I have very mixed feelings on racism. Whenever the subject comes up, I feel disturbed by all of the undercurrents in our culture that reward victimhood, apologize for reverse racism or hatred, and waste our time talking about issues which are 90% solved. Do you have various emotions that come up when racism is mentioned? Then read on.
- Exasperation at the victim mentality – I, like many Americans, including some eloquent black leaders like Juan Williams, John Ridley, Bill Cosby, and Star Parker, are tired of the selfish, lazy cries of ‘racism’ from people who want to remain victims instead of taking responsibility for their lives.
- Frustration with unjust solutions to racism – quotas (affirmative action) comes to mind – it is unfair to people who work hard but are excluded from college or jobs based on their race (‘we chose a minority instead of you even though you are the equal or better candidate’)
- Fighting racism with…racism – not only are affirmative action programs reverse-discrimination (i.e. racism), rappers and other angry musicians often complain about racism, and use it to justify their OWN racism (and misogyny). These immature people have nothing in common with men like MLK Jr., who preached abandonding hate and racism as the solution, not reverse racism and hate (like Farakahn does, for instance)
- Racism in American really only means one thing – Black racism – why aren’t the Asians complaining about this? Because they understand that they are in a foreign culture, and have to work extra hard to assimilate, and accomplish goals. And they take responsibility for their own lives.
- Racism in the southern US – having lived in NC for ten years during the 80’s and 90’s, I know that it is true that racism is alive and well, esp. among many of the baby boom generation. Some bad ideas die slowly, and perhaps only with the death of the generation that was soaked in them.
- Institutional racism – I admit that many of the most powerful institutions in this country, including the government, have been run by the old-boy network of powerful whites. But look. We have a good number of black governors, senators, and now a presidential hopeful. While pockets of racism exist, it’s pretty much over. I mean, except for the growing anti-white racism (and anti white male) we see growing in the U.S.
- Racism is really a much bigger problem outside the US – Places like Africa, Asia, and the Middle east seem to be the places where racism is acted out with murderous zeal. People concerned about racism in the US are really wasting their and our time.
- Anti-arab racism – like it or not, the next group that will be complaining about racism are the Muslims who feel victimized by our suspicions that they are servants of evil like their Wahabee brethren. And in particular, this means Arab Muslims, who are themselves not only anti-semitic, but as we’ve seen in the Sudan, anti any other race but their own, even if that race is practicing Islam.
- Racism in all of us – what I really despise is the lack of honesty on both sides of the issue that racism, or xenophobia, is normal for human beings – we fear what we don’t know, and WE ALL HAVE IT TO SOME DEGREE. For that reason, while not accepting it as good, we need to give one another a little grace, understanding why such feelings exist, and acknowledgeing that they are a reality of the human condition, something we all have to resist, not only outwardly, but in our own selves.
- Racism in Christianity – It is especially sad to see racism among people, both black and white, who call themselves Christian. However, most churches I was part of or visited were not racist at all, and actually championed efforts to bring blacks and whites together. I mean, there was a huge push for this reconciliation as part of Promise Keepers – see Promise 6 of 7 which states:
A Promise Keeper is committed to reaching beyond any racial and denominational barriers to demonstrate the power of biblical unity.
- Race organizations are past their usefulness – I think that many organizations like the NAACP and NOW have really outlived their purposes, and have in many ways become counter-productive by continuing on. First, their original purposes been largely fulfilled, but in order to keep the organization going (and the money flowing in), they tend to overreact to the few problems we have left, trying to justify their existence. In doing so, they divert people’s attention and resources from more important issues, and inflame passions over things which are not really important to society or its functioning, and in fact, FUEL racism, or the very thing they were supposedly trying to eradicate. Second, since many know that their original purpose has been accomplished, they often take on new, ‘related’ causes which are often just extremes – like how the feminist movement has moved into championing things like abortion and gay rights, both of which are arguably not part of the original movement, perhaps even counter to it. I mean, how many of us are familiar with the caricature of the angry anti-male lesbian feminist (‘feminazi’)? This is more than just a caricature – it is in some sense what the remainder of the feminist movement has become – a sick version of its former glory.
- Racism is not the most virulent “ism” of our day – my previous point is that, while we focus on the relatively benign and marginal racism in our country, we are missing the real problems – things like the dissolution of marriage, child and adult slavery around the world, major diseases like AIDS, and the growing threat of Islam in the west. In fact, if you are really concerned about racism, the biggest purveyor of it is Islam, which is anti-semitic, often pro-Arab and anti-other races, and in the case of Louis Farrakhan’s organization, anti-semitic AND anti-white. ‘Whitey’ is not really the problem much anymore.