I am a 24 YO Native American person. I have been told countless times that I would never finish college or high school (I did), I wasn't "native" enough, I don't look the part, I had no talent, I must be a "hardened girl" living on the "rez". Even others with the same background had been racist.
I remember a time when my friend who lived off-reserve came to my house on reserve. Her mom had left for 3 minutes and came back in tears. She claimed she was so scared of leaving her child in a dangerous environment.
Any environment can/could be dangerous, but it just goes to show stereotypes and "hear/say".
Do you have any experience?
#1
Not about race (since I am considered white) but about nationality. I live in Belgium in a very xenophobic area and many natives assume that I am uneducated, lazy, stupid or untrustworthy just for being an emigrant.
About race, one of my partners best friends (black) and I were talking about some issues I was having (disabilities, chronic pain, being a migrant, being unemployed etc). She later stated that she wish "that she was like me" (meaning white). She is native, has a good paid job, owns a house, has a loving family and is extremely healthy. But I am white so obviously my life must be better than her... I was extremely cruel of her and I have never seen her with the same eyes since. Racism is a big problem but when you think that a disabled migrant is better off than you just for having pale skin you are the one being racist.
3points
#2
I was in middle school, and the school police pulled me out of class because they said that i looked like someone they had caught on the camera's selling cocaine...They called my mom and she was pissed at them because the girl in the footage while latina, didnt look anything like me
3points
#3
I suppose I have been, which is odd for a White American to say. All the same, I lived in Japan for many years, and not a week went by that I didn't hear some version of "You're not Japanese, so you wouldn't understand." Of course, this wasn't because I was a white man; I *wasn't Japanese*, and sometimes, they were right. To be fair, this "profiling" also benefitted me greatly; I got employment, recognition far beyond what I deserved, and was lavishly praised when I did manage to grasp something thought by them to be incomprehensible.
2points
#4
Tbh I have racially profiled. I realize it’s an awful thing, but at a hockey game a sat next to this Pakistani guy. For a second I thought he was a terrorist. It turns out he was a really cool guy who I kinda made friends with by the end of the game.
2points
#5
There is a lot of racial profiling in my city, by appearance. If you appear Indigenous by store security you can face the discrimination they face. Shoppers Drug Mart is bad for that.
I was in the skin care aisle trying to find a lotion, taking my time as I like to browse and look at all my options. 10 or 15 minutes go by I hear on the PA "Security to aisle 5. Security to aisle 5." I was going to ignore that but curiosity got to me and I looked up at the aisle sign. Yup. I was in aisle 5, alone the entire time.
A few weeks prior there was a segment on the CBC news about an Indigenous women ( I believe she was one of the reporters, actually) who was at a Shoppers where security was being called to the aisle she was in, too. They were interviewing other Native people who feel hovered around in stores by staff over them being Indigenous.
I was in the skin care aisle trying to find a lotion, taking my time as I like to browse and look at all my options. 10 or 15 minutes go by I hear on the PA "Security to aisle 5. Security to aisle 5." I was going to ignore that but curiosity got to me and I looked up at the aisle sign. Yup. I was in aisle 5, alone the entire time.
A few weeks prior there was a segment on the CBC news about an Indigenous women ( I believe she was one of the reporters, actually) who was at a Shoppers where security was being called to the aisle she was in, too. They were interviewing other Native people who feel hovered around in stores by staff over them being Indigenous.
2points
#6
Yes, in Hawaii. Whites have a very hard time (outside of professional settings) in Hawaii. When I graduated from the university of Hawaii with my heart earned teaching degree I was told by teachers there to not even apply. Discouraged at this lack of opportunity, I went to teach at a private school - twice as many kids in a class at under a third of the pay in public school. It turned out to be a wonderful chance to teach children of all backgrounds and appreciated and respected by my peers and parents of my students. Being disrespected many places didn’t hurt as much as being disregarded for a teaching job because of the color of my skin. Now, I see this same ostracizing of white people all across our country. We’ve worked so hard - especially after Martin Luther King’s great contribution to fight for equality of all races - to throw it all away and create even more distance between the races. Discrimination is wrong - no matter who is doing the discriminating. If it was wrong against one race it is equally wrong against another race.
2points
#7
Not me but a guy I worked with told me he was at the store with his mom and some younger girls were making comments about her needing to go back to Mexico. He said his mom ignored the comments but he turned to them and told them to get off their land because they are Native Americans not Mexican.
1point