Michelle Obama Involved in Racism: "I Was Asked to Take Something off the Shelf"

[Exophase]

It is probably different for you than me, I went to college at a school that is right near to a marine base and just my luck the Iraq war had started that year. Anyway I ended up living with chill people but some of the marines would talk about Iraq and they had no idea I was Arab. It was bad

It was bad in high school. I vividly remember on 911 freshman year of HS I came to school and the FIRST thing somebody said to me was "Tre what did you do ha ha!" like it was a fucking joke. And it was always like that.

Black people have it worse from the police, but Arabs get more racism than any other from the average American.

I'm sorry you've had to deal with all of this. If I came off as suggesting that there's no racism against Arabs in America I didn't mean to say that. My particular workplace is a very, very isolated and small sample, and I've only been working there since 2008 anyway. I was in college in 2001 when 9/11 happened and I don't recall hearing racism towards Arabs there (the faculty was very anti-war for instance) but I barely talked to anyone there so I could have easily just not been exposed to it, or even not noticed it when it was happening because I wasn't sensitive enough to it.

What I did notice is that it was all over the internet, including from people I knew, and that was very disconcerting. And there were constantly stories of how badly people were being treated in this country. I definitely recognize it's a really serious problem, just not something that you will necessarily find in every possible environment.

I'm guessing you also get people assuming you're a Muslim (and a radical one at that), despite coming from a country that's over 40% Christian and has a long history of having a large Christian population.

Racism sucks, along with a bunch of other kinds of prejudice. There was this guy in highschool who assumed I was wealthy because I'm Jewish, when that was very far from the truth and there was never anything that would suggest it (ironically, his parents were very well off). Fortunately, this is one of very few examples I can think of of having received it; prejudice against Jews is nothing in this country like it was several decades ago. It's something you still see a lot online, but it's easy to ignore or at least write off as coming from idiots. I imagine what you have to deal with is a much bigger issue and not something that can be so easily ignored.

The Jews were certainly persecuted in Europe. Not so much in Egypt. Recent evidence points to the Israelites being mercenaries for the Egyptians, who rebelled.
So not so much slaves

I doubt there was any kind of Israelite exodus from Egypt thousands of years ago, at least anything like what Biblical tradition claims.

However, many (but certainly not all) Mizrahi Jews in the 20th century did face persecution in their home countries in the middle east and north Africa. This varied a lot from country to country. Examples here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_exodus_from_Arab_and_Muslim_countries

 

[TreVader]

I'm sorry you've had to deal with all of this. If I came off as suggesting that there's no racism against Arabs in America I didn't mean to say that. My particular workplace is a very, very isolated and small sample, and I've only been working there since 2008 anyway. I was in college in 2001 when 9/11 happened and I don't recall hearing racism towards Arabs there (the faculty was very anti-war for instance) but I barely talked to anyone there so I could have easily just not been exposed to it, or even not noticed it when it was happening because I wasn't sensitive enough to it.

What I did notice is that it was all over the internet, including from people I knew, and that was very disconcerting. And there were constantly stories of how badly people were being treated in this country. I definitely recognize it's a really serious problem, just not something that you will necessarily find in every possible environment.

I'm guessing you also get people assuming you're a Muslim (and a radical one at that), despite coming from a country that's over 40% Christian and has a long history of having a large Christian population.

Racism sucks, along with a bunch of other kinds of prejudice. There was this guy in highschool who assumed I was wealthy because I'm Jewish, when that was very far from the truth and there was never anything that would suggest it (ironically, his parents were very well off). Fortunately, this is one of very few examples I can think of of having received it; prejudice against Jews is nothing in this country like it was several decades ago. It's something you still see a lot online, but it's easy to ignore or at least write off as coming from idiots. I imagine what you have to deal with is a much bigger issue and not something that can be so easily ignored.

If you ever hear an Arab Christian talk about where they are from, the first thing we will tell you is that we are NOT MUSLIM. There is racism between us and Muslims now too.

Lebanon was 80% Christian 50 years ago. The violence created a diaspora and along with that, Muslim birth rates are 2x christian. Now it's maybe 40%.

That whole part of the world is so fucked, I will probably never get to see Lebanon. Every time I think about going, I remember that I look white and have an American passport, and those two things make beheading a certainty should I be kidnapped. Which happens, a lot.


I may have an incorrect recollection of my time in college but the racism was there.I have always lived in pretty low class neighborhoods and that definitely increases the tension. The problem IMO is poverty and lack of education.

The place I live now sketches me out to no end. I live in a high crime area in Long Beach that is prob 60% black and maybe 10% white. I saw a guy get stabbed a few months ago in front of my complex. If there was a race war or riot I'm so dead.


I see people being racist towards Jews all the time. Go on 4chan or reddit and it's all over. They have whole subforums dedicated to hating this or that.

