So I am a Campus Ambassador for my college, which essentially means that I give tours, answer the phone for prospective students, and am oftentimes the first contact individuals have with our campus. A mother called a few weeks ago asking to get a tour of our school for her son, and apparently really liked my handling of her case, and asked if I could give her tour. The time wasn't normal for us (3:30 on a Friday) but they're from a small town in the middle of nowhere, so we made an exception for them.

They show up and are highly concerned with the crime rate of Duluth, where there housing is at, and their safety. Later in the tour, the son is about to ask a question and then says "nevermind." I urge him to ask any questions he might have. "What kind of people are here?" I'm not sure what he means. "Well, not to be racist, but are there like, black people here?"

"LSC prides itself as being a very diverse college, with students studying abroad from all over the world, from every kind of background, and every kind of race." is what I said.

I forgot half of what I was going to say for the rest of the tour, and was completely off. I've never experienced that kind of wanton racism, and it floored me. Several times when we were talking about housing, they asked if it's a "nice neighborhood, and who lives there? Is it like a ghetto?"

I saw my friend Becky from Ethiopia, and made certain I said high and held her hand as I walked by (That's how she likes to say hello, almost a handshake kind of a thing) and I think at that point they got the message that I wasn't going to level with their thinking.

What kind of racism have you experienced, and how did you react? Obviously, I was working so I couldn't say anything negative to them. How would you have handled it?

I don't know whether I hate you more for saying this or the kid. You sound like a brochure.

As for racism I've had to deal with, my dad is the biggest racist I know. If what that kid said shocked you, you don't even want to know the things my dad says.

Well I think part of the tour job dealie is to be a walking brochure... don't offend anyone, try to get them to want to go here. Not to mention I would have been put a bit off balance by the question too, so I can understand the response.

I find it as offensive to pride yourself on being diverse as it is to be racist.

I think my great grandmother once ordered stamps from the post office, and got Bill Cosby stamps, and refused to use them because Cosby was black. She went to the post office and returned them, lol.

The ol' days.....

my fiancee's uncle is rather racist. although i believe his attitude is skewed more toward hatred of poor people of colour. hes a policeman in cleveland (the actual city, not the greater cleveland area) and he calls the white folks he arrests ******s as well as the people of colour.

Pssh, the worst crime ever committed in Duluth was someone had their ice fishing gear stolen.

By a black guy.

Damnit I thought you left in a hissy fit already.

Somebody had to post that and I couldn't count on the metrosexual massassi elite to do it.

So not being a racist makes one a metrosexual, huh?

Interesting.

If you think Massassians are meterosexuals, then you obviously don't know the definition of meterosexual.

From wikipedia: "Metrosexual is a neologism of the 2000s generally applied to heterosexual men with a strong concern for their appearance, or whose lifestyles display attributes stereotypically attributed to gay men."

You could be partially correct at least with what I recall from the Camhoes thread. Still, I was only referring to the Massassi Elite so I certainly don't apply that to all here.

Sarcasm, so seldom found anymore...

backpeddle

i'm terribly confused about what this means

It's not my fault if you need "happy" little smilies in order to register sarcasm. I mean I totally believe that a black guy was involved in the theft of ice fishing gear in Duluth, the only reported crime there.

It probably has something to do with this.

No, that has nothing to do with it. Your usual response when you say something stupid is to retreat and call it a joke or sarcasm.

It would essentially be the type of member here, staff or otherwise, that would take any of my comments in this thread far too seriously. But, please people, I know you miss me but I have already exceeded my monthly posting limit.

Who steals ice fishing gear anyways?

Oh. Well, come back soon.

Hahahahaha. I laughed.

Wut

Where did that come from?

(Yes, that I responded to this is entirely predictable)

I've heard my own father say some pretty awful racist things, but I guess I never paid attention to them. He ended up completely 360ing on race after watching some speech on Public access that explained how racism develops in a person, and how racist logic works. My father identified all of it in himself, and completely understood where his hatred came from. He never really explained it to me until tonight, just a few seconds ago when I explained what happened today, and we started talking about race. Interesting story.

duplicate

Wait, what? I'm shocked, but not shocked enough to go make a thread about it.


[edit] I'd also like to say that what this guy said does not in any way surprise me. It seems like a legitimate thing for some people to wonder, even if it could come across as being a little off.

[edit edit] I also laughed.

From the dissent to Plessy v. Ferguson. It was the first thing I thought of when I thought about work and racism. Probably because I was working on a paper about race and the Constitution when I saw this thread.

Yeah, Wookie's joke was kinda funny

I don't run into many racists, but I read a lot of racist pulp fiction, specifically the work of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard. Even though I pride myself on being colorblind and having friends of all ethnicities and social strata, I find it gives helpful insight into the root of racism by reading stories with characters that have pet cats named ******man.

Seriously though, those guys were racist *******s

Yeah I was a bit surprised by all the "beloved negro servants" and cats named "nigster" or "nig-man" or "******" or "niglet" or whatever in Lovecraft

I live in Southwest Missouri.

There's hicks going to my uni that don't understand what "feral" means and wears coats with the confederate flags on them, and there's incredibly smart individuals.

To be fair all the negro slaves are beloved and ******man is quite possibly the cleverest cat to appear in the work of Lovecraft.

But then again there's a passage where a black boxer is described as a "loathsome, gorilla-like thing, with abnormally long arms which I could not help calling fore legs, and a face that conjured up thoughts of unspeakable Congo secrets and tom-tom poundings under an eerie moon."

**** thats some scary imagery im quaking in my tighty whities

y o y did i vote for obama

So hes from a small town in the middle of nowhere... and you're offended? He's leaving home to go to college, its understandable... Not necessarily right but its still understandable.

Whats wrong with asking if its in a nice neighborhood? I lived in an okay neighborhood, but i still felt unsafe sometimes. oh well

I knew a guy who grew up in Nowhere, Kansas. He never saw a black person until his freshman year at college. Both questions he asked are legitimate questions.

Stop being a prick.

yeah like 90% of black peeple are portrayed as having ties to criminal activity on the tv, so i wouldn't be surprised if someone asked me that question.

It was enjoyable going through my Education program at school and being told at various points in some form or another that I'm a racist, and have to get over that in order to be a great teacher. And yes, I am being sarcastic.

That is so wrong.

:gonk::downs::tfti:

Lolz @ crimes by race statistics.