a lot harder to challenge. If it's a beloved friend, it could be even harder. It is still very much alive and "normal" behavior. I live in Washington State by the way. For all the progressive politicians we have, many people on the ground still act in ways that disparage others whether its intentional or not. Also, I was born in Texas. My Dad moved back a while ago (he moved there in 2012 left in 2015 and he passed away in 2018) and decked a friend because he was doing the very same shit Steve is talking about with Obama. It doesn't leave us that easily. The effort has to be more overt to kill in us these racist notions.
I grew up in NY very near to NYC. Though my experience was not quite as overt as yours, I knew which towns were (and some still are) KKK and neo Nazi enclaves. Sometimes I think it’s worse up here.
I'm a white presenting Latinx individual and I've had people use slurs about my own background to my face thinking I was just another white racist like them.
It happens all the time.
I grew up in rural Minnesota. There was exactly two students of color in my 2010 graduating class. One of them was adopted by a white family.
And then there was me- fair skinned, blond hair, blue eyes, the PICTURE of whiteness-- but mom had black hair, hazel eyes, and while she was born fair skinned she's proceeded to spend so much time outdoors she gets mistaken for Native American-- which meant *I* got mistaken for being mixed race whenever she's in the room. And people say some terrible things to your face when they Assume You Are Mixed Race. They ask weird questions that make no sense unless one was already thinking of themselves as mixed, with the regularity that makes You Feel Stupid for not having an answer. People were asking what reservation I'm from before I knew what the reservation system was. People wanted to know how my parents met and were intensely disappointed to find out they were high school sweethearts who dated and lived together before tying the knot. I got asked if I felt weird attending a white school before my autistic ass had a working concept of race or had learned about segregation.
The Venn Diagram of people who are comfortable looking at a white man and a Very Tanned woman and assuming their kids have taken on Mixed Race as part of their identity, and People who are comfortable saying slurs aloud? Is a circle.
I got called the n-word saving a turtle off the highway. People are weird.
Not many years ago, me and my roommate took his girlfriend down to a medical facility in Kentucky. On the way back to Ohio, we stopped to get something to eat at a McDonald's.
There were signs on all the doors that cleary said "No Smoking", yet there were ashtrays on every single table... That should have been our first clue.
While we were eating, we can hear an employee yell from back "Guess what these here n****rs in the drive thru want? That's right, they wants chicken." And the entire staff erupted into laughter.
I dont remember how mamy customers were in the place, but the employees obviously had no concern if there was, as they were loud enough for entire store to hear.
Needless to say, but we packed up our stuff and left promptly. I'm pretty sure I heard the banjo from Deliverance as we were leaving.
But yea, overt racism doesn't exist anymore... /S
Sad but true.
I quoted Metallica....
damn you, sir.
I'm a stocky bald white dude with a goatee. You wouldn't believe the horrible things people say to me a propos of nothing while waiting in line at the gas station because I look like a receptive audience.
I hate to like this kind of video but it needs to be said.
I’m in DC and we don’t judge 😂😂🤣
Dang Steve, you actually brought tears to my eyes while listening. I grew up white in the Deep South, and let me tell ya, yes, what you say is true, sadly. I have VERY good friends that I see as family, that happen to be black, and I could care less. If I ever heard someone refer to them with the N word, I would become a very angry soul and probably get arrested. At the very least, beat up. My wife and I do not engage in such banter, nor will we. We try not to define "others" as others. We choose love, and care and sharing and despise the limitations others put on people. It would do a lot of white people some good to realize that genetically, we are newcomers to the planet, and that the "Mother Race" was not, and is not, white. It was brown skin built the Pyramids, and in ages past, settled this entire planet. We could all do with some proper teaching so we all RESPECT those great souls that paved the way for us to have the amazingly diverse world we have today! And lose the N word to history...for all time!
Its not a word one hears very often in the UK, although blatant racism is certainly pervasive.
I live in a shared house, with 5 other men. The 5th recently moved in, and is originally from Nigeria.
