I’ll pass that on to him. It’s his issue to deal with not mine. But his company doesn’t have a good track record for this kind of stuff.
ETA: I actually get less overt racism. And I was born in India and still am somewhat Indian! I speak the language, I consider myself Hindu (albeit Hindu). It’s weird.
These disclosures proved to be what is technically known as “a career-limiting move”:
I have one major problems with racism in this country, circa: now and it’s pretty simple:
We’re not allowed to talk about it.
People get angry. When The Atlantic published the amazing cover story “The Case For Reparations,” which was so researched it pointed out some things that I - a liberal-minded person who thought he knew a lot of the history - didn’t know, such as how housing was denied by our government to black people - the instant reaction from many was anger that it was brought up.
“Get over it,” they will say, claiming it happened a long time ago. Never mind the story points out how a lot of it didn’t stop at the Civil War and is ongoing.
The issues is that things have gotten better, but some people seem to think that just because we don’t have separate schools for black people and lynchings and poll taxes means things are all great now - never mind that we essentially have separate schools thanks to funding discrepancies, we have black communities dealing with institutional racism and we have Voter ID laws that clearly affect minorities disproportionately (for those who still cling to the notion that ID is not a big deal, why are they also cutting voting hours and removing early voting especially on Sundays? Do elections have more integrity because black churches cannot take their Souls To The Polls?).
And then they will argue that these things are not racist. But really, even if the intent is not racism, the result is that black people have many more hurdles to jump in order to live the American Dream. The hurdles being lower doesn’t change that.
Oh, and anyone who feels that the criticism of Obama is never about race really hasn’t paid very much attention.
Both of these things - racism against black people today and the overt racism against our President - should be talked about. But they’re not.
Actually, they are only important to poverty pimps like Al Sharpton, and to the media, who blow them out of proportion for ratings.
Let’s look realistically at the SAE incident. What was it? It was a bunch of stupid kids singing a stupid song. Does that indicate that our entire society feels that way? Obviously not, because if it did, the frat would not have been kicked off campus the way that it was.
Also when talking about race issues, instead of tackling the big problems like I outlined, it’s easier to namedrop someone polarizing (bonus points for it being someone polarizing who happens to be black and/or liberal) while dismissing something trivial as trivial.
See? Talking about systematic inequities is hard! Why do that when we can bring up Al Sharpton or a black ESPN commentator accusing an NFL head coach of having his racism dictate his personnel decisions? That’s easy!
We’ll get a lot of mileage about the Stephen A. Smith comments. Not as much how to fix the problems that are much more proliferate and important.
Being neutral on every subject is nothing to be proud of. You can’t be a good apple all your life. You either need to ripen, or rot.
You’re starting to smell bad.
Do you think all police departments in the US are free of racial bias against black people? If not all, how many do you think might have problems with this bias? If you think it’s above zero, then the only difference in opinions is how extensive this significant problem is, not whether it’s a significant problem or not.
I’m surprised the names of those darlings haven’t been made public yet.
One of the reasons we’ll never end racism on the personal level is that so many people require the use of the word “nigger” to even see racism.
All this incident shows is that if it’s too blatant, people will take action. But hundreds and thousands of racist moments every day are swept under the rug because they aren’t quite blatant enough to force us to react.
And then we pat ourselves on the back for how much less racism there is, when what we have really done is made sure the bar is high enough that most racists won’t clear it.
This seems relevant:
[
87%. 48 years after Loving.
Post-racial my ass.
Have the braintrusts at 4chan gotten around to doxing these guys yet, or are they still working through the list of female video game players?
Whenever we need a representative example of reactionary stupidity, to show how some Americans simply don’t understand the complexity of issues like race, it’s good to know that we can rely on you, Clothy.
Yep, i think this is really important, and it’s why i made my “tip of the iceberg” comment in my earlier post.
Most people who harbor racial prejudice are not stupid enough to go around singing songs like this. Many of them probably truly believe that they are not prejudiced, precisely because they don’t make openly disparaging remarks about people who are different from them. And they make themselves feel better by arguing that, because it’s no longer acceptable to call a black person “nigger,” or to openly segregate public accommodations, any obvious lingering racial inequalities (in terms of economics, law enforcement, criminal justice, etc.) must be the fault of racial minorities themselves (“If they didn’t commit crimes, they wouldn’t have to deal with the cops”; “If they would only work for a living, they’d get ahead.”), and that only “poverty pimps” like Al Sharpton are really interested in this stuff.
Despite recent advances, America’s historic racial inequities carry over into modern society, and are still responsible, in significant ways, for current problems. The Atlantic article by Ta-Nehisi Coates, linked above by John_Stamos’_Left_Ear, is an absolutely fabulous read that demonstrates how the legacy of slavery, of Jim Crow, and of broad institutional racism on a national level, not only crippled black advancement in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but carries over into the twenty-first.
Even if you don’t buy Coates’ argument about the need for actual reparations, his historical discussion is well-informed and accurate, and represents a pretty straightforward and (from this historian’s point of view) rather uncontroversial account of racial discrimination in America. The stuff it talks about can be found in many historical works, but it’s a valuable article precisely because is synthesizes many of the key issues for an audience that might not be aware of all of them, as demonstrated by John_Stamos’_Left_Ear’s own admission that he didn’t know about discriminatory federal housing policies before reading the article. It’s one of the best historical articles for a non-specialist audience that i’ve read in years.
