I'm not racist, YOU are racist.

A_Thinker said:

The US does not do business with countries that participate in overt human rights abuses (good thing), so I don't think that this a concern.

At the same time, it doesn't seem reasonable to blame an entire continent for the actions of a few some centuries ago ...

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Yet we are seeing it happening right here. Whites are still being blamed for the sins of the father.

Hank77 said:

And this is inaccurate as well.
The indentured servants were not taken from the streets. They were languishing in Debtors prisons. The more wealthy paid off their debt in return for the debtor's labor for a set number of years in America.

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Depends on what you read and believe I guess.

Hazelelponi said:

Trump stands for all of America, and has done more for black Americans in this country than Obama ever did.

Stop listening to the hate mongering media whose trying to control you.

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like what specifically?

Arc F1 said:

Yet we are seeing it happening right here. Whites are still being blamed for the sins of the father.

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Whites, per se, are not being blamed for anything.

American society has not progressed enough. It is the responsibility of all of us ... to see that it does ...

A_Thinker said:

Whites, per se, are not being blamed for anything.

American society has not progressed enough. It is the responsibility of all of us ... to see that it does ...

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How can we progress with a double standard? We are getting farther from equal enforcement of the law. This is getting crazy.

Who Would Have Thought? Masks Are Being Required But Only for Specific Races in One County.

Arc F1 said:

How can we progress with a double standard? We are getting farther from equal enforcement of the law. This is getting crazy.

Who Would Have Thought? Masks Are Being Required But Only for Specific Races in One County.

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This is the result of states and municipalities trying to deal with the critical pandemic AND community population issues.

These inequalities will be ironed out once legislatures have a chance to breathe ...

If it makes you feel better, it sounds like you weren't doing anything racist.

However it has always been my opinion that focusing on whether individuals are 'racist' or not is mostly a waste of time, and it would be much better to concentrate on fixing racism itself as an entity.

Heartofsilver said:

Hello everyone,

I was having a very busy day at work one evening where we had multiple customers to serve at once. We were trying to serve them all as efficiently as we could with there only being two or three of us. It was later in the evening and we so happened to not see a couple women who were tucked away at the side, they had been there awhile, but we hadn't seen them. I went to serve one women and she ripped he mask off and started yelling at me about how she had been waiting for twenty minutes to be served. The only time I saw here before then was when she was a ways away from the counter as if she was shopping for other goods or waiting for someone to come into the store. She immediately pulled out the race card and accused me of being prejudice. I told her that I know that there are difficult times right now, that I'm not prejudice, and that I forgave her for the accusation. She told me that isn't what it looked like. I served her and told her that since she had to wait so long that I was going to give her, her food for free. She told me that, that wasn't necessary. I gave her, her food, assured her that I didn't see her and that I wasn't being prejudice, forgave her and, wished her a good evening. She still continued to say that it didn't look that way to her.

I'm white and she is black, I felt that she was accusing me of being prejudice just because I'm white. I wanted to cry and just go home, since it hurt me so for someone I don't even know to say something so untrue about me. I have friends of all colors and backgrounds and I believe that race is something to be celebrated. I believe that ALM and BLM and vice versa. I also believe that the media really blows things up and twists things including our society. Any race can be prejudice against any race even people being racist against people who are white.

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People often say things they don’t really mean when their angry. Perhaps she was just frustrated and maybe she felt she was being neglected because of her race. I think she should’ve got someone’s attention before jumping to conclusions and making a wild accusation instead of quietly standing in the background then suddenly coming unglued.

Heartofsilver said:

I felt that she was accusing me of being prejudice just because I'm white.

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That could be the case, but you yourself acknowledged that she had been waiting longer than usual. Yes, there was a misunderstanding regarding why you didn't serve her in a timely fashion as you would others; you didn't realize she was waiting for you. The circumstances regarding this misunderstanding are a little murky. You say that you didn't see her, but also that you did see her but that you thought she was doing other things than waiting for you. At some point something caused you to realize she was waiting for service. What was that and how was that different from the previous 20 minutes?

I'm not accusing you of anything; I'm just saying the circumstances provide a lot of room for confusion. In that case, the best thing is to de-escalate the situation. One option is to offer the service at a discount or for free, which you did. That was a good alternative. That the woman refused your offer could suggest that she felt a little bit guilty, like maybe she was over reacting but that she was having trouble stopping herself. Once an emotional suspicion begins in the spirit it can be difficult to slow it down even when a rational explanation is offered. Also, you can say something like, "Sorry, I didn't realize you were waiting for me as I thought you were doing other things; how can I help you"?

I think you did something like that, but you also attached this "I forgive you for thinking badly of me" thing to it which sounds like a respectable way of hitting back. This kind of thing is sometimes referred to as being passive-aggressive. It sounds fine on the surface; I forgive you, but I think if she was saying something similar to you (i.e. I forgive you for treating me differently) you would recognize the spirit behind it was not one of genuine reconciliation. In other words, it's a way of letting them know, without actually saying it, that they've done something which needs to be forgiven. Maybe they have done something that needs forgiveness, but hiding the accusation behind the pretense of offering forgiveness even though they've not recognized anything that they need to be forgiven for communicates to them that they're being falsely accused. They themselves may not consciously recognize this intellectually, but they will discern it in their spirit; humans are pretty good at picking up on hidden digs and accusations. I don't know if you've ever experienced it before (I know I have) where someone does this to me; they say, "I forgive you for that thing you did wrong" though I don't agree I did the wrong thing, so in retaliation I'll say, "oh yeah? Well I forgive you!" and then the response is, "No, I forgive YOU"!

It may also be helpful to recognize that under the circumstances she believes she has good reason to suspect you. If you can try to empathize with why she'd be so sensitive, then it may help you to realize that she's not really upset with you personally, but rather that she's struggling to process what she believes to be part of systematic racism occurring in the U.S. at the moment.

It would be better if she did not hold a grudge against you for what you've already explained was just a misunderstanding; it would be better if she took the lower seat and accepted your explanation in good faith, but it would also be good for you to recognize why she would be reluctant to believe you. In that case you could take the lower seat by perhaps apologizing again for the misunderstanding and just accepting that if she wants to believe the worst about you, then there's nothing you can do to force her to think differently. I realize that doesn't feel very nice but I think it can be an important part of humility. Sometimes we just have to accept that no matter how good and right our explanations and motivations are, some people simply will not care. They're too hurt or upset or emotionally involved to slow down and think carefully about what's happening and why it's happening.

The best way to combat that kind of emotional snowballing is to not allow ourselves to become part of it even if the situation genuinely makes us feel hurt. Setting those feelings aside and instead deliberately insisting on handling the situation rationally will be the best way of working through the issue.

Good luck.