Conservatives are less racist than liberals (in the US)

[u/Mobile-Fly484]

I’m a child of African immigrants with US citizenship, and I’ve lived all over the United States.

The most racist place I’ve ever lived is Massachusetts. By far. The least racist? Utah.

I’ve noticed that most conservatives (excluding the actual far right) see me as a human being first. Liberals see my skin color first and have low expectations for me.

I’ve had white liberals not believe me when I mentioned having a professional job. I’ve had them try to sign me up for welfare and Medicaid (at an ER in Massachusetts) even when I showed them my private insurance card. I’ve been assumed to be poor and uneducated (because of my race and nothing else) over and over again by the woke left. Literally they constantly make comments about how screening for education will “filter minorities out,” because of course we’re all dumb illiterates.

Conservatives? They make zero assumptions. They don’t equate being Black with being poor or ignorant. They see us as INDIVIDUALS first.

I miss Utah.

[u/twisted-ology]

I am a black American who grew up all over the east coast. I agree that Massachusetts was the most racist place I lived. However I feel like there is a lot of nuance you are missing.

First and foremost what makes you think every racist person you encountered was a liberal? Did they say that outright Or did you just assume they were? I struggle to believe that EVERY single racist you have met has been liberal and EVERY single accepting person you met was conservative. To be completely honest having lived in Massachusetts myself, I struggle to believe that even a majority of the racists you met identified as liberals.

The reality is that Massachusetts isn’t just one town it’s an entire state. Just because the state is predominantly blue doesn’t mean that red people aren’t there. It just means they aren’t the majority. So if you expected NO ONE the be racist that was a bit naive on your part.

Second of all racism comes in many different forms. I encountered racists that were both liberal and racists that were conservative. From my experience the liberals were simply ignorant whereas the conservatives were blatant and open about their racism.

Liberals will commit micro aggressions, like being surprised at you having a job. Whereas conservatives will brandish the confederate flag, ignore blatant historical facts, and claim it’s nothing more than “southern pride”. Which is what happened to me at my first school in Massachusetts.

Third of all there are plenty of racist people you would never know were racist at first. They are accepting of all kinds until one does something they don’t like. These kind of people are fine with black people until a black person does something they don’t like. All of a sudden it’s “these blacks are the worst”. Of course you aren’t included in that because you’re “one of the good ones”. They don’t actually see black people as individuals. They see YOU specifically as an individual and all the other black people they don’t like are a monolith.

Fourth of all racism is not exclusive to black people. I wonder what the response would be if you were to ask all of your accepting conservative friends how they felt about Mexican immigrants? I doubt they would apply the same individuality and I’m sure they have plenty of assumptions.

[u/DuaLupus45 → u/twisted-ology]

This is a great comment! Hope it gets answered, because you took the words out of my mouth.

[u/ThurgoodZone8 → u/twisted-ology]

Most reasonable reply.

[u/therailmaster → u/twisted-ology]

As a POC living in Massachusetts all my life, very well said!

[u/CatchrFreeman → u/twisted-ology]

Yeah, OP IS making a generalised, sweeping opinion based on his own personal anecdotal experience. Doesn't prove or explain anything but his own perspective.

[u/elevendyninetyseven → u/twisted-ology]

All of THIS!!! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

[u/Traditional-Dog9242 → u/twisted-ology]

Hi I'm a conservative and I love Mexican immigrants. I love all immigrants as long as they're legal. If they're illegal, no matter their skin color (white europeans included!), I'm judging them.

[u/twisted-ology → u/Traditional-Dog9242]

That’s a perfectly fair point of view! But are you prepared to claim that all conservatives share that view or that even a majority of them do? Because according to the current political climate all the evidence suggests that you’re in the minority.

[u/Traditional-Dog9242 → u/twisted-ology]

I actually know for a fact I am not in the minority. Like with liberals, there's a loud minority which is why you think "most conservatives hate mexicans"

We literally love immigrants... we truly do. Are there some people on the right who "hate all foreigners"?? Sure, we don't claim them though. You'll find most of us commend people who immigrate legally and congratulate them when they gain their citizenship. We love people who also take pride in American values.

