winter | International Blog Against Racism Week: Central European perspective

ibarw is on again, and after the recent kerfuffle (or does anyone remember it in the wake of the Boldthrough?), I've been thinking along the same lines.

One issue I often see in racism discussions is the Europe/America divide. Racism in America is something special, yes, but I think it's mostly because of how much it's been fought against and for, there. I wonder if it wasn't for the better: if Americans aren't perfect, at least they have the instinct to respond to an accusation of racism with "No, I'm not." Too often in Poland, the response is "So what?"

And I'm not talking about the usual angle, the black/white divide, though that one makes the news on the football field. Not even about Asians, though there was a recent stellar example of a big bazaar being shut down, then given an extension - "But only for the white merchants, because the Asians are all illegal immigrants". And no, the guy didn't lose his - ministerial - post over it.

The thing is, in Europe it's hard to say "white", and our racism problems aren't the ones that make big fandom debates. When did you last read a post railing against discimination of the Roma? Or Romanians even - in Poland, those two are often lumped together and passed off as thieves and beggars. Or the Ukrainian affair, which goes back centuries before there were either blacks or whites in what is now the US of A. And that's not even touching on the big bogeyman.

To apply standard American measures of political correctness to Poland would be to have a heart attack over every fridge magnet of a Jew counting money. It's a financial good-luck thing, on the lines of the Irish leprechauns with their beer and pots of gold (and somehow, the Irish sell them themselves), but put it next to the tele-evangelist who promises not sulphur, but the Jews coming to take everything away if people don't pray hard and give him money, and it starts being frightening. This is the country where accusations of Jewish blood are thrown in political debate as the highest insult.

This is the country that used to have three million Jewish citizens, once. Once.

So forgive me if I don't overlook these issues, if I don't close off my creativity in a garden where I pretend race doesn't matter at all, just because "it's an American issue". I'm too hot-blooded for that, too prone to overthinking to ignore the fact that if something conforms to the usual tropes because it's easier, it reinforces them in the reader, the watcher.

Mixing Russian, Ukrainian and Jewish blood probably wasn't one of my ancestors' brightest ideas.

(As an aside, I've also been thinking about the issue of writing about race or other discrimination from the point of view of a character with a cultural background and ideas different from my own. Would anybody be interested in reading something like that?)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

All these newer people would meet with less racism if they embraced more American ideas, I suspect.

While this statement is probably true, I absolutely don't think they should. I hate the demands that we all hold to the same ideals, wear the same clothing, vote the same way, etc. That's bullcrap. If we're supposed to be a melpting pot, why can't we try to accept people for who they are. Perhaps if these immigrants were greeted with less skepticism and distrust, they'd be more willing to learn (and mind you, that costs money that many of them don't have, and a lot of them are trying) and adapt.

All cultures demand that people conform to the majority. I just wish the majority would try to meet the minority halfway. Why does anyone have to conform to be treated with respect? My father is a Cuban immigrant, is properly nationalized, thoroughly assimilated into American culture. And I hate being out of touch with my roots. I hate that my parents chose to not teach me Spanish so I'd "fit in" better. Even people raised in American society are becomign disillusioned, so why should our culture demand anyone conform to our "ideals"?

As for the American ideals, even Americans are obsessed with money. So you could argue the immigrants are conforming, all too well, to our excruciatingly materialistic society.

(Please note that this is a general argument, not directed at you specifically.)

Be sure and jump back up and read my three newest replies to replies. I agree with you totally, but was just trying in my very first reply to bwinter's original post to show what I see of common American perceptions. Or, should we say, common mis-perceptions?

Really, I see now that I should have prefaced the original reply with words to that effect. Don't shoot the messenger, please?

I figured you were just making commentary on the general American view on things, which is why I wasn't directing my argument to you specifically. XD

International Blog Against Racism Week: Central European perspective

Re: International Blog Against Racism Week: Central European perspective

Re: International Blog Against Racism Week: Central European perspective

Re: International Blog Against Racism Week: Central European perspective