Sam Kerr.

[Mon Autre]

Mixed race. Why?

Because how people experience the world and prejudice can be different depending on the different groups they belong to,

I've been called a white woman before. The race element didn't really bother me, but as a woman, when you're called a woman by a man, that feels more harmful and problematic.

 

[domalino]

I don't think power has anything to do with it. If you insult somebody based on the colour of their skin, that's racist.

Ive got thick skin so it wouldn't bother me, doesn't make it any less racist

It is, but this misses a lot. At the end of the day, skin colour or race is just one of dozens of human genetic characteristics we are born with and can't change about ourselves, so why is it inherently so much more offensive to insult someone based on their skin colour than any of the others like eye colour or hair colour or height or...anything?

The answer is simply because for 500 years, one race was treated as if they were subhuman and were systematically exploited for the others' gain, leading to a very painful, bloody, centuries long struggle that's still not complete for people of all colour to be equals. The entire concept of dividing humans into races came about in the 17th century to justify transatlantic slavery.

So when you remove all that history behind insulting someone over their race, it's still racist, but it lacks the same weight of insult, it's not transporting the person you say it to back to a time when they were literally regarded as not human, because removing black people's humanity was the only way for the Church to square away slavery and christianity in the 15th-19th centuries.

 

[CTID1988]

It is, but this misses a lot. At the end of the day, skin colour or race is just one of dozens of human genetic characteristics we are born with and can't change about ourselves, so why is it inherently so much more offensive to insult someone based on their skin colour than any of the others like eye colour or hair colour or height or...anything?

The answer is simply because for 500 years, one race was treated as if they were subhuman and were systematically exploited for the others' gain, leading to a very painful, bloody, centuries long struggle that's still not complete for people of all colour to be equals. The entire concept of dividing humans into races came about in the 17th century to justify transatlantic slavery.

So when you remove all that history behind insulting someone over their race, it's still racist, but it lacks the same weight of insult, it's not transporting the person you say it to back to a time when they were literally regarded as not human, because removing black people's humanity was the only way for the Church to square away slavery and christianity in the 15th-19th centuries.

I know you weren't to know, but just letting you know that you are explaining this to somebody who is black haha :)

 

[domalino]

I know you weren't to know, but just letting you know that you are explaining this to somebody who is black haha :)

I actually did see your comment about being mixed race, but I'm always aware that when I write a comment on a thread like this, it's probably going to be read and I'm probably going to get replies from more than the person I'm replying to, so better to overexplain your point then get half a dozen replies from people who lack the wider context taking umbrage.

 

[SkyBlueFlux]

I don't think power has anything to do with it. If you insult somebody based on the colour of their skin, that's racist.

Ive got thick skin so it wouldn't bother me, doesn't make it any less racist

Respectfully, I disagree with your first point while agreeing with your second because I think both can be true. Power is a lot to do with it. If you insult somebody's hair colour then nobody gives a fuck because that isn't symptomatic of a system that has been set up to be very deliberately prejudiced against them.

Insulting a white person purely on the basis of their skin colour is racist, we agree on that, but that doesn't mean it comes with the same cultural and societal weight as more mendacious and institutionalised forms of racism. I don't think you can disentangle the two so easily. Racism against minority groups isn't just frowned upon because it is name-calling, it is a judgment against everything that tends to come with the name-calling. That's why we tend to come down on it so heavily.

That doesn't make the insults themselves okay - and I'd admonish anybody for insulting somebody based on a protected characteristic, regardless of what that is. I'm only saying that some insults come very loaded, others not so much - and that's mostly down to power dynamics.

 

[55yr old teenager]

Because how people experience the world and prejudice can be different depending on the different groups they belong to,

I've been called a white woman before. The race element didn't really bother me, but as a woman, when you're called a woman by a man, that feels more harmful and problematic.

Agree, I hate that word to be used against women. It does not matter whether its male or female using it.

 

[Pell]

Maybe she's not a conscious racist.

 

[diamond geezer]

I understand the logic behind the "post-colonial guilt", but how does your justice system view the matter? Is "stupid white driver" less of an offense than "stupid black driver"? (I'm just curious, hoping not to offend anyone)

 

[cheekybids]

Her mixed race is attributed to her white English Grandfather & her Indian Grandmother. She comes from a real sporting background her brother & Father were AFL players & I think there’s jockeys, basketball players & boxers in her lineage.

She seemed a safe bet to have her name on the the newly opened State Football centre.

She’s said it, it’s wrong it’s racist. Is Oz racist, well it was built on white Australia policy & has a dark history including genocide but as someone who’s lived here 20 years I’d say you are far more likely to be called something racist & accepted at the same time. They aren’t very good at being politically correct & that’s quite refreshing outside of corporate Australia.

I don’t believe she’s racist, but let the court deal with it.