If I call you racist it does not mean I think you belong to the Klan or use the n-word or hate black people. It does not mean I think you are evil. It does not mean I am trying to pick a fight. But it does mean you just said something that seemed racist. Maybe I am wrong, maybe I am right. All I am asking is that you stop for a minute and seriously consider that it might be true.
Instead of getting angry at me, calling me names or downplay what I said, you should try to understand and see why someone might think what you said was racist; try to seriously understand where I am coming from.
I know “racist” is an extremely loaded word, but that is not the fault of the word itself but of its history in White America. I am trying to use it in a friendly way to point out a mistake. To me racism is not the sign of an evil heart or a bad character, but an ism, a set of beliefs, like communism, which can and does lead to evil acts.
If racism is ever to wither away in America, then “racist” will have to stop being a dirty word.
It became a dirty word among White Americans in the 1970s. But that meant whites stopped admitting to being racist, stopped talking about racism, at least in public in mixed company, and so all the great and wonderful progress in race relations America made in the 1960s came almost to a complete stop.
I do not see it as a dirty word but just a description, like “tall” or “blue”. If people cannot be informed about when they are being racist, then little will change. Like doing Aids education in a country that does not talk openly about sex.
Some people say that racism is prejudice with the power to back it up. I call that institutional racism. To see racism in such a narrow sense gets blacks off the hook (they do not have enough power) and most whites too (most of them are almost as powerless). I do not see it as an useful way of looking at the word.
But if it helps you to say, “By ‘racist’ Abagond means ‘prejudiced'”, then go for it. From that point of view, then, when I call you racist, I mean you are being prejudiced – you are seeing things in a way that favour your own race.
Seeing things in a way that favour your own race is pretty natural. It does not mean you are evil or something. It is just the way you were brought up. And if you grew up in America or spent a good number of years there racist thinking is nearly impossible to escape. Because of that I do not regard it as a moral failing.
And, yes, I am racist too.
Just so you know.
See also:
I agree with you abagond.
I have a slight favor to ask. Have you ever heard of Kola Boof? She has lead an interesting life and I would love to see you write a blog on her.
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Sure thing.
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Evil is usually considered cooler than racist. I am pretty sure Satanists get laid more often than evangelicals. (aside from say Jim Bakker and people who rent..)
Then of course.. there are Dr. Evil and Evel Knievel. (pronounced like evil…)
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Thank you Abagond
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You hit the nail on the head.
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Sounds like you just want to strip all meaning from the word so you can throw it around casually. I notice that you never bother to point it out when a poster makes a generalization (even a very broad and negative one) about “white people”, but anyone who says anything that could potentially be construed as negative (or even different) about black people is immediately labeled racist.
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Well, no. It is curious how you and mike project your own hang-ups onto me. It seems that it is you who want to make the word “racist” meaningless by applying it to ANY general statement about whites.
You are doing two things that whites often do on this blog and elsewhere:
First, you assume that racism is a 50-50 thing where there is equal blame on both sides. This overlooks the fact that power in American society is more like a 95-5 thing favouring whites – even with Obama at the top (he is only a president, not a king). If you look at it as a 50-50 thing, as you seem to, then yes, I would seem to be unfair.
The second thing you seem to be doing that white people often do is thinking you can win the argument by calling me a racist. I am a racist. How many times do I have to say it? What, am I some saint? Hardly.
Not that I am excusing that behaviour or saying it is right. Hardly. But instead of making general statements about my racism it would be more helpful, to me and everyone, if you point out particular cases where I unfairly favour one race over another. Like if I let a racist statement by a black person slide on by, as you said I do, then call me on it – not in general as you just did, but in a particular case.
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oh dear where did my post go? ok il try again. Most white people don’t even know the definition of institutional racism, it is where they are racist and don’t even know it. For example a white couple may say that they have a black friend at work and that they just luuuuuv Bob Marley, however, if their daughter walked in to their house with a black man, it would be world war three on steroids.
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lol
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“For example a white couple may say that they have a black friend at work and that they just luuuuuv Bob Marley, however, if their daughter walked in to their house with a black man, it would be world war three on steroids.”
