From: peewee@infoserv.com (Philip Stromer)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african.american
Subject: Re: Who cares what whites think about racism ?
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 92 22:01:52 PST
Distribution: world
Organization: Friends of Lenny Bruce

	>In article <1h83s2INN91l@meaddata.meaddata.com>, 
	>jeb3@meaddata.com (Jennifer Bing) writes:

	>It is obvious in this newsgroup that whites don't care what 
	>blacks think about racism anyway. 
	
Look in the mirror, Jennifer.  You just made a RACIST statement.  You        
have just lumped "whites" into one category.  That's like me saying
"blacks are drug dealers", because perhaps one black person somewhere
is a drug dealer.  You're doing the same thing Dowdy did.
	
	>What I keep hearing is there is no real racism anymore.  
	
Sure there's racism.  Everyone has SOME racism in his/her heart, but        
we need to fight through it.  When the effort is not even made, the
problem stagnates.  That's been my point from square one.

	>That is in the imagination of Ronald Reagan and the many others 
	>like him.

Who cares about some 80-year old ex-Prez's opinion anyway?  He doesn't
speak for anyone except Ronald Reagan, just like Dowdy Jackson speaks
only for Dowdy and you speak only for Jennifer.

	>Philip you need to reread his statement.  He can say "AfAms know 
	>perfectly well what the condition of race relations are".  We all 
	>know what they are.  
	
You seem to be implying that blacks have some sort of "super knowledge"        
of race relations that whites don't have.  If this is what you mean, I
again point this out as a racist statement.
	
	>He didn't say what we know, just that we know.

Yeah, and by doing so, he implicitly implied that I, as a white man,
do NOT know.  That's a bunch of hooey.

	>How many blacks do you know that have shared their trials with 
	>you?

Let's see, there's my wife Dianne, her four brothers and sisters, their
husbands and wives, her 30 or so relatives that I spent weeks with in
1989 when her mother died.  I've got about 10 other black friends that
I play sports with and have known for over 15 years.  Surely you're
not going to tell me that these people have NOTHING they can share
with me, that I'm capable, as a white man, of learning about.

	>You don't have any earthly idea what it is like to be black in 
	>this country.  
	
Living with a black wife and being the father of a mulatto boy gives me
at least SOME clue.  I get drifts of racism here and there, and not
only from whites, but surprise, surprise, from blacks too.  About 80%
of the people we meet are cool (all colors), and 20% are total bigots.

	>Well until you are born black and live in this country as a 
	>black you will never understand what racism does to blacks. 

So you're saying that every white person should not even TRY to under-
stand the problem, since none of us are ever going to be re-born.  I'm
sorry you have such a pessimistic view, but you sure don't speak for
Dianne and her family.  They'll call you a "whiner", a "crybaby" and
every other name you've seen me bandy about in this newsgroup.  BTW,
they're all very dark-skinned.  Not light-skinned Iman lookalikes.

	>If I or Dowdy Jackson, or any other person could wave a magic 
	>wand an cause everyone in the world to be non-racist I think 
	>they would if they were on the receiving end of racism. 
	
Sure, and if I could wave this magic wand, I'd wish for a million $$$.        
But that's looking through rose-colored glasses.  All I asked for was
a CONSTRUCTIVE criticism to today's problem, and I'm still waiting.
	
	>I don't have any control over how you or anybody else views 
	>blacks. 
	
Nor do I have any control over how you view whites.  But what I *can*
do is search for some sort of middle ground.  A good way to start is
by stopping the stereotypes.

	>you want a suggestion.  Here's one.  Why don't all you racist 
	>stop it.  It's not nice.

Speaking of not nice, calling me a racist is not nice.  You don't know
anything about me, yet you call me a racist.  I've done much community
work in East Palo Alto, rehabilitating drug addicts, taking time out
of my own life, asking nothing in return.  I'm glad I fall into your
category of "racists", because I was born with white skin, I'll die
with white skin, and there's nothing I can do about it.  I refuse to
feel "ashamed" of it.  I'm not responsible for slavery of 150 years
ago.  Also, I enjoyed "Gone With The Wind."  So there.

If you want to talk about racism, you can start with Louis Farrakhan.        
He's buddy-buddy with KKK Grand Dragon Tom Metzger, yet I've seen
precious few blacks criticize him, just because he has black skin.
When blacks crawl into bed with the KKK, I'm at wit's end.  When        
blacks accept a black man as a leading spokesman when he embraces
a KKK Grand Dragon, I wonder if the battle against racism is even
WORTH fighting.

	>Please tell me that's [slavery] not your only criteria for 
	>being a racist.

No, of course it isn't.  But you paint the "racist" tarbrush over any
white person you choose, without even bothering to find out anything
about him or her.  You're as bad as Dowdy.  Please tell me that you 
don't think you or anyone else is above having the ability to hold 
racist views.

--Philip Stromer (peewee@infoserv.com)