Re: Are Black People More Racist Than White People? A look at the role reversal in ra
Racism is portrayed to us as an overt discrimination or prejudice on the basis of skin color, rather than an institutionalized de facto issue entrenched into american law and society. The fact that people are comfortable pointing to statistics that support the argument of "black culture being violent or anti-intellectual" while ignoring how this came to be the norm, and why it isn't changing, is disingenuous and, unfortunately, is racism.
This is probably the most disturbing and the least understood thing about racism.
Saying overt stuff like '******' isn't the prevalent form of racism anymore. Racism has become incredibly complex, hidden and perverse. It baffles me to think that people think hundreds of years of bias will magically disappear over a few years. It's still there, and has probably become more dangerous (not sure about this but it sure feels like it - it's easier to spot it when a bigot yells an insult out, but when the entire community spins a web of intricate systemic obstacles, you really have to strain yourself to see it, and who knows how many more people do not bother and simply agree with it and pass that down)
My mother remembers very clearly the Civil rights movement. She and I had a discussion about just what you're stating earlier this week. She states that it was just as bad then, but that it is worse in its own way now. While the rights are on paper there is no follow through in our society in this regard. We're stuck at a stand still in this country and until we break away from the systemic oppression of other races and cultures, there will be no forward mobility.
Or, like Lee Atwater, the great conservative campaign strategist said:
You start out in 1954 by saying, “******, ******, ******.” By 1968 you can’t say “******”—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.… “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “******, ******.”