Ask HN: Have you ever witnessed or had a racist incident?

[Goesby]

I'm not sure why there are no discussion threads about racism and what is currently happening. So I thought I initiate one. Sorry if this is not the place for it.

Please state:

1 - Incident(s) if any

2 - Main issues that you think are causing/fueling racism

3 - what solution do you think of

I'll start:

1- Incident(s) if any

I was working and went out for lunch and had a sandwich and was coming back to work. the street was nearly empty. I saw a guy walking toward me who suddenly pulled his phone out and started talking and faking a conversation. He started using slur against my race and how they should get rid of us because we(as in me and my race) are not like them. He walked past me and continued with abuse. I was in schock and didn't process what was happening until after he left. He then did the same months later. I was advised to call the police on him, but was told it would be hard to prove he did what he did. I didn't see him since then but it did impact me and I still think about it to this day.

2- Main issues that you think are causing/fueling racism?

Media, politics and everyone have their share. But I think the media amplified this especially against my race. Unfortunately a lot of people are simple minded and take whatever they see in the media as the whole truth. And one it become their lense to see the world, it's hard to change their mind.

3- what solution do you think of?

Education, education and more education. Starting in schools but also in companies. A lot of racism do start at home. So standing up to it everywhere is crucial.

[uvw]

I am Indian, as in from south east Asia.

I was in graduate school and used to live off campus in a highrise. One day I got in elevator with this really nice looking older black woman. We were only people in the elevator. As soon as the elevator door closes she says to me "you people are nice, the problem is you don't go back". The words still ring in my ear 20 years later.

Couple of years later, I am working in a small town in new England. I have no friends and all my coworkers are old, so I go alone to eat lunch out. I would usually wear dress pants, button down dress shirts tucked in with nice polished black leather shoes. One day, I ate lunch and went across the street to buy cigarettes at a gas station. I lit one on the back side of the building. Few mins later, a oldish Toyota Camry pulls up. A white guy a few years older than me gets out, closes the door, locks the car remotely. Then he looks at me and says "Don't steal my car" and starts walking towards the building.

Having said that, I have met extremely nice White/black/Asian people and many of them are my friends. So I like to think about them and not the ugliness that I experienced few times.

I don't know what's causing racism in this country or how to fix it. I treat everyone equally and just want to live in peace.

[Goesby]

Thanks for sharing. I hear you when you say it still rings 20 year later. I think the other thing is that it is hard to share this stories with people. Hell, I had a hard time sharing it with my wife. I'm not sure if its shame or similar, but it feels worse than being physically assaulted.

[didip]

Background: a Chinese Indonesian who speaks poor mandarin and now an American.

1) All the time, too many to count. I am the embodiment of racism target.

Living and breathing in Jakarta as a Chinese minority? Racism target. It was pretty violent too.

Being in China, looking like them but speaks poor mandarin? Racism target. Not real Chinese, they say.

Being in predominantly white small towns in Oregon? Racism target. You must not be from around here boy, they said.

The places I face zero racism? Bay Area & Amsterdam. There are overwhelming diversity in those places.

2) To be honest it all starts from poor economic opportunities. If middle class all over the world have great opportunities, there will be a lot less frustrations. Less frustrations mean less radicalized people.

3) The true solution is easy but won’t happen.

To have those in power suddenly gained conscious and empathy and willing to empower middle class for the greater good... is simply not possible.

Those who are good in politics are good because they are attracted to power (You can observe similar behavior from CEOs as well).

The best we can do is to try to be emphatic to others and to always help others in the community.

[hymnsfm]

I'm a white middle aged man who lives in Canada. Late one night I went to a nearby gas station to pick up some snacks. The attendant, a young man of Pakistani origin, gave me a friendly greeting which I returned.

A moment later a woman in her mid-twenties entered and immediately started criticising the attendant. She asked where something was and he calmly walked over and pointed to it, but she didn't seem to care. She just berated him more.

That's when I clued-in to her unprovoked hostility. I told her she was extremely rude and to leave. She left without buying anything.

I paid for my snacks and apologized to him for her behaviour. He looked completely deflated from the experience and said nothing. I left the gas station feeling sad and stunned at what I just witnessed first-hand.

[traykuh]

Just out of curiosity, may I ask how you apologized to him?

[hymnsfm]

I told him I was sorry he had to put up with her behaviour. What I didn't say, but implied, was I was sorry he was treated like a lesser person for no other reason he looked different and was possibly an immigrant.

On an even deeper unconscious level, I was probably apologising on behalf of most Canadians who accept (if not embrace) people of racial and cultural diversity.

The reason he didn't respond wasn't because of something I said. We were both kind of gobsmacked at what happened.

