Racism

Tami says it better than I ever could.

Check it out:
http://whattamisaid.blogspot.com/2009/09/ism-that-dare-not-speak-its-name.html

Please don't just gloss over and then discount what she's written.

If you do, you've joined the masses that trivialize and marginalize our Brothers and Sisters of Color, discounting their truths because you just don't want to see the pain that still exists in this country.

When you deny another person's truth, you deny their very being.

Think about it.

Bill Cosby Is Right

Bill Cosby is old.

Rich.

Conservative.

He's kinda like the old rich uncle who tells you how to get rich, but you have NO access to any of the methods that he used. And what you do have access to is NOT the same opportunity that he had, the world has changed and he can't see that his method may not work for you.

Not everyone is a talented comic.

I love Bill, especially his old stuff. But in today's world, a young comic can't recycle Bill's old jokes.

Bill has valid points, but he comes across as being distant, out of touch, not really comprehending what's going on with young people today. He comes across as not understanding the way that the underbelly of American culture, the drugs, the violence, has affected our Brothers and Sisters of Color, especially those who are poor.

This is not all race or color based, American has glorified violence and hate for a LONG time. Look at the gangsters of the 30s, how we've romanticized them, glorified them. (And I don't have time today to get into the long history of violence against People of Color [POC].) It's a long, long road that's gotten us ALL to this point.

Now we are reaping what we've sown.

Unfortunately the poor are the first victims, and since POC are disproportionately poor, we as a society are blaming POC for the conditions that we have set into motion a long time ago. Yes, racism, bigotry, prejudice are all a part of our culture and the problem too, intensifying the effect on POC. But it's moving "upward", in the long run, we all face the same issues.

White suburbia isn't getting it. They just see that their kids are falling into the same glorifying of hate and violence, drugs and guns. So they blame the poor, specifically our Brothers and Sisters of Color, never seeing that they've perpetuated the problem by their actions and more importantly, their inaction.

Bill's words are a two-edged sword. If only our society could hear the good side, and get down into the trenches with the good people who are working to make a difference right now, today.

Instead, Americans hear what we want to hear -- that blame game, never seeing that there is a hopelessness that keeps our kids from realizing their full potential.

I'm so, so tired of the white conservative line, that patronizing attitude that racism doesn't exist anymore and thus POC should just work harder and get themselves out of the ghetto. Hello? So sorry but if you live in a poor area, with less than adequate schools, few job opportunities, no transportation, it's pretty darn hard to "move on up to the east side".

And bluntly, too many white liberals are just as bad. "Oh my goodness, those poor black people, we need to 'bring them up''. Patting themselves on the back about what great non-racist kind of people they are. But do they LIVE next to their Brothers and Sisters? Do they get down in the trenches, volunteer at schools, help build affordable housing, provide on-the-job training, mentor young people? Ummmm, well, probably not.

Yes, Bill is right. People need to take responsibility for their actions.

Bill is right -- and that includes white society taking the blame and responsibility for over 100 years of oppression, which affects POC right up to the present.

We have a long, sad, ugly history to overcome, and the advances made by the Civil Rights movement have only made a dent in the problem. We still have much to overcome, including the unconscious attitudes of the society that surrounds us all.

Bill Cosby is right.

But not in the way that he thinks he is....

Musings On Racism - Part I

The argument of the day was about racism.

My Brother Pots believes that People of Color can't be racists. My Brother Neo believes anyone can be a racist and exhibit racist behavior.

My belief is that, unfortunately, we won't be able to agree on a definition of the term, nor find that precise dividing line between prejudice and racism. Why? Because we all have one unique view. Neo has one. Pots has another experience and perception. I have a third. Ku-ku has a fourth. SR has a fifth. Birdlady has a sixth. And so on.

We can all probably agree on the worst of racists, they pretty much define themselves. But then let's take a different angle. There was a time when many white people really believed that our Brothers and Sisters of Color were inferior beings. That the KKK was an acceptable organization. That all Blacks should go back to Africa, there was no place in our society. Etc, etc, etc. There is a whole history built upon those beliefs and behaviors.

On the flip side of the coin, most of the Black people I have known do not think that whites are inferior beings, nor do they support organizations dedicated to keeping whites "in their place" or a race war. They don't [generally] tell whites to go back to Europe. Some may not LIKE white people at all, but don't have the extreme viewpoint that tips into racism.

When we look at the underlying, historical basis, yes, I can completely understand Pots' and others' belief that POC can't be racist. Racism is a depth of hate that many of us really don't comprehend. BUT, since we've grown up in this white dominated society, we wear blinders that keep us from seeing the issues from the point of view of POC. We can't and probably won't ever agree on this point.

To be continued...

Musings On Racism - Part II

Now, don't get me wrong here. I'm not saying it's acceptable to be hateful to others, in general we can agree to be civil if we choose. Or not if we choose not. (I'm not above calling a pig a pig, my base nature does get away from me at times...)

I think the problem is that we're truly not capable of walking in the other guy's shoes. I recently reread "Black Like Me" and it had a profound effect on my thought processes. John Griffin had NO clue of what he was getting into. If you followed in his footsteps today, you might find that some things that you think have changed -- haven't.

Then my daughter was watching some stupid race switching show (which in general I thought was idiotic) and the white guy who became "Black" still had a gadzillion misconceptions and blindness about what was and was not racist (or bigoted or prejudiced) behavior. It was as if he really, really didn't see it. Yet he kept waiting for someone to call him "n". Of course it didn't happen, respectful adults don't use that term, esp in racially mixed settings.

I can only assume it was because his whole world viewpoint of growing up white made him incapable of seeing that viewpoint from a different perspective -- that of a man who'd grown up Black and had a vastly different world experience.

We really CAN'T walk in each other's shoes.

And if Neo says anyone can be racist and (for example) Pots says POC can't be racist, I really don't see a true conflict here. Because each one is speaking from his own world experience, from literally birth to the present. Each has a valid truth, from his own unique perspective.

It's as if each one is holding up a sheet of paper, pierced with many little round holes. But when he tries to look through the holes, some of them line up, and some don't. Some are the mutual experiences of being Americans, growing up middle class, perhaps in a suburb, etc. And the ones that don't line up, well some have to do with specifics of their respective races and how the world treats them, and some has to do with the dissimilar experiences, like siblings, intact or separated families, country, suburb, city, projects, Nob Hill, whatever.

Our experiences shape who we are.

(And so does our genetic history, but that's another topic -- I think.)