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Can people of color be racist / women be sexist?

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FirMatt

FirMatt

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Oct 25, 2017
252
Boston MA
I was arguing with my partner about this tonight, and it's got me curious how the fine folks of ERA feel.

I believe that if a POC hates / commits hateful action towards someone because of the color of their skin, that still qualifies as racist. Same for a woman hating an individual the second they encounter them purely because they're male. She believes that if you're the oppressed party, you cannot be racist / sexist / etc.

I'm almost always on the progressive side of conversations with people, so this caught me completely by surprise. Your thoughts?
 

Normal

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,296
Uhh yes. Asian people can be racist to black people, Black people can be racist to hispanic, etc. How is this even a question lol
 
Ziltoidia 9

Ziltoidia 9

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Oct 25, 2017
6,148
Honostly, this isn't going to go anywhere good. Everyone is going to have their own definition of what racism is.
 
Aurc

Aurc

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Oct 28, 2017
6,890
All humans are part of a race or sex, and therefor, it's possible for any race or sex to be racist or sexist to another. The degree to which it harms varies, but that's the gist for me.
 

Deleted member 32563

User requested account closure
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Nov 11, 2017
1,336
Technically. But not in the true sense of the word. Race is not biological. It is a socio-economic principle that relies on power.

POC do not hold this countries power or have economic sway. So I'll leave it at that....
 
Yasuke

Yasuke

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
19,817
Isms require power that minorities just don't have.

They can absolutely be bigoted, though.
 
HMD

HMD

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,301
Yes, other minorities in western countries have been racist to me when I visited the west. I'm Arab. It goes the other way around too, I have seen some Arabs in Europe be racist towards other minorities.
 
EctoPrime

EctoPrime

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Oct 27, 2017
64
How could they not. Part of the equality thing is you are treated the same. So if you do something rotten then you are a rotten person you don't get a pass because you are of a certain race or sex.
 
Clay

Clay

Member
Oct 29, 2017
8,155
Uh, yeah, obviously. Growing up in a small town I met plenty of racist people of color.

I think the problem is that many conflate racism as being white people hating people of color, and nothing more.
 
NoblesseOblige

NoblesseOblige

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,231
Using an academic understanding of racism/sexism, then probably not. At least not in the west. They can still be prejudice however.
 
Dyle

Dyle

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
30,041
There are two concepts of racism, the common understanding and the academic understanding. The common definition of racism is any form of prejudice informed by the race, while the academic understanding sees it as an act of power by a privileged group to take advantage of the less privileged. By the common definition yes absolutely, by the academic definition maybe, depending on the circumstances. Both answers are valid depending on the context of the question.
 
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rpm

rpm

Into the Woods
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
12,362
Parts Unknown
I feel like this is going to spawn pages of "No, they can only be prejudiced, racism involves societal power dynamics" versus "Yes, they can be, we have a term for racism that involves societal institutions, it's called institutionalised/societal racism, individual POC can be racist"

Basically one person calling individual acts of racial discrimination "racism" and the racial discrimination prevalent in societal institutions "institutionalised/societal racism" versus another person calling individual acts of racial discrimination "prejudice" and the racial discrimination prevalent in societal institutions "racism". It's a very boring and pointless semantic debate.

Yes, they can be.
 
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Joeytj

Joeytj

Member
Oct 30, 2017
3,681
What? Of course.

Racism isn't something that only happens from white people towards everyone else. It only seems like that to Americans because that's the experience they've had with racism.

And I've seen a lot of sexism coming from women as well. I have to shut down some heavy machismo from female friends a lot.
 
KarmaCow

KarmaCow

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,173
Unless she's being extremely pedantic and using some specific definition of racism that no one actually uses colloquially, then she's absolutely wrong.
 
ChristianH94

ChristianH94

Member
Apr 14, 2019
492
Mona said:
yes ofc?

feels like we have this thread every 3 weeks
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lmfao so I wasn't the only one thinking to himself "didn't I already post in this thread like four times?"

Also yes someone can be racist but still be a POC. The manager of I think it was a Mcdonalds who was a POC who went up to a customer and started rambling about how Trump will deport them should be proof enough if anyone has any arguments towards it.
 
Sandfox

Sandfox

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Oct 25, 2017
24,743
Of course they can. PoC can hate people of other races and women can hate based on sex.
 

Deleted member 59339

User Requested Account Closure
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Aug 19, 2019
2,840
Of course.

Furthermore, racism and misogyny can be (and often are) internalized, so a woman can even be sexist against women.
 
MetroidPrimeRib

MetroidPrimeRib

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Oct 25, 2017
4,964
Yes. But the worst facets of racism and prejudice are backed up by power structures like the police, prison system and law, which are obviously slanted more against minorities or women.
 
VorpalNonsense

VorpalNonsense

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,673
In specific conversations people may want to address different levels or forms of racism on either personal or socioeconomic/systemic levels, which are legitimate topics that have their differences, but the word in general encompasses all forms.
Judging people based on race is literally the definition of racism. And anyone can do that.
People who argue otherwise are losing touch with reality and probably spend too much time in online bubbles.
 
Einchy

Einchy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
42,659
Mona said:
yes ofc?

feels like we have this thread every 3 weeks
Click to expand...
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This conversation ends up happening ALL the time on here.

Someone will say it's not possible for a POC to be racist because they don't have power, another person who has never heard of systemic racism will be, like, "wtf" since 99.99999999999999999999999999999% of people don't think systemic racism is the same as racism.

People changing the definition of words, and then arguing with someone who still uses the common definition of that word, is so goddam tiring to see.

Not everyone has a subscription to Woke Magazine, they don't know the new terms.
 
Brinbe

Brinbe

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Oct 25, 2017
58,881
Terana
User Banned (1 Week): Drive-by, inflammatory generalisation; accumulated infractions.
Lol they're incredibly racist
 
OP
OP
FirMatt

FirMatt

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
252
Boston MA
MetroidPrimeRib said:
Yes. But the worst facets of racism and prejudice are backed up by power structures like the police, prison system and law, which are obviously slanted more against minorities or women.
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Oh, I couldn't agree with you more. I know that oppression against the non-oppressed party is far less common, but my issue was her saying that it doesn't exist at all.

It's possible she's just being literal and taking an academic approach to this, which is totally valid but kind of surprising to me.
 
Josh5890

Josh5890

I'm Your Favorite Poster's Favorite Poster
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
23,373
Racism is racism. It isn't just a label for specific groups.
 
BluePigGanon

BluePigGanon

Member
Oct 27, 2017
892
Of course.

But people who say otherwise are defining racism and sexism in a more complex way. As you found out, they are linking it to a power dynamic.
 
Glasfrut

Glasfrut

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
3,552
NoblesseOblige said:
Using an academic understanding of racism/sexism, then probably not. At least not in the west. They can still be prejudice however.
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.

(And I don't think this forum is equipped for this kind of discussion. It always devolves into a fight between those that take the academic definition and those that argue otherwise).
 
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