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“It took me a long time, and a number of people talking to me through the years to get a sense of this. If you are a normal white American, the truth is you don’t understand being black in America and you instinctively under-estimate the level of discrimination and the level of additional risk.”
White parents, Gingrich continued, don’t have to teach their teenage boys to be extra careful when dealing with police “because it’s not part of your normal experience.”
And he's right. It wasn't until I went to college (a community college) and my family's vacation house in Puerto Rico that I began to understand what life is like for Black and Hispanic Americans and the struggles they face. Their struggles are real. They are not imaginary. I dare anyone on this forum to move into a heavily Black community. Or even better, move to Puerto Rico and tell me that the Puerto Ricans are still "leeches" despite Puerto Rico getting 70% less Medicare and Medicaid funding, no presidential vote, no voting representation in Congress, no EITC, and being last in line for Federal assistance (alongside majority Black Washington DC).
As for what is and isn't racist, I think true racism has a lot to do with intent, and a lot of things that get called racism are simple ignorance or thoughtlessness. Stereotypes are not good, even positive ones, but I don't think they are necessarily malicious, unless the person who expresses them continues to do so, even after having them pointed out. That's when it crosses the line, and becomes racist, as opposed to just clueless.
I grew up in an area that was fairly diverse. As a kid, I was on an AAU-sanctioned city track team and as a sprinter competing at higher levels, was usually among only a couple of other white kids that ever made it into the finals. I became known to everyone (out loud) as the token white girl, which to me seemed mostly annoying... I don't think the intention was really racism. Now if the opposite had've been true and there were white kids making such comments to a black kid... well I have to wonder how that might have played out.
Fast-forward to my working years. A 40-ish yr. old black man was hired to join our design group in the mid 90s. When he was first hired there were probably only a dozen or so black folks working in the entire headquarters building which probably housed 175 people or so. One of my first design jobs out of school had me working for a minority-owned printing company, I was only one of two Caucasians working there so I understood what he was feeling. I liked him, he liked me and we shared fun stories about growing up and got along really well.
Over time, the man became a pastor of a church in NE Denver. As a result of that he began to spend quite a bit of time his employee time writing sermons and doing church business when he should have been working. He also was designing/printing (using company equipment) programs and other leaflets on the company's dime. Our supervisor watched for quite awhile and finally left copies of the company's policies about doing such things on his desk to give him a subtle chance to stop. He didn't and it finally came to verbal blows with the management. He ranted that the whole company was racist and kept doing it; but only while I was there as he trusted me not to turn him in. I figured it would catch up to him eventually.
He lived in an area of Denver known as Montbello, which was an area that attracted like-minded black people back in the day, then it slowly started to become a more popular area for hispanic people. He absolutely hated that the neighborhood changing and would say really awful, racist things about latin people... in no uncertain terms, didn't hold back with me. He did not get the irony at all, even after I pointed it out to him. The last straw was that he decided he wasn't going to do any more assignments for certain people in the company, accusing them of being racist because they had asked him to make small tweaks in design (a very common occurrence) for work assignments he was doing. One person he particularly didn't like and refused to do any work for was Jewish; he would say really anti-Semitic things about the guy. Yet, he didn't hear his own words at all. He was there for over 20 years, was paid good money and still looked at himself as a victim of racism.
He retired at 65, took his entire lump sum retirement payout and bought a house in another state. I have to wonder if, when he runs out of money (if he hasn't already) if that will be because he is still a victim of his race?
Yeah.....but how much of what this nation does or has done is based upon YOU? You act as if something not being true for you means, therefore, that it was not true for the country as a whole. Do you care to explain to me how that works?
In general I think it is absurd to think all whites are racist. However, what I have found interesting is the propensity of many whites to debunk racism, in general, by trying to demonstrate that they, as an individual, is not racist. I mean.....the only way that proving that you are not racist debunks "racism" as a phenomenon is if the definition requires ALL to be guilty of it.
I can't speak for all people, so I only speak for myself.
[quote=Redshadowz;47479660]Everyone is racist. If we define racism only as being racially-biased.
Racial-biases don't necessarily translate into something bad. If you think Asians are generally good at math, that is racist. But so what?[/quote]How is this racist?
Are all white people racist? I don't know...However, I can truthfully say...I have never, ever, met a kind white person, whom I believed was not racist, that didn't have a story to tell about either their racist upbringing, a racist family member or a racist friend (s) they have or once had.
Of course that's true because we are only two generations removed from Jim Crow and a time when a lot of people were racist. My parents never went to school with black people, but they raised me to believe that was wrong.
I think forced integration was the best thing to happen to eliminate racist attitudes in the south. Of course it doesn't happen overnight. It will take another generation to really change things.
If you think Asians are good at math you are racist.
If you think Blacks are more athletic than Whites you are racist.
If you think Latina women are hotter than White women you are racist.
I hate when people say "everyone is racist." You know this how?? Outside of the US, until recently, the concept of race isn't well understood, since you don't have the melting pot we do here. Not everyone makes broad brushed assumptions about a whole group.
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