Racism, sexism, homophobia, jerkism

[Dannyalcatraz]

But statistically, it's holding black people back.

No doubt- I've said as much...again, even to my own family.

Personally, I've never felt bad when accused of "talking" or "acting" white. I am what I am. I like what I like.

And if it is true that living well is the best revenge, I can point at the list of letters that follows my name, where I live, what I drive, and the expensive nature of my hobbies.

The good news is that, instead of inspiring continued envy, my life has inspired some of my relatives to change theirs.

 

[Dwimmerlied]

Funny thing about astrologers: none of them agree on any of their rules:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Aquarius

Touche

 

[Starfox]

We have the same problem here. I spoke to a Turk immigrant who had problems with other Turk immigrants because he wasn't a "real" Turk to them. He was educated and came from cosmopolitan Istambul. Most of our Turk immigrants come from remove villages and have not family tradition of education. From the outside, an immigrant group might look homogenous, but from the inside they are anything but. And I find this is true of most social groups.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

No doubt about it.



I can personally attest to this...even from some of my own family.

Yeah as a kid growing up in Bushwick Brooklyn among other places I got that crap. ALOT.

I've gotten into fights over being told I'm acting white. To which my response usually was: "It's not acting white its being educated. Learn to put together a proper sentence sometime ingrate."

Then I'd get the usual: "Just because you talk white, you think you better than us."

To which I'd reply: "YES. I DO."

That's usually where things would completely come off the rails.

Now of course I didn't think that I was better than them. But with everything that was going on with people in our neighborhoods. With actual thugs and criminals getting a pass and in some cases being looked up to. And I'll I'm doing is enjoying things that I like to do like read (prose and comics) and play RPG's and figuring out how stupid math works (ST00PID MATH...) and they're gonna call me out like crapped in their corn flakes?

If it seems like I'm still bitter about it it's because in a lot of ways I am. My 11 year old is very much how i was at his age. Except kinder and smarter. He has a lot of friends who share his interests and not a lot of people who will ridicule him for it. Even if they did, and he can be sensitive sometimes, I know that he'll handle it well. Better than his old man at least.

Alot of the time I was able to just walk away from idiots. But sometimes you get tired of hearing the same crap constantly and you need to speak up. And if someone has a problem with you speaking up for yourself and feels the need to get violent then they need to be handled. Sometimes it goes well and sometimes you wind up getting jumped by three or four guys and getting beaten so bad that you piss blood for a few days. But sometimes tucking your tail and running isnt a feasible option.

 

[Starfox]

My 11 year old is very much how i was at his age. Except kinder and smarter. He has a lot of friends who share his interests and not a lot of people who will ridicule him for it. Even if they did, and he can be sensitive sometimes, I know that he'll handle it well. Better than his old man at least.

It is kind of sad that it takes generations of living to together to get over these things, but still slow change is better than no change.

And of course this applies to all sides, not just to some group in particular. If your son is better at handling these things than you were, guess it is because both his family and his social environment outside the family was easier to grow up with.