I am choosing to write on something that some of you may think I have no business writing about, since I have no lived experience in the matter. Some others of you may think that I am completely wrong, and that the concept I am about to discuss is dead (and I definitely disagree that it's dead!)
I am about to try and touch the topic of racism. And I am going to skip right ahead to my thesis statements:
1) If you are Caucasian and part of the dominant culture in the United States, and a person of color tells you that something that was said or done was racist, you have no business disputing that. People of Caucasian descent typically don’t have awareness of how racism impacts people of color in the United States because we don’t need to.
2) Reverse racism really isn’t a thing. Despite affirmative action using quota systems (which is the wrong way to go about affirmative action, but that is a topic for another time because it is big and complicated in and of itself), most systems in the United States benefit people of solely Caucasian descent. A particular person may be racist toward white people, but that is a micro-aggression, not systematic oppression.
I was recently told by someone who is Caucasian that because he is 42 and not a millionaire, that he is obviously not a recipient of privilege. However, there is a lot more to privilege than how much money we earn. I was about to flesh out a list with examples, but then I found the list that started me thinking about the topic in the first place. You can find it here:
http://jimbuie.blogs.com/journal/2007/11/50-examples-of-.html
It is true that the United States has made progress toward eradicating racism. The era of segregation is not ancient history, but significant advances have been made since that time. While any improvement is laudible, that does not mean the work is done. "Better" is not "fixed," and I, for one, want racism gone. I want to live in a world where we do not see a massive division in standard of living based on race. I want to live in a world where everyone regularly associates with people whose ancestors came from different places, a world where showing an interracial family on a Cheerios commercial is not only not controversial, but a world where it's not even noticed.
If you are still not convinced that massive, institutionalized racism is a reality today, then let me ask you this question: There is a massive divide between the median yearly income and quality of life in the United States between people who are Caucasian, and people who identify with almost all other racial categories. With a discrepancy this large, it cannot be accounted for by chance.
If you take nothing else from this blog post, please think about this question: Do you think that people of Caucasian descent are superior to people with other racial backgrounds? If not, what accounts for the vast difference in standard of living?
If you are of Caucasian descent, it is likely that at some point in your life, you have said or done something racist, even if it was without meaning to. I have. (I am declining to give examples because I have not sought permission from the recipients of any comments). This does not make you or me a bad, or even racist person. The unearned privilege given to us by the color of our skin blinds us, and it takes a lot of effort to see through that. Heck, I may have inadvertently said something racist in this post, and if so, I hope someone calls me out so I can learn from it. Because I believe that there is no way for me to learn alone, and mistakes are probably inevitable. So to anyone who has the courage to confront me when I say something I shouldn't...thank you.
Love it, Megan. If you're interested in reading more about affirmative action and the relationship between education and institutionalized racism, you might want to check out Catherine Prendergast's _Literacy and Racial Justice: The Politics of Learning After Brown v. Board of Education_. It's a fantastic look at the historical and legal implications of racism.
ReplyDeleteThank you!!
DeleteI refuse to feel "white guilt". This article is trying to make me feel that way, and I won't
ReplyDeleteI am hearing that after reading this, you felt pressured to feel a certain way. I am sorry, and I want to say that you are wrong about my intention, which was to ask people who have not been subjected to large amounts of oppression to see things through the eyes of those who have experienced intergenerational trauma. If you don't want to, I won't and can't make you.
DeleteAmen Catholic SW, amen! You are not responsible for the pain that someone else's perception is causing them!
Deleteit's a shame that comments are allowed to be anonymous.
Deletethis anonymous person sharing their frustration at feeling white guilt must not explore the world enough.
i find that, being a person of color, i tend to be grouped with other people of color and spoken to like i have lived my life surrounded by others who look like me. however i have lived the opposite life and now being an adult living in a city with a prominent color line, i see that perhaps a bit of guilt is what's necessary for people to be forced to open their eyes to what they are otherwise choosing to be blind to. maybe then we can affect change in the direction of justice and social/national equality. maybe then we can eliminate these color lines.
ask yourself why you should feel any guilt and try answering her question: Do you think that people of Caucasian descent are superior to people with other racial backgrounds? If not, what accounts for the vast difference in standard of living?
Personally I do not believe there are any races of people superior to another race. i believe the standard of living is different between races in the US because people in power are still predominantly Caucasian/Anglo and do not have empathy for the life that is experienced by people of color in the United States (and globally when you consider nationalization rates and immigration lottery numbers for different countries (i.e. Europe vs. Asia vs. Latin America vs. Africa)).
I too feel like this post, along with other articles and twitter feeds and Facebook posts, make Caucasians, like myself, feel guilty for being born white. I, just like everyone else, had no choice of the skin color that was given to them. And I, like many other people, do not see skin color as anything other than skin color. But, why is there such a push to make white people feel guilty because they do not feel the oppression that minorities have felt? I can only be responsible for myself and my children in showing them that all humans deserve respect. I think that the main reason racism exists because people like to point it out, even in blog posts like this.
ReplyDeleteBecause I feel a certain way about someone, and they happen to have a different skin tone, does that make me a racist? No, but I have been called one many times. The people that I surround myself with are not racist, but I hear the word racist screamed every single day, and I find that when a person is genuinely a racist, others do not take that person seriously.
The only racism I see repeated is the government trying to keep poor communities, which mostly consist of minorities, on the assistance they provide, without offering an opportunity to break free of the system.
if you are hearing the word racism screamed every single day then you or the people you hang around are doing or saying something racist that you do not realize is racist because you do not have enough close friends of color.
DeleteYou make so many good points. In particular when you wrote: "People of Caucasian descent typically don’t have awareness of how racism impacts people of color in the United States because we don’t need to." I know that racism exists because I've been taught that it exists. For me it doesn't really matter what color of skin someone has or where they happened to be born, but for many it still does. I hadn't thought much of the implications of me (blonde, fair skin) starting to see a guy who is from the middle east and recently went for a walk with him in the evening. Crossing the street I heard someone behind us chant and it was a bit unclear what they were saying. They continued to chant as we crossed Philomath blvd. and I realized they were chanting about skinheads. He asked me what they were saying and I chose to continue walking as if they were just random drunk people chanting nonsense and pretended I didn't hear. I wasn't going to ruin a wonderful evening over someone who is quite obviously racist. I still have no intentions of mentioning it to him, he may have heard it clearly himself and decided to do the same. I do realize though, that choosing to see a man of middle eastern origins has already made me realize how oblivious I have been to the fact that racism really exists and it's a lot more real when it's directed towards you or someone you care about..
ReplyDelete