Here is a test to see how blind you are to your own and society’s racism. It is meant for white Americans, but others can play along at home.
This is the first cut of the test, a work in progress. It is probably too easy. I am open to suggestions!
Which of these statements are racist? Assume a white person is speaking:
- All Americans, no matter where they came from, came here for a better life.
- I missed my stop and wound up lost in Harlem. But nothing bad happened. An old black lady even told me which train to take. She was so nice! (True story)
- Blacks would do better if their men were better fathers
- I don’t see you as black.
- You are not like other blacks.
- Blacks are unfairly favoured, whites make it on their own.
- If blacks had enough education and money their troubles would go away.
- Blacks cry racism for every little thing.
- If blacks can say the n-word, so should whites.
- Blacks would do better if they acted more like whites.
Evaluation:
Give yourself ten points for each right answer:
- All Americans, no matter where they came from, came here for a better life. Racist: Forgets that blacks are Americans too. Most blacks came in chains.
- I missed my stop and wound up lost in Harlem. But nothing bad happened. An old black lady even told me which train to take. She was so nice! Racist: Assumes blacks are more dangerous and unfriendly than they are.
- Blacks would do better if their men were better fathers. Not racist: It is as true for whites as for blacks.
- I don’t see you as black. Racist: Assumes being black is something terrible. When was the last time you said, “I don’t see you as freckled”?
- You are not like other blacks. Racist: Assumes most blacks are alike. When was the last time you said, “You are not like other whites”?
- Blacks are unfairly favoured, whites make it on their own. Racist: It is blind to the racism built into society, how whites are favoured by the courts, the police, the press, employers, the fashion industry, Hollywood, past American history, public schooling and all the rest.
- If blacks had enough education and money their troubles would go away. Racist: It is blind to the racism that middle-class blacks experience, like with the police.
- Blacks cry racism for every little thing. Racist: When blacks cry racism they are more likely to be right than most whites, who do not see it since they are the ones affected.
- If blacks can say the n-word, so should whites. Racist: The word is racist no matter who says it.
- Blacks would do better if they acted more like whites. Not racist: It is, unfortunately, a fact. The same is true for poor whites if by “acting white” you mean well-to-do whites, as most do.
Subtract your score from 100. That is how blind you are, where 100 means completely blind.
See also:
- Black People Love Us! – makes fun of how whites are blind to their own racism
- Rent a Negro – makes fun of the same
- stuff white people do – a blog which goes much deeper into these things. Note that this is not “Stuff White People Like”, which is about bottled water and Mos Def, but “Stuff White People Do“,which is about white racism and whiteness.
- damali ayo
- What white people should know
- colour-blind racism
- How whites misunderstand blackness
This post reminds me of this web site:
http://www.blackpeopleloveus.com/
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#1 LOL–you threw me for a loop hole on that one; it was kind of a trick question, so to speak…I didn’t realize it until I saw your explanation.
#4 This really depends on the situation and the person. I know some people use this phase as a cover when they really do see you as “black” and all the negative things people seem to attach to “black”, but sometimes it may be genuine. I have friends, who happen to be white. I have eyes and I can plainly see that they are white but by “see” in this case…it could be meant as transcending color/lack of color and recognizing you as a person more so than anything else. Before we are any race or gender, we are simply human. Yes, they are white– nothing will change that but when I look at them… their lack of color is of no concern to me. The only time it becomes painfully obvious is when someone wishes to point it out or looks strangely at us when are together.
#5 This made me think of something. It’s not just white people who say this. I have, on numerous occasions, had conversations with brothers and sister of Africa and the Caribbean, and most will tell me the exact same thing. It may have more to do with stereotypes than racism—or perhaps you can’t have one without the other.
#9 I’m glad you made this point. Unfortunately, there are so many African Americans(old and young) who use this word for each other, and either way one looks at it, it’s still negative even when said by us—truth be told, a lot of us don’t see it this way. I am not sure if this is out of habit or upbringing but it’s disgraceful all together. When great grandmamma and granddaddy were addressed as and subjected to “coon” “colored” “nigger” day in and day out; there’s absolutely nothing to take pride in with that word and just because you took the “er” off and gave it an “a” at then end, makes no difference. It’s like calling a stone a rock—it’s more or less the same thing.
#10–This is true but I am still not sure exactly how one successfully “acts” black or white. Maybe it is a technique that has to be mastered? We all have tendencies and different mannerisms; however, it all varies, especially in black people. Either way, whites in America tend to dislike anything remotely different from what they are use to or accept as proper–particularly when it comes to other people’s way of life. I think it’s a way of attempting to claim superiority. If I thought, or at least wanted to give the illusion, that I was somehow superior to you, I would uplift those things that I present and look down on those things you present—not because they are any better or worse than my own, but simply because they are yours.
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I live in Harlem. My father was born here. I drove across the country to live here. Specifically here. Many of us who were raised on Chuck D and KRS-ONE do not think like you say. We have been educated.
Please, at least, put the word “most” or ” A good Number of” before you use the word White.
