Are You A Racist.

[JohnnyAnger]

Of course a black person can be racist BUT what good will it do if the person does not have POWER? Anyone can be prejudiced and racist BUT if you have NO POWER it means nothing.

Yeah, this is pretty much what I have always felt when it comes to racism - lack of power makes it prejudice not racism. Not that it makes it any better, but that racism has to carry some amount of power. Same with sexism vis-à-vis women/men and power.

 

[Benvolio]

Racism is a mental attitude which does not require power. There can be little doubt that much of the crime against whites by blacks and hispanics is in party motivate by racial hatred. If you require power, you can find it in the power to rob and rape.

 

[bankside]

This is untrue. You're conflating racism with institutional racism and they are two different things. Certain circles are attempting to redefine the word to the definition you gave above and I find it quite strange. The purpose seems to be to highlight the distinction between the levels of racism faced by groups in power versus minority groups, but more than anything it just confuses and/or irritates people. Words already exist to describe institutional racism, and anybody with the slightest amount of social consciousness understands that different groups deal with different kinds (and different levels) of racism.

Saying "black people can't be racist" only feeds the persecution complex of racist white people and confuses the non-racist people who understand racism to be the belief that certain races are superior/inferior to others (or just an irrational bias against people of certain racial backgrounds).

Institutional racism is already an apt term to describe institutional racism, and racism is already an apt term to describe racism.


As for intent, it matters insofar as I'm not going to consider somebody a hateful racist if they use an outdated or politically incorrect term to describe a group of people. At the same time though, it is absolutely possible to say racist things without the intent of being racist, and I will pretty much always make sure they know that the words they're using are considered socially unacceptable. Despite complaints to the contrary, it's really not difficult to keep up with which words or labels will offend different groups of people, and the effort required to avoid using said terms is so little and has the benefit of making people feel more comfortable around you. It's hard to believe people when they say they can't keep up.

Oh, and to the person above; yes it does. Also apparently homophobic. Congratulations!

Well said!

 

[Rex]

I think everyone is to some degree.

 

[Vitamin]

Of course a black person can be racist BUT what good will it do if the person does not have POWER? Anyone can be prejudiced and racist BUT if you have NO POWER it means nothing. A person on the street can hurl racist slurs but if a police officer starts racially profiling or targeting specific groups then you got a problem. if a police officer makes racist slurs then that is a huge problem.

There's a lot of different ways to get power in a scenario. They might not all be legal, but there are ways of reversing the established order for a particular situation.

 

[frankfrank]

There is not a way blacks can be racist in America, as they are the minority race and the very concept of racism is a predominant race persecuting other races which the predominant one deem as inferior.

So, if you're black and you live in Detroit, you can be racist...but move a few miles northwest along Woodward Ave. to Royal Oak, Michigan (a largely-white suburb), and you can no longer be racist against whites, but you can continue to be racist toward native Americans??

Or you can be racist depending on whether you live on the Detroit or Hazel Park side of 8 Mile?

Or, the reverse...you're white and live in Royal Oak, and you're racist against blacks...but you move south into Detroit and you by definition can no longer have that racism? Woaaaa...

 

[sean lucas]

So, if you're black and you live in Detroit, you can be racist...but move a few miles northwest along Woodward Ave. to Royal Oak, Michigan (a largely-white suburb), and you can no longer be racist against whites, but you can continue to be racist toward native Americans??

Or you can be racist depending on whether you live on the Detroit or Hazel Park side of 8 Mile?

Or, the reverse...you're white and live in Royal Oak, and you're racist against blacks...but you move south into Detroit and you by definition can no longer have that racism? Woaaaa...

Now, have you got me twisted Y'all didn't get my point, or maybe I wasn't being very blunt in my statement. I don't mean to say blacks are immune to being racist and acting upon it, I'm simply saying black Americans cannot be classified as racists in the same way white Americans are, as no white person in the US was or will be stopped from walking into a public space whose facade reads "no colorless allowed" for the sake of being white, or will feel obligated to drink from separate water fountains, or perhaps having to cross the street because they spotted a group of blacks and aren't supposed to be sharing their same sidewalk because "they know their place". Are there blacks who don't want to be around whites? Sure, they're out there, but that's more out of suspicion that they might not be as "diversity-friendly" as they claim than racism. From my experience, some black people won't trust white people, or they will trust them little. My whole point went over your heads.