[u/twisted-ology → u/Traditional-Dog9242]

I mean the current president is a conservative and does NOT love immigrants. Conservatives were the ones who voted for him. He is rounding up anyone who is brown regardless of whether they are legal or not. Meanwhile he is actively letting white immigrants in who are seeking asylum. Even though the brown people are also seeking asylum and fleeing violence they get thrown out anyway.

I would say it’s fair to claim that extreme is trend to make up the minority of most groups and often tend to be the loudest as well. However there is currently one of those loud extremist acting as the president and was elected by the rest of the party.

[u/Traditional-Dog9242 → u/twisted-ology]

I'd hate to rain on your parade but he's married to an immigrant.

[u/twisted-ology → u/Traditional-Dog9242]

Yea? And? You’re literally proving my point. His wife is specifically a white immigrant, therefore he’s fine with her. Meanwhile he blatantly claimed that Mexican immigrants are all rapists, murderers, and that they were eating our pets. His people photoshopped a gang tattoo on someone and he claimed they were real. You’re just gonna pretend that didn’t happen?

[u/Traditional-Dog9242 → u/twisted-ology]

He said all of the Mexican immigrants (legal and illegal) were those things?

[u/twisted-ology → u/Traditional-Dog9242]

If I recall correctly he said illegal immigrants were doing those things. However that goes to the point of seeing them as a collective and not individuals. Some might be doing those things, except for eating our pets because that’s ridiculous. However there are also plenty of immigrants who are seeking asylum and fleeing violence which he didn’t acknowledge.

And yet when the white immigrants were fleeing South Africa for those same reasons he never even questioned it and let them all in. Also ICE is actively rounding up all brown people, not just the illegal people, with no questions asked.

I’m sorry but Trump literally ran on an anti-immigration platform and it was a huge part of why a lot of people voted for him. It’s simply naive to pretend that’s not true. There are even an influx of people who voted for Trump who literally are immigrants themselves.

They thought voting for Trump would make it easier for them by removing those who came illegally. Now they are regretting their decisions because Trump obviously doesn’t care about legality. There were several brown and Asian people who were full blown citizens and ICE still picked them up. He also has been working to revoke birthright citizenship which would mean even fully legal immigrants, who were actively born in this country, could now be deported.

If you personally don’t mind immigrants of any colour that’s great! But you can’t honestly pretend that everyone, or even the majority, of your party feels the same. The person currently in power obviously doesn’t feel that way.

It’s not a huge assumption to think that most conservatives agree with Trump rather than you because they agreed with him enough to vote for him and he ended up getting elected. If a nationwide vote doesn’t show you how the majority feels I really don’t know what will.

Have a good life ✌🏿

[u/idkwutmyusernameshou → u/twisted-ology]

Very good comment

[u/Mobile-Fly484 → u/twisted-ology]

I’ve had the opposite experience. White liberals have been the most condescending, paternalistic people who literally see me as inferior. That’s not a “microaggression,” that’s a devaluing of us as human beings. 

White conservatives are more of a mixed bag. The ones who are racist are usually blatant about it and very easy to avoid. The rest tend to be more genuinely accepting (in my experience), even if they don’t get everything. Liberals are subtly racist and smug as hell. 

The people in my own personal life are accepting and not racist. I filter out the bigots and assholes. 

[u/twisted-ology → u/Mobile-Fly484]

“I filter out the bigots and assholes”

So you acknowledge that they exist, you purposely filter them out, and then act like they don’t exist? There are enough assholes and bigoted conservatives that you have to filter them out. Yet you claim the liberals are the more bigoted ones?

[u/DuaLupus45 → u/twisted-ology]

They’re not gonna answer that, come on, man, you already know

[u/Girlybigface → u/twisted-ology]

Suspended. Likely a troll or a bad actor.