the Race card

[insertNameHere]

I am so sick of the race card being played while I am trying to do my job which is ID people buying cigarettes and alcohol. Just because I let the 3 white guys in front of you buy cigarettes without IDs doesn't mean I'm a racist, if they noticed I said smokes and after getting a nod, started pulling specific brands for each person because I know them and what they ALWAYS get and have seen their IDs multiple times.

My coworker got accused of being racist because he wouldn't give free pizza to two black males because they wanted a whole pizza and still wanted the orignal couple of slices that were on the warmer since otherwise "ya just gon toss dem out", at which point they tossed a few racial slurs at my coworker to say he was a racist and he said the color of your skin has nothing to do with it, guess one of them jumps to lean on the counter and go "SO YOU DO NOTICE DIFFERENT RACES, YOU RACIST"

They lucky it wasn't me, after being a called a whitebread cracker ass honkey mother fucker. I would have recited the Websters dictionary definition of a nigger and said I believed they were ignorant and BTW, I am Italian and German, at which point I would have given a list of preferred racial slurs that fit and might be insulting. Following up with a comment about those not even being insulting from the mouths of a couple [string of racial slurs]. Which would have lead to physical threats and me mentioning to the SCs that Black male on a 911 call to the local PD is like saying Free Pie to a fat camp......
I'm losing the ability to give a crap about my job. While I'm sure if I said what I wanted and it got to corporate I would lose my job, I would prefer it, otherwise I work with a bunch of crooks anyways but as long as they steal off camera or blow the management, shit don't happen.


I'm not really racist until provoked, I get along with people, just not trash be they of any race and I can easily criticize the white trash I get same ignorant reactions from.

[Rapscallion]

Next time, ask them if they would have accused you of racism if you'd been black as well. If the answer is 'no', then they're being racists.

Rapscallion

[KnitShoni]

Next time, ask them if they would have accused you of racism if you'd been black as well. If the answer is 'no', then they're being racists.

Rapscallion

That doesn't necessarily work. If he were Black, he'd have been a sell-out, Uncle Tom, trying to be White, etc.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I once had a black girl call me a "white bitch" after I IDed her for cigarettes and she had no ID. Her full response was, "White bitch, you're only doing this cuz I'm black." I told her that I didn't care whether she was black, white or rainbow coloured; if she looked underage, she'd be IDed. My manager asked her to leave cuz she'd called me a bitch; the girl left, after swearing never to return.

That kind of thing really annoys me. I'd say that the racist in the story wasn't me or my manager, but the girl.

[Boozy]

We white people tend to have very emotional reactions to being called racist. I would rather be called stupid, or a bitch, or a whore. Racism is an awful thing to be accused of. I would have a very strong desire to defend myself.

Which, of course, is exactly why racist accusations are used by bad customers. They've found that it works. What better way to prove that you're not racist than to give them what they want?

I suspect I'd choke it down and stand my ground, like the OP, but it would be hard.

[BlaqueKatt]

my never fail response to the "race card" is simple.

race card puller: "you're racist!"
me: "unless you're telling me you are something other than the human you appear to be, we are both members of the human race"

heck anthropologists* don't use the term anymore, it is considered to have zero biological value.

*except for the really stuck in their ways ones

[Sarah Valentine]

I said this on CS once, I was called a little white bitch by a guy who I caught trying to steal shrimp and diapers.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I would have a very strong desire to defend myself.

Which, of course, is exactly why racist accusations are used by bad customers. They've found that it works. What better way to prove that you're not racist than to give them what they want?

.

Exactly. Which is why when they accuse you of being one, simply shrug and say "okay."

Because if you don't care about someone thinking you're a racist, then they have nothing to say.

I actually used to say to a coworker of mine "It's because you're black" when he asked me why I wouldn't do whatever for him or let him do whatever. I did that because once he said "It's because I'm black, isn't it?" to which I said "yep." It was sort of done tongue in cheek a bit, and we both knew it, but still, it got the point across. He knew better than to accuse me of that shit, and I knew better than to argue such absurdity.

Go off script. It really leaves people gaping like fish.

Or, if you're not ready to fight that impulse, simply snort disgustedly and say "Clearly you've never met my husband (or father or whatever)." (in my case, I could even jerk a thumb back to indicate my clearly biracial (actually, tri racial. He's Melungeon) better half sitting over in digital.). If you don't happen to have an obviously mixed spouse lying around handily, you can alway lie. The awkward looks on their faces are well worth it.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I never even thought of doing that; and my sister in law is black. XXD

[RecoveringKinkoid]

You can fight the impulse to defend yourself by remembering that anyone would would accuse of this for no other reason than manipulating you by remembering this:

1. This person's opinion does not matter.
2. This person does not really think you are a racist, he's trying to manipulate you.
3. This person actually IS a racist.

[blas87]

I think it's more funny to say "I'm not racist, I hate everyone equally."

They'd never expect that.

[tropicsgoddess]

Only dumbasses pull the race card to get their way, plain and simple.

[powerboy]

When ever I am called that. I just tell them how can I be, when I am part Cherokee, part Black Irish, German. Well I am. Haven't been called racist in a while

[Amanita]

I really hate it when people pull the race card over every perceived slight- to me, it's a bit like crying wolf. If you know the story, you know that eventually there was a damn good reason for the boy to cry wolf. One was attacking his sheep right that minute! Unfortunately he had cried wolf falsely so many times that nobody took him seriously.

If you play the race card every time you don't get your way, every time somebody so much as looks at you sideways, what are you going to do when somebody really, truly discriminates against you? If you've gotten a reputation for pulling the race card all the time, will you be taken as seriously when something happens and you really need to use it?

It can also be said that playing the race card as an "I win" button diminishes real incidents of racism, taking away from their significance.

[Tanasi]

Yesterday a friend made a comment that while waiting in a very long line at McDonalds a black women elected to break into the line at the first window to order and pay. They (McDonalds) let her get away with it. It was surmised that she had/has done this before and when called on it pitched a fit and played the race card.
To me when the race card, sexist card, etc card is played in a arguement that I think is illegitmate then IMO their whole arguement is voided. Now personally I would have told the above woman to go around the building a wait her turn as she wasn't anything special.