All people are created equal - male and female, white and black, young and old, all are deserving of the same rights and respect.
But, sometimes it's hard to remember that.
When I received a letter from the school district at the tender young age of seven, informing me that I qualified for their advanced placement program but didn't have the right skin color to enter it at this time, I learned a valuable lesson. Not everyone believes that all people are created equal.
When I read about laws that make it a worse crime for a white man to harm a black man, than to commit the same offense against another white man, I realize that racist attitudes are still alive and well in this nation.
When I hear from a teacher who isn't allowed to send black students to the office for discipline referrals, because there are already too many, that message is driven home once again.
It could make me bitter, or angry, to see such blatant racially-motivated double-standards in every facet of life. But it doesn't . It just makes me confused.
I am confused when I hear that people say in one breath, that everyone is created equal - and in the next, go on to say that is why persons with a particular skin color deserve certain privileges.
I am confused when I see people create organizations which are intended to serve only one race, and then use it to promote the idea that all are equal.
But you know what really confuses me, and makes it especially hard to remember that equality is for everyone?
Hearing our President and his supporters suggest that anyone who dares to disagree with him, is simply a racist. That's particularly confusing, considering he is a man of two races.
Maybe, just maybe, the problem in this nation is that those who scream the loudest about racism, are often the ones helping to perpetuate it. Maybe, just maybe, if they stopped to look at the double standards and hypocrisy that they call for, they'd realize that they're doing the exact same thing they decry.
Maybe, just maybe, someday everyone will truly receive equal rights in this nation. Until then, I don't think the racist attitudes are going to go away.
What racist attitudes have you encountered?
Comments (20)
If it weren't for perpetuating the evils of racial social injustice, Jackson and Sharpton and their like would be out of work. Do you really want this on your conscience?
Being a dark skinned Hispanic woman, sure I've encountered some racism. Mostly surrounding the fact that many people - even friends sometimes - don't seem to get past the dark skin. I am a person of various races too, like the Pres. But like the Pres, NO ONE but me truly acknowledges the white ancestry. Only that which makes me non white. Which is probably why the Pres appears to identify himself as a black man; to people's eyes that is what he is. I find it disingenuous when white people emphasize his bi-racialness in order to try and claim him in some way. If he was an ordinary schmoe who wanted to date their daughter or sister I highly doubt they'd do the same. Obama sure as hell didn't create the one drop rule nor was it created yesterday, nor by non-white people. Everytime people throw his middle name in his face like it was some kind of slur, I can relate to that, having an ethnic-sounding name which people seem to be unable to pronounce correctly, no matter how simple it actually is to say (trust me, it's simple). By the way, I have white relatives who share the same ethnic sounding name.
It's not fair to counter racism with double standards. It's insulting to nonwhites to lower standards for them, because it implies that they can't achieve things any other way. And it's not pleasant working hard to get to certain places only to have people assume you are just an affirmative action product and don't have anything real to contribute. Those double standards are unfair both ways, you know.
@squeakysoul - I disagree with one thing. MANY people besides Obama, recognize his white ancestry as well as his black ancestry. The problem is, we're dismissed as racists by his supporters (revealing the fact that many of his supporters are only supporters because of his skin tone). But yes, I do agree, that double standards are unfair both ways. I have often tried to explain to friends of various races and elasticities, that the reason I am against whatever new double standard is up for vote, is because it won't help them in the long run. They don't seem to care. They've been brought up with a "we want revenge" attitude instead of the "we want equality" attitude that good men like Martin Luther King Jr. expressed (makes you wonder exactly who it was that wanted him dead, doesn't it...?).
I've noticed much of the "inverse racism" shown above, what with quotas and the like to insure proper "diversity." Lesser qualified black people getting into positions better qualified white people have applied for because of their skin tone.
hate crimes is an interesting thing, but I'll not go into that aside from saying while the intention is good, the implementation isn't. Road to hell paved with good intentions and all that.
Some of the more interesting racism I have seen stems from my own ethnicity. I am mixed, but some find that I am obviously part Mexican. Thing is, I don't speak Spanish, long story that I won't go into right now. I am somewhat often approached by other Spanish speaking Hispanics, and when they discover I don't speak the language, I become a lesser person. I know enough Spanish to say with confidence that upon learning I don't speak it, I have had them say nasty things about me.
