Board Thread:News and Announcements/@comment-6493589-20150619172544/@comment-226878-20150627020217

@Guy: Perhaps not, but what I'm saying is that even the few characters we know to be against this kind of treatment, RWBY and JNPR, didn't stand up for Velvet although they could clearly see this was not some playful display. They KNEW she was being mistreated but refused to do anything about it. Words are empty. Actions speak volumes. Blake has her reasons for not doing anything. She doesn't want to draw attention to herself or what she is. Pyrrha, meanwhile, comes off as a holier-than-thou hypocrite. The point is, and always shall be, Velvet sees no proof of support anywhere. Her own teammates are not even present in the cafeteria. Those are the only ones she knows to have her back if only because they have to. There are no viable witnesses here if Velvet throws the first punch, no matter what she says or does to warn CRDL beforehand. Have you seen 42? Do you remember the manager telling Jackie Robinson not to fight back because the racists will always deny he was provoked? There's no point to having witnesses if the person being bullied believes people will just turn a blind eye. Velvet is not weak. In her mind, she's being sensible. She can't risk expulsion based on a bunch of noobs mistreating her. The situation likely would have been different if her team had been there, just like a few moments when Jackie's team wanted to fight back FOR him.

LiveandSound wrote:

Her "racist" comments are not even racist, they are directed at the White Fang. Problem is, she generalized, so it seemed like she was referring to the Faunus as a whole in those comments (and probably was). And thanks to all the Faunus in her life so far having been WF members (Blake sort-of included), her view of the Faunus = her view of the WF. It's perfectly normal, it happens to many in RL.

Biased personal experience is no excuse for pigeon-holing an entire culture as deviant riffraff. Normal has nothing to do with it. Like it or not, her behavior was racist. Note she also said nothing when Velvet was being bullied (and, in fact, went right back to examining her perfect fingernails). As for there not being discrimination in RWBY: CRDL and Roman's behavior is enough out-and-out discrimination to show it exists. Most discrimination is subtle, unspoken, inherent... it's not always about deliberately being unfair to people, hurting them, etc.

The White Fang would have no reason to exist if there wasn't discrimination in the world. Just because it is not as "pronounced" in Vale, doesn't mean it is absent.