Hey White People - What's your personal experience with White Supremacy?

[Ron Green]

How old are you; where did you grow up; what conditions, situations and events shaped your understanding of racial dynamics in this country (or elsewhere in the world, if that’s your life)?

I’ll start with one example: An early childhood memory is of my father, in the 1950’s, putting black makeup on his face in preparation for a minstrel show.

[Duncanpup]

1. I'm 55 Pennsylvania

I can get pulled over no weapons pointing at me from police I’m white

[dsc]

2. As a kid I visited my grandfather in a suburb of Pittsburg that had a public pool

it was for citizens of that town only. I was permitted to swim in it, I suspect that if I hadn't been white, the fact I wasn't a citizen of that town would have come up.

[msfiddlestix]

3. I grew up in a bi-racial home in the South

I'm over 70 years old, and as recently as 2007 I was confronted by a room mate asking me aren't I'm proud of being White? The question was asked in the context of a very heated argument regarding "illegal"s entering our country from Mexico. He also accused me of being a communist and a "feminazi"..

That was just flat out bizarre question to me, and very unexpected attack in the context of where we lived, that we were roommates living in a household of Lesbians with the exception of him and myself.

I thought I left that shit in North Carolina when left and headed for California back in 1970. A whole lot of stories there.

but I'd have to write a book, maybe I should, maybe I would were it not for the lack of writing skills. And the fact that there are a plethora of other far more skilled and prolific at writing similar stories I think.

[Treefrog]

8. There's plenty of racism in California, as well as every other state in the union.

If you don’t think so, you’re not paying attention.

[msfiddlestix]

14. I know that. My surprise is related to the fact that he CHOSE to live with Lesbians

Progressive, Liberal Lesbians. Doesn't square with White Supremacists line of thinking.

Not to mention that his girlfriend was an "illegal" from Mexico which was the genesis of the heated discussion leading to his concerns that Mexicans were outnumbering whites in our population and we couldn't have that.

That was the point I hadn't managed to articulate very well in the prior post.

[MenloParque]

21. Exactly right

I am by far more scared for my safety as a woman of color in Northern California than anywhere in this country. Specifically in Redding and most of Shasta, Trinity, and Mendocino counties. My AA husband services Power lines up and down the state and is gone for weeks at a time. After a couple incidents miles away from any town in north most Mendo county, he has no choice but to conceal carry a Glock when north of Clear Lake. The 911 response time for law enforcement (if there is a cell signal) in many parts up that way can be 30-45 minutes when out of city limits due to the terrain.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

4. This country is built on white supremacy. We're all soaking in it.

Not sure how a thread of racist actions we've observed is helpful and isn't actually hurtful to others.

[Ron Green]

38. Believe it or not, many, MANY whites (men especially) deny

that they’ve ever experienced white supremacy. They even have black friends, y’know. Until most white people understand what you seem to be saying in part of your response, the shift will not start to happen.

[DavidDvorkin]

5. I grew up in Apartheid-era South Africa.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

9. You didn't need to repeat the actual "joke."

[tonedevil]

16. I'm sorry it was thoughtless of me. /nt

[wcast]

10. For background grew up on the poor side of town.

My neighborhood elementary school was integrated, probably a 60 40 split white and black. My 6th grade teacher was black. For 7th grade I went to one of 3 junior high schools my town had. This school drew students from both the rich and poor parts of my part of town.

So first day at my new Jr high a kid I knew from elementary school came up to me and we talked for a few minutes. After he left another kid I didn't know from another elementary school walked up to me and said. "Were you talking to that kid?" I replied yes. He then said. "Don't you know he's black." He then walked away.

I had never thought much about skin color before until that happened to me nor had my parents said anything that I could remember disparaging about blacks. It's a day that I still remember vividly 40 plus years later.

[Ron Green]

40. This was a racist kid, but in an integrated school.

And you had a Black teacher in the 6th grade. So that’s something.

[Johnny2X2X]

11. 49, grew up in MI

I have many cases from my childhood, including a cross being burnt on the lawn of the first black family to move into our neighborhood.

But I don't have to look back at all, today in my work pace I see it all the time in meetings. There's an attitude that diversity is bad for a team and that more will get done if it's a homogenous team race wise. NA d more than that, white supremacy today is about white grievance. There's an entire segment of the white male in the middle class that honestly believe the delusion that the deck is stacked against white Christian males. That's how White Supremacy thrives today, a bunch of delusional white dudes who think their white dudeness is what's holding them back and that minorities are the ones getting all the breaks.

[cinematicdiversions]

12. Christmas at Grams meant the Black and White Minstrel show Christmas Special

[Hoyt]

13. I'm old enough to remember employment ads in newspapers that said, "Only Caucasians need apply."

Those were the nicer ads. Worse, I remember colleges denying entry to Blacks to state tax supported schools. And, of course, segregated water fountains, bathrooms, housing, etc. How in the hell can anyone rationalize/excuse that?