Another rather interesting one that stems from my high school days is the anti-"whitewash" racism within the lower class black community. Simply put, any black individual that didn't speak Ebonics or did well in class was "acting white" and thus shunned by the other black students. Lower class minority culture is rife with racism.
@Dargon - Did we just actually agree on something?
The fact is, when you oppose the President, you are labeled a possible racist in the same way the Spanish Inquisition labeled people as possible heretics. Those that do that require from themselves absolutely no burden of proof beyond how what you say makes them "feel". That being said, I find it shocking that leaders like Al Sharpton receive such respect from the African American community based on the simple fact of what squeakysoul said about lowering standards to bring about equality. If I was an African American, the very idea that anyone would consider lowering standards to make me equal to whites would make me foam at the mouth from anger. Heck, I would feel that way regardless of my color just because I consider myself to be a proud, ambitious, strong person.
@radicalramblings - We've done that more than a few times now. Kind of scary.
@Dargon - LOL I hear ya.
"Hearing our President and his supporters suggest that anyone who dares to disagree with him, is simply a racist. That's particularly confusing, considering he is a man of two races."
i thought that too...i read this book called A Bound Man by Shelby Steele, and he was talking about how it was wrong for Obama too use the fact that he was "black" to win the hearts of some people (and the votes). It's not fair to ignore the fact that he is white too. It's like if he was a white looking guy and only called himself white but had a black mom, black people would be so pissed. But it's ok if he ignores the fact that he is also white but embraces his blackness.I don't like affirmative action, it's like getting into a club because of the fact that you are rich. You can't decide whether or not you'll be born a minority or rich, its something you're born with, and its not right to others if you get special privileges based on the way you were born. Besides, I want to know I got into a program because I deserved to be there, not because I was born black.
@PrincessYnattirb - Thanks for your comments and perspective
Personally, I think there would be a whole lot less racism, if we stopped saying there was racism. Let me explain, before you flame me.
I have two nephews, who are growing up in the foster care system. The oldest one, has been going to public school, as soon as the foster parent could send him. Because he is in the foster care system, he has had foster brothers of various races and origins. He would play with them all the time, because that is what he knew. He didn't know any different, except to share his toys with all the kids, to play games with all the kids, and to talk to all the kids. they were in every sense of the word, his brothers.
One day, my brother and his wife, got a phone call from the foster parent, because the oldest one had gotten in trouble, and as per the foster care agreement, my brother had a right to know, what was going on. It seems, that while in preschool, or maybe 1st grade, the teacher, decided to talk about racism and what evil things the white people did to the african americans.
This was an entirely new concept for my nephew, it had never dawned on him, to shun or make fun of his "brother" with dark skin, until the teacher brought this up. All of a sudden, my nephew started to not share his toys, with those "brothers" who had dark skin. When asked why, he simply said that the school told him that those with dark skin were different.
I realize that this was not the message, that the teacher had wanted to convey, but when dealing with children, what the children, think they heard, matters as much if not more than what you actually said to them.
In circles or groups of Sunday School teachers, the story is often told, of the Sunday School class who sings "the B I B L E" and the number of kids, who when they get to the part "stand alone on the word of God" actually put the Bible on the floor and stand on it.
Think of kids, as blank slates, they don't know anything until we tell them. If we do not mention racism, or that those with a different skin colour are different. then they actually may not view them as different. Now they were able to set my nephew straight and he did indeed go back to playing with all of his brothers.
When I was on my mission trip to Texas, I attended a church in the neighborhood that was essentially an all African-American Church. I was the "token" white guy, and there was one lady who was the "token" hispanic. but you know what? we worshipped together, we ate together, we studied the Bible together, and life turned out just fine. But the other thing we did, was joke. Some of the jokes we told, would curl Jesse Jackson's hair. But it did not bother any of us, because skin colour didn't matter.
I was at a church potluck, sitting with the kids, when I got into a discussion with one of the pastor's kids where my skin color was mentioned. I started out as white, and then this 8 year old boy, decided that no, I was more of a peach white. Did I take offense because I was called peach white, or because this kid said i was white? no, we laughed, because we thought me being peach white was funny and we went back to our spaghetti. When I left the church to come back home, the church presented me with a Bible, for all of the help I had given them. I even helped the kids put on a play for black history month. We became a family. why? because we did not care.
