Over on Myspace, I received this post from a friend of mine: (my guess is that someone sent it to her)
You call me "Cracker", "Honkey", "Whitey" and you think it's OK.And we let you with no huge fuss about it.
But when I call you Kike, Towelhead, WOP, Sand-nigger, Camel Jockey, Gook, beaner, wet-back, nigger or Chink, or BLACKIE you call me a racist.
You have the United Negro College Fund. You have Martin Luther King Day. You have Black History Month. You have Cesar Chavez Day.Y ou have Yom Hashoah You have Ma'uled Al-Nabi You have the NAACP.Y ou have BET.
If we had WET(white entertainment television) ...we'd be racists. If we had a White Pride Day... you would call us racists.If we had white history month... we'd be racists. If we had an organization for only whites to "advance" our lives... we'd be racists. If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships...you know we'd be racists. In the Million Man March, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights. If we marched for our race and rights...you would call us racists.
Did you know that some high school students decided to make a club for only the white students because the other ethnicities had them... they all got sent to court for being rasist but the african-american, latino, and asian clubs were not even questioned. You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you're not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists. Why is it that only whites can be racists?
Like a quote from the musical "Avenue Q":"Bigotry has never been exclusively white"Think about that next time that you want to put someone on the stand for any kind of racism, especially "white supremacy". Repost if you agree. Now watch, I'll be a racist for posting this
Here is my reply:
You, personally, racist? Well, that has as much to do with how you treat and talk with people of other races as anything, and I've not seen you base your interactions with others on their skin-color or religious background.
That said, we all have room for improvement. It's very difficult to come at this issue from the 'majority' culture, as you and I do. We carry a world-experience which tends to be quite different from those of minority cultures.
Part of what helps in understanding this is finding yourself in the minority, as I have as a female clergyperson. It has been an enlightening and absolutely infuriating experience to be with male clergy colleagues and have them (1) assume that I will take on the 'traditional' role of secretary/social director and (2) listen to a recommendation I've made, quash it or the language used to describe it, argue my point for Lord only knows how long, only to have them adopt MY idea and MY language (only slightly rearranged), and consider it theirs.
This is a microcosm of what our minority cultures go through regularly. No matter how you look at it, while, for example, there is a Black History Month, the rest of the year presents history mostly through white eyes. And there isn't even a Native American or Asian American or Hispanic American 'anything' of any significance, yet there are people from each of these cultures who have contributed significantly and positively to our heritage. And in a country which prides itself on religious freedom (or freedom to not practice any religion at all), religious epithets and slights are uncalled for.
True, individuals within the various minority cultures must deal with their own racism against the majority culture and even within the variations of THEIR OWN cultures. However, to use stereotypes to broadly condemn all just plain isn't fair.
This piece is essentially a complaint against minority cultures for using stereotypes to malign the majority culture, so is it fair to use the same tactics against individuals of the minority cultures?
In my experience on the Presbyterian Church's Committee on Representation, I've learned much about the richness of our culture which is precisely due to the people of various races and backgrounds. The people I've had interactions with, regardless of racial/ethnic heritage, acknowledge that racism still exists - on BOTH sides of the equation. We have spent time exploring how we experience each others' cultures and how to better understand and work to resolve our differences.
Please take a step back and look at the entire picture instead of only focusing on the immediate sense of injustice caused by people who themselves are wearing blinders. Racism will never be eliminated if we continue to justify our own acts of racism by pointing out the racism of others. Our world would be a much better place if we would take the time to learn and understand more about each other.
Not quite sure what I'm hoping to do with this. I guess you could say I'm experimenting. Now where did I put that alchemy spell?
About Me
- SingingSkies
- Not much I can say about Me. Don't know that I've met Me yet, but I'll let you know when I do. Do you have any idea where I might find Me? Me may actually be lost, since I haven't heard much about Me lately. Did you see Me recently? Is Me a figment of My's imagination? *shrug* Oh, well! Anyway,I'm a clergy-human (emphasis on the human!) and have a grand time at it. I enjoy being me!
2 comments:
As a newspaper editor in Southeast Texas, I have had the delightful experience of being called a racist over the phone, by a couple people who never met me, who simply thought we had underplayed or misplayed stories that would have exalted (in both recent cases) a family member who happened to be black.
In another case, I was called a racist because we failed to run the third of three photographs of an African-American source, who merely preferred the third photo over the other two! Our judgment, in his mind, was that we were racists; our judgment, in our minds, was that the other two photos were better!
The race card gets played too often and too quickly here. One might argue it undercuts the argument where true racism hangs in the balance.
Personally, I'd argue it neutralizes some sympathetic people (or worse, makes enemies of them) when one group contsantly blames racism for every perceived slight, nuisance, disagreement or grievance. Often, the culprit is the same slight, nuisance, disagreement or grievance that is annoying the white guy.
Many people of color understand they must also meet other races halfway in their tolerance. Unfortunately, too many do not.
And as a white clergyperson, I have also had that wonderful experience when I have had to deny assistance to individuals of a racial/ethnic background other than my own - in both Southeast Texas and Oklahoma. It didn't matter that we didn't have the resources to give, or that the person had 'maxed out' according to our assistance policies. *sigh*
I don't deny that the race card gets thrown into the mix at the whiff of a perceived injustice by far too many people. And, yes, it does tend to neutralize some sympathetic people, me included in some situations. In fact, I still flinch whenever the term 'white privilege' gets used at our Committee on Representation (COR) meetings (not at all meetings, but it has come up in our discussions).
One of the dynamics of the COR is that the majority of its members come from racial/ethnic minority groups. Puts me in the minority! Of course, female clergy in far southeast Oklahoma was a minority too, one which even was an eyeopener for the African-American laypeople in the little town where I served. They couldn't believe that someone like me would understand some of the frustrations they were feeling as we were working together on a city development plan. But when I told them how I was treated within the 'normal culture' of the religious community, they got it.
If only we could get people to focus on what we share with each other instead of the differences, this part of the world might finally get beyond the biases which blind us to potential solutions to some long-term problems. For me, part of that process has been, ironically, getting people to look at the fact that even the majority culture is rife with diversity!
Believe it or not, Ron, Southeast Texas has actually improved significantly over the years. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't experienced it by leaving and coming back. *sigh* It's just so frustrating that we still have SO far to go!
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