Glad some strong people stood up, but there is still a good ways to go.

[Demovictory9]

29. i have my mom's old trunk, from the 1960s.. it's lined with old newspapers.. the ads state the race

wanted for jobs.

"colored girls" or "white girls"... that sort of thing.

ads from Missouri, late 50s, early 60s.

[OneGrassRoot]

15. Earliest memories (toddler)...

and the most prevalent memories of my pro-KKK family are of their hateful white nationalist supremacist beliefs and behavior.

[MineralMan]

17. I grew up in a lily-white farm town in California in the 1950s and 60s.

In my Junior year of high school, my English teacher assigned an essay on a subject of our own choosing. I handed in a 10-page essay on the history of the Ku Klux Klan in rural California, after doing considerable library research. I was already very interested in the civil rights movement at the time.

I got an A+ on the essay, but the teacher added a note, saying, "This topic is too controversial. You may not read it aloud in class."

[H2O Man]

18. The summer of 1988.

My brother-in-law and I were walking the streets of Boston in the early evening. Now, I'm from a rural region of upstate New York, and have never been entirely relaxed in cities such as NYC, Chicago, or LA. (Nor, for that matter, in any of the tiny hamlets I have lived in at times in the many, many, many decades I have been alive.) But I remember saying to my brother-in-law that I was surprised at how relaxed I was while in Boston. "It's because you are among your own kind," he replied, noting that there are a lot of Irish-Americans in Boston. Now, my brother-in-law is black, and from Queens, NY.

I've also had the opportunity to be a minority within a group of people. That's an important experience. Having participated in the Great Sport of boxing since 1963, most of the locker rooms with fighters and trainers are colorful shirts with white buttons, to paraphrase Malcolm X. In the old days, every group took their own section in the locker room, and there was some hostility in the atmosphere. In recent times, there isn't so much of that. Most teams have a variety of people working together. But, of course, the boxing is far more civilized than the general public.

And I've been at the Onondaga Nation's Territory numerous times, as the only white person. There were times that people would discuss "white folk" in rather unflattering ways. Accurate, but unflattering. In time, someone would say, "Oh, not you, Pat. You are one of us." From my decades of work with Chief Waterman, people called me "Paul's son."

[TlalocW]

19. I'm 49. This happened when I was in my mid/late 20s

It's not really that big a deal. I lived in Tulsa, and one of my Senators, Joe Nickel, tried to pin Ruby Ridge on Clinton, and I wrote a letter to the editor that that was pretty amazing since RR happened in 1992, and Clinton took office in 1993, and I made some snide - but of course clever and salient - comments, etc. Didn't think much of it until I got a "care package" from a White Supremacy group who had gotten my address out of the phone book (remember those?). Basically some racist stickers, and a copy of their news letter WAR - White Aryan Resistance, with comments written in the margins. Things like "I bet you love Hillary too," and "You probably want to take our guns away."

I honestly laughed because I had done my high school senior research project on the re-emergence of White Supremacy groups, and I knew this particular one was mainly made up of fat Bubbas who go out to the woods, drink beer, shoot the cans, and daydream about a coming race war that they will get in on the coattails of - after ll the shooting is over, and if things go their way.

I still have the newsletter. I should probably get rid of it so it's not found in my personal belongings when I die. WAR was Tom Metzger's organization. Not quite as famous as David Duke, etc., but I recognized the name in the newsletter. He died last year.

A college friend of mine, who happened to do his high school research project on more or less the same thing, lived in Chicago after graduation and Tom came to give a talk at a White Supremacy church near where he worked. So he moseyed down to the park across the street and sat on a bench and watched the proceedings. After the speechifyin' and blaming all their failures on people with more melanin, they had a picnic on the lawn, and my friend drew attention to himself as he started howling with laughter because the beer of choice was Corona.

TlalocW

[Hekate]

33. Keep the old "gift" in your papers, but staple a copy of this post to it

Your descendants will find it interesting.

[pwb]

20. I never cared for it.

.

[-misanthroptimist]

22. I once harrassed a KKK cross burning.

That was fun.

I grew up with racists, practically my whole family is racist. Personally, I never got it. Still don't.

We all know about the Privilege of clowns like Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump. But there is a quiet kind of White Privilege that doesn't get much coverage. I could easily be its poster-boy. Throughout my life, I got jobs, breaks, and benefits that I was in no way qualified for. I strongly doubt that any POC would have gotten any of the jobs (or promotions) I got with similar education and experience. It disgusts me, frankly.

