I'm always amused at white people, when there is some example of racism in the news, inevitably they say, "Oh no, it didn't have anything to do with racism," as if white people have enough insight and sensitivity to anyone's experience other than their own to be able to determine what’s racist or not. Racist behavior goes far beyond wearing a sheet and burning a cross. Racism is white people telling Black people that our experience is invalid because it doesn't coincide with their reality. Racism is the INCESSANT need for white people to tell Black people that things are not as bad as we make them out to be. Racism is the ever-present need white people have to suggest that the inequality that exists between blacks and whites today has NOTHING to do with the enslavement of our ancestors, the racism that this country was built on. If slavery had nothing to do with the psychological condition of Blacks today then all you are saying is that Black people are truly inferior and that is, by definition, RACIST.
The constant and infuriating comparison of slavery to other tragedies is racist. "Well Jews had the Holocaust and they don't behave like you blacks." Jews weren’t enslaved without human dignity for GENERATIONS. Every white person that throws that comparison out is actually saying, "See, Blacks behave the way they do because they are natural savages because Jews don't behave like that." The psychological devastation of enslavement for seven years is VASTLY different than the enslavement of an entire race for 250 years. "Well, look at Oprah/Condoleezza, she made it." Yes, Oprah did, and so did quite a few others of us but the obstacles she had to overcome were greater than any white person would have had to face. Condoleezza takes pride in distancing herself from her Blackness and she’s adopted the white man’s pathology more than any other Black woman I can think of. Their success doesn't mean that the playing field is equal for all Black people. It also doesn't mean that they didn't face racism every step of the way. Moreover, it doesn't mean that every black person has had the same opportunities as they did. Most importantly, it doesn't mean that the impact of slavery isn't long-term. The incessant need to deny the impact of OWNING human beings and subsequently denying them every right as a human being is, by definition, RACIST.
How many clichés can you quote? “Black people have BET, what would happen if white people had WET?” Every fucking channel is White Entertainment Television. Every fucking channel is run by white executives to please white viewers, with white racial biases abound. “I didn’t own any slaves; my family didn’t own any slaves.” No one’s family owned slaves according to white people. Moreover, white people didn’t benefit in any way from slavery today. In fact, every white person’s relatives came here during the depression and they had it just as bad as Blacks, worse even. They were able to make it because they worked hard. Blacks chose to be lazy and that’s why they didn’t prosper. That’s the reasoning of a racist. “I’m not racist, I __________ fill in the blank with a.) have black friends b.) I dated a black person in college or c.) am submissive to Blacks sexually.” Again, white people get to define what’s racist. Having Black friends and being attracted to Black genitalia doesn’t mean you’ve shed yourself from the racist beliefs that this country was built on.
Racism is insinuated into every single facet of our society. It takes effort to rid oneself of racist beliefs and I can assure you that anyone who says, “I’m not racist and follows it with justification of why they aren’t hasn’t done that work.
9 comments:
An all encompassing assessment of racism in our society. Very well told and very illuminating. Ironically a white person is more likely to consider a charge of racism coming from a white person that from a black person. That's how pathological racism can be. Post-racial my ass!!! The only people I hear talking about that are.... well you guessed it.
"Well Jews had the Holocaust and they don't behave like you blacks."
No, they turned around and created a state that has come to mimic far too many of the features of the state that tried to exterminate them. A Cautionary Tale if there ever was one.
Being victimized and oppressed, individually or collectively, causes long term damage. Period.
I am a tall educated white male from the middle class and can clearly see the advantages that such gives me, yet the madness of my own family has damaged me in ways that I, at nearly 58, am still working my way out from under.
So I categorize the 'there is no racism' meme the same way as the 'get over it' meme that has been laid upon me; as Ignorance and Denial. For most having to truly deal with either reality would require a type of self examination that is simply too uncomfortable.
"WET"...ha ha ha When they say Post Racial My Ass!! they aren't lying..
Seems to me you are as big a racist as those you accuse. As long as any of us continue to obsess on and point out the differences between peoples in a negative way... guess what? ... there will continue to be racists.
You either want to make the society homogeneous or you want it to be taken over by YOUR race. Guess which camp you clearly fall into.
You are the racist.
White people are TERRIFIED that Blacks are going to do to them what they have done to us. That's why they are so intent on holding on to the current racist structure. I've never heard a Black person say that they want to enslave a white person but what is the number one fantasy that white people express to me? They want to be enslaved to Blacks.
If you are so sure that white people cannot possibly understand what black people feel, what makes you so sure you can possibly understand what white people feel?
Dial it down a notch or two. You just sound angry.
Ever notice that the only tactic that white men have in their pathetic arsenal is to feebly attempt to denigrate anti racists by calling us angry?
What I find to be nothing less than amusing is the number of white men telling me that I “sound angry”. If I were to use excessive profanity, if I were to communicate in disjointed, illogical, poorly-constructed sentences, if I displayed some sort of hate speech or there was some sort of indication that I was single-minded or irrationally fixated on some perceived injustice, I would understand their claims. Simply calling me angry because I discuss racism is transparent and displays a mindset that is indicative of intolerant white people who try to silence people of color when we attempt to discuss a world view outside of their narrow, sheltered, very bigoted existence. Am I angry? Not at all. Do I hate ALL white men? No. Do I harbor some need to exact revenge and bring white men down? Not even a little bit. I believe myself to be inherently superior (not all the members of my race or gender) and carry myself accordingly. I’m not consumed with hatred, anger, or the need for payback. I am content, well-adjusted, and I rarely even get angry.
Many White Males are angry because we are all 'supposed to be Alpha', but most are actually only Beta. White Supremacy is therefore about giving those Beta Males a 'sense of racial superiority', as in "Well, at least I ain't no ******". You get the picture.
That helps the real Alphas of The Ruling Classes keep them in line. Of course, this is not a specifically White trait. It is used, and works perfectly well, with any set of groupings, the most universal of course being, "Well, at least I ain't no bitch."
As for the other issue, one of the first things I learned in my clinical training is that "sometimes anger is the correct behavioral choice."
Not that I'm 'giving you permission to be angry'. I may be Alpha, but I ain't no fool. *grin*
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