DO call out racist relatives. I did it and I don't regret it
there's a social contract, and if someone is being racist at your dinner table, they broke that contract first
to be more specific- my relatives were making jokes about as many races as they could (because they were on some weird rant about how political correctness is killing society) I tried to get them to stop politely, and it wasn't working.
And that's the thing. If you don't do anything, they think you secretly condone their behaviour and think it's ok. Eventually I walked out and flipped them the bird. It got the message across a lot better
-unfortunatley, the best I got after that was them shouting upstairs "sorry if you were offended!"
But at the very least, killing their buzz was satisfying. I wasn't even able to pretend I liked any of them at that point, since this obviously wasn't even the first incident. Flipping them off became the easiest thing in the world
(this all happened a while back, and I haven't interacted with those particular relatives since- but I thought I'd post about it in the lead-up to thanksgiving cause a lot of white people I know are still in the "don't cause a scene" phase)
@thewaether The crazy thing is that some people really think saying something back makes you the bad guy. Like nobody just randomly says racist things without reason. They are typically looking for a response of some kind whether that's agreement, a fight, or quiet obedience to the existing order of things. I refused to be bullied into silence. fuuuuuuuck that!
@thewaether I live in an area unfortunately overrun with ignorance and intolerance. So that’s the story of my life, not causing scenes. I know I’m in the minority so I’m quiet more than I should be. Sucks.
also, the only thing stopping me from doing it sooner was my parents (who are more liberal) telling me not to cause a scene.