My daughter says I'm racist!

a reply to: JohnnyCanuck

Don't need to. There's plenty enough weird and hateful around me where I live!

Turbans are a race, get used to it, and deal with it!!

P.S. You raised her right, they often break themselves during the late teens.

a reply to: tayton

You are definitely racist. Sorry to break the bad news to you.

originally posted by: tayton
Go ahead, tell me I'm racist

Sounds to me like you're just human.

originally posted by: LSU0408

originally posted by: NerdGoddess
Seems like your daughter is on to something.

If it's any consolation you are weirdly enough, the seemingly nicest racist I've seen online? You don't seem violent or hate fueled anyways based on this thread.

My papa always told us "it's hard being brown"

Now lol, I guess it's not as hard for us -as 2 of us never look brown, and my brother and I look like the mixes of heritage that we are but.........

Give the brown guys and gals a chance eh? You go to a place enough, and you might form a new friendship. I'm friends with a lot of the gas station/ drive thru owners and employees around here and all but one of the franchises is owned and operated by people who's skin is even browner than mine. They aren't gonna bite ya man. Plus it's an excellent opportunity once you form that friendship to learn about other peoples heritage/culture/lives. I've learned a lot about these friends through my daily trips for a pack of smokes over the years.

Get outside of the "white" bubble you are accustomed to!

Just my two cents, please at least consider it

-Alee

Come on, NG, there's nothing racist about him. He even said they don't understand his little quips and that's another reason he drives past.

I might have bought into that had he not repeatedly referred to them as "brown people" or "people with headgear" and pondered aloud why white people coukdnt be running these stores anymore. His prejudices are entirely based on racial and cultural differences.

The brown people with headgear relates directly to their ethnic background and the inability of those "brown people" to understand his quips is a cultural issue. All youre doing is rationalizing why it's OK for him to be a racist. You don't have to interact with people to purchase fuel. Hell, you don't even have to go inside the place and can pay at the pump.

He was pretty clear with the sentiments expressed and the claim as well as the lamentation that 90% of the gas stations, mini marts etc... are currently owned, run or staffed by "brown people". His words and emphasis, not mine. And couldn't understand why white people weren't owning them or staffing them and purposely continued driving until he found one where white people were working.

He posted here purposely looking for defense,support and further justification for his behavior. And sadly, people are all too willing to give that to him. At least he was a good enough parent that he enabled his child to use critical thinking for herself and called him out on it so there's a little bit of hope in this story.

a reply to: tayton
Purposely avoiding gas stations based on the colour of the persons skin......and you have to ask if that's racist !!!!

Maybe you need a dictionary.

Oh and yes you'll find out that you are indeed racist.

Tell me what do the true people of Canada (who have lived there for the last few thousand years) think of you......the white skinned immigrant ?

Let me guess : that doesn't count because BS BS BS blah blah blah

a reply to: peter vlar

They call themselves brown. THAT isn't racist. The headgear? Yeah.

a reply to: intrepid

Maybe it's a Canadian thing then? None of the Sikhs I know refer to themselves as "brown people". Personally, I just call them people. I've never seen the need to bring their racial or ethnic background into the equation. Then OP reminds me of a guy I used to be in a band with who would distinguish between Indians as "with the feather, not the dot" and vice versa to differentiate between aboriginal Americans and people from India.

Circle K is a convenient store chain you generally encounter in the southern United States. Not real sure what they're doing in Canada.

originally posted by: peter vlar
a reply to: intrepid

Maybe it's a Canadian thing then? None of the Sikhs I know refer to themselves as "brown people". Personally, I just call them people. I've never seen the need to bring their racial or ethnic background into the equation. Then OP reminds me of a guy I used to be in a band with who would distinguish between Indians as "with the feather, not the dot" and vice versa to differentiate between aboriginal Americans and people from India.

Just to back up Intrepid, yes they...especially the younger ones...self-identify as 'brown'. Listen to Russell Peters some time...(warning - potty mouth)

a reply to: tayton

If I'm more comfortable around people like myself am I racist

MLK, said it best: Judge people by the content of their character and not by the colour of their skin. In stating that: if you feel more comfortable around people simply because they have the same pigmentation as yourself; than perhaps you possess an unconscious bias. In other words:

You're not a racist — you just possess a form of bigotry manifested through ignorance. For instance:

...I found one with an attendant that wasn't sporting head gear.

+

...90 percent of the gas stations and corner stores are now operated by people from India

People from India do not usually *sport head gear*.

You have lumped the nations of India, Pakistan, Punjab and possibly some Middle Eastern countries together.

Btw, does this revelation make a difference to you...?

Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu and those of the Bahá'í Faith, especially, have suffered the brunt of this kind of ignorance, due to many bigots being too ignorant to know the difference between Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhist, and Muslims — never mind the fact many naively assume all brown skin people come from India. That's as ignorant as assuming all white people are born in and share Polish culture...

