Racism? : Shaq and Smirnoff Ice

I knew I left something out! Black people are after the fair white girls, have enormous penises with which they can instill fear into the hearts of white women and men alike, they own the justice system, and they own the food industry:

 

Don't forget about...

"Do you like drinkin'? Well, if you're like me -
you like to get bit just as fast as possible!"

 

dang it - go here.

 

Ding, ding, ding, ding.................knockout!!!

 

The only thing rimbaud can knockout is his wife, as in putting her to sleep.


The point is, there is a double standard. Providing examples of one way racism doesn't disprove the existance of reverse racism.

 

I was called a "monkey" by a white preschooler when I was dropping my daughter off at school a couple of months ago. That's the truth and you can take that however you like. Rationalize it, whatever. But the result is that I wanted to take that child and toss him across the room. I know that that's harsh and it's not truly the kid's fault but that was my initial raw-emotions reacting. Not only could I not do that (of course) but I had to later explain to my daughter why he said what he said. (BTW, she no longer attends that school.) So don't come crying me a river about some double standard. If white guilt exists it's because it's justified, bottom line.

 

Exactly...I totally agree. Institutional racism is totally different than the individual racism many people deal with every day. Just because we live in a system dominated and run by whites that does not offer an entirely level playing field does not mean all whites are racist.

Our history of the United States has been perpetuated by racist policies until 60 or so years ago. Blacks weren't citizens, women couldn't vote, Blacks and Latinos couldn't vote, Asians weren't legal citizens... all were institutional policies in some form or another. We still live in an age where the generations where these policies exist are still alive.

To assume that this is because of "white guilt" is totally ignorant of the issues other races deal with daily. There is no need for whites to think of what it's like to live in a Black person's shoes, but I bet the thought has occured to many Black people. There is no worry of the Glass Ceiling, the thought of racial profilling when driving late at night, or the employees glaring and following you at a department store. These are all policies of institutional racism that are irrational and worse off, accepted by the majority of the American people.

Why should the Rap section of Warehouse be closely guarded when thefts can equally occur at Country? Why should poor neighborhoods be avoided in delivery routes even though places further are carried? It doesn't matter them if white people are also applied to these policies. The assumption/stereotype of that minority group has carries these policies and affects all races. When you think of "welfare handouts", what picture appears in your head? Hopefully white because the majority of the recipients are of that group.

For the people of this thread, your personal experiences of racism are not similar to the aggreived group if you have not been discriminated by an institution based on your race or creed. It's when people with bigoted thoughts act upon them in a position of power that is issue here. This is what seperates "a level playing field" and "Political Correctness" (which is a Republican coined term...).

 

I agree. But a single incident can skew one's perception. Being called a "monkey" by a 5 year old tends to make one question things. I don't believe that all whites are racist (paranoid) but I'm never surprised when someone does something and proves him/herself to be racist.

 

Not really related to the discussion at hand, but this is another instance where the perception is different between races. I've been around a good many small children and have noted that many of them call others "monkeys" regardless of who they are talking to. I've been called one by small children many times myself and thought nothing of it (why would I think anything of it. I'm pretty-well white). If that same child went up to you and said the same thing, you would at least wonder whether that child meant it in a racial context.

Granted, I wasn't there, so I'm not saying anything about your experience in particular (obviously, there could be issues of "tone" or other things said in the conversation that could leave you with no doubt that the term was being used in a racial way). I'm speaking in a very general way.

This is one of the reasons why many of the issues are going to continue to be so hard to overcome. Because of the history, things are often going to be read into situations whether those things are there or not. People's motives are not written on their faces. Like I said before, if I get bad service somewhere, I think the person who gave me bad service is just a jerk (or whatever). If I were black, the racial question would most certainly enter my mind. It has to because of the history (and the present, for that matter. I don't mean to imply that racism doesn't exist now).

I don't know what the answer is, of course. If I had the answers to everything, I'd be teaching theology in Paris.

 

Understood. But still..................

 

Yes, but still....

Thing is, there's a damn good chance that kid's parents taught him that black people were monkeys. And that's the point. Reverse discrimination is a problem, okay. A tiny one. But it's not near the problem plain old actual discrimination is. "Outrageous racial double standards" as t-loser used to like calling them are a drag too. But they're nothing compared to actual racism.

We still live in a country where most of the people in power (political, economical, etc.) grew up in, at best, a latently racist society. The equality that those of us who are in, say, our thirties or younger now strive for and believe in does not exist yet because those of us in our fifties or older grew up in a world with an entirely different, entirely less benevolent take on issues of race. And they're still pretty much in charge. Witness a Senate which very recently boasted Trent Lott as leader and still has basically no problem with both Lott and Robert Byrd serving as senior members.

This thread, as I understand it, was meant to discuss double standards with regard to racism. I maintain that the world continues to be so different for whites than for blacks that it is the height of pettiness for whites to seek out any perceived reverse racist behavior they can find to make themselves feel better about the fact that the playing field -- and worse, the working field, the learning field and the living field -- is still not level.

Things have progressed on this front and changed for the better not by people saying we're already equal, with equal opportunities, and burying their heads in the sand, but by people saying we are not yet equal but we're getting there through hard work and vigilange, by agreeing to keep working towards it and to oppose racism of all sorts, but especially that racism which meaningfully contributes to a less than equal society. I would be ever so much more likely to respect accusations of reverse discrimination from people who EVER, EVER, EVER cried foul about real racism. Ironically, we only hear about these "outrageous double standards" from people who willfully ignore true racism which continues to deny equal opportunity in this country. Worse, many of them (and many of you on this board) not only ignore true instances of racism, but are actually offended by the exposure of same. It really is pathetic.

By the way... Just curious... How many white folks here have, for example, had a taxi pass them up because they were white? Right. None. Still happens to black people today and every day. The playing field is not even. (Duh.)

For the record, for those who don't know, I am white. But I do not suffer from white guilt. Nor do I suffer from the defensive condition that many (mostly conservative) whites do when it comes to racism. I actually believe in equality and have since I was small, so I have no reason to feel guilty or defensive. I sometimes wonder what's afflicted people like Nomar to make them so defensive and spiteful on issues of race, and then I realize it's probably people older than them who instilled this us vs. them mentality. The trend is good, though. We shall overcome. All of us. Even the ones who still don't want to.