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"Is it racist?"

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L

Lum1n3s

Member
My mom and I got asked an interesting question yesterday GAF and it was from my little sister who's in sixth grade.

Apparently while she was in school yesterday a classmate went up to her asked if she was an immigrant?" My sister asked us "is it racist?" for her to have been asked that question. My mom answered no and I thought about it and said the same thing for some strange reason. I feel like I might have given her the wrong answer though and it's kind of been looming in my head ever since.

What would you have done/said GAF had your child/brother/sister asked you that question???

I'd like to note that my siblings and I are Salvadoran-American while my parents are Salvadoran. The kid who asked her that question is White.
 
S

Sephzilla

Member
I feel like asking someone if they're an immigrant isn't racist. But I think there are some contexts that could imply racism
 
K

KoopaTheCasual

Junior Member
Eh, not inherently racist. It's a rude and invasive question tho (they're little children after all).

At most it's discriminatory. It's also important to understand if the other girl followed up or prefaced her question with any additional context. In a vacuum, no, the question is not racist.
 
D

DrArchon

Member
I feel like it's not mostly because the person asking it in this situation is a 6th grader and is probably legit coming from a position of curiosity. If they were older, then yeah they could've phrased it better, but they're just a kid.
 
I

Ishan

Junior Member
I would normally accept that question as non racist because a lot of other factors can play into it eg you can be brown and have an accent which implies you're an immigrant or no accent which implies maybe your parents were but you're not etc ... Complex question so don't think it's racist ... Plus I feel many ppl mix up the term xenophobia with racism ..


Plus as some have said kids so it can be innocent and just let it fly .
 
L

Linkark07

Banned
Without context, doubt so since who asked that is a kid. That said, he might have asked because his parents are racists, but that is just an assumption. It could also be because the kid is curious.
 
Sakura

Sakura

Member
I get asked similar questions like every day. What country am I from, how long have I been here etc. I think it is generally just ignorance though, rather than any ill will.
 
O

Omegasquash

Member
Context would be important, I think.

"Are you an immigrant? Because if you are I want you to know that you've got support and a friend in me."

-From a kid who doesn't yet understand how to frame a question.

"Are you an immigrant? JUST ASKING!"

-Yeah, that'd be a red flag.
 
T

Taco_Human

Member
It doesn't sound racist, just a bit insensitive. I think if they asked or pressed further a little bit it would definitely go in that direction.

I too am a first gen Salvadoran-American, Chalatenango represent!
 
L

Lum1n3s

Member
Count Dookkake said:
Follow-up conversation would probably help figure that out.
Click to expand...
That's what I'm going to have to do because she sort of just asked us that and went back to her room lol

ryutaro's mama said:
Did the White kid ask any of of the other White students if they were immigrants from Europe?
Click to expand...
Apparently my sister's best friend (who's Vietnamese) was asked after that if she is Chinese. I didn't know what to think of that either.
 
Reckheim

Reckheim

Member
Lum1n3s said:
My mom and I got asked an interesting question yesterday GAF and it was from my little sister who's in sixth grade.

Apparently while she was in school yesterday a classmate went up to her asked if she was an immigrant?" My sister asked us "is it racist?" for her to have been asked that question. My mom answered no and I thought about it and said the same thing for some strange reason. I feel like I might have given her the wrong answer though and it's kind of been looming in my head ever since.

What would you have done/said GAF had your child/brother/sister asked you that question???

I'd like to note that my siblings and I are Salvadoran-American while my parents are Salvadoran. The kid who asked her that question is White.
Click to expand...

I'm white and have been asked the same question because of my accent, it's not racist.

People are curious, kids more so than adults.
 
S

Somnid

Member
It sounds like a question trying to explore the space of racism. I don't think that's a really useful path to go down because of the amount of subtlety, ignorance and ease of misinterpretation is great, even for adults. Rather, ask her if she felt offended and ask what she said or would have liked to say to the person. Does she think it was meant to offend? Basically defer to her ideas, because she should shape what she thinks it means rather than adhere to someone else's awful dogma.
 
A

Air

Banned
Usually if you have to ask, it's probably racist, but since it's coming from a child who doesn't know any better, I think you and your mom answered fine.
 
G

gutter_trash

Banned
it entirely depends on intent.

if the other kid is an immigrant too or a child of immigrant, maybe that kid was looking for commonality.

I am a 1st gen immigrant that attend a multi-cultural school and we asked each other ''where are your parents from?'' ''what is your nationality?''
questions about curiosity, identity and stuff
 
F

FriendlyGoat

Member
A white child questioning the immigrant status of another child (the likely purpose of of said questioning being an attempt to clarify whether she is one of "us" or one of "them), on the basis of their skin color or even the way they talk is indeed racist.

It doesn't mean the little kid is a nazi, nefarious, or otherwise ill-intentioned--they might even have positive intent and are just curious--but it does draw from the us/them dichotomy enforced by institutionalized racism. The question is a product of racism. It doesn't mean the child is looking to exclude your sister, but it does draw from the idea that the default is white, and non-white is other. She looks and talks different, is she an outsider?
 
G

gutter_trash

Banned
FriendlyGoat said:
A white child questioning the immigrant status of another child (the likely purpose of of said questioning being an attempt to clarify whether she is one of "us" or one of "them), on the basis of their skin color or even the way they talk is indeed racist.

