"Go Back to your country!"

[xReems]

My cousin recently moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas for his PhD. When he was heading to his apartment, a car pulls up by him and the guy in the car yells "Go back to your country, Paki! We don't need your kind around here terrorizing this country!" My cousin responded back with "I'm not a Paki, I'm Indian!" to which the idiot responded with "Ya'll the same. fucking terrorist!" Not only that but his car was keyed with "GO AWAY, TERRORIST" on the passenger side.

I love how close minded people automatically assume that all brown skinned people are all the same. Even then, I love how they automatically assume all Muslims are terrorists. I'm a Hindu but even this pisses me off. Not all Muslims are terrorists. There are so many radical Christians who come onto campus, preaching about how we're all going to go to Hell, yet I don't jump to the conclusion that all Christians are crazy conservatives. Believe me, if idiots like those took the time to understand all different types of cultures and religions, including his own, he would not be labeled as a fucking dumbass.

Luckily, my cousin is pretty strong and doesn't care and refuses to back down. Good for him!

[GeoBQn]

The "brown skin=terrorist" mentality isn't confined to America. When I was studying abroad in Jerusalem, there was a Mexican-American Jew in my program who was frequently stopped by security when we travelled.

[secondtry]

my college roomie was from india. she dealt with so much crap after 9/11 (we were there from '00 to '04) that she thought about going back to delhi despite all she'd achieved.

if someone comes running down my street, carrying a weapon, yelling 'die american infidels die' i'm gonna assume they are a terrorist. otherwise, i'm just gonna be jealous that they probably don't sunburn as bad as i do.

[snarkykitty]

It wouldn't surprise me if it was my pig-headed, ignorant, prejudiced, uneducated BIL. That's one difficulty of visiting that area. People tend to be proud of their prejudices.

[Trynn]

if someone comes running down my street, carrying a weapon, yelling 'die american infidels die' i'm gonna assume they are a terrorist. otherwise, i'm just gonna be jealous that they probably don't sunburn as bad as i do.

This. Racism in all it's forms pisses me off. Especially with Muslims/911. Right after 9/11 we studied Islam in my social studies class. I still have the notes. I'm sure we were not originally supposed to study it, but someone (I'm not sure if it was the teacher or an administrator.) wanted it to be made VERY clear to us that not all Muslims are terrorists.

If the person responsible for 9/11, would we all start persecuting white people? No, I really do want to know the answer to this.

[CanadianHippie]

This. Racism in all it's forms pisses me off. Especially with Muslims/911. Right after 9/11 we studied Islam in my social studies class. I still have the notes. I'm sure we were not originally supposed to study it, but someone (I'm not sure if it was the teacher or an administrator.) wanted it to be made VERY clear to us that not all Muslims are terrorists.

If the person responsible for 9/11, would we all start persecuting white people? No, I really do want to know the answer to this.

Likely not. People still believe that "Islamic" terrorists (the quote because it's their word not mine and I get kinda pissy about the miss use of Islamic to mean Muslim) were behind the Oklahoma City Bombings. The white guy behind it was caught, and charged and put in prison, but it's still the "brown people's fault" according to some.

[Swamptribe]

Advise your cousin to file police reports about these incidents. Crap like this can escalate.

[dawn9476]

The "brown skin=terrorist" mentality isn't confined to America. When I was studying abroad in Jerusalem, there was a Mexican-American Jew in my program who was frequently stopped by security when we travelled.

It's a huge problem in Europe.

[Sola]

About a year ago I was walking past a local mosque. At the bus stop close by were two young males - looked late teens to early twenties - as I passed by they muttered, 'fucking paki'.

Now, please bear in mind that I am white and British - however I was dressed slightly fundie so I suppose they could have been confused. I have mid length dark brown hair, I wear long skirts and it was autumn so I had a long cardi on too. I also was having a bad hair day (it really needed washing) so I had my gypsy scarf on - it sort of half covers my hair a bit like this http://www.ehow.com/how_4856564_make-gypsy-scarf.html

But I don't look Pakistani, or Asian/Arab. They just assumed that long skirt + headscarf in vicinity of a mosque meant a Pakistani Muslim.

I said, 'fuck you' and got in my car. Not sure if they noticed the atheist sticker in my rear window!

[maybeizfundie]

:( So sad. :(

A couple of years ago, I remember the traffic in our town literally *stopped*. I was thinking stuck traffic signal or major wreck. When got forward far enough to see what was going on--it was because people were shamelessly rubbernecking at a Sikh who was walking on the sidewalk. Seriously. I felt so badly for him.

My dh is African, and has a definitely not-American name. We posted on craigslist and someone took the opportunity to email us with invectives about "towel heads" and "camel riders" and "terrorists". 'Cause, you know, if it's not an American name, it must be the name of some A-rab bomber. (And as a side note, there is some *serious* weirdness on craigslist, anyway).

[doggie]

you have to realize these people don't know one person from the next if they are not white. I mean when your mom is you sisters cousin things tend to get mixed up :lol: Usually such things don't go along with intelligence.

[UmmSqueakster]

AbuS (the husband) was assaulted early this year at a bus stop. The guy started walloping on him with his backpack and saying, go back to your country you damn indian!

AbuS is indeed not originally from this country (although he is a naturalized citizen), but he's originally from Egypt and doesn't look the slightest bit indian.

