From: cortese@skid.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese)
Subject: Re: What A White Person Learned in College About AfAm Culture
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african.american
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Date: 12 Jan 93 02:45:53 GMT

In article <38203@uflorida.cis.ufl.edu> djohns@elm.circa.ufl.edu (David A. Johns) writes:
>In article <C09Muu.Jsw@quake.sylmar.ca.us> 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!

>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. 

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. 

Again, I AM RACIST.  Am I happy with that?  No.  I need to do something
about racism, starting with approaching my own and analyzing where it
came from and what I can do about it.  I think that's the problem.  It's
not so much where you stand as in what direction you're moving.  From
the point of view of a woman, a misogynist who is starting to have some
misgivings and question his woman-hating assumptions and prejudices is
far more beneficial to women than a frat boy whose mom worked and who
thinks that because he laid a 17 year old in a tie dyed T-shirt who
forgot to shave her legs that he's an Enlightened Male(tm).  I might
imagine that it's similar for AfAm people.  Feel free to correct me on
this. 

Anyway, just because someone calls America a racist country does not
necessarily mean that it is evil.  The evil comes when people know they
are racist and do nothing about it.

Regards,
Janis C.

P.S.:  If I hear one more person say, "I talked to a bunch of white
people and they said they wren't racist so racism isn't a problem
anymore" I'm going to vomit.  I've heard of Aryna Nation and WAR members
who said THEY weren't racist!  JEEEEEEEEsus, people!  When are you going
to admit that what people say and what they do are two different things!
Besides, anyone incapable of admitting anything like GROUP DYNAMICS has
a serious problem.  Some people here act like any group is made up of
the sum of its parts only, and that there is nothing in a given group of
people outside the sum of the people involved.  The people in the LA
riots wouldn't have just all spontaneously gone out and looted and burnt
stuff, either.  When groups of people get an idea, it takes off and
forms a life of its own.  You simply CANNOT approach ANYTHING
sociological and treat it in a reductionist way.  Wake up. 
 
 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african.american