From: djohns@elm.circa.ufl.edu (David A. Johns)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african.american
Subject: Re: Rage, ranting and race
Date: 5 Nov 92 15:45:03 GMT
Organization: University of Florida, Gainesville

In article <08m9sB2w165w@netlink.cts.com> galan@netlink.cts.com (Greg Gross) writes:

# Indifference on the subject may be your experience; it isn't mine.
# Among the white who suffer this affliction, you can usually find
# pretty consistently a pattern of denial that the problem exists.
#
# It's welfare, they'll tell you. It's busing. It's affirmative
# action. It's quotas. It's law and order. They desperately f{lail at
# the leaves of the dead tree and resolutely refuse to look at its
# poisonous root, which is racism.

Well, yes and no.

I hear these whiners, of course, but I don't really think most of them
are the hard-core racists you make them out to be.  Mostly they're
just bitching -- in addition to what you list above, they probably
also complain about taxes, their bosses, the way old people drive, and
their inlaws.

But more importantly, with programs like affirmative action and busing
(and let's add welfare), you have a chicken-and-egg problem.  Even
people who believe strongly in the goals of these programs will
usually admit that they are poorly designed and implemented.  As they
stand, these programs have accomplished very little in proportion to
what they have cost, and they have the very nasty side-effect of
giving the bitchers a target.  You seem to be assuming that people are
against help programs because they benefit blacks; I think it's more
likely that much of the anti-black rhetoric you hear is because of the
programs.  But even so, it's not the same sort of vicious racism that
typified previous generations and lives on in some contemporary
groups.

Let's not forget also that the Republican party's "hate-thy-neighbor"
philosophy has fueled a lot of the antagonisms between whites and
blacks over the past decade.  When speakers can get on all the major
networks in prime time and rant against every "abnormal" group in the
country -- including women! -- it's not surprising that combativeness
spreads through society.  Whatever anyone might think of Clinton's
"character" or economic policies, I don't think they can deny that he
will bring a more tolerant attitude to American politics.

Back to denial, now -- I don't think it's normal for average people to
care about global issues.  This is only secondarily a race issue.
White suburbanites are not flocking to aid poor Appalachians or
Bosnians, any more than American blacks are crying over conditions in
Somalia or even Haiti.  People live in small worlds.

But all this is really just idle philosophizing.

What really bothers me about this focus on white people's attitudes
and alleged responsibilities is that it perpetuates the notion that
salvation for blacks will come from the white community.  While it's
certainly true that there are race-based obstacles to advancement for
blacks -- especially at higher levels -- it is also undeniable that
many blacks are not taking advantage of all the opportunities
available for them.

We've seen a lot of suggestions here for actions that can help
overcome the obstacles.  Tutoring programs can compensate for rotten
schools.  "Loan circles" can bypass racism in lending.  Other groups
have test-run programs that can be used to help blacks -- for
instance, the Jewish Anti-Defamation League has been successful in
attacking *specific* instances of antisemitism rather than orating
about antisemitism in general; decades ago the Chinese Merchants'
Association worked to make Chinese neighborhoods safe and attractive
enough to attract money from outside the community; Koreans have been
successful in focusing the entire family on making one business
successful, and then using that business to start another; and so
forth.

Some whites in positions of authority will continue to put obstacles
in the way of upwardly mobile blacks.  But the vast majority -- those
you accuse of being in denial -- will neither hinder nor help blacks.
As I see it, the goal of the black community should be to use those
whites to its own advantage, sometimes by hiring them for their
expertise, but more often by offering them something they're willing
to pay for.  In effect, this is what athletes and entertainers are
doing, since their income is paid disproportionately by whites.  But
since even black athletes are interested only in themselves and their
own families, their success represents too much of a concentration of
money in too few hands.  We need a less spectacular, more evenly
distributed advance.

Anyway, I guess I prefer to think of the glass as half full.

David