Are Polish People Racist?

I have recently had a large proportion of family members come over to England from Poland and i am shocked at their racist attitudes! I want to hang my head in shame when i hear some of the ignorant comments that come out of their mouths. I know that Poland doesn't have a large ethnic minority but i don't think that is a good enough xcuse in todays world- and after visiting Poland many times it is definitely a modern place! I am currently trying to make my family (who are all in their twenties) understand that their racist beliefs are wrong but they won't budge and stand by the thought line that all black and Asian people are inferior and inherently bad people.

If anyone could give me an insight to Polish culture and where these racist attitudes are coming from i would really appreciate it!

xxxx

I don't know the background of your family members.. but - haven't they by any chance worked in the USA for example? Racism there seems to be quite obvious.

No they haven't worked in the US, and they come from Warsaw- thats why i am so surprised! I know what you mean though about the US, it is very segregated over there- but they haven't experienced that. I tell you what though- i've been glancing through some of the other forums on this site and boy have i confirmed my suspicions about racism in Poland- what agressive views- where the hell are these coming from!

em,

I've found that when Polish people are speaking in English they are not aware of words and phrases that are 'politically correct'. This means that they might sound offensive, but they are only using the language they know.

If it is people speaking in Polish I don't know what is going on. I've never noticed that many 'agressive views'.

As for this site: Because you don't have to sign-in and there is no Moderator some people use it to wind up others. Small minded people with nothing better to do.

the United States hasn't been segregated since the 1960's maybe you should read up history a little.

in theory maybe...

eeerr- i think i might have lived there for a bit!!!

And its very different to the UK! Only as you get higher up the career ladder is the segregation less obvious, but in the poor areas its so segrated- completely us and them mentality with whole areas dedicated to black people, hispanic people, jewish people, Polish people- theres no mixing- and me and my boyfriend who are an inter-racial couple were stared at all the time- by both white and black people

Polish people are as much of racists as the people who are multinations. They actually TEACH the foreigners to be a racist. In Poland there are 99% of white people - where do you think the Poles found out about "the blacks", "the chinks", "the pakistani", etc? Either from the "western" movies or from other WHITE people (most likely from family members, family friends, or even their own employers) who live in the multinational country.

When I first came to the US I knew nothing about "blacks" other than they are cool, some are great singers, excellent athletes, etc. I saw NO difference between the white and black when I lived in Poland. But here in the US the "segragation" started rightaway -- for example, when I was looking for an apartment I was told to "avoid the black neighbourhoods". Then on a gas station I heard a white American say to his friend: "I have to work 12 hrs and these [blacks] just fcuk around". When I was looking for another apartment, my realtor told me to make sure I move to a good, WHITE school discrict. There are such examples every day.

So now I'm sort of "racist too" - just because I was taught by the to be one.

Very Good points, mark5!

I think you may have hit the nail on the head there! It is since they started working here that their opinions are becoming more and more vocal-mmmmmm

Yep, I can confirm that too. It's the society that creates the "myths"...

If anyone could give me an insight to Polish culture and where these racist attitudes are coming from i would really appreciate it! [/quote]


Actually the ethnic background of polish and other slavics isnt exactly "WHITE". WHITE people, obviously to skin colour are scandinavian white and british, irish, scottish whites.

If u noice, most slavics are light olive in colour and are no longer a WHITE ethnic group but no one sees this. Indians are often put down as ASIANS or MIDDLE EASTERNS when u see clearly Indians are different than both, well same here with Slavics and Celts.

Ofcourse we are WHITE - not as white as the British - which is amnesia-like of white.

The Slavs are a mix of the Veneds who lived c.a. 150 B.C. in the region of Vento - presant day Italy - and the Sarmatians who came to Europe from the Caucasus somewhere during the II century A.D.

btw. as you might now - or most likely - not. The Saxons have Sarmatian ancestors as well.. beside that ...Canute the Great, who ruled England from 1015 was 1/2 Slavic cose he was a grandson of Mieszko I - the duke of Poland.

..So as you see we are VERY much related

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Well, this is a lot of crap. The same way you could say: why are the Americans so racist ? Why are the British so racist ? Not even mentioning the Germans..

I somehow don`t see any indiations that we are more racist than any other nation in Europe. As a matter of fact I find that we are even slightly more tolerant than some of the other Europen nations, cose our tolerance is real, t comes from the people, it isn`t twofaced just like in some of the other countries in the old EU, where officialy there is a policy, both in the media as well as in the politics, which`s is to enforce political correctness, and where everything oficially looks "nice and dandy" but in reality creates frustration and anger among people cose they can not say anything against i.e. the muslims (i.e. when as I have heard in England they demand the removal of the "racist" national flag from various festivities and pubs becaouse they say that it reminds them of the crusades ect. ect.)

