From: isbell@ai.mit.edu (Charles L Isbell)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african.american
Subject: Re: What A White Person Learned in College About AfAm Culture
Date: 12 Jan 93 21:32:04 GMT
Article-I.D.: panther.ISBELL.93Jan12133204
	<38203@uflorida.cis.ufl.edu> <2B5230E1.8923@news.service.uci.edu>
Organization: MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
NNTP-Posting-Host: panther.ai.mit.edu
In-reply-to: cortese@skid.ps.uci.edu's message of 12 Jan 93 02:45:53 GMT

cortese@skid.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese) writes:
|David A. Johns writes: 
|>brian@quake.sylmar.ca.us (Brian K. Yoder) writes:
|>
|># He said that he had seen very little racism. I must say that I have
|># seen fairly little too.  That doesn't mean that either of us thinks
|># it doesn't exist.  What it means is that blanket claims that
|># "America is a Racist" country or that all blacks are discriminated
|># against are quite suspect.
|>
|>I basically agree with you here, but that's not the whole story.  A
|>very large percentage of whites has very little contact with blacks in
|>everyday life.  Most whites, unlike blacks, are not conscious of race

|Sure they have.  There's the maid, and the woman who works at the dry
|cleaners.  And a few years ago, I could have mentioned Willie Horton.
|Ple-e-e-e-e-enty of AfAm faces!

Right.  It seems clear to me that the minority, en masse, always
understands the majority better than the majority understands the
minority.

|>every waking moment.  It's easy for them not to be racist, and I
|>agree, they aren't.
|>
|>But most blacks *do* have to deal with whites on a daily basis, and
|>very often the whites they deal with are in positions of power --
|>teachers, police, bank officers, bureaucrats, etc.  It is *these*
|>whites you have to evaluate for fairness, not whites in general.

|I hate to sound as if I'm lecturing, and I WELCOME any AfAm poster to
|correct me, but I think we're not clear on how we're defining racism.

|Racism is the development of premature expectations of a person based on
|their race.  I do it, and I don't like it.  It's really impossible to
|grow up in this country without developing racist expectations.  You 
|can't.  You just can't.  In that sense, American is indeed a racist
|country. 

Agreed.  Others will argue that "racism" requires power.  I disagree
with this assertion (I'd say that prejudicse, ie racism + power equals
"discrimination" *or* "oppression"); however, I think the attempt to
distinguish between racism with and without power serves a purpose.
To wit: as you argue below, the *real* evil deals with either 1)
acting upon these prejudices and affecting the lives of others or 2)
not doing anything about the actions of others or yourself and,
therefore, deferring to the existing racism.

In my view, almost every White person does #2.  Blacks do as well, but
perhaps for different reasons.  I'd argue that this is just as bad, at
least ethically, as #1; however, I suspect I'd get strong replies
expressing disagreement.  Whatever.  I'd be happy just to get folx to
admit to this problem, never mind arguing about its ethical
equivalence to #1.

The kind of racism that is most often argued about is #1.  I suspect
that most people act on this all the time.  Given the number of people
who've crossed the street as I've passed or clutched their purses or
whatever and the opinions I've heard ont he net, I cannot avoid the
conclusion.  On the other hand, I'm not as concerned with these
"small" infractions (except at a psychological level) as I am with the
larger ones about which David Johns is more concerned.

|The real evil, and here I do think that America has made some small
|progess, is not doing anything about it.  THAT is wrong, knowing that
|you have racist tendencies and not working to "deprogram" yourself, as
|one poster put it very aptly.  Here, I think America is making some
|progress, but has a *long* way to go.  Many white people think that they
|want every little concession made by them to be trumpeted and earn them
|pats on the backs for being so wonderful, when I imagine AfAm citizens
|feel much the same as many women do -- they have ne idea what they're
|supposed to feel so grateful for in the first place, and resent like all
|hell having to fight at all for things that should be basic rights. 
[...]

This is a key point.  I feel no need to thank LBJ for the voting
rights act--the right to vote was never his to give.  Similarly, I
feel no great need to thank Lincoln--there never should have been
slaves.  What took you so long?

I just can't feel grateful.  Sorry.


--
Peace.
                    "We don't necessarily discriminate.  
                     We simply exclude certain types of people."
                             -Lt Col. Gerald Wellman, ROTC Instructor 
                              at M.I.T., on D.O.D. 1332.14
                                   -\--/-
    Don't just adopt opinions     |  \/  |       Some of you are homeboys
          develop them.           |  /\  | but only I am The Homeboy From hell
                                   -/--\-
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