Yep, we’re still learning and evolving.
Again, since she is a Jewish woman of a certain age, I am not at all sure that I would characterize Nancy Silverton as someone who hasn’t experienced racism firsthand. But I don’t know her at all, so I can’t say for sure.
In the area where I grew up, Jewish people weren’t (and still aren’t by many) considered “white.”
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Did I write racism or anti-semitism?
Years ago I was listening to a man on a radio show say as a Jewish person he could come to this country and change his name from Greenberg to Green and go on about his business as a white man… a black person has no such luxury. Racism is about being judged or discriminated against because of the color of your skin or your physical characteristics… something Asians, Blacks & Hispanics have experienced in a way Nancy Silverton has not. I was conscious of her religious heritage when I posted. I consider Nancy Silverton white… cute cornrows withstanding.
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We’ll have to agree to disagree about that. Some may “pass,” and some may not. Being identified as Jewish is perhaps most “easily” done through the surname, but itis certainly not the only way.
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Some varieties of racism have nothing to do with appearance or physical characteristics.
Actually there’s a long history of lighter-skinned black Americans “passing.”
Any categorical statement about race or racism is likely false.
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Such as?
You’re telling us Nancy Silverton being Jewish is as recognizable as being Asian?
I am a black creole. My ancestors wrote the book on passing. A dark-skinned black person does not pass thru any society as anything other than a black person, unlike fair-skinned black and Jewish people. I could’ve been more specific. In fact I could go around the bend a few times on this subject, but won’t. I figured some would understand my meaning and some will not.
These are my opinions based on life experience, not facts. Feel free to express your life experience with racism. 
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I’m not disputing your experience of racism, just your definition.
My mother-in-law was once refused a hotel room in Texas because of the Spanish surname on her ID, though she had white skin, was of entirely European background, and looked Irish, like her mother.
I agree. Racism is displayed in many ways. But, yes, I think the majority of instances come from visuals.
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In the US, currently, racism is mostly about appearance.
One notable exception I’ve observed is employers who will hire black African and Caribbean immigrants but not American-born black people.
Oh yes, very true. 
With my experience of the conflicts in the south USSR and then moving here we learned to use the terms racism and chauvinism (extreme patriotism/nationalism definition) separately.
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Oh, interesting. I had always thought “chauvinism” meant “sexism,” but, in looking it up, it does not, actually.
Well, I think you bring up an interesting point. How do the definitions of words change w/ language (since I don’t know what the Armenian or Russian equivalents of sexism/racism/racial nationalism are) and w/ population/demographics (perhaps “racism” takes on a different meaning in a country where I imagine the vast majority of the population looks homogeneously “white” to an “outsider” such as myself).
And, in the future, which populations will feel most “comfortable” in claiming racism and having that claim “accepted?”
For me, I think using the term “bigotry” is easier for a variety of reasons.
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Yea bigotry is all encompasing. Racism we were taught is for color and back there we only had black white and yellow in the books (laugh). Chauvinism was/is used heavily over there to define different nationalities hating each other such as Azeris hating us or Russians being total dicks when we’d go north. Though that is an interesting dynamic, Russians would use a racial slur (blackies), even though I think our skin tone is very close other than sun tan and it’s our darker hair that is unbearable to them.
It’s all crap and part of the damn dissertation i sent to our team yesterday. Just different ways to have folks fight each other as the powerful gather money and assets
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Oppression and discrimination are not always to anyone’s benefit. Often it’s a negative-sum game, i.e., everyone loses. Certainly in the US that’s the case for racism and poverty (which in this country are inextricable).
Bigotry’s a much broader category. Lots of anti-racists are bigoted about other things, such as people who have opinions that don’t toe the line.
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A word on “race” from our foremost academic association of anthropologists, the AAA (American Anthropological Association)
Sorry, it is long, but extremely pertinent in these times.
(Edit: I have shortened to just an excerpt. Please click the link below to read the entire statement.)
This is from 1998, why do we still use the word “race”?
In the United States both scholars and the general public have been conditioned to viewing human races as natural and separate divisions within the human species based on visible physical differences. With the vast expansion of scientific knowledge in this century, however, it has become clear that human populations are not unambiguous, clearly demarcated, biologically distinct groups. Evidence from the analysis of genetics (e.g., DNA) indicates that most physical variation, about 94%, lies within so-called racial groups. Conventional geographic “racial” groupings differ from one another only in about 6% of their genes. This means that there is greater variation within “racial” groups than between them. In neighboring populations there is much overlapping of genes and their phenotypic (physical) expressions. Throughout history whenever different groups have come into contact, they have interbred. The continued sharing of genetic materials has maintained all of humankind as a single species.
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Private prisons and the bail bond industry both benefit from oppression and discrimination in the US.
What a strange first post, lol. Have been lurking for a while, thanks to all who contribute! More food content incoming…
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Welcome! Look forward to your food musings. 
Uh oh! 
I wonder if the chicken has a squidgy bottom.
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