on being a member of the human race
the following is a rather long essay on various race issues that were brought up in conversation, blogs, or books i've read this summer. i'm addressing several topics that all tie into one, and i've finished most of this tonight, so, forgive me if the continuity breaks down a bit.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- ( Read more... )
1. People are still as racist as they ever were. They just display it in more subtle ways.
2. White people, on average, enjoy a different standard of living and social class than black people on average. In your opinion, this different standard is directly a result of slavery or the aftereffects of slavery.
3. The actions of one black person are typically projected onto the entire race; whereas for whites this is not the case.
4. black people aren't particularly invested in the management of the american justice system nor are they invested in seeing justice for justice sake when it comes to black on white crime. If a black person isn't hurt in a crime, black people don't really care if the perpetrator gets off. It's an us versus them mentality. or a why bother mentality.
Have I got that right so far?
My comments:
1. I disagree. I think the strongest counterpoint to preconceived stereotypes is experience. As blacks and whites have desegregated more in society and had more direct exposure to each others families, real experience has begun to replace stereotypes. More black-white marriages occur and without a lot of shaming or "ooh that is wrong/strange/sick" comments from society. A lot of young white and black children don't even have a concept of racial inferiority until they get older, as you mentioned in your circumstances.
2. I think this is true, and I'm interested to hear your ideas on how to solve the problem.
3. I don't agree with this. I think OJ simpson had fame surrounding his crime because he was a famous football player and not because he was black. i think the "aha, are they all like this?!" commentary came in reference to seeing black people on tv say he should get off, saying they believed he was framed, etc. those actions shocked most white people who couldn't understand how people could feel that way and who noticed that most people who said they felt that way were black.
4. if this is true, this is a sad sad fact. sounds exactly like the us vs them stuff. i can't understand why people feel so disenfranchised that they just say "screw the whole system" and don't want to be part of it at all, even to reform it. more basically, i cannot understand how people can have strong attachments and social groupings drawn in their mind along racial lines. i will never understand this. you don't see blue eyed people feeling some sort of special connection with the other blue eyed people out there. or all red heads feeling some sort of group identity that is a tighter bond than they have with their standard neighbors and peer group community. nobody keeps track of blonde hair on blonde hair crime, or the poverty rate among left handers. it seems so artificial to make distinctions of based on racial characteristics in the first place. why should a black man in kansas feel instantly more bonding and commonality with a black man in california then he does with his white neighbor who grew up next door to him in kansas? what is it about race that people want to attach an entire culture to it and a special identity that one draws self esteem from? why? what a stupid thing to dwell on. and i don't just mean the black people here- its stupid for white people to think about race or make judgements based on it. and by creating a group identity around the shared characteristics, aren't we all just perpetuating the very old and sick idea that somehow everyone who has these same characteristics are the same and can be treated as such? just cuz some idiot people long ago in africa rounded up people based on a common skin color theme and decided to see them as a group and ignore all the actual differences between the people and turn them into slaves doesn't mean we should perpetuate their stupidity. grouping people by race is a manmade construct that seems to serve no purpose other than to segregate and stereotype. i know you hate it, but i really think going colorblind is a good goal. if i was black, i'd raise my child the same way as if i were white in that i'd teach them from a young age that skin color is no more their identity than their eye color or their left-or-right handedness.
Reply
1. yes. people are just as racist. not everyone. but many people are racist and are fooling themselves - hence, the "but, i have a black friend" defense. just cuz people aren't being lynched as much as they were doesn't mean we've reached nirvana. if you believe that young black children don't have a concept of racial inferiority, take a look at the doll study completed in new york: http://www.uthtv.com/umedia/show/2052/.
2. practical ways to solve the problems? there aren't many. affirmative action is one good tool that helps improve parity, but there isn't much that can be done if we're running a marathon and i wasn't allowed to start until you'd already gotten half-way. i _do_ believe that education is important in this part of the discussion and there are many people working to further educational advances across the country.
3. summation - correct. successful black people have often been called 'a credit to their race'.
comment - you don't have to agree. most white people don't. and they're/you're not in a position to. this is one of the times where you just won't get it.
4. summation - all wrong. black people are _very_ interested in justice. it's not often that black people are granted justice by the justice system, though. therefore, most black people are quite suspect of the entire legal process. black people care about others as much as anyone else - we don't want anyone free who hurt people for no reason [or for some crazy reason]. but here's something that makes me angry - in the words of Chris Rock, "only the white man can profit from pain". even today, white people are committing crimes that hurt people and getting away with no consequences or much less of a sentence than perhaps their black counterparts receive. so it's not like we don't _care_ about justice...but how could you not have a twinge of the "what has justice ever done for me?"
comment - i'm gonna say this as nicely as i can. your reply to #4 illustrates a vast amount of ignorance about what it means to be a black person in this country. from what you have said, right now, i can't imagine what i could say to explain the fact that you're comparing apples to corkscrews. i recommend reading my final post of the three and perhaps taking a look at the link at the end.
Reply
Leave a comment