Well, I’ll be Ms Contrary and say I don’t find the term offensive at all, and in fact I really have to squint to see how you could find it offensive. And I think it’s a lot more useful than “racist”.
The thing about “racist” is that it’s a blame word, and it’s 9 times out of ten used by people to mean “somebody who’s not me” Somebody out there. When you say that the disadvantage experienced by non-white people is due to “racists”, you’re putting it in the category of something you can’t do much about (apart from acting disapprovingly to any overt racists you might meet, but that’s actually a lot less useful in improving the situation than you might think, because it can entrench bad behaviours)
People are tribal. We tend to react well to people who are “like us”, who we think we will have something in common with. I know for sure if I’m in a bunch of strangers, and one of them’s a woman in her 40s with school aged kids hanging around her, guess who I’m going to gravitate to. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, and it doesn’t have to lead to racism as long as we don’t categorise “skin colour” as “something that makes someone different from me”. But it might, and if you’re going to counter an unconscious bias like that you have to be aware of it first.
I’m sure a lot of the people who throw LaToya Jones’ job application to the bottom of the pile don’t see themselves as “racists” and would never in a million years answer yes to the question “are black people inferior to white people?” But they do see the blackness of a black person as a factor that makes him or her less like them. And I bet that black bosses do the same with black job applicants, and male and female bosses are likely to treat their own sex more advantageously as well. It all wouldn’t be a problem if we lived in a world where there were equal numbers of people in power of all races and both sexes. Then everyone’s unconscious biases would even out. But we don’t live in that world.
Also, the term is a great reminder to all the “I pulled myself up by my bootstraps why can’t everyone else” crowd. Ok, you ran the race and crossed the finish line. But if you acknowledge that some people started the race 50 metres behind your start line, then maybe it gives you some understanding why they didn’t get as far.
Ok, but you are talking about the way things should be. I shouldn’t be bothered by the term if we are technically speaking. But I’m not a dictionary, I’m a human being. PoC and minorities may very well say I’m being too stubborn or too sensitive. And I very well may be.
You’re supposed to want everyone to get the so-called “white privilege” treatment, regardless of race. If you call it a privilege and not a right and limit it to a single race, you are fighting on the wrong side.
OK, maybe I’m too sleepy or maybe the internet is too poor a means of communication but tell me what you think needs to be done and how we need to do it. Because it sounds like you’re being dismissive to the scope of the problem.
The root causes are heavily ingrained attitudes that outside of continuing to publicly condemn & argue against them and waiting for the people who hold them to die off, I can’t think of much else to do about. The “bad results at the end of a racist dynamic” are the ones that are blatant enough for a blunt instrument like the law to handle.
Oh but i disagree. There are a lot of people involved in trying to change this dynamic and i don’t think we have to just sit and wait. In fact, my mind has changed considerably and I am so much more aware of the problem due to the efforts of just one person on another message board i frequent.
You’ve simply defined racism. It’s the reason why I say that belief in races is racism. It’s not based on hatred. If you categorize people using the mythical concept of race, then you are a racist. Where you identify a difference where none exists you will get a disparity. It doesn’t matter which end of the stick you recieve, the very concept is wrong.
They absolutely are the same thing. It is different treatment for people based on an imaginary concept called ‘race’. Racism is the problem plain and simple.
ummm… if people stopped using the words white, black, mexican, etc, we’d still have the same problems. maybe not 50 years down the road but they would still be here now.
It’s not about ending the use of the word. It’s about ending the mindset of categorizing people instead of considering them as individuals. Racism is a particularly odius form of this because it’s based on a category that doesn’t exist. And people don’t like being called racist, so they just ignore the facts and pretend not to be part of the problem.
ok, well here is what I’m not stating. What you are saying sounds like what a conservative might say but not really mean it at all, just lip service to to hide the problem. (i am referring to this talk of an individual is an individual and race is not important.) I don’t think that is what you mean but it kind of sounds that way.
I already called for a crackdown “with whatever amount of force is necessary” on racist cops; that seems pretty urgent. I’m not sure why you think I don’t consider fighting racism necessary.
Any term that deals with racism seems to be problematic to SOMEONE. Call someone or something “racist” and be prepared to be interrogated about the definition you’re using, for instance. It’s a wonderful way to dodge a productive conversation–to discuss terms instead of substance.
I just watched a film about poor white South Africans. Almost all of them ones highlighted had found their fortunes plummet after the end of apartheid, and all of them were angry that they couldn’t benefit from any Affirmative Action-like policies such as the ones black/coloured South Africans are eligible for. They seemed to think their poverty alone should give them special preference for government jobs. Now, I don’t like seeing people in miserable living conditions, but it was hard for me to agree with them. They wanted to draw parallels between their current conditions and those of the black South Africans who had been systematically oppressed generation after generation. No, they are NOT the same. Those poor whites deserve assistance–which they were receiving through the government. But special programs? Why should they get special status over some poor black South African who’s great-grandfather, grandfather, and father had all been treated like animals and denied any chance to succeed? There seemed to be little understanding about this and it was frustrating to watch.
Saying a group is “privileged” doesn’t mean that individuals will all be rich millionaires. Just like saying a group is “oppressed” doesn’t mean all individuals will be scrubbing floors and talking in slave dialect. If we can all understand that groups can experience collective oppression, then it shouldn’t be THAT hard to understand the other side of the equation.
you seem to define it so formally though. people are people. i think most people are going to react like i do to the term, defensively. whether or not we should react that way is not the point really.
I don’t like it because it implies (to me, anyway) that there are never any advantages to being in the unprivileged group, or never any disadvantages to being in the privileged group. I think almost any group a person can belong to must have some advantages and some disadvantages. Trying to quantify whether the privilege outweighs the unprivilege, or rank one group as more privileged than another, seems subjective and futile most of the time. Maybe not for “races”, but I don’t think it will ever be a factual matter whether a person is better off being male or female.
I see your point but it is not quite the same reaction from me. for me it’s like i don’t want to be associated with or blamed for the racist state of our culture.