In my opinion, if the situation continues to develope this way then in a very near future the people in the old EU are going to be so fed up with this "tolerance" that they are going to turn into the far right - you can see that already in France where in the name of "tolerance" the police is allowing the muslim "yought" to burn over 100 cars PER DAY.. and where an extremist like Le Pen is likely to become president..

Is the statement above "racist" - well perhaps - it is - by the standards of those who`ve lost the oversight of what is tolerance and what is plain stupidity - in my opinion we have a very healhy atitude torwards such issues and it`s the old EU who is clearly heading in a wrong direction at the end of which - it is WE who perhaps are going to have to recive hundreds of thousands of refugees from W. Europe - just like it happened during the medieval times - during the inqisition.

I agree with the previous post.I work with many Polish people and I would say they are definitely no more racist than other nationalities.To be honest the only way to tell for sure is when you see as many Polish men/women in Poland with black husbands/wives/boyfriends/girlfriends as you get in England.

I love Polish people who live abroad because they have totally changed their minds about other ethnic groups and learn to be tolerant.
The poles are wonderful people ,well mannered and generous but historically they were taught to be very prejudiced by the Church and by the fact that Poland was always invaded and badly treated by other countries.
All my Polish friends who first arrived here were very offensive against Blacks, Jews, Arabs and of course Gays.It was intellectually and emotionally very shoking to hear some stereotypes about non-white ,non-christian and non-heterosexual people especially expressed by highly educated Poles. However after one or two years they all improve and some even marry people from African or Asian descent!

So.. I understand that the Americans are so increadibly tolerant that they have to "teach" us how to be tolerant.. interesting.

Do you know that in the times where noone has ever heard about a country like the United States of America it was a Polish general, Tadeusz Kosciuszko, who had to teach your future president, Benjamin Franklin, that blacks are people, just like everybody else and that they have the right for education..

Do you know that Poland is the first country in Europe who introduced freedom of religion as and integral part of its law system..

As well that, unlike in large parts of the world, being gay has been legalized here during the early 30s while the same happened in some parts of the "old" Europe 30 or more years later..

So I would propose to learn some history before writing such nonsense.

It`s also obvious that the Catholic Church is one of the main sources of conservatism in this country, but beside some minor exceptions, it dosn`t preach intolerance in any way.

I was shocked to see that some clubs in Poland call hip-hop "black music". My GF has a cd also labeled that.

lol That`s really shocking indeed

related maybe, but not close enough.

Having a specific nationality or another one is something we are the least responsible about.
I am French.Ok my ancestors built the Eiffel Tower and so what? DID I built it myself?
So there is no point about bragging that one is Polish, American or Chinese and rejecting the others. Now the question is who teaches us in society to reject one group or another?
The Religion of our country?the Government?The medias?

WHOA---- !

Before you make such broad and very hurtful statements STOP AND THINK! I can ask a similar question- Why are the Americans so ignorant, for instance? I'm sure you'd hate to be called that wouldn't you?

So quit being so prejudiced about nation you know nothing about and form your opinion basing on such a small sample!

great point!

you've made mark

Yep!

I totally agree... I am raised in the US so as an American I could be offended, and often am if I am told I must be ignorant.... but as half Polish I am offended when someone says Polish people are racist! and as half indian, believe me, I know what racism is... and Polish people were not once rasict to me in any way when I was in Poland (Besides all I got in poland was people complimenting me all the time lol... hey, who said flattery didnt go a long way :P)....

I have been involved in another topic...polish property....should i be scared

http://www.polishforums.com/poland_property_should_be_scared-7_1341_0. html

I found some of those who wrote there extremly racist....and still i have no idea why?

one of them wrote..."I must agree with rafik, english people (aussies even better) are very good people, loyal and ready to help, and not rip somebody off, unfortunatelly england is full of indians/pakis/ turks and they give the whole country a bad name."...

sorry but SOME polish people are really racist!

TRUE.

but then there's people like me, and it levels out.

KILL ALL NAZIS

hahaha, Australian troll... ahh to dobre ale zgadzam sie....




There we go there with that snobbish Australian pride... what is it with Australian's thinking they rule the world? They're so far away from most of the world, how can they really seem to always believe that they are the best? :S Sorry its just the impression i have been getting from everyone who is Australian! :S