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Kathryn, I have seen many threads over time here where you discuss your biracial children. And the way you characterize their experiences with other "black" people. You often mention, while your children are perceived as "black" they do not act like "regular black people," highlight the "differences" between your kids and other black folks.
Since for me, the definition of racism implies power, it is technically impossible for black people in the US to be "racist." But we can absolutely be prejudiced, bigoted or biased.
I am not racist, but I definitely have biases. I am working on being conscious of them. I know I can be classist, as my lens of experience is framed by growing up middle class. I am also slightly xenophobic. We are talking about racial biases here, but I know I also struggle with "gender non-conformity." I am also very very aware of colorism, as I am at the darker end of the spectrum.
I also tend to stereotype people, and put them in a box. My boxes include characteristics beyond race, ethnicity, class and education and roll in hometown, clothing style and a host of other things.
I am a product of our society, and we are trained to be biased. For me, the best course of action is to be aware when I am thinking in a biased way and try to counteract that. It is not wrong to have bias, it is human nature, being aware of it is half the battle.
So how are black propel supposed to act. Most of the ones I know and grew up with are outraged by this thug behavior and embarrassed by it. The ones I know also support the police. Kind of funny a lot of them have been pulled over numerous times and the worst they have ever gotten was a DUI or a ticket. None of them felt profiled or harassed. They did not resist arrest and took blame for their actions.
I'm actually having a fine evening though. I kidnapped the littlest of my multiracial grandbabies, and we went to get ice cream, and then to see my lily white elderly parents (who adore this beautiful child who is AA, white, and Latino among other things), who gave her a bevy of little presents that they'd picked up at a yard sale recently, and then she and I went to the supermercado and bought a big, juicy papaya and some Klass lime/chili powder for a late night snack. I took her to the bookstore where she chose a Winnie the Pooh book and I'm about to read it to her and then let her get good and sticky eating that papaya before taking a long bubble bath in MiMi's big tub.
It's all good!
I am Jewish of Syrian and German decent and I have sand colored skin but I get along with sensible people of all races and religions. I don't see myself as any different than anybody else. The media and certain special interest group want to make Americans believe we are really different especially black and white people, while cultures differ and certain races and regions have their differences we basically are more similar than different. Everyone regardless of their race or religion wants to be loved by friends and family and make a better life for themselves and their children.
I am Jewish of Syrian and German decent and I have sand colored skin but I get along with sensible people of all races and religions. I don't see myself as any different than anybody else. The media and certain special interest group want to make Americans believe we are really different especially black and white people, while cultures differ and certain races and regions have their differences we basically are more similar than different. Everyone regardless of their race or religion wants to be loved by friends and family and make a better life for themselves and their children.
Right on. I love getting to know more about my son in law's Panamanian heritage, and his cultural ties to Miami and the northeast, but at the end of the day, he's much more like my black and white Southern family than he is different from them.
And all those little grandkids --with their wide range of coloring and their even wider range of talents and interests still all just love to come to MiMi's house where we always cook something together, and they always get to go get a treat (usually ice cream or a snow cone), and they always get to go to the bookstore and pick out a book, and then take a bath in MiMi's giant tub with the jets and then (the coup de gras) they get to crawl into MiMi's gigantic bed with all the pillows and MiMi sings ancient Scottish and English songs to them - just like she did with their own parents, and just like her parents did with her...and their parents before them...
And they'd love it just as much if the songs were in Spanish...or Korean...
People thrive where there's love and they languish, flounder, and often smolder where there's not love.
I challenge you to find one post - ONE POST - where I say my biracial kids do not "act like regular black people." Pu-LEASE.
And you just lost every bit of credibility with me when you asserted that it is "technically impossible for black people in the US to be racist." The definition of racism does not include any reference to "power."
Your definition talks about a superiority complex. Like I said, it is almost impossible for black people in America to get a superiority complex over any group. Watch how we are portrayed in the news.
I've quoted wikipedia here, as my understanding of how racism works changed after learning more about the sociological impact of racism, which shifted my perception to include power as a key requirement to be racist. Without power, prejudice is basically opinion.
In sociology and psychology, some definitions include only consciously malignant forms of discrimination.[4][5] Some definitions of racism also include discriminatory behaviors and beliefs based on cultural, national, ethnic, caste, or religious stereotypes.[2][6] One view holds that racism is best understood as 'prejudice plus power' because without the support of political or economic power, prejudice would not be able to manifest as a pervasive cultural, institutional or social phenomenon.
