The Student Room Group

My sister's teacher is a racist?!

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Original post by Galadrielll
It is absolutely relevant. Having a white panel discuss the merit of a black person's experience with racism is ridiculous.


Has it escaped your attention that the Africans were enslaved by other Africans who then sold them to white men or Arabs? Or by Arabs directly?

They were generally not actually enslaved by white men. How is the enslavement of one black man by another a racist act? It is tribal, of course, but hardly racist.

That doesn't make the white traders innocent by modern standards, of course.
Why would you be shocked? The question doesn't have the answer 'yes' in it. It's supposed to get your brain in gear and have you come up with a thoughtful, factual answer. Some 'shocking' facts that you may not know: Slavery existed before white men. Africans sold their own people to the white men. There were loads of white slaves too. Blacks owned black slaves as well. Hopefully, this was her intention. She could have easily rephrased it and focused on the white slaves, which probably wouldn't have caused you to be shocked [?], but the question's about African slaves.
Original post by BIGJohnson777
I think that by directly saying that they were uncivilised- the question just opens more room for the development of an answer, e.g. considering that they might have been uncivilised in comparison to white people, but also acknowledging other factors such as perception of them etc.
And OP is being a total PC **********.


I really don't think they would even address the prospect of another race/culture being inherently uncivilised, and especially not to Year 8s.

Besides, the history of the period suggests that what the question is getting at is whether they appeared uncivilised, because that was used as a justification for slavery. There's no way Year 8s would be analysing the entire culture and deciding whether or not it was 'civilised'.
Stop being so precious
PC gone ****in mad or what?

She's asking the question not saying they were.
Original post by Galadrielll
It is absolutely relevant. Having a white panel discuss the merit of a black person's experience with racism is ridiculous.


Exactly. It's not up to white people to determine what is and isn't racist.
Original post by bones-mccoy
Exactly. It's not up to white people to determine what is and isn't racist.


Are you saying that it is impossible for a non-white person to act in a racist way?
Original post by Good bloke
Are you saying that it is impossible for a non-white person to act in a racist way?


No, not at all.
Original post by bones-mccoy
No, not at all.


Then you think white people are so unintelligent that they are unable to understand a simple dictionary definition?
Original post by Good bloke
Then you think white people are so unintelligent that they are unable to understand a simple dictionary definition?


Again, no. As white people have never experienced racism, the notion of them dictating what is or isn't racist is absurd. It's like a man deciding if something is sexist or not. Stop trying to put words into my mouth.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by bones-mccoy
Again, no. As white people have never experienced racism, the notion of them dictating what is or isn't racist is absurd. It's like a man deciding if something is sexist or not. Stop trying to put words into my mouth.


So you have to have experienced something before commenting on it?

Consistency of argument leads you to the position that men cannot comment on feminism, atheists cannot comment on religion, law-abiding people cannot comment on street fights and murder, and only slaves and ex-slaves can form an opinion on slavery.

Of course, many white people do experience racism.
Original post by Good bloke
So you have to have experienced something before commenting on it?

Consistency of argument leads you to the position that men cannot comment on feminism, atheists cannot comment on religion, law-abiding people cannot comment on street fights and murder, and only slaves and ex-slaves can form an opinion on slavery.

Of course, many white people do experience racism.


I'm done lmao
Original post by bones-mccoy
I'm done lmao


Don't run away. Stay and argue your position.
Original post by Good bloke
Don't run away. Stay and argue your position.


I'm not running anywhere. I just know it's futile arguing with someone who thinks white people experience racism.
(edited 7 years ago)
It's not racist if it's about a history lesson from hundreds of years ago.And it's true, West Africa wasn't civilized at the time, it was all tribes. Sure there was civilization in North Africa but this question is more about the course of human history and how the most civilized countries had massive power in the colonial era.
Original post by bones-mccoy
I'm not running anywhere. I just know it's futile arguing with someone who thinks white people experience racism.


So you fear your arguments will be weak or unjustified, eh?

You have already stated that non-whites can be racist. Isn't the Zimbabwean government being racist against white people in Zimbabwe?

Here are two more examples:

http://downtrend.com/71superb/jimmy-kimmel-accidentally-proves-how-racist-black-people-are

The Miss Black America competition, which is a beauty contest that white women cannot enter.
Original post by Good bloke
So you fear your arguments will be weak or unjustified, eh?

You have already stated that non-whites can be racist. Isn't the Zimbabwean government being racist against white people in Zimbabwe?

Here are two more examples:

http://downtrend.com/71superb/jimmy-kimmel-accidentally-proves-how-racist-black-people-are

The Miss Black America competition, which is a beauty contest that white women cannot enter.


Why isn't there a White History Month? Or a Straight Parade? Why are white people so intent on making everything about themselves?

White people can experience discrimination but not racism. You can't be racist to a white person because we've always had power and an institutional advantage.
Original post by bones-mccoy
Why isn't there a White History Month? Or a Straight Parade? Why are white people so intent on making everything about themselves?

White people can experience discrimination but not racism. You can't be racist to a white person because we've always had power and an institutional advantage.


Ah! I see you represent the regressive left, who try to redefine the word racism by adding an invisible "institutional" into the definition. By your definition individuals cannot exhibit racist behaviour other than as part of an institution. What nonsense!
Original post by Good bloke
Ah! I see you represent the regressive left, who try to redefine the word racism by adding an invisible "institutional" into the definition. By your definition individuals cannot exhibit racist behaviour other than as part of an institution. What nonsense!


And you're too blind to see that institutional racism filters down into interpersonal racism in people's everyday lives. There is so, so much that white people will never understand about racism.
Original post by bones-mccoy
And you're too blind to see that institutional racism filters down into interpersonal racism in people's everyday lives. There is so, so much that white people will never understand about racism.


No I'm not. I can see how that can work, and there is a valid discussion about how important an effect that is, and whether the effect in the UK is comparable in the UK to the obvious effect in the US.

However, I'm not foolish enough to believe that personal racism is absent in black people (I've linked to evidence of it) and that white people cannot suffer from it. You are saying this is impossible, which is quite obviously ridiculous.

This silly and regressive stance, which is for political purposes, merely makes you look foolish and prevents a meaningful debate from taking place which could allow progress to be made.

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