The other day, I asked my house mate, Damian (who is a Polish immigrant) if he had met the new guy yet. He replied "What? You mean the black N*****?", which he followed with laughter.
I looked at him with disgust, and said "that's not funny to me man". Damian has not spoken to me since.
GOOD! This is my preference, but also makes me sad, as I had been getting better acquainted with Damian (I've only been here 3 months), and to share a residence, you hope to like the people you live with.
Of the 6 housemates, 3 of us are immigrants (myself included), and xenophobia is as pervasive as racial prejudice in the UK. It has always vexed me when people who are themselves recipients of bigotry, still maintain bigoted attitudes towards other groups. There's a lesson there somewhere.
There's still a lot of work to do. I wish I could afford to move out.
Exactly. That’s been my experience my whole life, too. They always think you agree, because, well, you’re white! I always hate it when it comes from someone I really liked, and didn’t expect it from. It’s happened too many times to count
As a white guy from north Louisiana, I agree with everithing said here.
Been saying it myself for years.
I'm north Louisiana too. Can confirm
Used to work in a paint store, I'm white with blond hair and blue eyes and you'd be shocked the things other white people would say to me one on one when they thought they were in safe company. Honestly sick, and aside from the worry the racism itself caused in me, I was also concerned about why they assumed I would be that "safe company".
Holy shit!
My family has lived in Hagerstown since January 1977.
I attended high school north of Chicago, later 80s, with family in Hagerstown.
I felt safer wandering downtown Chicago, including alleys, when gangs were out of control than downtown Hagerstown.
Ellicot City, a hard blue town, you can still hear the N word in bars. I am not surprised. I live in Dark Blue Philly and I can hear the N word on some worksites. He said this in front of his friend who is black and when his friend got offended ... he literally said you're not black you're one of us. Very interesting how people view color and racism. Racism is real and odd.
“One of the GOOD ones” smh
A while back a friend and I (both black) got hollared at by a passing car while walking along the side wall in historic Ellicott City. They did not say the n word but some other stereotypical ish. It’s funny because that area is like a 10 min drive from West Baltimore, so it’s not like we were some enigma. And you also know they wouldn’t have had the guts to say that to our faces on foot.
So illogical.
Speaking as someone who grew up in California, that overt shit still exists here too. My hometown went full mask off after Trump won the election to the point that i would never consider moving back.
Shortly before the events at Charlottesville, my father told me that racism was over. It was such a ridiculous statement that I've remembered his phrasing and how completely gobsmacked I was in response.
So many southerners would be overt racists when were alone and they thought I was on their team.
I'll be 70 in a few days & grew up in a small town in Oregon, 'bout 100 miles south of Portland.
I heard the use of racist slurs & racist comments before I was "old enough to hear cuss words." Still do, from people of my own generation.
The baffling thing about it to me, & one I've never heard explained when I call people out, is why they have these opinions when they have never been around many people of color, especially African-Americans.
In high school, we'd play against black athletes twice during football, when a Portland team played a non-con game & when we played Corvallis, because Don Reynolds was my age & he has several younger brothers.
Then we'd play against Corvallis in other sports.
That was it, sum total.
Had 1 Hispanic family in town.
I left there before age 20, & met people of all races; never had any issues w/ anyone in higher percentages than I did w/ home town people. Probably less problems, truth be told.
I hear people I've known my entire life make racist comments & ask them, based on what are you saying that? You've never been around... (fill in the blank, race) ... what do you know?
Mostly, I'll hear it from people, both male & female, who have never left the 98% white environ they've known their entire lives.
They're just parroting stupid chit, for stupid, personal reasons.
Bottom line, stupid people say stupid chit; call them on it when they do.
Yeah, considering how in recent years they have increased their efforts to normalize the word, even to act as if there's nothing wrong with using it, claiming they're no longer overt is incredibly ignorant.
Lived in MN and ND for 30 years. Have heard many, many, many, many people use all the most racist words you can think of. Sometimes out of hate, usually because they think they are being funny. It is always pathetic. But yes, people very much do use these words. Even around strangers.
