I come home where I am surrounded by neighbors I've known for years, a wife who I've slept with for years, and cats who just like to sleep.
It is only recently I've come to realize my definition of what is racist completely misses the mark.
I had grown up thinking that racism was the belief that one race was superior to another or that human abilities were determined by race, and you were a racist if you allowed these beliefs to guide you to discriminate against those races you felt below yours.
Now I find that is totally wrong and that a racist is:
one who is both privileged and socialized on the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. The term applies to all white people (i.e. people of European descent) living in the United States regardless of class, gender, religion, culture or sexuality. By this definition, people of color cannot be racists, because as peoples within the U.S. system they do not have the power to back up their prejudices, hostilities or acts of discrimination.
Now I understand why anytime someone says anything that questions a position of a minority the questioner is a racist...
This definition does not seem to lead to free and open debate.
This definition does not seem to lead to free and open debate.
1 comment:
At seminary we were required to take the "Dismantling Racism" seminar which was peddling the same tripe. I therefore referred to it as the "I'm a Racist" seminar because that was the truth of the matter (using their terms.) People who accept such a definition have no interest in dismantling or ending racism; they have every interest in accumulating political power and in controlling people.
It's interesting that they don't use physical force, but a form of brainwashing. I suppose they don't have enough power (yet) to compel people to do their bidding so they have to rely on weak-minded folks who want to avoid trouble. But trouble can't be avoided.
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