It's just all the places I mostly frequented are now owned by either people from India or Chinese or there abouts, what's going on, white looking people have no money to buy these places?

Again: you're not racist, but your words above convey an envious tone...

Personally speaking: owning your own business or businesses is the way to go — but you, being an "old school" Canadian, should of been well aware of this fact and *capitalized* on this truth by now. One can't knock their hustle...

I have no problem dealing with people one on one and would be the first one to pull my car over to assist ANY stranded motorist.

You're not racist. You're good person who just happens to possess a certain degree of ignorance towards POC and different cultures.

Maybe I'm getting old and don't like change but that's it?

Either that, or you just have never immersed yourself in other cultures and lack a diversity of friends. I encourage you to travel the world. Doing so, you will discover there are far more similarities between people and cultures than there are differences.

Sincerely,

A green-eyed fellow Canuck who lives in the most multi-culturally diverse city on the entire planet: Toronto.

What is so bad about being racist? The majority of the world has societal structures that are based on racism. Is it only bad when a certain group of people prefer their own kind?

From the virtue signaling and strict adherence to PC thought being expressed throughout this thread I am glad I am a racist and a bigot.

And the march goes on to remove people's right of association (well, only for certain groups. If you are not part of this evil group you can be racists all you want and we will call it noble).

Live and let live, unless is goes against the PC doctrine?

a reply to: JohnnyCanuck


Fair enough. I appreciate the heads up from both of you. Things like that can definitely vary from one region another and I honestly didn't mean my "maybe it's a Canadian thing" comment to be anywhere near as facetious as it appeared in print. Message boards and the internet are great tools but all too often, context in statements can be missed that would easily be picked up on with body language, tone of voice, inflection etc...

Anyway, thanks for the clarification. It's always sappreciated

originally posted by: peter vlar
a reply to: JohnnyCanuck


Fair enough. I appreciate the heads up from both of you. Things like that can definitely vary from one region another and I honestly didn't mean my "maybe it's a Canadian thing" comment to be anywhere near as facetious as it appeared in print. Message boards and the internet are great tools but all too often, context in statements can be missed that would easily be picked up on with body language, tone of voice, inflection etc...

Anyway, thanks for the clarification. It's always appreciated

No problem. It's often not appreciated by Americans that this really is a different place, and we tend to have a different take on a lot of things.

a reply to: tayton

Sorry neighbour your descriptors (brown skinned, wearing head gear) .... you are flagging as racist. If that is not who you are, that is a very good impression you are doing!

Go ahead, tell me I'm racist

a reply to: tayton

We all should remind ourselves to be appreciative of any person out there in society who is in a place of service. When you think about it, even though there is a lot of crazy stuff going on in the world. There are still lots of good people working mundane jobs providing service for all. In essence making our life easier and better. Sometimes we need to reflect & remind ourselves of this fact.

.

she called me racist because I drove by 7 gas stations until I found one with an attendant that wasn't sporting head gear. . . I guess my kids right

You wouldn't get GAS because the people looked Indian and had "headgear?" Are you serious? You drove past 7 places looking for a place with non-foreign looking people?

...you can't even visit an establishment to get GAS operated by people who look foreign, and had "headgear," but instead drove around looking for a place with "people like you."

Sorry, but yeah, you *might* be racist.

And yeah, your kids are probably right.

smh

There was a gas station/convenience store near me that I used to always frequent. And after probably four or five years of going in there and seeing the same Indian folks, one Christmas the lady pulled out a Christmas card and placed it on the counter and asked me my name. She needed me to carefully spell it out (R-y-a-n) as she wrote it down letter by letter. Then she asked me how to spell Christmas. I spelled that for her to and she finally hands me the card but I can't read any of the few words she had written. The entire encounter took way too long and was just really uncomfortable. And for what..to write a card to me as I stand there and watch her struggle with almost every word? Uhg.

That being said.. It's important to be tolerant of different people and their beliefs and all that. But sometimes things get weird huh? And I can't help but wonder if the shoe was on the other foot how things would be. Imagine being an American with a convenience store in India.

And when I saw the word "headgear" I was thinking about the wrap around retainer type dentistry things like my sister used to wear at night...

a reply to: JohnnyCanuck

Being close enough to make it just a couple hours drive to make the border, I'm allmtoo aware that it's a whole new world up there across the St. Lawrence! And I hardly expect the rest of Canada to be like the Quebecois I've been dealing with since high school any more than I can expect people in Maine to have the same colloquialisms as people in Georgia. It's a pretty large geographic expanse up there so I fully expect that there are far more subtle differences between "here" and "there" than just poutine!

a reply to: peter vlar

You do NOT want to go there. Quebeckers(not French) are a whole lot of different., even for us. After an experience about 18 years ago I still refuse to call Three Rivers by its French name.