<p>OP:
I hate to say it, but it is not only HS subs who do this. DD called me the other day complaining that her Asian History prof. (of a different ethnicity than me or her dad) berated her for not knowing the history, language, and other details of my ethnic heritage. DD’s GREAT-grandparents immigrated to this country well over 100 years ago; one immigrated something like 120 years ago and our public schools concentrate on Euro history. Yes, she has an ethnic first name (I was in college during the time of Black/Asian Pride, La Raza, etc., lol) and her last name is both mine and her dad’s, but nothing about her would suggest she is a foreign student or otherwise educated overseas. I feel for you.</p>
<p>Sorry but I couldn’t make it through all 40 pages. But as an Asian American with long and deep roots in the U.S., I am p.o.'d that I and other AAs are regarded as perpetual foreigners in most of this country.</p>
<p>jym626, I live in Bed-Stuy and have several African American friends here whose families moved from “down South” during the great migration of the first half of the 20th century. Many former Bed-Stuy residents moved back down south and elsewhere, taking advantage of the fact that their beautiful family brownstones sell for geometrically more money in the gentrifying real estate market here than they did for the many years that Bed-Stuy was considered the ghetto. Many of them keep their Deep South accents wherever they live.</p>
<p>My nephew owns my aunt’s house in Brooklyn. Huge house with “dumb waiters”, near a subway stop, and an express bus stop. Many of us neices and nephews stayed there cheap, as we made our escape. I was born at Downstate. I stayed there in medical school , doing a peds NICU rotation.</p>
<p>He is planning to sell, and I wonder if I should buy. It’s crazy.</p>
<p>Thats really interesting, oldmom. Brooklyn is becoming the new HOT place for young adults.
In this case, she was not African American. Hint: we were outside a bagel store :)</p>
<p>Because there is racism in Latin America. He was letting you know that he looks down on Honduras. In Latin America it is considered to be “better” to be of Spanish descent than to be of indigenous descent. So you offended her, which offended him.</p>
<p>This is a good example of why someone from a different culture could be sensitive to seemingly innocent comments. In this context you were commenting on the girls perceived social status, and you perceived that it was low.</p>
<p>My mother is from CT and my father was from OR. When they met, he had never personally known an Italian-American and she had never known a Chinese-American. His BF in HS was Chinese, and she knew plenty of Italians.</p>
<p>jym626, the Satmar Hassidic community in Williamsburg has spread to northern Bed-Stuy as it looks for homes for its large families. Maybe she’s from there.</p>
<p>"For instance, many publicly uttered slurs and derogatory comments about racial/ethnic groups and other marginalized groups like GBLTQ which were once tolerated even in NE urban areas in many areas of life into the late '80s are no longer as commonly acceptable. "</p>
<p>That’s true but the situation here wasn’t a “publicly uttered slur or derogatory comment.” When it comes to being offended, you’re at 0 or 100, no in-between.</p>
This is where you are wrong. I did not perceive her social status as low. Plus, I didn’t offend her; I offended him.</p>
<p>This definitely does show the “other side” of people bing offended and the intentions of the “offender”. To be honest, I do not care that I offended him. Later in the conversation, he got defensive because I didn’t know which Nigerian tribe he was from. At that point, I realized he was easily offended and I should hold no qualms about unintentionally offending him.</p>
<p>Niquii, many years ago a friend of a friend was invited to a party at another friend’s apartment. He was mortally offended because he saw Hopi Kachina dolls on her wall. He stormed out. He was of Japanese ancestry and he thought the dolls were racist depictions of Asians! One could get into a big thing about cultural appropriation, but that was NOT his issue.</p>
<p>I’m sorry you had the same experiences as I and other Asian-Americans in my extended family and friends. </p>
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<p>This dynamic is similar to how some older generation extreme right-wing Japanese would feel deeply offended if they were mistaken for Koreans or Chinese due to their feelings of racial superiority derived from they were youths/young adults in the Imperial Japanese state. </p>
<p>One Japanese-American friend* has a grandmother who has those very sentiments. To make things more interesting, her grandmother’s still embittered about being forced to leave “her farm” in Manchuria at the end of WWII. </p>
<p>Lost in her bitter feelings was the documented historical fact that “her farm” was obtained from Japanese imperial colonial policies to expropriate land from their indigenous owners in order to hand them over to government sponsored Japanese migrants who were willing pawns of their colonization efforts back in the '30s. </p>
<ul>
<li>She doesn’t agree with her grandmother as she is very aware of those expropriation policies and the history of Japanese colonialist aggression in that period. Made for an interesting tension filled moment when both parties remained polite with her occasional outbursts about the “Damned Chinese stealing “her farm”” followed quickly with apologetic “But I don’t mean you”.</li>
</ul>
<p>I doubt such experiences described in post #601 are that unusual among Asian and Latino people, even though other people may be less likely to be aware of the phenomenon.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the “PC police” reaction to what is more commonly uninformed cluelessness, rather than deliberate insult, tends to escalate misunderstandings.</p>
<p>You arevinterpreting the situation in the the way YOU saw it. I was merely pointing out how HE saw it. I didn’t mean to imply that you were actually commenting on the girls social status, just that in his mind, you were.</p>
<p>"This dynamic is similar to how some older generation extreme right-wing Japanese would feel deeply offended if they were mistaken for Koreans or Chinese due to their feelings of racial superiority derived from they were youths/young adults in the Imperial Japanese state. "</p>
<p>Oh dear, we wouldn’t want to offend anyone by mistaking them for people that they classlessly and ignorantly decree as an “inferior race.” Yes, people like that should absolutely be tiptoed around - wouldn’t want to upset the poor racist dears. </p>
<p>News flash. The “offense” here isn’t mistaking the Japanese person for Korean or Chinese. The “offense” is the Japanese person thinking that they are “superior” by virtue of race in the first place. </p>
<p>And, no, cobrat, I’m not interested in the history of why. It doesn’t matter. Wrong is wrong.</p>
<p>"This dynamic is similar to how some older generation extreme right-wing Japanese would feel deeply offended if they were mistaken for Koreans or Chinese due to their feelings of racial superiority derived from they were youths/young adults in the Imperial Japanese state. "</p>
<p>Oh dear, we wouldn’t want to offend anyone by mistaking them for people that they classlessly and ignorantly decree as an “inferior race.” Yes, people like that should absolutely be tiptoed around - wouldn’t want to upset the poor racist dears. </p>
<p>News flash. The “offense” here isn’t mistaking the Japanese person for Korean or Chinese. The “offense” is the Japanese person thinking that they are “superior” by virtue of race in the first place. </p>
<p>And, no, cobrat, I’m not interested in the history of why. It doesn’t matter. Wrong is wrong.</p>
<p>And I would agree with you. I would not condone any form of racism. My point was that he was offended by a seemingly innocent comment that left you perplexed by his response. This demonstrates how things we say can have a different meaning to different people. I’m not saying his “perception” is correct, just that is his perception. I also don’t think you are obliged to know the social hierarchy in Latin America( nor care about it).</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you were a teacher (or sub) that works with immigrants from Latin American countries, I would expect you to be aware of this subtle racism that might exist between students.</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone is promoting we worry about the racists. I think we are worried about those that are the victims of racism. If we are sensitive to it, we can help avoid it.</p>