From: SPRAGGEJ@QUCDN.QueensU.CA (John G. Spragge)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.canada
Subject: Re: You're a racist! NET CHALLENGE!
Date: 12 Oct 92 19:05:09 GMT
Article-I.D.: QUCDN.92286.150509SPRAGGEJ
 <LABACH.92Oct9084058@acs5.acs.ucalgary.ca>
 <1992Oct10.182736.10254@newshub.ariel.yorku.ca>
Distribution: usa
Organization: Queen's University at Kingston

My name is John Spragge and I'm a racist. I have all kinds of racial
attitudes that sometimes creep out into actions that (unless I control
them) can have some pretty nasty effects.

Please note that when I said the foregoing, the ceiling didn't fall
on me. The "label" didn't hurt me at all. And in the long run, the effort
I make to overcome racism in myself will build my character (and isn't
THAT an old-fashioned concept).

Now, in my humble experience, that kind of admission is what organisations
of peoples of colour (to use the term they currently prefer) want. They
haven't demanded I stay out of politics, or shut up on racial issues
(indeed, they have asked for my help). They simply demand that I accept
the effects that my history has shaped my attitudes, and some of those
attitudes (unless I give them some thought) will damage them. In other
words, they ask me to be a responsible, thinking human being, realising
my heritage comes with costs as well as benefits. I could resent that,
but I don't think it would be very wise.

None of the above means I can't disagree with people who come from
racial or other minorities, or with the people who represent them. In
most cases, I can do this without being labelled a racist. If the charge
does come flying back, then (assuming I have put in the effort to
think about my position on the issue) I can answer it without trouble.
And if the person still dismisses me as a racist, then that's their
problem.

Herewith, a few snappy comments to some of the vitriol aimed at
Mr. Labach:

In article <1992Oct10.182736.10254@newshub.ariel.yorku.ca>,
cs911461@ariel.yorku.ca (CHRISTIAN D. ARMOUR) says:
>
>In article <LABACH.92Oct9084058@acs5.acs.ucalgary.ca>, labach@acs.ucalgary.ca
>(Terence Michael Labach) writes:
>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> "I'm so sick of being treated like a criminal in the country I was born
>>>  (Canada) simply because I'm white."
>>>  - cs911461@ariel.yorku.ca (CHRISTIAN D. ARMOUR)
>>>    in <1992Oct1.012930.10466@newshub.ariel.yorku.ca>
>>>
>
>
>
>Ok Netland.  You judge.  Is the Mr. Labach's signature not a blatant
>"you're a racist!" remark?  Were not his 4 posts prior to this one
>not other examples of "you're a racist!" remarks?

As far as I can see, he only quoted you. You can hardly accuse
a person of attacking you when your own petard catches up with
you.

>           I'm not to blame; my ancestors are.  My ancestors should also
>be forgiven because they sincerely believed that they were "better" in
>the "eye's of God" than the "savages" (sic, Mr. Labach) they crushed. Why

Your ancestor's sincerity is irrelevant, even if true. Europeans did
loot the world, causing utter misery and devastation (and committing
genocide), mainly to finance long series of wars, and a frenetic
industrial expansion that has reduced vast area of the world to
an environmental mess.

>must I now pay taxes to a government that wastes it on correcting the
>past.  It should be protecting the future.  To this end, an official
>"melting-pot" policy might prevent division within the nation.  Enforced

No method of "protecting the future" without at least acknowledging
the crimes of the past can work. As for a "melting pot", what would
you have us "melt" into. Somehow, I doubt that (for example) the
possibility of converting our culture to Native values, substituting
a Grand Chief for the Queen and a council of elders for Parliament
occurred to you as one form of "melting pot".

>seeing this happen.  The white population in Canada is not allowed to
>unite (this would be racist!) but other groups are.  Since I have no
>interest in becoming a member of a "white league", I propose the abolition
>of racism in all it's forms, not just white bigotry.

"Whites" have never been united. The people of Yugoslavia are all "white",
but that does not prevent them killing one another off; the people of
Northern Ireland are all "white", but hardly united. "White" does not
exist as an ethnic designation. Multiculturalism does encourage the
real ethnic groups of European origin (Scots, English, Welsh, French,
Breton, Ukrainian) to preserve their cultures.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.canada,can.politics