How do you deal with racist people?

Ignore them… getting worked up about it it’s not worth it!

I just read the link. That is just what I always suspected.

I grew in a diverse state and lived in one of the best cities in the entire world before moving to my current state which is very racist and in my opinion, socially backwards by about 15yrs. It’s my mode to ignore as much as possible, not to laugh at or reward with my attention any racist jokes and as you do, I delete most anything I don’t respect without a response. It’s not in my time frame to lecture, educate or correct everyone who crasses up my path.

As for the link, I’ve known a group of aryan supremacists who were extremely intelligent, educated and resourceful… with a twisted bent. I used to dismiss these people as backwards, a small ridiculous minority but they are strong and have a lot of power in all facets of government and profession. My life will never be the same because of what I learned by their contact. Never stop watching, never underestimate

I’m both a Mexican and American Citizen… as such i’ve been subject to racism all my life… the only thing gained in getting worked up over other people’s narrow mindedness and ignorance is high blood pressure and stress.
Be happy that you are more enlightened and tolerant.
Ignore the idiots out there… there’s far too many of them to worry over.

screw them idiots I say. Eventually, this breed too will go the way of the Dodo. For the time being, as long as they don’t do actual harm… ignore, be happy!

With outright disdain and avoidance.

The best situation, for me, is to walk away and ignore them completely. There has been more than one occasion where I have wanted to face off with a person who has made racist remarks and completely unload on them about how ugly and terrible racism is. I think my lack of confontation with them has been the wisest course of action for me even though part of me still says that I should have told them off anyway.

I agree—best to ignore and walk away. The only time I’ve said something in response to a racist comment has been if my kids are within hearing range. My husband has a couple of relatives who sometimes come out with racist remarks or jokes, and I know them well enough to ask them to not speak that way around me and my children. They don’t need to be exposed to that kind of crap.

I am the racist people

If someone gets a reaction from something they said, even a negative one, they are more likely to say it again. There is a saying, “anger is a weapon only to one’s opponent.” Basically if you ignore it, you deny people with these views a forum…if you address it, even in the negative, you give your enemy the tools to be contentious.

Do my best to ignore them, tho knowing what a luxury i have to be able to only encounter racism rarely – and have it hardly ever be directed at me personally… i’d feel a moral need to do my best to uproot some of their racist tendencies so they’re less likely to insult the dignity of people of color.

A great video from one of my favorite vloggers on youtube had very helpful advice – to insist on speaking only about racist behaviors & assumptions.

Aside from being helpful, it’s vital in anti-racism, because one of the greatest barriers with that is the perception that racism is solely the result of a few way-too-outspoken bigots… which conveniently allows us to distract ourselves from noticing and dealing with a) our own – usually unintentional & unconscious – racist tendencies, which come just from living in b) this culture… which also needs to be addressed; we’re transmitters of culture, so we have some power – however small in the larger scheme of things – to change the culture we’re surrounded by. We’d paint ourselves and our ability to be proactively responsible citizens out of the picture if we just acted like even overt bigots are so helpless to change their racism that it’s not worth treating their racist behaviors as individual and separable from who they are (to an extent).

I try to somehow show them that they’re wrong. But I’ve seen that in most cases you can’t really talk about it. These people do not get that they are racist, for them it’s just the way they are. My aunt made a comment about her new home that went something like “it’s in a nice area, not where all the black people live”. All she meant was that her home was nice. She keeps referring to my daughter’s best friend (who is like a son to me) as “that little nigger boy”. She doesn’t hate him or anything, she just doesn’t get it. I find it pointless to even try to explain. I just hope that this stupidity will die out with the older generations, and education will make the younger ones more reasonable.

racism in texas? surely you jest.~

i’d just ignore them. that or put a big sign outside their house/place of work identifying them as such, and putting flyers for a garage sale in a part of town occupied predominately by members of the race/culture they disdain.

repeat as necessary.

that is all

Given an appropriate time and place, I’d call someone out on a racist/sexist/homophobic, et.al. comment. I’d question their use of it and try to gauge their intent. These can be very useful moments to questions someone’s fear and ignorance.

I burn their testicles
Regulators… mount up!

@Dr_C nice.

@Dr_C Regulators—good one.

I tend to tell people they are making racist remarks.

@Pcrecords like this?

Yeah but not as cute.

I would either ignore it, or try for a really effective comeback.

I wanted to kill the person who called me a nigger. I am asian. I asked him did you make that comment to me? He said yes. I said “that is why you are a bum and will always remain a bum. I have 10 people of your color working for me and they would love to beat you up. Watch your back.”
He said why dont you. I said I dont want to kill you. If you come closer and threaten me physical harm, I will. I warned I am carrying a weapon. (I do have a permit).
He went and sat with a buddy of his in the truck and left. I took his tag# and told the cops what happened. They ran the tag and I actually went to press charges to the magistrate. The magistrate told me she has no info on the person who made the remark who happened to be riding with the truck driver. I need to know the person name.
So there it is. You need to find the person name and address, and jot down their description so you can id them. Then you can press charges on them for disturbing peace in a public place. They can actually serve a warrant on this person.
Other option is to go the back way and pay a local person to dig up info on this person quietly and teach the f**k a lesson.
Either way it is not a good situation but it has to be dealt with. There is no perfect solution just a just response that your brain will tell you then. Do the right things to follow the law, but if push comes to shove, do everything you can to win.