Good point on # 1 though. However, a good number of people have gone through ALOT just to get into this country.
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Blanc2:
Black People Like Us – a very funny site, though people who do not understand that it is a spoof get upset.
Damali ayo’s Rent-a-Negro also makes fun of the blindness of white people to their own racism.
Stal:
That’s great, about Harlem. I would love to know how long you have been there and how it has affected your view of things.
indigoblu:
Great feedback!
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Didn’t really affect my view of things at all. I’m from Venice, CA – where everybody just IS – regardless of race. My High School was about 60 percent hispanic, 20 percent black, and the rest a mix of everything else.
I attended San Francisco State University, which was the birth place of the Black Studies programs in colleges across America.
While getting a degree in English, I felt I was getting only the European side of things, so I took a few Black Studies classes, and that led to more and more, until I received a minor in the subject.
I studied Carter Woodson, Eric Williams, Ivan Van Sertima, Cheikh Anta Diop, and many others under the director of Dr. James Todd III, Dr. Mary Hoover and Oba Tshaka.
I was there for the day the R. King verdict was announced, and marched with X Clan down Market Street. I lived in the Fillmore district there.
I have never felt comfortable being in a community where there is only one type of person, which is why I moved to Harlem 2 years ago. That, and my father was born here.
Harlem was, for a long time, a place where everybody could go and forget the divides that tore the country apart.
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all of the above.
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Thanks, Chic Noir.
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Stal: Filmore and Black Studies. Cool. But deep down you’re just a Venice guy?
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Wow – talk about generalizing and having a narrow point of view. Tell me one person who doesn’t love Venice CA. I was taught everyone was equal.
Guess you don’t like that. You are entitled to that.
Deep down, I’m just human – you appear to have some hang ups.
Deep down, what are you?
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I am very sorry. You must have misunderstood me or I did not express myself well. What I meant was did you mainly grow up in Venice, is that where you see yourself as being from. That was all. I am sorry for any misunderstanding.
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indigoblu: “You are not like other blacks” is based on racist stereotypes about black Americans. Coming from an African it could be racist too (black-on-black racism), but it could just be ethnic prejudice, the thing that ethnic jokes come from.
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Stal: I made my references to whites less absolute. That was a mistake on my part.
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That is true, Abagond, and I do think negative streotypes and racism go hand in hand because racism is based on an attempt to calim superiority anyway. That’s really the only way I can understand someone of similar skin tones and physical appearance being racist.
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“Blacks would do better if they acted more like whites. Not racist: It is, unfortunately, a fact.”
Why “unfortunately”? If “acting white” means industriousness, law-abidingness, respect for intellectual achievement etc., how is that a bad thing?
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Your website makes me ashamed to be black.
White people sterotype just like anyone else. With how often you use the word racist I would have guessed you would have looked it up, because the only thing this test proves is that people are PRE-judice. meaning the judge someone based on race/ or anything.
Racism is to hate a race(s) based soley on that race and NOTHING else.
Racist is the person who agrees to a bill or law or anything the prevents another race from the same rights, bans them from something or prevents them from getting something simply because of their race.
Racist is the person who does NOT tolerate someone because of their race, which isn’t much of an option since we all have to tolerate each other thanks to the Life in prison law that is enforced if you decide to go set your black, asian or white neighborhood on fire just because.
I suggest you take this blog down, and go look in a dictionary. Americans are prejudice and we sterotype non-stop, infact that was just a sterotype, we can’t stop if we wanted to, oh look another one.
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“Your website makes me ashamed to be black”.
“I suggest you take this blog down”
******************
Huh?? Are you serious?
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Do you see what his blog does?
I mean yeah sure you know like whatever you want, black or asian women and yes you do have the right to blog about what you want to.
But I’m sick of all these BW IR blog sites, I’m 17 years old and my boyfriend is Irish, I don’t go advertising my boyfriend to other black girls as if it’s some damn prize and I don’t want to and would never tolerate him saying anything nasty about a white woman or what he thinks of them, unlike most ‘grown’ black women I don’t get a small ego boost from every insult someone can come up with about white women. It just makes you come off bitter and nasty.
And I certainly don’t need my boyfriend talking about his own race as if he’s not apart of it. BLOG OWNER, if “white people” are blind to their racism, that includes you because you are white and white people applies to well, white people. I feel very badly for your wife to be honest.
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You know I’m sick of BW on the internet thinking it’s perfectly OK for white men or black women to have blogs like this, I mean wtf are you doing? advertising us black females as if we’re a prize above all other women? I don’t care what the racist shithead in the south says, WE are no different from you in any negative or positive way at all.
And to the BW that have blogs call “BW for WM” wtf are you doing? white men are men just like any other man from any other race, nothing more special or less special.
I’m sure if a black man made a blog like this saying how much he loved white or asian or hispanic women and how much better looking they were compared to black women that he’d have a ton of hate mail and BW pissed off. My brothers girlfriend is white yet my brother never puts down BW, he loves them obviously this is just the girl he’s with now, it upsets me that women twice his age seem to care who he is dating.