I am only 30 years old, and I remember being called the N word by a group of men who were driving by while I was simply sitting at a bus stop when I was in 9th grade. This was the same year that a student at my school got into a fight after being called the N word and another student made a terrible joke about lynching black people. So yeah, racism, in every form, is alive and well and always has been.
Dude, it is 2023 and I still have a cousin that looks at me twice before changing the subject, clearly deciding whether the fight is worth saying the N word in front of me again. It might look like I am correcting his behavior, but it just means he is having trouble not saying the word in my presence because he still uses it so often that it is a real struggle for him. He openly admits that he debating whether I have gotten old enough for him to be able to take me, lolol before thinking better of it. Standing up against overt racism is not always easy, it still exists and the losers who are this type of person want a fight. They want to prove that might makes right and it is impossible to fight them all. Kudos to you for standing up when you did, getting assaulted is never fun and it is safe to assume violence will be the outcome in this situation. It always did for me, but I am from Kentucky... and being from the same breed, we cannot help but stand up for what we think is right, we just disagree on what is right because one side only thinks one color of human has value aside from what you could sell them for...
Thanks for elaborating on what is in no way a small point
Your hometown in Maryland reminds me a lot of my hometown in Maryland (Rising Sun) by the sounds of it. It’s still the most racist place I’ve ever lived by a WIDE margin and I’ve lived in Florida for the last 18 years.
This happened to me in Baltimore from a white cab driver. Absolutely this happens. I couldn't believe that he thought just because I was white he could say the things he said. He dropped the n-word just 2 minutes into the drive. This was a few years ago and I don't exactly remember how it came up. I think he was asking about the mayor at the time.
That is "political correctness", i.e. replacing explicitly racist terms with terms more palatable for detached, white voters. The racism is still overt, but wrapped up with a wink and a nudge.
From Birmingham, Alabama. I had to fire the HVAC technician working on my home because he kept using the N word. I don’t hear the N word that often, but I do hear it from time to time.
I have relatives who still say this shit. You need to have 6 inch thick rose-tinted glasses to think it's gone.
You don't hear the word bindle enough these days...
I don’t think I’ve heard it since I was very young and used to dramatically “run away” with my bindle containing necessities like saltine crackers and underwear.
Can confirm much the same from almost everywhere I lived in Michigan too. Random white people I just met, some I once tried to be friends with and enough (But definitely not all) members of my own family do the same in my life too. They do so to me and with my family they do so knowing that I do not agree with them and will call them on it but assuming it is a regular thing even to just disagree on something like this or they can change my mind or get me to admit their right and others in my family who don't agree with them are just weird or foolish to not agree. While I don't fear my own family members who are racist attacking me for disagreeing I don't doubt that some of their friends or the racist strangers I meet will do that so.
This can be a culture with a group, at a bar or over most of a work place and if you need to be there or work there and can't just speak your mind or leave it is not pleasant and at times can feel threatening and oppressive. Often if you keep to yourself or just don't engage when you can avoid it you'll be sick at not confronting them but be able to do what you want or need to in peace but sometimes you are stuck in it and you have to either disengage without making things worse or quietly bare it and listen if you are not willing or able to call them. In a workplace you could lose your job or get someone fired and that can lead to retaliation from them or their allies or you could be harassed until you quit. Other times like at bars or parties you can't be sure if you confront them it is safe though especially with alcohol involved because if they outnumber you and yours or things escalate, violence can ensue and I have seen it happen for no real reason other than somebody calling someone out even without alcohol involved. Racists who are willing to talk that openly are not lacking either in confidence, inebriation or sometimes often enough both and that usually makes them very vocal and also unreasonable to debate or dismissal especially if they feel there are with support.
They usually use it to test their own comfort with strangers, actively seek out trouble, drive out those that don't agree with them from public spaces and to find people to vent at or abuse with their own repressed anger and such. Alcohol just makes them more inhibited to do so. If they find someone else or a place that agrees with them they get comfort and validation. If not they can feel like their some repressed truth speaker believing they are right and proudly standing up for their misguided beliefs.
