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Questions tagged [racial-issues]

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For questions regarding race, ethnicity, and origin. This tag is not uniquely applied to racism or discrimination, it applies to any questions with the aforementioned criteria.

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19
votes
2answers
4k views

How do I support a friend on Social Media who contacted me directly about something I don't want to be involved in?

This has to do with the events going on regarding racism and discrimination. A good friend of mine is black. He recently posted something on social media saying "if you say 'all lives matter' ...
12
votes
1answer
2k views

How could I have better handled telling this minority woman I liked her cultural hairstyle?

Background This happened in Netherlands. I have some mixed ancestry. I mostly look like a Dutch person, except for my curly bush of hair and my olive skin. In school I got bullied a lot because of my ...
12
votes
2answers
2k views

Happy Juneteenth?

I recently learned about Juneteenth. For anyone not familiar: Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. From its Galveston, Texas ...
5
votes
1answer
533 views

How to respond to people who don't believe where you're from? [closed]

I've observed situations like this occurring to a friend of mine (let's call him X): Stranger: Where are you from? X: [insert southeast asian country here] Stranger: Are you sure? ... On ...
6
votes
2answers
1k views

How to open up a conversation with an SO about a possibly inappropriate action?

My husband and I are both white. My husband recently asked a black woman if he could touch her hair. She said yes, and he was delighted. This woman works at a gas station we frequent, so we have seen ...
2
votes
2answers
1k views

Telling my cousin that she might want to learn more about cultural appropriation

The other day, I was at my cousin’s home and her daughter was dressed up like "an Indian" (her word to designate a Native American "traditional" outfit). This made me uncomfortable ...
0
votes
1answer
304 views

What would be the correct reaction in such situation? [closed]

First need to tell that I am an Arab muslim and I live and have a fiance in a European country. We've been dating for about 3 months. We have a really good romantic relationship, no conflicts have ...
2
votes
0answers
166 views

How to make a friend stop his racists jokes? [duplicate]

I am in a group of friends of 5 people. We're all white, male, in our mid to late twenties. The group was formed from working together on the same group projects at the university. Obviously, over ...
4
votes
0answers
392 views

Dealing with unintentionally racist/offensive behavior of new country [closed]

I'm American, considering taking a job in the Netherlands. My research into living into the Netherlands has predominantly been great, except for one very worrisome thing. Zwarte Piet. I was looking at ...
4
votes
2answers
316 views

How do I deal with a coworker who keeps making racist comments? [closed]

I had a former co worker say something I was offended by. (I’m African American and he’s Caucasian.) I told him to be careful wiping down the mantle over a fireplace because it was hot and I didn’t ...
3
votes
0answers
229 views

Is “Black American” an acceptable term in the US? [closed]

In the comments section on this question, someone took offense at calling african-americans black (because not all blacks are african). Then took offense at using the term african-american (because ...
4
votes
2answers
2k views

What skin tone emoji should I use in Slack reaction? [closed]

There is a feature in Slack called emoji reactions. It allows users to respond to any message on Slack with an emoji reaction. (source: slack.help) Also, you can choose a skin tone for your emojis: (...
13
votes
2answers
3k views

Friendly co worker suddenly distant/rude because of different views

There is a very nice co worker at my office. Every morning he comes to my desk and we chat for about fifteen minutes about how our kids are doing and whatnot. I really enjoy these morning ...
4
votes
0answers
382 views

Should I try to react to behind-the-back insults in my partner's minority outreach program? [closed]

Relevant identity context, I'm white, my partner can be reasonably seen to a stranger as white, and both of us are genderqueer and LGBTQ+ identifying. I work at a college in Boston, and my partner (...
-2
votes
1answer
508 views

How should I construct an inquiry to clarify dubious comment about my appearance? [closed]

I was at a party and someone said: “if you had kids with a white girl, they’d look like [the guy next to me]” ... along with “you two have similar mannerisms.” It didn’t sound mean-spirited in ...
33
votes
11answers
19k views

How can I effectively tell people that their defensiveness over me bringing up an issue is part of the issue?