Two of the ringleaders have now been expelled, and investigations into the others on the bus are ongoing.
I can’t help wondering how many of those dumb kids are really, truly racist. Surely most of them were just going with the crowd, right? Drunk, succumbing to peer pressure, whatever. Surely in their hearts they don’t truly believe that white people are really inherently better. Surely, if confronted in some real-life situation they wouldn’t act in a prejudiced manner. Surely they know better, in this day and age.
I guess that’s probably wishful thinking on my part. And I hope I don’t come off as defending any of them…they should all be expelled, kicked off campus, and socially shunned for doing what they did. But as an OU alumna who once upon a time walked past that frat house almost every single day on my way to class, I guess I just don’t want to believe that they truly had that kind of hatred in their hearts.
This is the story of racism, oppression, and even genocide. Surely plenty of Nazi soldiers and camp guards didn’t hate the Jews, but they went along with killing them. Surely plenty of slave-owners and overseers didn’t hate black people, but they went along with treating them abominably. Surely plenty of southern white people didn’t have murderous intent towards black people, but they went along with lynching them.
And I’m not being flippant – most people involved in killing the Jews probably didn’t have murderous hatred of all Jews. But they went along with it because it was easier than not going along with it.
“Going along with racism” has as bad a track record, through history, as racism. It doesn’t matter, to me, whether they had those feelings in their heart – by going along with it, they are just as guilty as those who actually have those feelings.
We do live in a post racial society. If you do something racist someone will post it to YouTube!
I hear this, man. My parents are some kind of “quiet racists.” They’re not out there singing songs about “N*ggers in a tree” or refusing to be treated by black nurses or holding any grudges about affirmative action. Dad served alongside black guys in Vietnam and mom worked in for the government (education) for years. No one grew up in the inner city or got mugged by a black guy or have any lame excuse to have negative feelings towards skin color but they totally do and it’s totally real.
And it’s absolutely infuriating because there’s no way to have a serious, civil discussion about race with them. They are totally in this white bubble with not one ounce of empathy towards what actual black people (and other non-white people, for that matter) have gone through in the last 150 years in this country. In the last 50 years. What they go through today. Any mention of hardship-due-to-race is immediately met with “Well what if…a white guy…”
I’m pretty sure my parents are part of that 13% who disapprove of interracial marriage. They were when I was 16 and dated a black guy. Maybe they’ve gotten over it but I haven’t tested the waters on that issue…
Oddly enough, through an amazing bit of grace, my parents happened upon some great documentaries during black history month this year. And they watched them. And my parents actually learned some things and were appalled at what they learned (in a good, empathetic way). They had no idea about the struggle for voting rights and how far into the 20th century it went. They had no idea that problems with public housing and affordable housing for blacks was happening well into their lifetimes.
I don’t think this is going to drastically change my parents’ outlook on the actual world around them - they still seem to be bitter, scared old white people - but maybe something will change for them. I hope.
It does give me a little bit of solace to think that perhaps their racism is born of ignorance and lack of education. To be totally unaware of the history of blacks in America is helping them stay in their white bubble. It’s no excuse but it makes me feel a little better that maybe my parents aren’t only mean. They are just stupid.
It doesn’t help that there are blowhards like Bill O’Reilly leading the “Everyone in America can make it, racial inequality is a thing of the past” march down the middle of Whitetown. I will claim ignorance on this one - I had no idea people were actually under that impression and that it was a popular thought. The shit he says in that interview is infuriating. And extra infuriating to know how influential he is.
Anyway I am losing my track here. Racism is very hard to talk about, I agree. So much mis-information, so much willful ignorance and so much yelling. Sadly it’s easier just to avoid the topic altogether and hope that the ugliness literally dies off soon. I am ashamed to say that that is how I deal with it.
Hell, my parents are Indian and hate black people. Well, my mom is dead, so I don’t think she’s hatin’ on anybody, but when she was alive…but I know the one thing that might make her rise from her grave and descend on me is me marrying a black guy. That, or a Muslim, either one would make her spin in her grave.
When you ask them about the inequalities in India, and how badly women are treated, despite the pedestal they are put on*, and about the disparity between the rich and the poor, they immediately point to the fact that India only got its independence in this century. They were ruled by a white government who thought they were barely better than monkeys. My parents lived through the Partition. True dat. All that is true.
But they cannot compare this to the systemic injustices black people have also suffered, in living memory, and are suffering right now. To them it’s (heh) black and white: if black people don’t want to be arrested so much, well, then, they shouldn’t commit so many crimes.
Perfectly intelligent people hold this viewpoint. And on the surface it seems to make sense. Until you dig just a little into places like Ferguson and realize what a foolish statement it is.
*Probably part of the problem. India is huge on the Madonna/Whore Complex.
Well played.
Now the poor little darlings who have been expelled are having people claim their right to free speech has been violated.
And a new video of their 78-year-old house mother has surfaced with her singing a racist song.
This is not shocking, given a majority of Americans are entirely ignorant of what the constitution and any number of its amendments actually mean, and the First of those being no exception.