I am a Black person who used to work in book retail, in Southern California. People went out of their way to use slurs towards me, or near me about other people.
I was living in Southwest Florida during the 2020 elections. I had my earbuds in, but off for a reason that escapes me at the time.
Walking in Publix, looking for ground beef, I pass about three white older gentlemen. I might have given a little nod or a slight smile, but I really didn't acknowledge them. They said, with the confidence of thinking I couldn't hear them due to my earbuds "Look at this Biden Vote over here".
It doesn't have to be vile, friends. It just has to simply mark you out as being the other. Not like us.
I'm giving heavy side eye to anyone who thinks people don't use the n-word anymore
Very well done. I completely concur.
Hope you are doing well.
I grew up in outside of Hagerstown in Maugansville. I was the only Black kid in my elementary school back in the 70's. I heard the N word constantly. I moved away as soon as I could once I graduated from North High.
Here in Australia we're currently gearing up for a referendum to possibly change our constitution. The question being asked is along the lines of "should we change our constitution to acknowledge our First Nations People, and allow them an advisory Voice in federal parliament to speak on matters that would affect First Nations peoples?"
Pretty simple, right? And all the arguments I've heard for the No side have been laughable. It's unknown what the consequences will be! It will divide us as a nation! It opens us up to activism! If you don’t know, vote No! You could say the same things about giving women the right to vote back in the day.
The amount of open racism I've heard recently... a notable one being, "Yeah, but it won't affect *real* Aborigines; the ones up in Arnhem Land. All the ones around here are half-castes and liars." This being from my MiL.
There's also some new 2-3 bedroom houses being built at the end of her street. These are Aboriginal housing, according to her. Never mind the housing bill the government has been trying to get through parliament hadn’t been passed yet when they started building them.
@2:07 Steve: "I'd just need to go to any random bar here in--"
Me, watching this on the MARC train from work in DC back home to Baltimore: "He's gonna say Hagerstown."
Thanks for sharing your story, Steve.
It’s not just the language. It’s the inference of an entitlement (in fact, a duty) to treat “others” as inferior and to be obliged to bully those others to prohibit them from feeling and behaving as equals.
Wow, small world.
Greetings from Towson.
I agree wholeheartedly about western MD, though I am lucky enough to have friends out there who won't tolerate such behavior even in an all white gathering.
But there's more to consider that you didn't mention. We still have Klan gatherings and rallies. Granted, the last one was a few years ago, and moved to PA due to public outcry, but that there was still someone in MD willing to host such an event shows that our state isn't quite as developed as we'd like to believe.
worked a cashier job, first day, owner told me while training 'above all, you gotta watch out for those n-words.' hard R.
i bit my tongue, cause i needed the job, but he saw my expression change. told me not to be offended. that's just how he talked. i stole so much crap from that store.
Hard agree. I'm from Western Washington, and you don't even have to leave Seattle.
My husband said he had to leave Montana to hear people being treated as people, rather than slurs for every type, race, nationality of person.
I've been called racial slurs at work in New York City in the 2010s so the claim that bigots don't loudly bigot anymore is wild to me
My wife is black and white, she literally hears racist things and then "But you're one of the good ones." We live in Northern Indiana.
My father and his mother never flat out used racial slurs, but they definitely were racist. I remember one instance in particular. It was my senior year of high school and this girl I had known since fourth grade lived in the house behind ours. Her brother was over at my house just hanging out and my father walks in. I explain who the kid was and that he is the brother of one of my friends. He made an offhand remark in front of her brother “You can sleep with black girls all you want, but don’t get her pregnant because I’m not bouncing any black babies on my knee”. All her brother and I could do was sit there and stare at each other like “Did he seriously just say that?”
