raciasm.

yes idoit

What do you think????

OP - Racism will unfortunately exist for ever ! Not just in South Africa, but in every nation, where people are guided by bigots ! Here in England, one of our largest imigrant groups are Indians of a Ugandan origin, and unfortunately like Ethnic Indians, Bangladeshi's and all other ethnic groups from the 'Indian sub continent' are regularly called 'Paki's' This can include perhaps 5 or 6 different races of wonderful people, but because some small minded bigoted people decide that they are 'Pakis' that is the label that they are all tagged with ! I only use the term 'Paki' as a demonstration of how racism is still active in our so called 'Multiracial, tollerant society' when these people (British of a Pakistanni origin) deserve to be like everyone else treated like a human being !

Yes, having just returned from SA, I would have to say it does!

Professor Watson who discovered DNA, has just had his lecture at the Science Museum in London cancelled because he said that black people were less intelligent than white folk. Racist?

OK - they might not be good at IQ tests, but what does that mean.....?

Having just returned from 3 months in Africa, including 1 month in South Africa, I would have to make the following observation:

1. Yes, in most countires racism still exists. Yes, to an extent, apartheid still exists (locals still attend 'black' schools and 'white' schools). But the racism now goes both ways - I have heard just as many coloured and black people being racist to whites as I have going the other way.

2. I found during my travels (as a single white female) that for the most part, the poorer the country (think East Africa - Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya), the more polite and welcoming the locals were, and the richer (think Namibia, Botswana, and particularly South Africa) the country, the less welcoming...

I find a good portion of the immigrant population in Norway very racist towards ethnic Norwegians (with the addition of extremely sexist towards ethnic Norwegian women and white women in general), far more so than ethnic Norwegians towards immigrant groups. It goes both ways...

I'm a white+East Asian mix. I found South Africans to be very polite and welcoming...

#6 just to respond to your point regarding different schools, that is not necessarily a race issue, but rather a wealth and class issue. Many black children go to "white" schools, it is just much more expensive to go to schools in the suburbs. So we need to differenciate between racism and classism. In fact I think that is equally bad.

However, racism does still exist, both ways, however, having spent all my life in South Africa (you posted on the SA branch, so I expect you are looking for an SA perspective), I have to say that we have come a long way, and I hope that the nation building will continue.

But I agree with martraveller that racism will exist all around the world, forever.

#6 - dno't know where in sa you are refering to but i think schools in cape town are pretty mixed. i mean sure you aren't going to find white kids at school in khayelitsha or mitchells plain but kids generally attend schools near where they live.
4 primary schools that i know on the south peninsula have a lot of coloured and black learners but 3 of those on face value you would think would be attended by mainly by white kids.

the only racism i hear is from a couple of people in my extended family and it sickens me to hear them so i don't engage in conversation with them. that said my late grandmother didn't like pakistani people and used to tell me about it. one problem that is apparent here is xenophobia of other african races in cape town. one guy i know (zambian) was hit by a security guard on a train for verbally defening a congolese stranger. security guard claimed they were friends and decided to get baton happy as they were both foreigners.

my parent's got me a subscription to a british weekly expat newspaper of a conservative persuasion and all that ever talks about is the immigrants.....