:roll:

[jenny_islander]

There was an article a couple years back about some yahoo who beat up a Greek Orthodox priest who was just walking down the sidewalk, then dragged him to the cops proudly claiming to have caught a terrorist. I guess terrorists put on their special terrorist costumes before they go terrorize people or something. Not to mention, you know, Greek Orthodox priest.

Bonus: The yahoo was in the armed forces. IIRC he spent some time in the stockade over that one.

[doggie]

There was an article a couple years back about some yahoo who beat up a Greek Orthodox priest who was just walking down the sidewalk, then dragged him to the cops proudly claiming to have caught a terrorist. I guess terrorists put on their special terrorist costumes before they go terrorize people or something. Not to mention, you know, Greek Orthodox priest.

Bonus: The yahoo was in the armed forces. IIRC he spent some time in the stockade over that one.

they should kick him out as he may shoot his own mother thinking she was a suicide bomber. Hopefully they don't gibe him a gun.

[xReems]

It just sickens me how much hatred/racism is around this country these days. I just love how anybody who is not white is a "terrorist." would have loved to see his facial reaction if he found out he wasn't "pure Caucasian" and had some "color" in him.

Fortunately, my cousin knew what he was getting himself into when he decided to go to Arkansas for school and has some tough skin. I still feel bad for him because no person should be treated that way. Sadly, I don't think this type of hatred is ever going to go away.

[Wolfie]

ugh, I hate this sort of thing. I teach in an area where the white people tend to be extremely conservative, but there is a huge immigrant population too. (Mostly Indian Sikhs, with a few Hindus and Muslims, and Mexicans) I hate the stuff I hear sometimes, and the hardest is when it comes out of a child who really is just parroting their parents- because they usually are all buddy buddy with a child who doesn't look at all like them, and might even be wearing a turban...

I don't think that this stuff is new- about a hundred years ago it was against the Irish immigrants, but it does not make it right at all. It is why the european immigrants who came to the US assimilated as quickly as they could, the ones who look different don't have that option- and why should they be forced to do it anyway?

[doggie]

this is the sad part of religion the more you believe the more ignorant you become the more you fear others that are not like you. Perry and whats her name will promote more of this thinking.

[Trynn]

the hardest is when it comes out of a child who really is just parroting their parents-

Yeah. When I was friends with this 6 year old kid, he stopped going to church. I found out that it was because there was at least one child, but I think two, who refused to play with him because he is black. He wouldn't say who the kids were, of course.

I didn't get mad at the kids, but I wanted to beat the snot out of the parents.

[Guest Anonymous]

I'm a first generation American, my mother was an illegal, she was born in steerage while her family were coming across the pond during the great immigration.

That being said, my family fails to remember we were all outsiders a generation ago, our parents and grandparents, dressed, talked and worshipped differently than the majority here. Most of my family are racist conservatives who hate any and all immigrants. I think it was something in the water in NJ that causes them to have such short memories. :roll:

[secondtry]

i apologize if the comment i made above was offensive. there was a better way to have phrased what i was thinking, i'm sorry

[ladypuglover]

Some of the men in my family tend to be darker, my brother has dark brown hair and med. olive skin as does my oldest son. My dad and grandfather were the same way and sometimes the darker skinned family members would get gruff becuase of it. We have native american indian coming in from all sides of the family When my oldest was told to go back to his own country, he just laughed and said that this was his own country as his ancestors have lived here for 1000's of years and his white european ancesters came here in the early 1600's and messed it up for his native ancestors. Shut that bigot up real fast.

[Rachel333]

That's awful.

I'm from Fayetteville and actually pretty surprised that someone would use "Paki" as a slur. Usually racists here just lump every brown skinned person with the Mexicans.

Obviously there are racists here, but I think he'll find that most people aren't like that. There is a big Indian community around here (especially Bentonville), and events like the annual Diwali banquet are a big deal and tend to attract a lot of non-Indians as well. I think there's an Indian independence day celebration coming up in a few weeks (a month late).

[pomology]

AbuS (the husband) was assaulted early this year at a bus stop. The guy started walloping on him with his backpack and saying, go back to your country you damn indian!

AbuS is indeed not originally from this country (although he is a naturalized citizen), but he's originally from Egypt and doesn't look the slightest bit indian.

:roll:

Yeah, this "all brown people are the same" business is almost (but not quite) as offensive as "all brown people are terrorists." Of course, I'm sure all these racists are completely in tune to the fact that not all Caucasian Europeans come from the same place and I'm sure that they'd recognize that there is a difference between say, French people and Norwegians, but for some reason they can't get it through their tiny brains that a huge swath of the world's population has brownish skin and they come from a wide variety of vary diverse cultures.

[YPestis]

I consider myself fortunate in that I live near a major university most of my life. I sometimes forget that outside of the metro areas and college campuses, there may not be much diversity. My state is one of the whitest in the nation. I happen to live in the largest city and go to school downtown. I typically hear ignorance but not malicious bigotry. Most of the time, people make incorrect assumptions but don't mean harm by it. Of course, it's probably easier for me as I am Asian and speak fluently. I don't "look" like a terrorist and my lack of an accent makes for ease of assimilation. I have friends who are Indian and Pakistani and they do feel and experience more racism than me. I guess every generation as their punching bag.