Seems like it would be kind of self evident, but it's something that I encounter fairly often when talking to some folks about issues of discrimination and bias that drives me crazy... When someone ...
5
votes
5answers
1k views

Responding to inappropriate personal questions at an interview?

I am an American living in Germany and had an interview with a manager of a company yesterday. At one point, the interviewer asked me about why I chose to come to Germany. I explained the reason, and ...
6
votes
4answers
1k views

How can I take issue with inappropriate statements without offending people?

I live in North America but in the particular area I live in there are more Asians than Caucasians. I sometimes hear things I find racist but am afraid to speak up fearing a negative response. Just ...
69
votes
10answers
21k views

How to politely deal with white people wanting to talk to me about racism/race issues

Now this is a sensitive topic, and I do not wish to offend anyone's sensibilities - but at the same time, I want to know of an effective way of dealing with the disproportionate emotional work ...
17
votes
8answers
7k views

How to recover from being falsely seen as a racist?

So here is the story: It was a Saturday night and my wife and I were sitting outside, drinking. We've already had a few drinks and we were talking, listening to music, in a good mood if you will. I ...
18
votes
4answers
21k views

How can I recover from an accusation of racism at work?

The context In February last year I started a new job. I started the same day and in the same position as another person we'll call Ed. Our offices are across the hall from one another. I'm a ...
8
votes
1answer
1k views

How to deal with racism in shops and restaurants?

I'm Israeli. I travel to the UK about twice a year. I generally try to be polite and pleasant around people, so very often a smiling waitress in a café or an assistant in a shop would ask me where I'm ...
5
votes
2answers
790 views

How to respond to a friend insulting her own racial group? [closed]

Here's the scenario: I have a friend who had/has really abusive parents who are part of a tightly knit expatriate South Asian community from a certain minority ethnic/religious group here in our ...
-1
votes
1answer
564 views

How do I anticipate whether using the expression “of color” will be received favourably or not? [closed]

I am European, and I seem to understand that in North America it's particularly common to use the expression "Person of color" instead of, for example, "Black person". I understand that it's meant ...
5
votes
3answers
756 views

Should I speak in Japanese or English to the “foreign-looking” kombini employee? [closed]

I am not Japanese but I usually speak in Japanese with everyone, because it is the language I use all day long at work (I live in Japan). At the register of a convenience store in Tokyo downtown, I ...
71
votes
14answers
30k views

How do I respond to racist remarks from a coworker?

Recently, I've had a couple short conversations with a coworker that have taken a racist turn, and I'm not really sure how to respond. We don't work directly together, but often see each other in ...
13
votes
6answers
3k views

How to handle a younger sibling being verbally bullied, with sometimes racist remarks, at school?

My younger sister tells me she's having trouble at her new middle school; one of these is that a boy, who tends to be the class clown and troublemaker, makes fun of her underbite. I told her to notify ...
38
votes
6answers
7k views

How to react when someone makes a racially charged joke about their own heritage [closed]

I have a friend who is a research scientist of Mexican descent. Before a work meeting, as he was wiping off the whiteboards to begin a presentation, he joked "This is the part that my people are best ...
19
votes
8answers
28k views

What is the right way to refer to someone with dark brown skin who is not African American?

I had a conversation recently where someone was deathly afraid of referring to a person by their skin color. It went something like this: Coworker: One of the people on the other team came by and ...
16
votes
6answers
2k views

How to respond to an older colleague who uses sub-optimal phrasing when referring to other racial groups?

I'm in a community organization in Texas that interacts with and reaches out to people of all ethnic groups, though most of the members are "white". I'm a new member of this organization and recently ...
27
votes
3answers
4k views

How can I respond to “It's because I'm <historically oppressed quality>” as a rebuttal to a request?

Occasionally I hear or encounter "it's because I'm <historically oppressed quality>" as a response to an objectionable request to the claimant. The claimant is usually a minor who in my ...