What is a racist? Do you know one? Here's a way
to find out - take this quiz. There's no right or wrong answer, just be honest. Maybe you don't find any of the
answer choices applicable to you. That says something too.
At the end, what picture do you see of yourself? Where
would you place yourself on a racism thermometer - cold, cool, room temperature, warm, or hot?
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Practical
Situations
1. It's night. You're walking
down the street. You see two
men of another race walking
toward you. You
a) keep walking
b) cross to the other side
of the street
c) quietly reach for your
weapon
d) smile
2. An acquaintance tells you she
has been on 12 job interviews
in six weeks and has been hired
for none. Since she is
qualified for each one, she
suspects 'quotas'. You
a) think she is making excuses
b) agree
c) change the subject
d) tell her that's not how
things work
3. Your white acquaintances
a) make you sick
b) are not all alike
c) are
abysmally ignorant
d) are better off than you
4. Mexicans
a) are up to something
b) are here illegally
c) want what you barely
have yourself
d) are moving in on you
5. When a white person approaches you, you
a) think "here we go.."
b) tense up
c) have no particular reaction
d) think you've seen them
somewhere before
6. When I hear a conversation about
The Lord of the Rings, I
a) listen attentively
b) leave
c) take notes for future action
d) join in
7. You sometimes wonder
a) who are those people?
b) why are we all jammed
in
here together?
c)
are they human like me?
d)
do I have a chance with
any
of those women?
8. If your great great grandaddy owned
slaves, you feel
a) if they want to dig him
up and
whip his ass - fine
with me
b) blacks are so stuck on that
c) great strides have been
made
d) why would any sane person
care about that now?
9. Your daughter
a) announces she is in love with
someone of another
race
b) has a baby and it's clear the father
is of
another race
c) threatens to run off with her love,
a man of another
race
d) has married a man of another race
You
a) commit a capital crime
b) enroll in therapy
c) make the best of it
d) devise a plot
10. You think people
in el norte are
a) spoiled and dim witted
b) still angry with Spain
c) better than the rest of the
world
d) easy pickins
11. You think hispanics want to
a) impose Spanish on everybody
b) take over half the states and
all
the schools
c)
marry into our families
d) turn us into Indians
12. The fact is,
a) there
are significant under-the-
skin differences between the
races and that will never change
b) we're all the same
whether we
admit it or not
c) there's not enough
scientific
evidence
about race to draw any
conclusions
d) different
or same, I still can't
stand them
13. Your new boss is a
hard nose sent from
another region. Also,
she's black. You
a) start checking Craigslist
b) think "about time!"
c) begin building a power base
d) wait and see
14. Your husband does not
understand you. Because
a) well, he's white
b) he's a man
c) he thinks he already does
d) you don't want him to
15. There are good shopping deals
in another part of town. But
you refuse to go because
a) you don't want to
hear
spanglish all day
b) most drivers
around there
never
had lessons and
don't
believe in
insurance
c) too many gangs
d) if something
happens
to
the car how will you
get
out?
16. You were finally
able to
buy a beautiful home
in an
exclusive
black
neighborhood.
But now
whites
are creeping in.
You
a) start a community
action group
b) flee
c) accept
d) initiate scare tactics
17. Gentrification has come to
your neighborhood. People
are being displaced left and
right. This is a clear case
of
a) racism
b) greed
c) progress
d) healthy capitalism
18. People working for lower than
minimum wage
a) are better off than they
were before
b) are actually fighting for
the right to do so
c) seem to be doing o.k.
d) should be grateful
they're employed at all
19. Illegal labor
a) contributes to a strong
economy
b) doesn't hurt real
Americans
c) helps the downtrodden
d) has made this country
what it is today
20. You've seen it more than
once. People come to this
country and right away they
get a job, a mortgage, or open
a business. All with
government help. This is
a) our system at its best
b) absolutely outrageous
c) crooked
d) just another way to keep
a brother down
21. Official response to the
devastation of hurricane
Katrina was and is
a) a case of bureaucratic ineptitude
b) being handled - takes
time
c) murder in the 2nd
d) a mirror image of us
22. I see myself (or I think I
see myself) first and
foremost as
a) a man
a woman
b) white
black
hispanic
asian
indian
other
c) a human being
d) an American
or other nationality
e) oppressed
f) wealthy
g) a job
classification
h) a sexual being
i) an immigrant
j) a political
party member
k) a gang member
l) a mother
father
m) a star
n) a member of a
religious group
o) a wife
husband
p) an
authority/power
figure
q)
an artist
r) a criminal
s) a
wage slave
t) free
u) a spiritual being
v) an addict
w) different
x) not in a category
y) not able to see
myself
z) without a label
23. Everyone knows that in the
sexual arena
a) the black man reigns
supreme
b) black women make men
out of boys
c) latins are the hottest
d) asians know a lot
