Comment by scarface_74
19 hours ago
> Black people scare me!" But then you have to admit that the two black families that go to your church are not threatening at all....
They are still racist pricks. The ones at church are just the “good ones” who do a good enough job of code switching - ie so the racists say “you’re not like most Black people”.
(yes I’m Black).
You don't win people over by singling them out.
You'll have to tell me then (I'm white) are the "nuanced racists" worse? Or are they on a learning curve?
I don't think they're on a learning curve. I think they're in a worldview bubble they cannot see out of. When something different enters the bubble, it's an anomaly (one of the good ones). It's like doublethink. It can't be a learning curve, because it's completely stationary. They've been in that spot most of, if not all of, their life.
At least that's how I see the "nuanced racists" in my life (I'm white, fwiw, so it's not the other side view you were probably looking for).
I would say that observing them at an instant in time can't actually tell you which category they fall into. You can only tell if you are able to observe them over a longer period and see if they change further.
I say this specifically because the one truly effective intervention we know of that can destroy bigotry is getting to know someone of the group they are bigoted against. My layman's guess as to what makes the difference between someone who just labels the black/queer/etc person they know as "one of the good ones" and someone who actually starts to change is whether a) the former are personal friends with the latter, and b) the latter is willing & able to speak up and say "just making an exception for me is kinda shitty, other people like me aren't bad either, and if you keep talking about them like that I won't be able to stay your friend".