 

[G-Lexington]

Yes. I was taught a lot stuff over the first forty years of my life, which I finally realized was mostly bullshit. I'm trying to undo it, but it's tough fighting against forty years of indoctrinization. I'm assuming I can get better but I'll never completely be free of it.

Lex

 

[Harke the Boeotarch]

Yes. I was taught a lot stuff over the first forty years of my life, which I finally realized was mostly bullshit. I'm trying to undo it, but it's tough fighting against forty years of indoctrinization. I'm assuming I can get better but I'll never completely be free of it.

Lex

So you were raised not to be a racist, but now you see the error of your ways? Move to Holland!

 

[bankside]

Now, have you got me twisted Y'all didn't get my point, or maybe I wasn't being very blunt in my statement. I don't mean to say blacks are immune to being racist and acting upon it, I'm simply saying black Americans cannot be classified as racists in the same way white Americans are, as no white person in the US was or will be stopped from walking into a public space whose facade reads "no colorless allowed" for the sake of being white, or will feel obligated to drink from separate water fountains, or perhaps having to cross the street because they spotted a group of blacks and aren't supposed to be sharing their same sidewalk because "they know their place". Are there blacks who don't want to be around whites? Sure, they're out there, but that's more out of suspicion that they might not be as "diversity-friendly" as they claim than racism. From my experience, some black people won't trust white people, or they will trust them little. My whole point went over your heads.

in fact i know a white canadian who will call bullshit on that because he did drive to a chain of restaurants he recognized the name of on a really epic road trip, only to get shitty service, rude service, bad food, and to have the black supervisor apologize for the bad staff and explain to them that they were being treated that way by the black staff, despite her having talked to them, on account of their whiteness and that they had come to the "wrong" restaurant for white people. The "right" restaurant was somewhere else down the highway. This is not "We met a couple of black people who didn't feel like opening up to us and we were just totally amazed that we didn't all become friends." They got screwed out of a proper meal by the behaviour of specific racist black people who despite all the apologies still had their jobs when they left so they could continue being racist to any other white people who drove by. It's the same so-called "microagressions" that black people complain about, but it goes both ways. Or in this case, it went only one way. Same shit different pile.

 

[-Kane-]

I'm not a racist, but most of the white gay bartenders I've had the misfortune of ordering from were racist as hell.

 

[MoufOfKhaos]

I am loving the many different ways blacks can't possibly be racist.

I was all set to state that, no, i'm not, because I was lucky enough to be raised by parents that didn't play any of that bullshit, with friends that reached just about every color line- which is still true today - but several posters have already stated that there's no way I could possibly be racist anyway, just because I was born black. Glad that has been cleared up.

 

[pat grimshaw]

^
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Canada

 

[sean lucas]

I am loving the many different ways blacks can't possibly be racist.

I was all set to state that, no, i'm not, because I was lucky enough to be raised by parents that didn't play any of that bullshit, with friends that reached just about every color line- which is still true today - but several posters have already stated that there's no way I could possibly be racist anyway, just because I was born black. Glad that has been cleared up.

Do you believe in that whole reverse racism thing?

 

[MoufOfKhaos]

Do you believe in that whole reverse racism thing?

No, I believe in racism, and whether you are a racist or are not a racist. Its very simple - if you dislike or hate someone because they happen to be born in a skin color you don't like, or a nationality you don't like, you are a racist.

People seem to love to complicate things to fit their own needs/agendas or lessen their impact - this is, for lack of a better term, black and white for me. So, you stating that black Americans can't be racist in the same way white Americans can be is bullshit - the capacity to hate is the exact same, the only difference depends on the power one can wield with it.

 

[spooky]

I'm too lazy to be racist... sure sometimes I'll catch myself saying things I don't believe in.

The bottom line is, if you're nice to me then I will be nice to you.

If you're an asshole... then fuck off I could care less what colour you are either way.

 

[Kabluey]

You know you're racist if you perform mental gymnastics to redefine the term to excuse yourself and your beliefs.

 

[star-warrior]

You know you're racist if you perform mental gymnastics to redefine the term to excuse yourself and your beliefs.

 

[blackbeltninja]

What dictionary are you reading?

https://www.google.com/search?q=rac...ient=ubuntu&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

Also, blacks are the majority in South Africa, but face persecution from the minority white population. Guess South African whites can't be racist either...

Yay! That's me off the hook.

-d-

 

[JohnnyAnger]

Majority is not about numbers; it's about who holds wealth and access to political power.