Ghost of a Rider
Gold Member
- Jan 29, 2018
- 4,974
- 2,152
Evause there are folks who try to equate racism on the left with racism on the right, though it is far more prevalent on the right.Almost all the virulent racists on this forum are conservatives. There are a couple on the left, including that black poster you’re talking about.It goes both ways. I've never seen any blacks speak up when a black person here posts something blatantly racist. And I've seen a lot. One poster in particular comes to mind but I won't name this person.
Anyway, I've seen a lot of the white racist insults and rhetoric here but I don't bother to address that because one who is so openly and unabashedly racist will not be swayed by anything I have to say. For the most part I don't engage with the openly black racists for the same reason.
Having said that, most of the people I know are conservatives and Republicans and are nothing like this. And the reason a lot of conservatives are silent most of the time is because they are simply not vocal by nature and for them, race is not an issue. By that I don't mean that they don't recognize that there is a racial divide in this country, they do. They just feel that addressing, say, inner city poverty and crime, will be better vanquished with long term economic solutions as opposed to more social initiatives and programs.
Why do you guys keep trying to make this a contest? All I said is that I've seen a few racist blacks here.
Racism is racism no matter what color you are or how it is manifested or even how prevalent it is in one side or the other.
I didn't start this nonsense about how racist one side is over the other. All I did in my initial post was try to clarify how the typical conservative approaches the issue of race and how to deal with problems. And all I've said since then is that there are black racists. The reactions to my responses have been quite telling.
Drop the claim of racism is racism.
I'll drop the claim that racism is racism as soon as you drop the claim that blacks can't be racist.
Because all “racism” is not racism. Understand that victims of racism will struggle with this abuse for the rest of their lives just as much as victims of other forms of abuse do. Then understand that because you don’t see racism as it was practiced in the past means it’s not being practiced now.
You're trying to quantify the unquantifiable. Racism is racism and all racism is racism. Some may or may not struggle with racism their entire lives and we may not see racism practiced today as it was in the past but that doesn't mean that a white person being called "whitey" or "cracker" is not racist.
Let me try to put this in perspective for you. Jews suffered racism and discrimination in Europe for centuries, much longer than blacks in America. This endemic racism finally culminated in the Holocaust where they were rounded up, sent to labor, concentration and death camps and slaughtered wholesale. Something blacks never experienced here. But even though they suffered more and for a longer period of time, Louis Farrakhan called Hitler "A very great man" and is well known for his antisemitism. Do you deny that Farrakhan is a racist? Or is his racism allowed because blacks suffered here?
Let me explain how I can say not all that is called racism is racism. I can more easily speak from the black experience so do not interpret this to mean I don’t care about others who have endured the same thing. It’s all wrong. Yet I believe that we need to differentiate between racism and prejudice. Black racism doesn't exist. Black prejudice yes. Understand the difference. Prejudice is wrong but then again a lot of black prejudice is based upon what whites have done to us, meaning our prejudice is based on a mistrust of white people. For anyone white to pretend that it is not justified is plain ignorance.
Racism is defined as "Racial prejudice or discrimination."
Prejudice is defined as "An irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics."
The two terms are not mutually exclusive and in fact, are pretty much interchangeable. Racism is just a form of prejudice. The word comes from a Latin word meaning "to prejudge". To prejudge someone based on an inherent trait or characteristic such as skin color is racist. Ergo, when you say your prejudice is based on a mistrust of white people, you are in effect prejudging white people to be, as a race, untrustworthy. This is nothing short of racism.
Racism is more than making comments. It is more than an assumption of people based on skin color. Racism includes the ability to make your prejudice enforceable. Whites need to understand they have a history full of racial slurs turning into laws. Whites have a minimum 241 continuous years of comments that have been derogatory towards blacks. A minimum of 188 of those years these beliefs were overtly turned into law and enforced. Now it's done covertly. Let's not have amnesia as white people and not understand that you have this history. Whites must recognize this because it's one way to fix the damages caused by such racism and to bring the people of this nation closer together.
Speaking for myself, I am very much aware of the history of racism towards blacks in this country. Not once in this entire discussion have I denied it, justified it, downplayed it or compared it to other examples of racism. All I've done is simply point out that blacks can be, and some are, racist.
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