"I think the difference might be that a middle class person would not refer to me as "that fucking Puerto Rican" in front of my girlfriend, but a blue-collar person would."
Yes, the author touches on this quite a bit in the book. He attributes it to ignorance, and also people (in his own neighborhood) finding it unfair that while they were struggling things like affirmative action were happening.
My grandparents were all very racist - they took (and the grandmothers that are still alive, take) the "MY ancestors came over here, learned english and worked, why can't they" argument. I don't think they realize how much easier I think it was for immigrants to fit in then - most people were immigrants, and they had a lot of family and community support.
My parents are a bit better though they still have their prejudices. They didn't seen other ethnic groups as bad on the surface, but those that didn't speak english or those that collected welfare still pissed them off. My dad had cousins on welfare (i.e. white Italian-Americans) that he had equally bad feelings about. I think they came a long way from their parents, but as much as I hate to say this, I don't think they'd be psyched if I came home married to a black man. I dated a Haitian guy briefly that I worked with and they didn't really like him or his family (heh, they said that HE was ignorant, just because they couldn't understand his thick creole accent).
The author says that a lot of white middle class people are racist too - they just aren't as blatant about it. I guess I'd rather have someone be honest with me rather than behind closed doors keep that job from me due to my "handicap".
"Well, facetiousness aside, I think that it is a matter of salary and education. Rather, the formality of the education, which some people unfortunately equate with quality. Many white collar workers are poorer than blue-collar ones."
Yep. A good tradesperson with good business sense and the ability to communicate with their more upper-class customers can go very far financially. That doesn't mean you can converse with them about Bach or high tea :)
Yep
Yes, the author touches on this quite a bit in the book. He attributes it to ignorance, and also people (in his own neighborhood) finding it unfair that while they were struggling things like affirmative action were happening.
My grandparents were all very racist - they took (and the grandmothers that are still alive, take) the "MY ancestors came over here, learned english and worked, why can't they" argument. I don't think they realize how much easier I think it was for immigrants to fit in then - most people were immigrants, and they had a lot of family and community support.
My parents are a bit better though they still have their prejudices. They didn't seen other ethnic groups as bad on the surface, but those that didn't speak english or those that collected welfare still pissed them off. My dad had cousins on welfare (i.e. white Italian-Americans) that he had equally bad feelings about. I think they came a long way from their parents, but as much as I hate to say this, I don't think they'd be psyched if I came home married to a black man. I dated a Haitian guy briefly that I worked with and they didn't really like him or his family (heh, they said that HE was ignorant, just because they couldn't understand his thick creole accent).
The author says that a lot of white middle class people are racist too - they just aren't as blatant about it. I guess I'd rather have someone be honest with me rather than behind closed doors keep that job from me due to my "handicap".
"Well, facetiousness aside, I think that it is a matter of salary and education. Rather, the formality of the education, which some people unfortunately equate with quality. Many white collar workers are poorer than blue-collar ones."
Yep. A good tradesperson with good business sense and the ability to communicate with their more upper-class customers can go very far financially. That doesn't mean you can converse with them about Bach or high tea :)