Comment by _8j50 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by _8j50 | Hacker News Reader

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It is a different kind of racism though. Every single country has racist people and they are hardly ever a minority.

However, being looked down upon or discriminated against is one thing. Having to fear for your life and safety because they will hurt you just because of what you look like biologically is a different issue.

Take the infamous Japan for example, if you live there long enough as any non-white minority you should expect to be treated badly based on your appearance alone.

Take a white area in any US state or night time at a sun-down small town. Bad things will happen to you and the cops will be in on it. Or take driving as a minority in certain parts of the US, there is a chance you might run into a cop who might decide to frame you for some crime and at best you will spend a few weeks in jail before being set free. That can happen outside the US in say Russia for example, the US isn't special but the type of racism where you don't get jobs or get called names in public is different than being afraid day in day out or have large portions of a political party advocate for race wars, genoicide,etc...

I mean can you think of any other country where a minorities are incarcerated at a similar rate per capita as the US?

I use to think like you as well but the US is a bit special as with many things in this regard. But racism like many other evils are default settings on humans.

This is an important comment.

The USA is certainly the most racist first world country I’ve been to. (I’ve visited Canada, England, Denmark, USA)

The incarceration statistics for African Americans vs. white people alone tell you all you need to know.

You have to also keep in mind, "minorities" in the US are americans and have been for as long as the majority. Pick any country where racism is considered a problem and you will see minorities are immigrants or recent children of them. In other words, those countries are resisting outsiders but Americans (and Canada, australia,etc...) are hating their own. The GP post itself is a way to try amd sweep it under the rug.

Unfortunately intellectually lazy people gravitate to a binary racist vs not-racist analysis. Nuanced comparisons and suggestions mean looking under the rug where all the problems have been swept under.

Minorities in the US do have more opportunities but also effects of historical and systemic racism as well as white flight and other things specific to the US and other hetrogenous countries means minorities also live in 3rd world like conditions in some places.

A minority might get beat up and mistreated a lot in russia but slavery my means of false incarceration would be rare.

And believe it or not from Japan to Russia to Scandanavia there are a lot of nice,kind and hospitable people.

What comes as a shock to american minorities is how their race isn't even relevant unless the other person is also an asshole racist. Treating people differently because of race is too much work if you didn't grow up thinking that way unless it is a serious thing like marriage or a job (as opposed to serving a person at a restaurant).

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