Proud to be White
The other day my father sent me an e-mail that made me angry. Mostly, I don't read my father's e-mails because they're always the annoying forwards (you know, the one about angels, or how do you tell the driver's from Pennsylvania) and are never really funny. Well, I opened this one because I knew that it would make me mad and I wanted to confront my dad as to why he would send me it. The subject read "Proud to be White."
This e-mail made me so angry because it had to have been written by people who have no real concept of the history behind civil rights. The main argument of the e-mail was that it is hypocritical that white people should not be allowed to be proud of their race when everyone else is. It cited examples such as the existence of "Black Colleges," pride days for various races and nationalities, and scholarships specifically for ethnic minorities, but it did not explain the reason behind them. For example, that black colleges are actually HISTORICALLY black colleges (they do accept whites and other races, in fact I almost applied to Howard because they have scholarships for non-blacks to increase diversity) and were created because blacks were not allowed in white schools. There are no white colleges because every college was a white college. As for scholarships promoting diversity, they were created to help minorities get to college since more of us come from low-income backgrounds than whites do. There are also scholarships that are specifically for whites; there's a scholarship for natural red-heads. Lastly, pride days exist because every day is white pride day! History books focus on the contributions of white people as though every other race is a breed of retarded mongrels who can barely barely walk. TV shows are predominately focused on white people with white scenarios and white cameos. Politics is the same except when it's time for re-election. Besides, there are white pride days and parades, it's just that they focus on specific nationalities (Irish, Hungarian, Italian, whatever), and isn't that an even bigger insult? That blacks are unable to specify which nationality they belong to and must group themselves under one giant umbrella?
I spoke about this e-mail and how angry it made me to my in-laws and Kyle. Strangely, they were on the side of my father and agree with it. This made me angry as well since they know nothing of the adversities that racial minorities face and have faced since they live in a country where I can count the number of ethnic minorities on one hand. Not to mention the fact that all of the things listed in that e-mail are a non-issue for them. There are no black colleges. There are no parades. There are no scholarships. There are no TV channels devoted to anything other than the mainstream. This should have been a conversation that caused them to say "Ah, well, those Americans" not "Why shouldn't I be proud to be white? I'm not racist." I do think that they have some deep seated prejudices (at a girl scout production the only black girl had to play Neil Armstrong due to the lack of black characters and this made my mother in law very irate), but it's not their fault since they don't actually know anyone who is black or anyone who is Asian and doesn't work in a restaurant (other than me of course). It's amazing what you learn/realize after you're married.
This e-mail made me so angry because it had to have been written by people who have no real concept of the history behind civil rights. The main argument of the e-mail was that it is hypocritical that white people should not be allowed to be proud of their race when everyone else is. It cited examples such as the existence of "Black Colleges," pride days for various races and nationalities, and scholarships specifically for ethnic minorities, but it did not explain the reason behind them. For example, that black colleges are actually HISTORICALLY black colleges (they do accept whites and other races, in fact I almost applied to Howard because they have scholarships for non-blacks to increase diversity) and were created because blacks were not allowed in white schools. There are no white colleges because every college was a white college. As for scholarships promoting diversity, they were created to help minorities get to college since more of us come from low-income backgrounds than whites do. There are also scholarships that are specifically for whites; there's a scholarship for natural red-heads. Lastly, pride days exist because every day is white pride day! History books focus on the contributions of white people as though every other race is a breed of retarded mongrels who can barely barely walk. TV shows are predominately focused on white people with white scenarios and white cameos. Politics is the same except when it's time for re-election. Besides, there are white pride days and parades, it's just that they focus on specific nationalities (Irish, Hungarian, Italian, whatever), and isn't that an even bigger insult? That blacks are unable to specify which nationality they belong to and must group themselves under one giant umbrella?
I spoke about this e-mail and how angry it made me to my in-laws and Kyle. Strangely, they were on the side of my father and agree with it. This made me angry as well since they know nothing of the adversities that racial minorities face and have faced since they live in a country where I can count the number of ethnic minorities on one hand. Not to mention the fact that all of the things listed in that e-mail are a non-issue for them. There are no black colleges. There are no parades. There are no scholarships. There are no TV channels devoted to anything other than the mainstream. This should have been a conversation that caused them to say "Ah, well, those Americans" not "Why shouldn't I be proud to be white? I'm not racist." I do think that they have some deep seated prejudices (at a girl scout production the only black girl had to play Neil Armstrong due to the lack of black characters and this made my mother in law very irate), but it's not their fault since they don't actually know anyone who is black or anyone who is Asian and doesn't work in a restaurant (other than me of course). It's amazing what you learn/realize after you're married.