Ok, I know most of you are sick of racism talk right now on Xanga, and want it to go away. The writings I've seen so far being upset about racism have tended to come from minorities themselves. (I'm sure some white men also wrote, but I haven't seen any yet). But as a member of what's supposed to be the most privileged class (Caucasian male), I wanted to add my voice to this discussion. No, we can NOT stop speaking about racism and the evil it brings on our culture. Here's just a few reasons why:
1. Racism is the only type of group-based preferential treatment that has no basis in reason. Hear me out on this. Gender, religion, and/or sexual preference differences are somewhat based in reality. For example, the average man IS taller than the average woman, the average woman IS better at certain cognition/physical skills than the average man and worse at others than the average man. So certain types of discrimination do indeed make sense (for one, I have issues with women being front-line troops in combat situations), although many do not. However, race discrimination is much more arbitrary; just because, say, the black kids in your neighborhood like to play basketball does not mean that all black kids everywhere like basketball. It's not a genetic part of them.
In addition, religious discrimination is based on something you chose to believe, so you can't say it was imposed on you completely against your will. However, one's race cannot be changed, and so a person cannot help their skin color. Race-based preferential treatment lacks foundation in facts (or even weak rationalization) more often than the other categories do.
2. Racism destroys the hope and heart of our non-white friends.
I watched a new black/Hispanic acquaintance of mine cry the other day as she talked about how she had to quit her job. Racism played a part in that--how large or small is hard to prove, but it was definitely involved. She was crying and talking openly about taking her own life. I have other minority friends who have become so obsessed with finding racist acts, so angry about the discrimination they face, that they themselves have become hateful at racists and can no longer enjoy life as they should. And ask some of, say, the Asian Xangans on how their workplace seems to only promote Asians to a certain level, and then stop. Let's not think that racism only affects people far far away--if it hasn't affected your friends, you probably don't have enough non-white friends.
3. Racism is a temptation for EVERY ONE of us.
Don't think that just because you like black people it makes you not a racist, or just because you are a minority yourself, you get special permission to dislike other races. Too many people oversimplify racism. I've debated whether to share this or not, but I will. I went through a time in my life where I was surrounded by some rather unfriendly Asian people with whom I was competing in the workplace. As a result, I struggled hard against disliking Asian people for about a year, because I disliked the ones I knew. Sure, my issues with hate were hidden from other people, but I knew that deep in my heart, if I wanted to, I could make a place for racism. It was a sobering experience. I'm pleased to report that today many of those people are my friends. But it was a tough experience, and I don't like recalling it.
4. No one is truly safe from racism in the end.
I'm an American white male, as I said in the beginning. You'd think I never experienced any discrimination, right? But no, I grew up as the son of Greek immigrants who had different ideas about religion than many of their peers. When I went to school, especially at first, the kids definitely did not like the way I had different thoughts and ideas on events. (I also was a massive nerd, which didn't help matters any). I think My Big Fat Greek Wedding portrays this well in the opening part--if you're bringing weird food to lunch while everyone else brings peanut-butter sandwiches, the kids often will mock you instead of being intrigued by the differences. It's just how kids are.
And racism crops up in other ways as well. Are you a Southern white male? Go to New York with your accent and work in finance--and see if people don't think you might be dumber than them because you have a Southern accent. I could give a lot of similar examples--go to a Spanish restuarant, mess up the pronunciation, and hear the workers mock you in Spanish, for example. Don't think that because you're safe right now, you'll never face racism.
This was not very polished, but I felt it was critical to weigh in on this topic. EDIT Some other time I'll touch on the other side of racism, which John puts well here:
http://weblog.xanga.com/john/669101364/tolerance-for-intolerance.html If we become too obsessed with hating racists or finding racism, we join them in hate. That's why I usually don't say anything about race on here.
Comments (31)
An excellent and thoughtful post.
And with that, I'm going to stop talking, reading, and writing about racism for a time and get on with planning a Sunday dinner.
Cheers!
I'm not sick of racism on xanga, so much I'm sick of it in LIFE.
I like your racist entry best so far
what is this?
a post from a white male that's not trying to defend white males?
good post.
1. Racism is the only type of group-based preferential treatment that has no basis in reason.
What about nationalism? I'm not even a fullblooded Irish or Scott and I keep catching myself hating English people for no good reason. Sure, some of them ravaged my ancestors land a long tiem ago, but is that really justification?
