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You are narrowly reducing the "like him" assessment to race alone. It's culture + race that makes the determination. An Indian person has an easier time demonst

You are narrowly reducing the "like him" assessment to race alone. It's culture + race that makes the determination. An Indian person has an easier time demonstrating that s/he is part of the mainstream culture. In my experience, educated immigrants, or children thereof, are often received as a blank slate and accordingly it's easy to see them as "one of us." Most Americans, however, already have a conception of who Blacks and Hispanics "are" and it's not quite positive. They have a deficit initial position, where Indians and Chinese have a more-or-less neutral position. Moderately educated, well dressed Whites are generally neutral or positive. This may be in part due to the general American dislike of poor people -- immigrants who come to this country are usually educated and well off compared to the population of their country of origin, so the American over here only ever sees educated people from that place. However, that same American sees Black and Hispanic people all across the social spectrum, and can't help but have his opinion of that group lowered. In my experience, the white guy who graduated from state college starts off -- in the mind of the person assessing him -- as well or better than the brown guy who went to a top tier school. You're welcome to disagree, I'm sure you will object to some degree. This is only what I've observed.

larrys 15y ago
"already have a conception of who Blacks and Hispanics "are" and it's not quite positive. They have a deficit initial position" I agree. In a sense it's like a negative brand association. I would add that we could also discuss the positive association of blacks with sports or entertainment vs. some other minorities or even whites. But Jewish and sports? No. Jewish and Medicine? Yes.
temphn 15y ago
His point is made, though, and it's a good one. This is definitely not simple "racism" as a substantial fraction of Indians are darker than the average African American or Hispanic.
- JabavuAdams 15y ago
  You're starting from a false premise: racism (in the U.S.) depends only on skin colour. The terms "white" and "black" when applied to race are not objective measures of skin-pigmentation. They're proxies for other traits. They are used differently in different cultures. For instance "black" in the U.S. may not be "black" in Brazil. For example a light-skinned European from Spain would be considered white in the U.S. A person with the same appearance, but from Mexico would be considered Hispanic. In my part of Canada, we generally don't refer to people as Hispanic. They'd just be white or maybe brown. Unless maybe they're poor and don't speak English or French.

larrys 15y ago

"already have a conception of who Blacks and Hispanics "are" and it's not quite positive. They have a deficit initial position" I agree. In a sense it's like a negative brand association. I would add that we could also discuss the positive association of blacks with sports or entertainment vs. some other minorities or even whites. But Jewish and sports? No. Jewish and Medicine? Yes.

temphn 15y ago

His point is made, though, and it's a good one. This is definitely not simple "racism" as a substantial fraction of Indians are darker than the average African American or Hispanic.

JabavuAdams 15y ago
You're starting from a false premise: racism (in the U.S.) depends only on skin colour. The terms "white" and "black" when applied to race are not objective measures of skin-pigmentation. They're proxies for other traits. They are used differently in different cultures. For instance "black" in the U.S. may not be "black" in Brazil. For example a light-skinned European from Spain would be considered white in the U.S. A person with the same appearance, but from Mexico would be considered Hispanic. In my part of Canada, we generally don't refer to people as Hispanic. They'd just be white or maybe brown. Unless maybe they're poor and don't speak English or French.