3 ms·

You just described institutional vs individual racism. The former is anchored in society and has deeper and multi generational damages. A lot of people on the

• rayiner 10y ago
  I'm describing when it's perceived as okay to use stereotypes in humor. That doesn't fall neatly along the lines of individual versus institutional racism. For example, say you're black/Hispanic/Asian and you marry into a white American family. To the extent you encounter any racism it'll be the individual kind. But the assumptions people make about you as an Asian are very likely to be the most benign. Likewise, consider the reaction of a typical Asian American community to a young Asian woman dating a white man versus a black man. Among the (cosmopolitan, upper middle class) Asians I grew up around, the former would be pretty non remarkable. The latter would still be kind of a scandal. That's why it's socially acceptable to make fun of Asian stereotypes but not black (and to a lesser extent Hispanic) stereotypes.