
Originally Posted by
seagypsy
The school handbook defined racist behavior as using racial slurs or making blanketed negative remarks about entire races of people.
For elementary kids that's probably ok. By middle school though it should include other ways it expresses itself- such as deliberately not choosing someone for your group project or your team because of of their color, or way they talk or dress.
By high school there's more opportunity to express by unfavorable peer reviews, not helping others on group work or as part of various clubs.
By adulthood it has all sorts of forms. Just a few from my lifetime.
When I was assigned to a unit in Texas, we had to move the unit up to Fort Smith Arkansas. A couple dozen of the reservist decided to take their personal vehicles; of that group three of the six or so dark skinned soldiers stopped in the same town, their car ransacked and all their gear spread out on a wet road to "check for drugs." None of the light complected soldiers had any problems.
When I was a Battalion XO, we had a soldier file an equal opportunity complaint against a long standing (and rather well liked by command) platoon sergeant for not recommending them attend a promotion board. During the investigation it was discovered he'd never recommended anyone other than European descent soldiers for promotion despite dozens of opportunities--award recommendation showed the same pattern (which is why the military tracks both now).
And there are many other forms. A Restaurant that deliberately over salts the food when someone they don't like sits down for a meal so they don't come back.
A landlord who always finds some excuse to collect the entire deposit for the Hispanic tenants.
A city clerk who looses the permit paperwork several times for when person for a group he doesn't like tries to start a business, or build a deck on their home.
A representative who vigorously argues that felons never get a chance to vote to deliberately lower that demographic voting turnout; the the same representative who tries to reduce voting hours because they know the group is concentrated on the other side of a bridge and is going to have to leave work early to make it.
Or the supervisor who picks the Asian book keeper mostly because he thinks they are good at math, despite the European descent applicant who had the same or better qualifications.
Racism takes all sorts of forms, some obvious, some not so obvious and the result of bias many of us carry but aren't even aware of. Even in subtle forms they often lead to oppression that makes success more difficult than it should be in disadvantaged neighborhoods.