racist

[poppyflower]

thinking about whats going on bb at the mo, i just want to bring up something. why is it if a black person calls a white person "white trash" there is nothing to be said about it but if its the other way round then its a big deal personally i am not racist one bit, i actually find it interesting how we all have different skin tones and different cultures. you no the saying "if everybody looked the same wed get tierd of looking at eachother"

im just curious !

[Hellion]

It's a real difficult one poppyflower. Last year I was in Bournemouth when a black guy quite deliberately and for no reason slammed a door in my face and called me an 'f***ing white bitch'. I was really shocked but what was weird was it didn't occur to me that I had been the victim of a racist 'attack' until someone pointed it out to me.
I personally think that racism is very complex and like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I worked with an indian girl who invited me to her home and shared her culture and was happy to answer questions as I tried to understand her culture, she didn't think I was racist, just interested. Yet I've also been accused of being racist by a half indian girl after I commented how lucky she was to have lovely olive skin that didn't burn as my skin burned the second I went in the sun. Her mother reprted me for making racist comments - I was so shocked!

[Pippa68]

A lot of it is to do with personal opinion, of course.

Am I right in saying that Jermaine didn't actually call Jade Goody 'White Trash' to her face ~ only commenting to Shilpa that this is what she would be called in the USA? on the other hand, Jade called Shilpa 'Shilpa Poppadom'.

There would be Asians who wouldn't be offended by that, but you wouldn't know unless you tried..I know a girl (white) who has two half siblings ~ one asian & one chinese. She refers to them as 'The Poppadom Kid' and 'The Chinese Takeaway' respectively, and neither of them have a problem with it..she is known as 'Pie & Mash' by them. IN a family situation iit is different. If you don't know someone it can be a very difficult situation.....

[aka pixi]

I agree with pippa that if you know someone then its very different. I used to work with a girl called Arvinder, we were great friends, I would call her Vindyloo as a nickname and she called me ....well she called me all the names under the sun including ghost, snowflake and troglodyte. We used to wind each other up all the time, she would tell me I needed to get out in the sun before i turned transparent and I would wait til she was wearing jeans and tshirt and ask if her sari was in the wash then describe how to make one out of a bedsheet. It was all in fun, but no way would I have said stuff like that to people I didnt know.

[suffragette]

I think the reason the term, 'white trash', might not be considered racist in the USA is because it is a term used by all ethnic groups, including whites, to denote poor, ill educated white people. He might have been better advised to use the alternative and less racially motivated term, 'trailer trash', but he may have considered this inappropriate in Britain, as we do not use the term 'trailer' to denote 'dwellers in caravan parks'. (Yes, I doubt it too, but he seems a genuinely pleasant guy, so I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one occasion.)

[nat_84]

Hey Poppy!

"White Trash" was a term used by wealthy WHITE Americans about 'poor' WHITE Americans...

Its not racially motivated...

And also, i beleive that leo Sayer was teh first person to call Jade white trash..not Jermaine.

[nat_84]

(gosh - excuse the spelling errors - i could be classed as white trash after that last sentence! lol)

[Octavius]

I would disagree, although it is also a slur on social class, I think today that someone using the term could be deemed racist, if not classist/offensive. I have the same opinion of those who denigrate people of the �Chav� culture in the name of humour � and there are many on AB. A similar word used � although now thankfully removed from mainstream society (and this may well be banned) - for the other side of the spectrum, and equally pejorative is �honky�. Although racism goes far beyond skin colour, referring to anyone by the colour of their skin is inherently racist and referring to anyone in a derogatory way is offensive.

However, I have been called whitey, gay whitey or white trash. I hadn�t really considered the option to report this to the police as racism as I feel that it probably wouldn�t be worth the effort, even though the police would have to view this as racist by law.

[MrBen5]

Hmmm, i think the word racism is just used too much these days. A lot of the time, people just use it to get some sort of compensation.
The way i see it is that anyone can call me a white this/that or whatever and i wouldnt mind one bit, as i am not ashamed of my colour/background.
I have lots of friends from all different backgrounds and we always take the mickey out of each other. They make wisecracks about us white people drinking all the time and vice versa. I suppose the only time when i would think something was racist is when someone gets preferential treatment because of their colour...

[nat_84]

White trash

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

White trash is an American ethnic slur with a social class component. The term is usually considered interchangeable with trailer trash. It is comparable to "honky" in that it is targeted toward white people, but it also connotes low social status and poor prospects (i.e., downward mobility). To call someone "white trash" is to accuse that person of being culturally bankrupt. "White trash" is not a demographic group recognized by sociology.

Attitudes toward the phrase have softened somewhat in recent years, to the degree that some people describe themselves as "white trash", and there is a genre of rock music known proudly as "white-trash rock", but the phrase is still never found in polite contexts. "White trash" is usually associated with poverty; lack of education can also play a role.

:o)