And, on number 5, I was mocked in New York for my accent and I've been insulted throughout life for being "ginger".
Oh well.
1. I disagree with a couple of points here. I'm in the army, and I think that barring women from combat arms is obsolete. That's a tangent, though, so it's going on the back burner.
Secondly, there are some diffences between races of consequence, but they all have to do with vulnerablity to certain diseases and medical conditions, so only insurance adjusters may be racist.
2. How many minority friends are enough?
3. There are black sheep in every conceivable group. I can't imagine what people would think of us if they judged caucasian males by the lowest common denominator...
4. Everyone is weird somehow. I certainly was (though I'm in denial about being weird now).
Having an accent isn't a racial issue; it's regional.
I'm not sure why I felt compelled to make a bulleted list of comments, but I generally agree with you.
The lack of oxgen cut off blood flow to my brain
I seriously thought no one read my xanga gee thanks for embarassing me! 
@Dare2BDiferentt - Same here.
I think my blog is set to be pretty privatized. I don't want much attention from the general public, but I don't want to be blocked off from meeting new people.
@Rejected_Stone - That makes sense, I understand. I try not to recommend people who I think would be bothered by it or whose privacy would be invaded.
2. unbelievably true, Asians seem to receive promotion even when other peers are doing the same amount or sometimes more work, but eventually hit the glass ceiling. My aunt who is a civil accountant, says at her job, although she outperformed the Chinese girl in her office terms of efficiency and knowledgability, the Chinese woman was still promoted, regardless of the fact that the Chinese girl would complain about work at work everyday, where my aunt would shrug her shoulders and say the work was all 'no big deal'.
4. So true. Nobody is safe of thinking this way one day or another. The human mind likes to generalize, to make things easier to sort and thereby make things easier to explain.
so of course, racism will play a part in that, whether consciously or unconsciously.
I went to a local Mexican place recently, and I ordered plate #8.
After the girl handed me my plate she turned to her friend and began gossipping in Spanish, that some white guy had pronounced it "tor-tilla" instead of "torteeya"
and "burr-ito" instead of "boo-rito".
We all make a choice about how we will make ourselves feel "big".
For the rich white boy from Beverly Hills, maybe he'll buy a hummer and drive through a 'shitty' town like Van Nuys, populated mostly with Mexicans, to see the looks on people's faces.
For the girl who has to work in a burrito-place the rest of her life, maybe she will say "tor-tilla" and laugh with her friend about how she knows something the white guy doesn't know, how to pronounce a double "L".
c'est la vie.
Normally I would write a long comment, but I've been short on words lately.
Just that you put into words what I could not explain.
If someone makes fun of the way you say something... is that necessarily racist?
A comment here sends out bad vibes -_-
interesting.
i think a lot of racism comes from what you hear and see - especially for students because they tend to be much younger and much more impressionable - they absorb whatever it is they see and hear and sometimes parrot the information right back regardless of what they think.
@another_rebel_without_a_cause - I think sometimes we forget that racism does indeed have a lot of nationalistic/tribal roots, good point. People perceive those who look like them to be part of their "family" and treat those who do not look like them as strangers or others.
@grammarboy - Yeah, I know, the women-in-combat issue is touchy. But look at, say, the Israeli experience with women in combat--they tried it, but dropped it in the end. (I forget all the exact rationale behind their decision). In answer to 2., look at 5--if all your friends are part of the dominant social class, then I think you are probably not reaching out to people beneath you enough. In answer to the accent--racism isn't just strictly color-based, there are regional and nationalistic elements to it too. But I don't think "geographist" has the same ring as "racist", ha.
@unbirthdaygirl - Thanks for taking the time to write a detailed comment.
@tequila_sky - Read the example again. It's one thing to tease someone for their voice or accent. It's another thing to say "Because you have a Southern accent, you must be stupid." Get the difference?
Oh, good post. I just had a conversation the other day about my aunt and uncle who are prejudice against black people.....keep in mind that my entire family on my moms side (with the exception of my grandfather, grandmother, and my aunts and uncles) were killed in concentration camps. I firmly believe this is because of the neighborhood they live in. They have taken the interactions from this town and applied it to all black people. For them it is a sign of not being educated. However, how they could be hateful against someone else because of their race when that is the exact same reason why we never met the older generations in my family is beyond me.