So how are black propel supposed to act. Most of the ones I know and grew up with are outraged by this thug behavior and embarrassed by it. The ones I know also support the police. Kind of funny a lot of them have been pulled over numerous times and the worst they have ever gotten was a DUI or a ticket. None of them felt profiled or harassed. They did not resist arrest and took blame for their actions.
There is no one way black people are supposed to act. We don't have hive mind. There are all sorts of black people with all sorts of believes. Unfortunately, in my experience I have met way more than enough people, because of their own stereotypes, have a very limited view of what black people do and act like.
I've been pulled over for speeding tickets and not had an issue. I have some other friends, who are skinny soft-spoken guys, have much worse experiences. A friend of mine came home from work one day and the police pulled a gun on him because he "matched the description" and didn't believe he lived in the mostly white/asian neighborhood. He showed his ID and they let him go. He later saw the description and the perp was 50 pounds heavier and several inches taller than he was.
I have personally only experienced more subtle forms of racism, and haven't had a bad experience with police officers. I even know a few in my extended circles.
Your definition talks about a superiority complex. Like I said, it is almost impossible for black people in America to get a superiority complex over any group. Watch how we are portrayed in the news.
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Sorry - you'll have to peddle these wares elsewhere.
When anyone ASSUMES someone is "racist," or "prejudiced," or whatever you want to call it, based on the color of the other person's skin, or their socioeconomic class, or their neighborhood, or (fill in the blank), it's from a place of superiority internally. It's the classic blind spot, the classic irony. Inevitably, the one who is flinging the accusation can't see their own racism or prejudice. They can't see the log in their own eye because they're too busy focusing on the splinter in someone else's eye.
Look how Texans are portrayed on the news. Do you think that keeps Texans from having healthy self esteem, or for that matter, a superiority complex?
Look how Southerners in general are portrayed on the news - and hey, we STILL know our food is the best in the nation. I don't know any southerners or Texans (of any color) who are struggling with some sort of inferiority complex just because they're negatively portrayed by the media on a regular basis.
And sorry, but from where I live, I see plenty of white trash making the nightly news. That doesn't make me feel inferior. Those people are not singing the song of my people. They are not my peers. I don't know why on earth law abiding, responsible African American people would feel that someone like Christian Taylor or Michael Brown would be THEIR peer just because the color of their skin might be similar.
I want us to investigate every police shooting where the victim is unarmed. Why must every altercation include the use of a gun? We clearly need better training.
I am not at all supporting the high number of police shootings, but how would a cop know the perpetrator is unarmed? If someone is acting in a violent, aggressive manner, he/she is a danger to society and isn't just doing "dumb things" a description Christian Taylor's father used. I realize he's a grieving parent, but there's a huge difference between a college student who gets drunk and moons people and one who drives his vehicle through the glass doors of an automobile dealership. The video shows Taylor smashing his fist down on a car windshield, walking on the hood and then kicking the windshield. Then the video shows him entering the car through the broken windshield. How can anyone call this a dumb teenage prank?
And sorry, but from where I live, I see plenty of white trash making the nightly news. That doesn't make me feel inferior. Those people are not singing the song of my people. They are not my peers. I don't know why on earth law abiding, responsible African American people would feel that someone like Christian Taylor or Michael Brown would be THEIR peer just because the color of their skin might be similar.
But guess what, when you walk into where ever, and you encounter they wrong person, they don't make the distinction. They don't ask you questions about where you are from, your education level or whatever. They decide you are another [insert whoever the current bad black person is].
My self-esteem is perfectly healthy, but I don't get to be judged on only my individual merit in real life all the time. I am still expected to represent "the blacks" no matter where I go.
I am not at all supporting the high number of police shootings, but how would a cop know the perpetrator is unarmed? If someone is acting in a violent, aggressive manner, he/she is a danger to society and isn't just doing "dumb things" a description Christian Taylor's father used. I realize he's a grieving parent, but there's a huge difference between a college student who gets drunk and moons people and one who drives his vehicle through the glass doors of an automobile dealership. The video shows Taylor smashing his fist down on a car windshield, walking on the hood and then kicking the windshield. Then the video shows him entering the car through the broken windshield. How can anyone call this a dumb teenage prank?
Yes, this is more than a prank.
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I don't know any southerners or Texans (of any color) who are struggling with some sort of inferiority complex just because they're negatively portrayed by the media on a regular basis.