I think if I had grown up Muslim or looked Arab, things would have been much much worse. The sad part is on some level I even understand it, because some of the cultural aspects of Islam are not... Ideal IMO.

 

[CZroe]

Would you think different if it was a random male was asked to pick something off the self?

Randomness is racist because it doesn't comply with affirmative action reparations.

 

[MongGrel]

Why does racism exist in America today? That isn't the real question to ask, because racism is everywhere - it is rather a matter of to what degree racism is at. Is it at a tolerable level? Or is it at an unreasonable level that resolves to civil disobedience?

I think you can make an easy judgement when the wife of the US President comes out of the woods to make retarded statements such as this:


http://www.theblaze.com/stories/201...ked-to-get-something-off-the-shelf-at-target/

Seriously? I'm taking a shot in the dark that the average female height is something around 5'5". Michelle Obama whom is 5'11" - was asked to take something off of a store shelf for someone else in the store for good gesture. I've awkwardly had to ask people to do that for me before - and I've been asked to do that for other people as well. I never thought of it as anything more than just helping people out in life. Is that too much to ask?

How narrow minded does it get? This, my friends, is why racism is at the extreme levels in America. People are actively SEEKING it. They don't want to resolve problems, they want to find problems that don't exist.

The whole thread seemed a bit naive to begin with.

 

[Rakehellion]

Things white people believe are racist:
1.

2: Literally nothing else.

 

[Exophase]

Things white people believe are racist:

We're never going to get anywhere with racism in this country if people can't have an objective discussion about what is and isn't racist or done with racist intentions without in turn having their argument shut down solely because they're white.

 

[MongGrel]

Things white people believe are racist:
1.

2: Literally nothing else.

Pretty wrong actually, I met many non-caucasians in my time who are rabidly racist.

What you put up there is even more naive, really.

Is a big part of the problem to begin with, trying to have an open society with mentally stunted individuals joining/suicide bombing/ trying to destroy it etc, non stop.

 

[MongGrel]

I'm still waiting for Gort to pop in one day and tell everyone to knock it off, then destroy the planet, but that's not happening is it ?

 

[TreVader]

We're never going to get anywhere with racism in this country if people can't have an objective discussion about what is and isn't racist or done with racist intentions without in turn having their argument shut down solely because they're white.

It's very difficult to have an "objective" discussion about something that (at least in their opinion) affects so many people's lives in so many different ways.

White people feel like they are always being judged. Black people feel they are always being feared and hated.


I don't know the answer but I won't call BS on anybody, let alone the First Lady, feeling others are being racist towards them.

 

[Moonbeam]

I'm still waiting for Gort to pop in one day and tell everyone to knock it off, then destroy the planet, but that's not happening is it ?

Oh yes it is. Who do you think sent me. Gort had a little conversation with me when I was seven. But keep it quiet, OK. It's a lot harder to tell who's naughty or nice when folk have an eye out for accountability.

 

[CZroe]

...at least in their opinion...

White people feel like they... Black people feel they are always...
...

Someone who habitually makes absolute statements with overly broad generalizations about entire racial groups should stop trying to tell us what is racist.

You have numerous other posts with this same issue. FWIW, most of the anti-Arab or anti-Middle Eastern or anti-Muslim racism I have seen in my life have been simple over-generalizations exactly like that. "Egytians want...," "In Iran they...," "The Palestinians all...," etc. I am very careful when I generalize and make it clear that I am aware that I am generalizing and not saying that it applies to literally all in a particular group (unless it does).

 

[alcoholbob]

The Jews were certainly persecuted in Europe. Not so much in Egypt. Recent evidence points to the Israelites being mercenaries for the Egyptians, who rebelled.
So not so much slaves

I don't talk about IQ because of its implications. You have to be stupid to even broach the subject of men vs women's IQ distribution. There's a long list of blacklisted scientists who tried to address gender and race IQ differences.

Of course, it's not politically correct (another invention of Marxism/Soviet Union). Leftists laugh at conservatives for being "anti-science" because of resistance to climate science and evolution, but the hilarity is as soon as you actually teach evolution, you can talk about adaptation of any creature and their organs across varying environments, except one animal organ--the human brain--but you are free to talk about animal brains. If you say the human brain evolved due to differences in climate the left will attack you as a racist and your career in academics is over.

 

[TreVader]

Someone who habitually makes absolute statements with overly broad generalizations about entire racial groups should stop trying to tell us what is racist.

You have numerous other posts with this same issue. FWIW, most of the anti-Arab or anti-Middle Eastern or anti-Muslim racism I have seen in my life have been simple over-generalizations exactly like that. "Egytians want...," "In Iran they...," "The Palestinians all...," etc.i am very careful when I generalize and make it clear that I am aware that I am generalizing and not lasting that it applies to literally all in a particular group (unless it does).

Is that some pussy way of calling me racist?

 

[Matt1970]

It's very difficult to have an "objective" discussion about something that (at least in their opinion) affects so many people's lives in so many different ways.

