From: rburns@key.COM (Randy Burns)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: Oppression is Oppression is Oppression...
Date: 29 Jul 92 04:24:24 GMT
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Advanced Systems, Fremont CA

In article <1992Jul24.154729.22616@lclark.edu>, klotz@lclark.edu (Gretchen Klotz) writes:
> Greetings -
_Cultural_Etiquette_ by Amoja Three Rivers
> I. Introduction
> ---------------
> 	Racism and the racial stereotypes it spawns are so subtly
> interwoven into the fabric of Western society that very often, even those
> with the best of intentions will display bad cultural manners.  
Thus, racism is assumed to be inherently tied with and unique to "Western"
society.

>I
> include anti-Semitisms in the discussion of racism because it is simply
> another manifestation of cultural and racial bigotry.
As is anglo-phobism.

> Its advice and recommendations have come from
> observations and from the life experience of the author, who has been a
> woman of color all her life and expects to remain so, and from interviews
> with a small but representative group of women of color and Jewish women,
> all of who are experts on their own oppression.  (1)
In doing so, the author has omitted examination of those forms of prejudice
which   fall solely on the men of an ethnic group rather than the women.
The sociobiological evidence would indicate that such forms of prejudice would
be more common than forms of prejudice which fall evenly on both sexes.
 
 > 	All people are people.  It is ethnocentric to use a generic term
> such as "people" to refer only to white people and then racially label
> everyone else.  This creates and reinforces the assumption that whites are
> the norm, the real people, and that all others are aberrations, and
> somehow a bit less than truly human.  It is seeing white people as the
> center and everyone else as variations on the theme.  (4)
Ethnocentrism is a near universal of cultural development. For example,
the ancient chinese once referred to whites as "long pigs". Tribal groups
frequently refer to themselves as "The People". Even today some of the
Latino groups regarded as "Politically Correct" refer to "La Raza" or
The Race. This statement assumes that European cultures have not only been
more able to act out their racial prejudices, but more prone to do so.

Even farm animals show prejudices(i.e. it is not uncommon for cows of one color
to congregate together).

> 	A cult is a particular system of religious worship.  If the
> religious practices of the Yorubas constitute a cult, then so do those of
> the Methodists, Catholics, and Episcopalians, etc.

The most common sociological definition of a cult is a group that has not yet
had a formal succession of leadership(i.e. the founder is still alive or
the spiritual tradition fails to provide for a clearn succession of leadership).
 

> 	Judaism is no more patriarchal than any other patriarchal
> religion.  (7)
Judaism does have a stronger tradition of separation of the sexes than virtually any
other European culture.
 
> 	Koreans are not taking over.  Neither are Jews.  Neither are the
> Japanese.  Neither are West Indians.  These are myths put out and
> maintained by the ones who really have.  It is a conscious and
> time-honored tactic for the white, straight gentile males at the top to
> create situations in which the rest of us are encouraged to blame each
> other for our respective oppressions.  Don't fall for it.  (7)
This is a classic manipulative and dehumanizing statement. It delegitimizes any
experience that anyone who is white, male, straight and protestant might have of
ethnic politics. The fact is that many types of organizations like crime
syndicates are highly organized along ethnic lines. Thus, conflicts between 
organized crime groups have a high degree of ethnic character. The author claims
that "white, straight gentile males" have been capable of a high degree of 
organization. What evidence is there that on the average white, straight _Jewish_
males are any less politically or economically powerful or less influential within
the media and academics? What evidence is there than blacks have been proportionately 
less influential upons music and mass culture in recent years than whites?

The simple fact is that there are some ethnic groups that have disprortionate power
in distinct areas. Few members of any groups really like talking much about the areas
where they are most powerful and influential-it is far easier to complain about ones
areas of powerlessness. Furthermore, some forms of power can only be expressed or 
obtained in relative secrecy. Furthermore, the white groups that she is referring to,
have exhibited far less in the way of social cohesion than many ethnic
groups in recent years-they may well have political and economic power but they lack the
power to mount effective propaganda and cultural attacks. The  men she refers to are infact
among those least likely to father children in this culture at this time. 

  
> 	No person of color can be a racist as long as white people
> maintain power. 
Right, any power including self-determination and cultural autonomy.

> This is because racism is "power over."  A person of
> color may have race prejudice, but until most of Congress, state,
> provincial and local governments, the Pentagon, the FBI, CIA, all major
> industries, the Stock Exchange, Fortune 500 members, the educational
> system, health care system, the International Monetary Fund, the armed
> forces and the police force are all operated and controlled by people of
> color and their cultural values, we do not have the kind of power that it
> takes to be racist toward anyone.

Note:The author does not call for proportionate power or an internationalization
of these institutions. She mentions specifically that the United States Intitutions
must be controlled by "people of color" for a state of fairness to exist. This would
imply either
1) concentration of power within hands of groups that are minorities within the United States
2) a shift of the ethnic composition of the United States
3) a transfer of sovereignty of the United States.
or some compbination of the above.
 
It also should be noted that influence over major media channels was explicitly 
excluded(i.e. ownership of major movie houses and television networks).

> 
> 	People of color and Jewish people have been so all their lives. 
> Further, if we have been raised in a place where white gentiles
> predominate, then we have been subjected to racism/anti-Semitisms all of
> our lives.  
Why is the experience of a white gentile person raised where non-whites 
or Jews predominate less valid?
 
> It can be as subtle as body language, a look or a vibe. 
> Oppressed people survive by learning to trust their instincts.  The
> well-meaning, (relatively) non-oppressed should follow our lead.  (22)
Why should a group be in any why regarded as having the moral integrity to
lead another?
 
> 	It is not "racism in reverse" or "segregation" for Jews or people
> of color to come together in affinity groups for mutual support. 
> Sometimes we need some time and space apart from the dominant group just
> to relax and be ourselves.

Then why is it any more suspect for a group of White Anglo Saxon Protestants
to have their own space and own institutions? There is a double standard being
applied here.
 
> 	Now it is perfectly natural for human beings to share and blend
> cultures, but let us face a hard reality: 20th century white society is
> culturally addicted to exploitation.
And authors of documents like this are addicted to put-downs in the guise of equality,
manipulation under the guise of goodwill. The most insidious thing about this document
though is how it relates to sexuality:a white man who really took the advice of this
document to heart is likely to become a lonely outcast-they will have rejected the 
people willing to accept them and accepted people contemptuous of them.
 

> 	Sometimes white people who are drawn to other people's cultures
> are hungry for a way of life with more depth and meaning than what we find
> in 20th century Western society.  Don't forget that every white person
> alive today is also descended from tribal peoples.  
And what happened to those tribal traditions? To what extent was it in the most
separatist groups that the pre-christian European traditions persist?

> If you are white,
> don't neglect your own ancient traditions.  They are as valid as anybody
> else's, and the ways of your own ancestors need to be honored, remembered
> and carried on into the future.  (24)
This sounds funny in light of the rest of what was said.

> 	Racism requires attention and energy on the part of the oppressor
> to keep it in place, therefore oppressors are frequently too busy applying
> racism to attend to matters affecting their own spiritual and cultural
> well-being and survival.
The problem with this is it ignores the relationship between imperilistic
tendencies and the loss of culture. For example, Rome was both a nation that
lost most of its own culture to the culture of Greek slaves and a militaristic
and brutal culture.

Perhaps part of the problem is the vulnerability of the cultures in question-
perhaps the problem with Europeans isn't within their culture but due to an 
inabilityto maintain their traditions and culture in the context of a 
cosmopolitan situation.