The Bible says that there is neither jew nor greek, male nor female, slave nor free in the body of Christ. There is no such thing as the Bodies of Christ. we are one body, we need to act like one body, and quit mentioning differences, particulary differences as stupid as skin colour.
I was with the teens (all of which happened to be hispanic this night), from the inner city mission that I was working at, we were driving to a mall, and helping them purchase Christmas gifts for their parents. On the way to the mall, we passed the church that I went to, and I pointed it out, saying that I went there.
One of the kids looked at me, and said "isn't that a black church?" I said yeah, and? to which he said "well do they talk to you?" He was seriously asking me this. I looked at him and said "no we sit around and stare at each other all morning, yes they talk to me" All of us then got into a discussion on race, that ended with us inviting some African American teens that I knew of, to join us for the games of basketball that were played every monday night.
Where do you think, that the hispanic teen, got the idea, that the African American church might not welcome me? do you think he got the idea from his own head, or did someone give him the idea? I think someone gave it to him. If the adults stop mentioning race, and just treated each other as humans. the kids would grow up thinking that everyone is just human.
@ProudToBeAChristianFruitcake - I agree completely. Race is still an issue in this country because we make it an issue.
You are right on target with this one, and a large part of it can be laid squarely at the footsteps of people like Al Sharpton and Jessy Jackson. Their motives may well be to ensure that no one ever forgets to evil of slavery, but the actual result is the perpetuation of a perception of difference and a feeling of entitlement that should not exist.
@ProudToBeAChristianFruitcake - I completely agree. I still have memories from my childhood where I had no idea that people thought there was anything "wrong" with people of different races, or gay people, or people of other religions. In my house, no one ever talked about those differences. Everyone was to be treated with respect. I was probably 7 or 8 before I knew anything of racism or discrimination. And that really shaped my feelings today - I spent a long time never even knowing that someone COULD have an issue with someone due to race, gender, sexuality, religion, so I can't really fathom the idea of forming judgments that way. Sure everyone judges, but I feel that since I wasn't exposed to those prejudices for a long time, since they were absent for most of my early development, the concepts feel very foreign to me, even now as an adult. And I think if more people were raised that way, racism and discrimination would be a much smaller issue.
@ProudToBeAChristianFruitcake - Thank you for setting the example. I too agree that maybe not talking about "racial differences", with any effort of emphasizing the difference, might just be the way to go.
While the attempts by many of us to overcome racial prejudice and the above-mentioned personal experiences demonstrate good will and how it can overcome much; there is still the underlying problem revealed by the Clarks' famous "Colored doll" experiment which has been replicated many times. Very young (pre-school) black children who had not had any contact with whites consistently selected the "white" dolls over the "black" ones as those they preferred and became upset when asked to select the doll that "looks like me". Apparently they knew of racial differences and where they fit - I'm talking about three-year-olds.
There is ample evidence that prejudice is alive and well even today and I personally have overseen experiments demonstrating it among people who apparently thought they had little or no prejudice. Incidentally among teen-agers, the most prejudiced group were white teen-aged boys, followed by white girls. The black students exhibited measurably less racial prejudice against whites.It's important to learn the lessons of stories like your's and strike the proper balance between the values of equality and individual liberty.
Racism has become more of a divisive issue under the Obama administration than I've ever known it to be in my entire life. Ironically, I thought the evils of racism were almost obliterated for good with his election. Besides a lot of his policy/agenda...it's another point of his leadership that I'm most disappointed in
@tychecat - did they try hispanics or orientals? I hate to generalize, because I belong to a mixed racial family. I have found in my travels that different areas have different standards, and some races in some places are far more biased than others. As a child in Texas, for instance, other hispanic students physically threatened me almost daily in one town. In another, it seemed to make no difference what color my skin was. I had both anglo and hispanic friends. As an adult in Tennessee, I saw similar differences in black/white relations when I changed towns.
Today, it often seems that rude whites are shouted down, but rude people of color are cheered.
"Maybe, just maybe, the problem in this nation is that those who scream the loudest about racism, are often the ones helping to perpetuate it. Maybe, just maybe, if they stopped to look at the double standards and hypocrisy that they call for, they'd realize that they're doing the exact same thing they decry."
i couldn't agree with you more, especially on this part!!