[wmnwmn]

I've perpetrated one which I felt crummy about. To set the background, I was a sophomore at college in 1986, and the campus is close to some bad neighborhoods. I had had a very scary incident involving several black people while I was riding through one of those areas. So later I'm standing inside the college gate when three teenage black guys come up and start asking me to let them in. Unfortunately, they had a strong accent (from Florida as it turned out) and I couldn't understand most of what they were saying. So I wasn't letting them in...and they were getting pretty pissed. At any rate pretty soon an older student came by, who understood immediately what they were saying. It turned they were relatives of someone I knew, but the way they pronounced her name I just couldn't get it. No doubt it's also because I was nervous and primed with racist preconceptions (which, as I noted, also had some basis in prior experience). Anyway he let them right in and I felt pretty darn bad about it. You come all the way from Florida to visit your cousin at an Ivy League school, and some white kid thinks you're there to steal stuff. (One irony is that later that same year I did witness a black person steal our neighbors' TV...I was so surprised, just watched him carry it down the stairs and out the gate.) All in all I would say that racism weaves a tangled web of preconceptions that can be reinforced by actual events that also are ultimately arising from racist history.

[LockAndLol]

OP, I don't really think a lack of discussion on the topic is surprising. There are so many issues of global, national or regional importance that one can't discuss everything. This is also an issue that will never be resolved.

Humans will hate each other till our extinction. You can look like the most average person of your area and someone will find a reason to dislike you. There are endless reasons: your hair, nose, clothes, gadgets, voice, smell, affiliation, whatever. Genetic looks are just the easiest things to pick.

That said:

1 - Incidents

Many. Too many to list. Verbal, physical as well as harassment in both forms. Really used to dislike people from my country and moved away, not expecting better experiences, but things did get better. I also met people from my country there and had good experiences with them too.

In the last 10 or so years since leaving I have only seen, heard or experienced it about 5 times. Mostly that's because I enjoy being inside and don't see many people, and living in multi-cultural places is better too.

2&3 - Main issues and solutions

- lack of education: better education - lack of contact with different people: more exchange programs, more international work, more globalism - inability to think critically and form own opinions: more and better education

The last one is image&portrayal. ==== We need a better community of discriminated people that doesn't do unto others in their group as has been done unto them. How can we be expect better treatment if we don't treat members of our own community right?

As for the rest I'll quote Ron White: "You can't fix stupid". People can be educated, but still really dumb about certain things and there's nothing you can do about that.

[thefantasma]

silence is compliance

Lame this gets flagged down but we can talk about the Golden Gate Bridge humming.

[thefantasma]

I find the lack of conversation deafening but it makes sense. The people most affected are underrepresented in tech.

1a: A police officer in Florida pulled my wife over for speeding. We were 100% cooperative but I guess the PO assumed I was an illegal. I was belittled and screamed at to follow conflicting orders while a gun was pointed at me and my family. That was the first interaction my 5 yo daughter had with a police officer too.

1b: A white peer in college said I should go back to work with my Mexican buddies at some factory.

... many many more

2: IMO, we probably live in the least racist environment ever and racism will never go away completely. It can’t be eradicated but racism on its own is not the main problem.

The main issue is the excessive use of force by law enforcement, usually towards POC, and their lack of accountability (If we can solve this LE problem, all that will be left are the annoying Karens and petty ignorant people. These encounters still hurt but we live)

So what’s fueling all the outrage?

- law enforcement. Brutality against POC and anyone who stands in their way.

- social media. Yeah, it’s making racism and police brutality more visible but it's not a bad thing.

- politics. you know who

- right-wing media

TBH, I don’t even think LE is disproportionately racist. They are about as racist as the normal population but rouge POs have a lot of power. A racist with a badge can cause a lot of damage and the gang-like attitude of PDs doesn’t help either.

It all starts with one officer who has a disproportionate level of animosity towards a certain neighborhood or group of people. Then his buddies come along and escalate the situation.

3: There is plenty we can do

Society:

- Education. Pay teachers more than POs.

- A renewed appreciation for the 2nd amendment by the left (it’s clear gun owners command a higher level of respect)

- Stop chastising POC for speaking out against injustices

Law Enforcement

- Respect for all humans

- mandatory licensing & college education

- malpractice insurance (or something like it)

- mandatory counseling and anger management

- allow the community to videotape all incidents

- public profiles for all POs that includes all their career history

- live streaming of all police encounters along with all footage being part of the public domain.

- Monthly town halls with the local PD

- End self-policing

[pryelluw]

1. On a weekly basis. So too many to count.

2. The culture of ignorance that is permeated through the globe and fueled by those in control.

3. There is no viable solution. This is human nature. Though it can and should be regulated.