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nonserviam: About “acting white”:
1. What you said was such a stereotype, but indigoblu covered me on that one, not under this post but another one that I know you read.
2. I said “acting white” was a bad thing because whites have a very narrow idea of what it is to be human. To be acceptable to them means giving up who you are. It goes beyond the sensible things you listed, like doing well in school, to something very narrow.
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IluvYubin:
You say I do not like white women, but others say I like them too much. I cannot make everyone happy.
I do not like the sort of white beauty that Hollywood and the fashion industry pushes. It is ugly to me. There are men who like that sort of woman, I understand that and think that is fine, but the only reason such women are held so high is because of the beauty industry. It is as strange a sort of beauty as those African women with the big lip plates. I do not think I am being racist or white-woman-hating in saying that – just sensible. I think most men through most of time would agree with me, but I could be wrong.
I have a list of the ten most beautiful women in the world. Half of them are white! Number one on the list is a white woman, Sophia Loren. So, no, I am not holding up black women just to put down white women. I do like black women more, in general, they just look better to me, but there are beautiful women in every race and I know that. I am not blind.
Some posts that might interest you:
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2008/05/06/2007/06/19/white-women/
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You are not like other blacks.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this as if it were a compliment. My response is always “how are other blacks?”
If blacks can say the n-word, so should whites.
not racist because it is racist regardless of who it’s coming from
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Gorgeous: that last sentence does not make sense. Please explain.
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“2. I said “acting white” was a bad thing because whites have a very narrow idea of what it is to be human. To be acceptable to them means giving up who you are. It goes beyond the sensible things you listed, like doing well in school, to something very narrow.”
I beg to differ. If anything, whites have a greater tendency towards universalist thinking than other groups. It’s both a source of our civilizational strength and a potentially fatal weakness.
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Universalist, yes: just like the Muslims, they want to make the whole world over in their narrow image.
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Sorry, you can’t have white man’s toys without adopting his ways.
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I actually find a lot of the ANSWERS to be racist. And a lot of the questions have multiple answers. For instance….
“I don’t see you as black.” The answer says that is racist. I disagree. I would use that statement as in the context of “I don’t see color” I see you not as a black person but as a human being. I don’t care what color you are.
And the answer compares it to saying “I don’t see you as Italian American”. That’s a totally different thing. It said “black”, not “African American”. If it had said “African American” then I would see the analogy.
Italian, and African are not things you can physically see, so claiming you don’t see them implies that you don’t acknowledge that nationality. “Black” is a color that you CAN see. So when I say, “I don’t see you as black” I am not saying that I don’t acknowlege that you are black, I am just saying that it doesn’t mean anything to me.
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I see your point. A better counter-example, then, would be “I don’t see you as freckled”. By saying that you are making it seem as if there was something wrong with being freckled. Otherwise why bring it up?
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Surely the fact that you have created such a test, aimed it only at white Americans, and assumed that they are inherently racist, is in itself racist?
Are you not displaying your own bigotry and ignorance by creating the test?
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Yes, I am racist. So what? Does that mean most whites are not? Your comment was an ad hominem argument. It proves nothing.
A test for blacks would be different. I wrote one for whites because they are the ones who comment on my blog and show how blind they are to their own racism.
You might be interested in this post;
Your own comment is an example of #12 and #24.
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My comment was a little tongue cheek, my point is that everyone is racist. Humans naturally first notice and remember best other peoples most distinctive features, e.g skin colour. This is how we are able to recognise caricatures and descriptions. There is nothing wrong with that, nor is there anything wrong with judging them for it.
We are also tribal creatures and will always gravitate toward those that act and look like us. Again there is nothing wrong with that.
We can’t unlearn thousands of years of evolution, despite what certain people claim, the same people that use racism as a tool to breed guilt.
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lol, its sad, but my mom has told me before “i dont see you or your sister as black”.
me and my sis are both biracial, my mom is black.
and yeah, our dads did abandon us….so the whole thing about black men walking out is pretty true.
and i do agree, blacks should assimilate into white culture…if we are exactly like whites then they cant hate us without hating themselves.
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i mean my mom has actually said she considers me and my sister white.
i think she is kinda cuckoo since no white would ever see a black or biracial as white.
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i mean my mom is white. not black.
sorry.
i have a white mom. and a black dad. i dont know my dad though.
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Those are all racist.
Simple as that.
😐
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youve also complained about white people seeing each other as just people, no racial modifier, and no one else, and thats racist, but then when we DO see you as just a person, instead of a black person, thats racist too! make up your mind!
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Here’s my racism test: If you whine about how other “races” are the reason that your race hasn’t accomplished much, and write an insane blog about how “whites” are blind to their racism, and come up with an idiotic racism test; then you are a racist.
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One question #3 I assumed it to be a blanket statement that all black men were bad fathers. (And thus I thought it was racist of course) I dunno if affects anything on the test but…
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