@sunny1 – I’m glad people some times take a stand. Your story reminds me of two things which just go to illustrate how ignorant racism is. The first is part of a stand up routine by Margaret Cho. She recounted how one time someone called her a “chink”. She looked the guy straight in the eye and said, “I’m Korean, I’m not a chink, I’m a gook. If you’re going to be racist, get your insults straight.” I love ANYONE who embraces someone else’s ignorant rhetoric just to show them how stupid it is.

Then the other story is something I actually witnessed. Being in a large metropolitain area (Minneapolis/St. Paul) we have a number of outdoor goings on most summers, including a number of farmer’s markets where people hawk all sorts of wares. One group of gentleman who I’d see at both indoor and outdoor venues trying to sell their product was a Bolivian band which used some sort of Andean Pan Flute, and they would play and sell their CDs. Well, one day during a time when I worked downtown in St. Paul, over my lunch break I walked through a farmer’s market set up just outside the building I worked in, and there played the Bolivian band. Looking to my left, I saw an old, wrinkled up battleaxe of a white woman with a throat clearly ravaged by a lifetime of too many cigarettes and not enough books. And this is what I heard,

“IDIOTS….Ah….you IDIOTS again? You’re a bunch of fucking IDIOTS. Why don’t you go back to MEXICO you IDIOTS?”

The sheer irony of which proved to anyone within earshot that both she and racism altogether are stupid.

@dalepetrie GA, good story. It reminds me of an experience I had about 20 years ago.
I told this story on another thread, so if you have read this, please bear with me
My wife is African-American, and I am Euro-American (white). Shortly after we got married we moved to Florida, where I got a job on a construction crew. The contractor we were working for had several crews, so as we were finishing up one house, the discussion turned to where each individual was going. One guy, Chris, said, “I don’t want to work on Joe’s crew.” Joe was a black man, and had a reputation for being a good foreman to work for. The conversation continued, and Chris was asked, “Why not?”
I listened as Chris replied, “Well, you know, he’s black, and I don’t want to work with for a black guy.”
I continued to work alongside Chris, listening as the conversation continued. “What’s wrong with working with a black guy?” someone else asked.
Chris then went on to the usual list of stereotypes, “Well, the stink, they’re lazy…” and so on. At this point, I couldn’t keep quiet.
“You know, Chris, one of them did something to me that is going to affect me for the rest of my life!”
Chris took the bait…“what was that?”
I replied,“She married me!”
Chris started back-pedaling like I had never seen! “Well, they’re not all bad!”

@Yetanotheruser – people’s ability to convince themselves they’re not racist is astounding. Just last night I was talking to my mother…one of her brothers lives in Detroit and they’re transferring him to Florida. My parents went to Florida ONCE 35 years ago. My mom was telling me all the reasons she thought her brother would hate Florida. And she says to me the 4 words that ALWAYS indicate a person is about to say something ignorant….“we’re not prejudiced, but”.

Apparently Florida was “overrun” with Cubans, every service person in Florida was Cuban and NONE of them spoke ANY English except to ask for a tip. And one time while they were having dinner at this convention for Zales, where my dad was a manager at the time (which is why they were in Florida), one of the managers started to eat before everyone had been served and the waiter gasp smacked his hand with a spoon (well, before my dad, who is by far the more racist of my parents, corrected her, she recounted it as the waiter stabbed the guy in the hand with a fork). So basically it seems to me that someone observed something which is probably pretty rude in their culture and did something that was literally “a slap on the wrist” to remind someone of their manners, and because of that, now the entire state of Florida sucks because of all the Cubans. But they’re not prejudiced mind you.

I remember I made a girl feel really stupid when she told and racist joke about Mexicans, everyone around us laughed but I stared hard at her, blinked quickly a few times and said “I don’t get it” When she tried to explain I said “oh ok, still not funny.”

Another time i was with my Chinese friend getting coffee, and someone made a racist joke out loud about black people using the word nigger, my Chinese friend put on his best heavy Chinese accent and was like ” Excuse me! Hey, hey, what do you have against us bwalack people?” Everyone at starbucks started lauging, the manager came over took our orders first and it was on the house. It was the best comeback ever.

There is SO much racism on YouTube and the Web that it gets overwhelming and I start fighting the good fight, in the gutter with the racists. Mellow threads, of happy people, conversing about the oldies or the goodies, get ruined and life feels like hell. Racists are bullies, plain and simple but we are supposed to just take it. Tonight, I stopped at 7–11, driving up in my mercedes. The white guy behind the counter asked me if it was my mercedes? After saying yes I was shocked to hear him ask me, ‘Did you steal it?’ I ignored him, was pleasant cause I was beaten down by my battles on internet which have put me way behind in my personal work. If it were legal or if I could get away with it, my way of dealing with racists wouldn’t be pretty and God wouldn’t be pleased.