@ aggrivator
Good point here, “world war 3 on steroids” sounds like a bit much though. I wonder if you or anyone here has experienced something like this and wouldn’t mind giving a realistic account of what actually happened when a WP brought you home to meet mom and dad. And how much their reaction conflicted with how racist the parents saw themselves beforehand.
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To most whites it seems that being called a racist is worse than being called an AntiChrist.
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I wonder if you or anyone here has experienced something like this and wouldn’t mind giving a realistic account of what actually happened when a WP brought you home to meet mom and dad.
I cant talk specifically about this particular experience however, I am all too aware of the ‘my parents would hate it if I brought home a black man’ fear.
I have to say, that it was usually not without a small amount of pride that this was said but oddly when I countered this by saying the same, they used to be affronted by the fact that my family could potentially have this standpoint and I have to say most often had the affect of them getting offended (which was my aim at that time). There was no truth in it on my part, but it used to bug me so and this was my way of getting back at them. Immature I guess but its hard to articulate things in a way that is understood when you are a child.
I had one particular friend who would always worry when a group of boys we used to go round with came knocking at the door. One of the boys was black and she used to say ‘my dad will go mad’, but strangely, the older sister was genuinely mystified by her reaction and could not understand why my ‘friend’ would think this. When I used to press her about it and remind her that I am black and was welcomed in the house by her dad she used to say ‘yeah but thats different’ and no matter how much I persisted and asked her to explain herself she never came up with anything that suggested that this was the case, nor did I ever hear her father get up in arms about it either.
I can say that the majority of girls who were ‘concerned’ about parental reaction when I was young (we’re only taking about less than the number that can be counted on one or two hands) ended up ‘disappointing’ their parents and going with either black, or in a couple of cases Asian guys.
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“To most whites it seems that being called a racist is worse than being called an AntiChrist.
We spent a lot of time and effort villainizing racism in this country so, I don’t know what kind of reaction you are expecting really. I mean abagond’s example where the WP in question would…
“try to understand and see why someone might think what you said was racist; try to seriously understand where I am coming from.”
Is idealistic and there isn’t much precedent for this kind of exchange in the real world. People tend to become defensive when accused. That’s across the board for everyone of any race/gender etc. So what you’re doing here is expecting WP to behave in a remarkably transcendant way. I mean if a person has reached such a stage of enlightenment that they could respond to a charge of racism in such a way, they wouldn’t have made an offensive comment in the first place. So, you aren’t likely to ever experience this kind of response anywhere besides the blogosphere.
I don’t see how we can talk about how terrible racism is on one hand and then expect WP to not react as if they have been called terrible when you call them racist. The only way WP are going to act like it’s no big deal is if they think racism itself is no big deal. Which…..we don’t want? I assume?
I understand why you want the reaction you want, why you should get it, and why these kind of typical white responses are like adding insult to injury.
I just don’t see how you could possibly expect anything else.
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I was recently on a conference call with an office manager (same company, separate location) and an HR consultant (contracted to our company). I was the taking the meeting minutes, both by hand and with a dictation machine, so what I will quote below is verbatim. The office manager was asking a few questions about employee relations and the poor inter-office communication our company has been dealing with for the past 5 years. The office manager asked, per the request of one of the engineers, what would define a ‘hostile work environment. The HR contractor said: “I don’t want to go there, because I would need to open up a huge investigation and bring in a lot of outside people. If you guys don’t want your dirty laundry aired in the local business journal, then I’d suggest that you keep it to yourselves.” Without further questions or prompting, she also added: “Also, don’t talk to me about any accusations any form of discrimination, especially if someone tries to play the RACE card – I, personally, don’t believe that it exists, and I refuse to believe that we live in a racially conscious, race-based society – people of the same race hate each other all the time, so if a person dislikes another, it has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with what color they are!!” The look on the office manager’s face was indescribable. I just kept taking notes without batting an eye. I wonder, though, how fair and unbiased can an HR person be if they refuse to deal with the reality of the times? It must be nice to ignore things that happen in the real world, even if those realities are a part of your line of work! I guess some people have the luxury to live in their own worlds – then again, some of those people can be seen on the streets in most large cities, screaming at telephone poles and rummaging through rubbish bins…
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