(Untitled)

[birchswinger3]

In our society, is it possible for black people to be racist or women to be sexist [victimizing whites and men, respectively]?
[can men experience sexism from women, whites from blacks (in US society)? is this whole idea of reverse-racism valid?]No

Comments

[birchswinger3]

i think a white person working in a black corporation could certainly have a seemingly whole, large system working against him or her within the corporation, and could surely experience discrimination.

but at the end of the day, he or she can leave work and buy band-aids at any drug store that match the color of his or her skin without having to think about it. (s)he can be relatively sure (s)he won't be considered "a tribute" to their race when they do well. (s)he will likely never be made to make statements or judgments as a spokesperson for his/her entire racial group. if (s)he does well economically and 'rises to the top' in the white capitalist system, his/her peers will likely not see this as "not acting black/white" or a betrayal of his/her identity.

at the end of the day, (s)he can return to the security of the pervasive white American System, complete with its subtle privileges and unacknowledged, subtle, unearned advantages that have come along with light skin since many, many years ago in history. the corporation is an enclave, a bubble of discrimination, but not racism. racism is the entire system, not the subsystems, although subsystems may have very elaborate and hurtful discrimination and power structures. at the end of the day, though the dynamic may be reversed within the corporation, there is still the Racism of the whole context--society.

of course condoleeza is incredibly independent and intelligent, and for that deserves much respect and commendation. she definitely should not turn her position into one that is decidedly Black and Female; she should turn it into one that is Her, reflective of the beliefs and experiences of her childhood, situation, and self. it is perhaps possible that she never witnessed or truly connected with minority oppression or unfairness in her life, and that is her reason for not truly acknowledging/working to improve it. more probablly, she experienced/witnessed it, but came to see it as normal within the system, and in that way has bought into the system and lost a bit of self. not that she can entirely be blamed for this... she is just another product of the system, and, i believe, may have lost a bit of her identity along the way. then again, i am not the utmost authority on condoleeza rice's self-identity, so it's all a bit speculative at best.