It doesn't mean the little kid is a nazi, nefarious, or otherwise ill-intentioned--they might even have positive intent and are just curious--but it does draw from the us/them dichotomy enforced by institutionalized racism. The question is a product of racism. She looks and talks different, is she an outsider?
Click to expand...

white kids can be immigrants too, most immigrant kids that I went to school with where white, like 60% to 65%
 
G

GrizzleBoy

Banned
A kid asking another kid about immigration status will generally be asking based on stuff they hear at home, which is usually not positive.

Now that this kid knows your sister is an immigrant, she is now linked to whatever the other kid "knows" about immigration based on conversations at home.

Is it racist?

I don't think so.

Can it lead to racist/ignorant behaviour after the question is answered "yes"?

I think yes. Especially if the conversation around immigration at home is negative.
 
K

Karsticles

Member
You can say more than "Yes" or "No."

"No, it's not racist. But it is worrisome that the student asked, and if she has something against immigrants then she is just as bad as a racist".
 
Ray Wonder

Ray Wonder

Founder of the Wounded Tagless Children
I ask everyone that because I'm Native American. You're all immigrants.

I can see how it could have semi-tones of harmless racism, considering that she most likely wouldn't have been asked that if she was white instead of Salvadoran.

But what're ya gonna do though, the curiosity of a person that age most likely doesn't include the self awareness to distinguish racism in such uncertain forms.
 
F

FriendlyGoat

Member
gutter_trash said:
white kids can be immigrants too, most immigrant kids that I went to school with where white, like 60% to 65%
Click to expand...
I'm not sure if you are agreeing with me by provided a supporting point, or trying to provide a counter-point, but I'll assume the former because that's exactly my point. Questioning whether a kid is an immigrant based on their appearance draws from racism (non-white=not one of us), especially because immigrants can come in all shapes and sizes (and, similarly, so do non-immigrants). Now, if the kid in question went around asking everybody in class that regardless of how they look, then he is probably on some next level path to discovery, but I somehow doubt that.
 
G

gutter_trash

Banned
Ishan said:
I've def asked white ppl where they're from depending on their accent .
Click to expand...

I've asked them based on their name spelling to try properly pronounce their name correctly

you want prononce that Italian 'gl' and 'gn' properly just as the Spanish 'll' and ''ñ', or the Portuguese ''lh'' and ''nh''

FriendlyGoat said:
I'm not sure if you are agreeing with me by provided a supporting point, or trying to provide a counter-point, but I'll assume the former because that's exactly my point. Questioning whether a kid is an immigrant based on their appearance draws from racism, especially because immigrants can come in all shapes and sizes (and, similarly, so do non-immigrants). Now, if the kid in question went around asking everybody in class that regardless of how they look, then he is probably on some next level sixth grader curiosity juice, but I somehow doubt that.
Click to expand...
when I went to my school, we asked each other what we were because knowing was fun
 
A

ahoyhoy

Unconfirmed Member
Count Dookkake said:
"... because I heard immigrants were bad people, but you are nice and I like you, so why do people say that?"
Click to expand...

Yeah, the follow up is what really matters here.

Asking if someone is an immigrant is a little jarring of a way to phrase "Are you from another country?", but seeing as they're still pretty young it's easy to let it slide.
 
E

emb

Member
I feel like it's pretty innocent. Maybe I'm thinking too relatively about this, but asking someone if they're an immigrant seems like a huge improvement over just assuming. Racist would be just assuming as soon as you notice a different skin color and accent.

Context helps though. Could be friend trying to learn more about their life, or it could be a jerk kid wanting to follow up by telling them to go back where they came from.
 
U

UnemployedVillain

Member
I'm willing to give an 11 year old 6th grader the benefit of the doubt that he was just legitimately curious and/or ignorant and not meaning to be racist.

Like that little white kid who painted himself black to dress up as MLK Jr? I'd give his parents shit for not explaining to him the issues with that, but I doubt he'd even heard the word "blackface" before
 
BiGBoSSMk23

BiGBoSSMk23

A company being excited for their new game is a huge slap in the face to all the fans that liked their old games.
I didn't hear a lot of kids substituting "where are you from?" with "are you an immigrant?" when I was fresh of the boat. And that's here in Canada.

One is a question, the other is a label laced with contemporary connotation.

At best I'd say is suspicious.

But safer to keep the kid away from that shitfight.
 
nekkid

nekkid

It doesn't matter who we are, what matters is our plan.
Probably should have had a conversation rather than answering and going back to reading GAF.
 
A

Aiii

So not worth it
Rapier said:
I didn't hear a lot of kids substituting "where are you from?" with "are you an immigrant?" when I was fresh of the boat. And that's here in Canada
Click to expand...

That's because it wasn't a buzzword used every other minute on TV even a year ago. Of course kids will pick up on the stuff on the 24 hour news networks their parents watch.
 
K

Kain-Nosgoth

Member
It's not in itself, it depends on what he would say after that...

Also, when people ask this question, it could also be about xenophobia rather than racism, they're not the same

my father is not racist in any way, but he's unfortunately a xenophobe, t! he toned down a lot on that, after all of us (his childrens) taught him about that at least
 
I

Izuna

Banned
I mean, it's kinda like asking "where are you from" to non-white people in the UK. It's not racist in that, it's hurtful, but it's technically racist.

At the same time, if it went how you said there's no issue here.

I remember a kid asking their parents why this other kid never took a bath... Kids are ignorant and well, that's to be expected.
 
S

Shake Appeal

Member
It's not baldly "racist," but in the context of certain kinds of identities, ethnicities and nationalities being considered "American" by default in this country, it can be a microaggression.
 
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