White people feel like they are always being judged. Black people feel they are always being feared and hated.


I don't know the answer but I won't call BS on anybody, let alone the First Lady, feeling others are being racist towards them.

It's very difficult to have an objective discussion about racism with someone who thinks asking someone to get something off a shelf for them is racism. People ask me to get things off the shelf for them all the time and I am as white as you can get, but if I just happened to have been black it would somehow be racism? Why is that? The person asking is still just as vertically challenged, I would still be the closest person of adequate height to perform the task, but the only difference would be I am black. If a black person is in an elevator and the doors are about to close and I need to get on the elevator, is it racist of me to ask him to hold the door?

 

[Rakehellion]

I met many non-caucasians in my time who are rabidly racist.

Which has nothing to do with what I said in any way.

 

[boomerang]

I don't know the answer but I won't call BS on anybody, let alone the First Lady, feeling others are being racist towards them.

Call her out for being a damned hypocrite then although that just might not be the correct label to put on her. One time she tells the story and finishes it by saying she's glad she helped the person and another time she spins it like she's being asked to pick cotton. Which version is how she really feels? Maybe she doesn't even know because her husbands propensity to tell any lie at anytime that suits his agenda has rubbed off on her.

And will there ever come a point before the term is out that her and her pathological liar of a husband will cease their quest to keep the nation divided by race? Not a chance. It's a cornerstone of the Democrat agenda. It's no wonder he's so enamored of Sharpton.

 

[CZroe]

She probably has dealt with racism her entire life, and who the fuck asks random women to pick things up of shelves for them?...

Short people. That's who. You should be embarrassed to ask that after a thread chock-full of people answering that stupid question by either claiming to have been asked repeatedly or having had to ask often. This is a perfectly normal part of life. Just last night a store employee asked me to reach something for her. I had to set my stuff down to help. THE HORROR!!!

 

[TheSandman21]

I used to work in a regional Target competitor (who kicked Target's rear in our market until they decided to refocus as a WalMart competitor and have never recovered) who also wore red shirts. Someone once asked me where something was. I had quit six months earlier and was in street clothes. My shirt wasn't even red.

RACISM!

 

[LegendKiller]

My wife is asked to get stuff off the shelf all of the time. She's 5'11" also. I am asked constantly. I also go into stores after work and am asked questions all of the time, especially if people have a major problem. Why? Because I dress nicely and they think I am a manager.

I have also been asked to park a car.

I have walked into stores and not a single sales person will talk to me. When I went to go buy my Omega I was ignored for 15mins while 3 sales people shot the shit. When we went to buy our house the sales lady dismissed us because she thought we couldn't afford the house.

Stuff happens all of the time, it isn't because people are racist.

 

[LegendKiller]

Things white people believe are racist:
1.

2: Literally nothing else.

Some of the biggest bigots I've ever known were black. Look at the acceptance of homosexuality among the black culture. Look at how they accept Jews or even latinos.

I could turn your little quote around on you and say...

Things black people believe are racist.

1. Everybody but black people.

 

[Rakehellion]

Some of the biggest bigots I've ever known were black.

What the fuck does that have to do with anything?

 

[Pipeline 1010]

Is that some pussy way of calling me racist?

The world would be a much better place if we could stop assigning people to groups based on some made-up unscientific attributes such as race or ethnicity. If we could stop thinking that we know something about an individual because of the group we perceive that they belong to.

 

[Moonbeam]

The world would be a much better place if we could stop assigning people to groups based on some made-up unscientific attributes such as race or ethnicity. If we could stop thinking that we know something about an individual because of the group we perceive that they belong to.

Unfortunately it's genetic. A lamb has to know it's mother from a wolf. But it is something people can overcome and familiarity and mixed population density helps. I remember a story told by some bearded white guy visiting a zoo in Japan. Some Japanese boy was watching the gorillas while holding his mother's hand and looked up at him and began to scream. White people scare the hell out of some.

 

[pcgeek11]

Things white people believe are racist:
1.

2: Literally nothing else.

One of the Most Uninformed Post ever. ^^^

 

[halik]

er, was she wearing a red shirt?

even as a middle class white male, I've been mistaken for a Target store employee before when making the mistake of going shopping there wearing a red polo shirt.

About this. People asked for stuff at Lowe's before; I'm guessing because I was staring at the nuts and bolt section trying to figure out the asinine non-metric sizing.

Although in honesty this is just them playing the narrative to what they see their core voters to be. They're not dumb people, certainly not dumb enough to make these statements without considering the very high possibility this has to do with Michelle's heigh rather than race.

Bad democratic strategy IMO, you're essentially catering to far left loonies (lefty white kids that need to protest shit, because middle class life in the 'burbs is boring etc) - republicans did same with the Tea Party nuts and look where it got them. Shortsighted strategy is short sighted.