Mods, if this should be in Great Debates, I have no problem with it being moved there. I offer this for discussion/reflection. I am generally pretty comfortable that my situation reflects answer #3.
I live in a fairly large city with a noticeable population of homeless individuals, mostly men.
I have a slight impatience with white homeless men. Recognizing that white men still have it easier than black men in this country, I think to myself “Why don’t you clean yourself up and get a job, any job?”
Is this racism against whites that I don’t have the same sympathy for them that I do for black homeless men?
Is it racism against black homeless men, that I don’t expect them to rise above their circumstances the way I expect white homeless men to?
Is it recognizing the racism that gives whites the advantage in the first place?
I would estimate that I’ve seen maybe 5 white homeless people, and I see 3 of them over and over again in my neighborhood. I couldn’t tell you how many black homeless individuals I’ve seen.
No, it’s not racist. We need affirmative action for panhandlers. Who is in the most need of pocket change, and what historical disadvantages have led them to begging? Most likely, the majority of these positions should go to persons of color.
I can see that it is kind of racist, but everyone has their predjudices. I tend to think that homeless people are all kind of mentally deranged/unstable because I can’t see being homeless as an option unless you are mentally unable to find and keep a job, or at least get your ass to a shelter where they can help you find and keep a job and parlay that job into a way to pay for shelter and other necessities. I know realistically this probably isn’t the case but it doesn’t change the way I feel.
I don’t see racism here as much as a fundamental misrepresentation of the causes of homelessness. Many of them can’t just “clean up and get a job” because of mental illness, depression, alcoholism, etc. Just because they’re white doesn’t mean that they can just pull themselves out of it by taking a shower and filling out a job application at Mickey D’s.
It must be “Am I a Racist?” month on the StraightDope.
I think it’s borderline racist if your feelings stem from low expectations for black people compared to whites. I say “borderline” because usually low expections are due to notions of innate inferiority (which is clearly racist), but sometimes low expections arise from observations/experiences in the environment (if all the black people you meet are poor, you’re not going really “expect” to meet any rich ones).
To give you an example from my own life, once I was telling my mother about how one of my fellow grad students was a horrible writer and was getting severe criticism from our advisor. My mother said something like, “Well, black people haven’t been served well in education” or something to that effect, and I totally flipped out. She had just assumed I was talking about a black person (I was not and could not have been…since I was the only black grad student in the department…a fact I thought she knew!) Ironically, I was the best writer among my labmates, and the student in question had appointed me her editor. I almost cussed my mother out because of her offhand remark (and no, I’m not proud of this).
Could it be that your feelings are caused more by embarrassment than anything? Sometimes when I get accostomed by black panhandlers, I feel angry because I think they’re making me look bad…or making it harder for people to view me as an equal. It’s totally irrational and rooted in self-hatred, but I don’t think it’s racist.
It is a little ignorant about what causes some people to become homeless long-term. I don’t want to get into a debate about the intricacies of homelessness but I think we can all agree that some people become homeless because of severe mental illness and/or substance addiction. I have met many people that fall into those categories and they fall way outside the eligibility criteria for dusting themselves off, getting a job, and moving on. Not all mental illnesses can be treated well enough to make the person functional in society even if they can get the psychiatric care and stay on their meds. Substance abuse can make a person spiral down so hard that long-term recovery is unlikely. I am far from a bleeding heart but I can easily see how a person could end up in that situation by hitting the trifecta of bad genes, bad choices, and unfortunate life circumstances. Once they get past a certain point, there may not be much that can be done other than institutionalization or maybe prison but many people would rather be free and homeless than face that. Those types of problems can strike people of any race although some groups may have a stronger social and family safety net.
Thanks all. It’s useful to get some feedback on this. I know that homelessness and joblessness are complicated by substance abuse, mental illness, and probably dysfunctional family dynamics growing up and a whole lot of other things. The subset of white homeless individuals I’ve met is small enough or remarkable enough that I have a sense of 2 or 3 of them being intermittenly medicated/functional and intermittently “off.” There is another man who seems to be less troubled as a whole than the others, but then I don’t really know his story.
Beware of Doug, your point is well taken. I’m a racist, a mysogynist, and a classist, but I’m at least aware of my failings.
I am aware that most of the work/social/career breaks go to whites rather than blacks. I don’t think I have lower expectations of blacks, but I do have low expectations of “the system.”