[ShazamIam]

23. Back in the 80s when I was just noticing political life and whhile all the people I knew who were

on welfare were white, I was told by the media and Ronald Reagan's Republicans, only those "welfare queens," got any money.

More recently, 2007/08, a white woman in an online discussion group had lost her job, ended a marriage with an abusive husband and was trying to get life going for herself and children.
She was shocked at how little support was available to mothers and their minor children and sincerely believed that African American single mothers were getting more money than she was getting.
It was revolting and amazing.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

24. sitting in a dive bar I frequented in southern California

and hearing two guys runs their mouths (N*gger this and N*gger that) about a black man in the bar ( he too was a regular). Someone (not me) called them out on it and they left. It's ugly and scary and frustrating to witness.

[BootinUp]

25. I was raised pretty much color blind

And never really understood those who want to have race purity, race loyalty or anything like that.

[RegularJam]

26. I think some get white supremacy a bit wrong.

White supremacy isn't necessarily wearing black face. That is a privilege borne out of white supremacy. Supremacy can be found in the room where the act of bigotry occurred.

White supremacy is me going to an all white childcare that minorities in my area could not afford to go to. I then went to an excellent, almost all white, elementary school. Then all white private middle and high schools. Of course my college courses were predominantly white as well. When I was hired as middle management, instead of having to work my way up, my peers were all white. For most of my life I have been represented by a governments that were all or predominantly white.

That is the cycle of white supremacy. I was afforded opportunities that were not afforded to others by way of the color of my skin. It only makes sense that specific groups are held down because of it. White supremacy is about who rules the land. Who rules the governments. Who rules the boardrooms.

The current change in supremacy is why we are seeing such disturbing blow-back from the right. The writing is on the wall and they are losing their supremacy.

[Amishman]

31. you seem to be conflating white supremacy with privilege

The former is a belief that whites are inherently better than other racial groups

The latter is the social and economic momentum of whites due to past discrimination and oppression of non-whites.

[RegularJam]

37. I don't believe I am, though privilege is the benefit. nt

[OriginalGeek]

27. I'm 57, lived in the south all my life.

I lived in Texas and Florida the most but other places too. I was raised from about 10 years old until I left home by a fundamentalist baptist mother and stepfather in a church where the youth pastor proudly hated n*s

[OriginalGeek]

28. is there some form of auto-editing going on here?

my post is much longer but it keeps getting cut off...

I lived in Texas and Florida the most but other places too. I was raised from about 10 years old until I left home by a fundamentalist baptist mother and stepfather in a church where the youth pastor proudly hated n*****s

[Amishman]

30. i've known plenty of racists but zero white supremacists

I'm middle aged raised and currently living in SE PA.

I've known a few really obnoxious racists - but zero true white supremacists. The racists I've known were definitely inclined to believe the worst about people based on the color of their skin, but they didn't act or talk like white people were inherently superior. They latched onto plenty of negative stereotypes about some groups of white people too (catholics, jewish people, southerners, Californians, liberals, etc). Overall they seem to buy into just about any broad negative categorization for any group to which they did not belong.

I've seen this behavior mostly with white people (perhaps because the majority of the people I know are white), but I've seen it in individuals of other backgrounds too. The common factor in those who seem to want to think this way is lack of education and lack of intelligence.

[marie999]

32. I am 77. I grew up in Roxbury, a part of Boston.

Half the people were White and Jewish, half the people were Black and I have no idea their religion, and 3 families from Ethiopia were Black and Jewish. I never heard a racial or anti-semitic word. I could tell my parents I met a boy and my parents never asked if he was Black or White nor would I ever think of telling them. I guess just about everyone was lower middle class. All the kids played together.

[Bullfeathers]

35. Winchester here nt

[Dial H For Hero]

34. I'm 59 and grew up in Colorado. I don't remember racial issues being discussed very much.

The only thing that stands out is once overhearing a stranger use the "n" word when I was very young. I later asked my mother what it meant, and she told me something to the effect of "That's a bad word that some people use to describe black people. You should never use it." So I didn't.

I was also a voracious reader, so by my teens I was well aware of racial issues in this country, despite growing up in overwhelmingly white neighborhoods and schools in which race was mentioned only peripherally if at all. I was essentially brought up to try be color blind.

[Bullfeathers]

36. 63 here

Never met a white Supremacy . However I do remember a statey pulling over my brother and we had to get out of the car . The first thing out of my brother’s mouth to the cop was I’m not a slang for Spanish I’m Italian. I was 15 at the time and I never understood stood why he said that until recently

[ananda]

39. I clearly remember Jim Crow..

The man used to come by the house to collect the poll tax
from my dad.

Everything had a sign that said "whites only" and
"coloreds only."

Black people rode in the back of the bus.

Like that.