A customer walked up to me not long ago. There were some teen girls at the front of the store. One of them was screaming at the top of her lungs just to be annoying, as it turned out. But the customer said, "So, your manager is okay with black girls running around the store creating disturbances?" I think we know what the key word was. There are plenty of white kids who come in and cause problems. There were a couple of white male teens who even physically pushed some older people. It instantly pissed me off but I never directly confronted him though I could tell he was mad because I was not agreeing with him. I knew what he expected. Two older white dudes with nobody else immediately around and he expected I'd agree with him about the "black" girls. I still hear Conservative talking heads claim there's no real racism now, the occasional neanderthal, but that it's isolated here and there,
I'm a white person from a very black part of the DC Metro area. I'd hear it from kids sometimes, but I think adults mostly had enough sense not to say it around black people. My dad wasn't quite as overt as you describe and would use the word in private if quoting something, or talking about the discourse around black people using the word (which wasn't his lane, obviously), but he would tell some really racist jokes. My dad hides a lot of his shitty views behind humor. I'm glad I grew up having a diverse friend group, because maybe that helped me break away from my conservative family's views, though I know it doesn't always work like that.
When my parents were able, they moved to a richer, somewhat whiter town. Our next door neighbor for a long time (he moved) was very anti-affirmative action and regularly implied that black people are less capable. Still in a very black, very liberal county.
You hear slurs and overt racism all the time in Louisiana. We were interviewing a landscaper who kept using racial slurs to refer to his Mexican workers in casual conversation with us. Once in the grocery store parking lot, an old man ranted to my husband about the great replacement theory and spouting off about how we can’t allow black people to vote because they’ll ruin us. I’m grossed out by how many times I hear a racist comment said to me and the white person says, “you know what I mean, right?” Overt racism is everywhere. This person is lucky if they haven’t been the target or witness to this kind of racism.
Growing up in Missouri, my experience has been the same. If it’s not the n-word, it’s overtly racist jokes. I worked with a guy for years, who every year on MLK day would yell “happy n-word day!” First thing in the morning. Only, he didn’t say n-word…
This reminded me of working in a working mens club in the UK twenty years ago and confused when other white people couldn't understand just how uncomfortable the racism there made me because I'm white. There is still a long way to go.
My job has me interacting with truckers all night. The way some of them just start saying blatantly racist shit to me like I'd agree with them is baffling.
I hear this crap a lot in truck stops, the CB, shippers and receivers.
Why? I’ve never understood the logic of racism. I’ve tried to even ask for logic from racists… and nothing that is logical falls out of their mouths.
Just to add, a couple of instances from my own life:
My grandfather, in response to something going on during Obama's term, said, "That's what happens when you put a N***** and a woman in charge." - referring to Obama and Hillary.
My mom seems to take a delight in quoting other people saying the n-word. Almost like she's found a loophole in the rule. Though she had dropped a hard-r at least once in my recollection.
She also made a statement, when we were signing me up for college courses back when I was fresh out of high school, that she wished people would stop coming to our country for education that they would then go back and use against us. This was upon seeing a girl wearing attire that might have been Muslim, but might have been Hindu.
Either way, non white person in non white attire. I attended a community College, odds are she grew up in my state.
She still claims, to this day, that she isn't racist.
I don't live in the deep south. Hell, I don't even really live in the south despite what my neighbors say, but this shit isn't particularly uncommon.
Very well put. As a white man, I’ve had lots of other white folk come up to me and use racial slurs and tell me racist jokes, as if I’m supposed to be some other guy tired of being told not to feel like he does. And often, if I feel the inclination to call these morons out, they justify their racism with “I’m not a racist, but …” or “I’m not talkin’ about the good ones”.
It's an inescapable reality that if you grew up in rural America, you grew up in racist America.
With respect to you Steve if I had any criticism of the skit itself it’s that driving to the south is a pretty easy and obvious target. As you correct in this video, it happens all around us.
People who've heard many racial slurs in public: we exist. EDIT: in fact that viewer is lucky to not see this, if it's even true. Unless "they don't say that any more" meant since the last time he heard it. He should go on X (actually I wouldn't wish that on anyone)
Sh.., I was walking a doctors dog and someone from a van yelled n....! and drove off. In a deeply african american part of where I lived. So... yeah.