With the recent news that the billionaire entertainment mogul, Oprah Winfrey was not allowed into a posh French boutique after hours, reportedly because was SWB (Shopping While Black) I can't help but notice that some folks took this incident to mean that regardless of how much money you have “you are still a nigger”.
As I think about the psychology and pathology of such a perspective I cannot miss the notion that such a valuation of one's self is handed over to the judgment of the offending racist. Billionaire Oprah, recently voted the most powerful figure in the entertainment industry could easily purchase the entire Hermes and fire every one of the employees, repopulating the entire chain with people of more considerate views. Yet some of the folks with the perspective that I mention believe that regardless of how rich and powerful one gets they will be cheapened by the views of others and will never escape their state of Blackness.
In my view it is faulty to evaluate the state of racism and oppression by the views or actions of individual people who prove to be exceptions and use this as an inference to what the “rule” is.
Using the situation that happened a few years ago in which James Byrd was dragged to his death by 3 white racists I choose not to view their misdeeds as feedback on the state of racism in America. A more logical perspective is to note that these 3 white racists were punished under the modern set of laws that say everyone will be held accountable for their actions that violate the law. There is little doubt that in the year 1911 such a dragging death would have either not found it's way into court our the killers would have been found “not guilty” because of the racism that was allowed to fester in the system.
We are not able to control the actions of rogue individuals. Their actions represent the views and values of an individual. Society speaks by it's application of laws that refuse to allow the violation of such laws to go unpunished.
To yield so much of one's value into the hands of another only debilitates the one who is handing their self worth over to another. They won't achieve a high state of self until these other folks grant it to them.
Surely there are several hundreds of thousands of social interactions between people of different races. It seems more reasonable to me to quantify the massive number of those that go off without a hitch than to focus on the interactions in which blatant racism takes place.
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It would have been better if you named this piece of yours: Why do a few ignorant white folks get to define how all white folk are viewed? It is clear to me that what you have written here is a defense of white folk that points out a widely known fact that not all white folks are racist. However, here is the problem with your thesis; arguments made against white supremacy and white privilege argues that it is in fact a few white folk if you want to call it that who continue to cause problems for race relations in America, while at the same time it is the majority of white folk that turn a Blind eye to this racism and defend it when Black folk point it out as being racist.
There is a difference between criminal behavior and racist actions that contribute to poverty and stopping Black upward mobility. For instance, whenever one talk about racism coming from a Black person it is racism in the form of words directed at white folk and white racism or it is criminal behavior on the part of a Black person like attacking a white person, robbing a white person or possibly raping a white woman. As I noted on my Blog, most Black criminals that are used as beacons of Black racism because they attacked a white person started their criminal history off by offending Black people. Such probably was the case for the two men that killed James Byrd, they probably to this date still have more criminal acts on their record against white people than they do Black people but their one act of violence against a Black person has come to define who they are.
The real racism that hinders Black progress and Black upward mobility is not in the violent criminal acts of a few white people, it is in the actions of the few (and I use that term loosely) white folk that are in positions of power that deny Black men and women access to things necessary to have upward mobility. This is why I always ask if one accuses a Black man and woman of being racist, I would like for them to show me where Black men and women have been racist in those areas that have a lasting affect on the lives of individuals, like Home Loans does, Like Politics does, like Bank Loans does, Like Education does, like Law Enforcement does, like the Judicial system does. There is no racism on the part of Black folk in these areas because we are not the ones holding the power in these areas. Now must I present you with study after stuffy done every year that show how we continue to be affected by white racism in these areas. It does not take all white folk to be racist it only takes a few strategically placed white folks throughout the nation in positions of power to do irreparable harm to Black upward mobility.
As I always say, little Johnny in the corn fields of Nebraska that hate Black men and women is of no consequence, let him be who he wants to be, but if little Johnny becomes the local bank officer, the local council man, a police officer or a school teacher than Little Johnny becomes problem. So in conclusion it is not that we yield our value over to anyone, because our self worth is not defined by how others view us but our lives are affected deeply by how their actions affect our lives.
BTW, I hope you keep this Blog up after all it gives you home field advantage. :)
There is a difference between criminal behavior and racist actions that contribute to poverty and stopping Black upward mobility.
And there lies the flaw in your position.
In my view the definition of White folks having no melanin is going to insure that they never HELP the Black man to order himself accordingly so that he can be a being that has equal access to the systems that control the resources that generate wealth and power.
If you note the difference between a British purchase of a US oil firm (Amoco) versus the outrage of a Chinese firm doing the same you begin to note that race plays a siginficant part in the issue.
I must also note, however that Black Americans have joined in to the American nationalism as we see globalization as a threat to our nest in America rather than it being a chance for countries that have formerly been shut out of the global system of wealth to get their piece of the pie ASSUMING THAT THEY CONTROL THEIR LOCAL RESOURCES.
I ask once again - Since you are so focused on White Racism as the kryptonite that holds Black people back why do you choose to attempt to change the properties of the krytonite rather than choosing to distance yourself and build up your own?
When folks want to live their lives forever in the view of "racism" and "slavery" they will forever fuel their emotions on things that cater to that mindset.
Some can see the acts of a few fools and realize those few are fools. While others will attempt to say they are the "whole" instead of the "few". The Blacks that see the acts of a few racist at a store as the whole have the same mind as the White racist who see a Black on Black shooting on TV and assume all Blacks live that way. Both short sighted Whites and Blacks, they both establish their own racist worlds and fuel each other in kind with their views. All the while the rest of us see them all as the few fools.
My writing is not and has never been limited to simply changing white folk behavior and actions against us, I have and will continue to speak to those things we can and should do for ourselves. I do both unlike you who stand in defense of the enemy of Black rise. Even my assault on the Negro-Con is my asking of Black men and women to help their own and support their own.
It is one thing to actually speak about Black men and women needing to do for self which I have espoused and wrote about but it is entirely different when you are a defender of the system and all that is wrong with it.
How is it that you can not see this considering my position on American politics and your arguments in defense of American politics and capitalism?
I think race relations has to be evaluated by something that is empirical as possible. I alway argue economics, as economics at its core is about human choices and therefore discrimination should be measured in some form or fashion empirically through economics.
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