By the way, I agree with women not being in combat. Women deserve equal rights in civilized society, but war is never civilized. It has different rules, different boundaries. My boyfriend, who is a marine, and I have had this conversation many times and the fact is that very few women can adequately defend themselves against a man. It's just nature. Do I think women should be a part of the military? Absolutely, women can contribute in many many ways. But being a soldier in combat is not about being fair. It is about successfully completing the missions assigned to you. You never want to put someone in combat with you that would risk the lives of those around them. I'm not saying a woman is more likely to mess up, I'm saying the evil forces may focus on her if they find out she is a woman. This could go on and on but you get my point.
I am referring to when you said you go to a restaurant and mess up the pronunciation. Is *that* necessarily racist that they mock the way you said it?Â
@tequila_sky - In the context I am thinking of (I am thinking of a particular story), I believe it was. They were mocking the girl because she could not speak the language as well as they could (even though it was not her native tongue) and calling her stupid. But since when does speaking a particular language well judge intelligence? I'm sure Swedish people would think me ignorant because I cannot speak Swedish well, for example. I have Greek relatives who cannot speak English but are very smart; it's not very polite when people speak to them loudly in English as if that will help them understand.
I never thought that when people made fun of me because of the way I said a particular word was racist, I thought it was rude or hilarious but not racist . I also have that happen to me, when people speak either s-l-o-w-l-y or LOUDLY lol I never gave it much thought. I don't necessarily think its racist except when they mock you and do it in a certain way, like *evil*
My granddad once traveled to Europe and he would speak to people in Spanish so loud so they could ''understand'' I don't know lol I swear as if they could suddenly understand a new language just because he willed them to. But that was cute. I don't really think he meant anything honestly, he just wanted to be understood and understand others. I think at times we read too much into something which isn't about race. My opinion :/
Other than that I pretty much agree with everything you wrote in your post. :) Nice job.
Thanks John! Things are good, still just adjusting to the new work environment :) Hope things are well for you also!
I agree with your post, but don't you think you might be preaching to the choir here?
I'm not being silly here...but I'm really confused about what you believe here.
Even the title confused me. Do you mean "Why we MUST not stop stalking about racism" or do you mean "Why we have no ability to stop talking about racism"?
What do you mean by "preferential treatment"...particularly that based on race. Are you saying that Affirmative Action policies lack reason? Or are you saying that AA policies have more merit than other preferential treatment because its based on something that can't actually be changed.
Like I said...I'm really not trying to be difficult, I'm just looking for clarification, because I don't feel I could enter the discussion without having a clear understanding of what is being asserted.
@wisewoman83 - A fair point, Amy, but look at my own post, point 3--I myself had to struggle with racist feelings at one point, so I suspect that many others have too, even if they seem above such failings. To expand on my original thoughts, I'm surprised at how Americans can consistently be impolite and/or hateful to the strangers in their midst, especially if that stranger is from another part of the world or has different skin tones. We talk a good game, but we don't live one. Being of Greek descent, hospitality is huge to us, and I'm firmly annoyed at how dense Americans are on this subject. You know me in real life--I'm not much of an entertainer. However, I've started inviting people for lunch or to come over just because no one else in the groups I belong to will take initiative!
I spent a weekend visiting churches and sports arenas, and I felt consistently ignored. It made me more sure than ever that we still need to talk about how the Bible's commands to entertain strangers and look after the poor should lead us to be staunchly anti-racist. (That and we are all one-in-Christ). That was a point I didn't make above, but it's one I should have added.
@thepurpleporpoise@revelife - The title is a take-off on MLK's famous book "Why we can't wait." I'm making the point that many well-meaning white folks are trying to say that we don't need to talk about racism anymore, that "We can stop talking about it." My title, in contrast, says "NO!, we must keep talking about it!"
Wow, when I say "preferential treatment" the first thing you thought of was AA? Really?! Porpoise, I would think the many ways minorities are discriminated against would be far more noteworthy than the one area where they do receive preferential treatment. What I was thinking of is how many whites get better treatment than non-whites in business, school, life, etc, even if they don't deserve it by their actions. As I said, the topic was written in a rough way, but I don't think it's that tough to understand.