I'm not sure. I guess it depends. I mean, I'm white, and I went to a predominantly Asian school for several years. I think, from recollection, maybe 10% of my grade was white, but I didn't care about that; I don't care about race, but there were other girls in my grade who did.
I tried to befriend groups of girls who seemed nice, but they would deliberately ignore me and speak in Cantonese when I (or another non-Chinese girl) was around so that people who only spoke English couldn't understand them. They would say things like, "I would never date a skip" (a slang term for a white Australian) or that, "English are so stuck up. I never hang out with them." And they even discriminated against Chinese girls who, in their words, acted like "ABCs" (Australian Born Chinese) and derided anybody who didn't want to go back to Hong Kong and didn't watch Chinese movies.
I don't know why they lashed out at people so much. Mind you, this was at an age where everyone was pretty horrible, regardless of ethnicity or background, and, as far as I know, those girls have grown out of that, and are a lot more friendly to me now. I think at that age they just resented the institutionalised advantages white people have in society, which I can understand (believe me, I'm as aware of the institutionalised racism and inequality that still exists in Australia as a legacy of our racist past as anybody), but, still, it's one of the few times in my life when someone has made me feel like a, "You people."
And they actually did do that to me a few times; call me a, "You people." You know what I mean. When someone says that to you, you cease being an individual, a person in your own right, and just become a nameless part of a group; you know that you are being judged on a stereotype and on someone else's personal prejudice and not on your own merits as a human being. You're no longer a friend or an equal or a face - you're just a, "You people."
So, yes, I have experienced that minorities can be racist, and they can be racist against far larger majorities, it's just that they're usually more subtle about it.
Edit: Mind you, I don't want anyone to think these girls were the majority opinion. It was only a specific group of girls who acted like this. Nobody else cared about ethnicity the way that group did. It's just that I didn't realise they actively disliked non-Chinese people (or even specific ethnic groups within China) when I tried to befriend them.
I tried to befriend groups of girls who seemed nice, but they would deliberately ignore me and speak in Cantonese when I (or another non-Chinese girl) was around so that people who only spoke English couldn't understand them. They would say things like, "I would never date a skip" (a slang term for a white Australian) or that, "English are so stuck up. I never hang out with them." And they even discriminated against Chinese girls who, in their words, acted like "ABCs" (Australian Born Chinese) and derided anybody who didn't want to go back to Hong Kong and didn't watch Chinese movies.
I don't know why they lashed out at people so much. Mind you, this was at an age where everyone was pretty horrible, regardless of ethnicity or background, and, as far as I know, those girls have grown out of that, and are a lot more friendly to me now. I think at that age they just resented the institutionalised advantages white people have in society, which I can understand (believe me, I'm as aware of the institutionalised racism and inequality that still exists in Australia as a legacy of our racist past as anybody), but, still, it's one of the few times in my life when someone has made me feel like a, "You people."
And they actually did do that to me a few times; call me a, "You people." You know what I mean. When someone says that to you, you cease being an individual, a person in your own right, and just become a nameless part of a group; you know that you are being judged on a stereotype and on someone else's personal prejudice and not on your own merits as a human being. You're no longer a friend or an equal or a face - you're just a, "You people."
So, yes, I have experienced that minorities can be racist, and they can be racist against far larger majorities, it's just that they're usually more subtle about it.
Edit: Mind you, I don't want anyone to think these girls were the majority opinion. It was only a specific group of girls who acted like this. Nobody else cared about ethnicity the way that group did. It's just that I didn't realise they actively disliked non-Chinese people (or even specific ethnic groups within China) when I tried to befriend them.
