From my prospective the subject of racism comes up often. Many people I know or have known have expressed in some way their position on racism and most all say they are not racist but know someone who is. Someone from both sides black or white from many communities or countries.An African friend of mind mentioned recently that American Blacks are racist against Africans. A white friend once told me that he felt that all Germans disliked his people whom are French. A Korean friend once stated he could not understand why Blacks did not like him but that most Koreans did not like Japanese people including him. There are many examples.
In the south where I grew up we, all black people I knew or know were of the opinion that white people in the south were racist and disliked all black people. Many blacks have said about whites in the south that they wanted to take them, black people, back to being slaves so they could have free or cheep labor.
I remember meeting a white coworker who never would talk to blacks and often would be in a group of whites talking and when I or any other black joined the group he would say nothing. Once when I joined the group the conversation was on welfare and I gave my two cents worth stating that in all societies there were welfare and all people shared in some way in welfare. I farther explained that if a group of people ended up on an island in time there would be those who rose to the top of the economic ladder and those who fell to the bottom and unless those who raised to top helped those at the bottom then they would cease to exist therefore hurting the ones at the top because their labor was needed. Help for them usually came in the form of them working for those who rose to the top thereby increasing their wealth.
The fellow who would always say nothing later caught me alone and asked me where was I from and how did I come to think the way I did. He later told me he had grew up with many blacks working for his family and they were all either not educated or did not speak with him or his family. He went on to say that his family had been members of the clan and he was taught that blacks were inferior and that he should not talk with them or associates with them and never to help them in any way except get them to work for lowest wages.
We became friends, talked often and he admitted he had been taught wrong and he learned that all people are the same and the only difference was there position on the economic ladder and education. He also stated that he now felt that if blacks had been given the opportunity, without the institution of obstacles, they would be much better off.
I learned much from him and I remember that we, blacks, (prior to the 1980s) were taught to observe whites, stay out of their way, know our place and never sassy or do anything to cause them to create a situation where the police were called or where they notified there friends or business members to not give us a job. We had to learn how another white felt about you without having to speak to him or her and whether or not they were a, good or bad, white person. We had to know their expressions toward us well enough to draw a conclusion as to whither they were racist or not, good or bad.
Racism is very difficult to determine. I have been called names, cursed at, refused service, ignored, and even had rocks thrown at me, did the people doing all this consider themselves racist, did I consider them racist? I did not consider all of them racist, I did not know anyway.
Recently a friend of mind had a disagreement with a person over the phone and he called the person a racist. That person was responsible for providing my friend contracts, since that time my friend has been blackballed and cannot get a contract from that office. Is that racism?
Juan Williams was abruptly fired by NPR after giving a statement about how he felt about a group of people when he saw them at the airport. Was Williams a racist, or was NPR being racist?
In reading what Williams said is similar to when I go out to a location and there are a group of white guys with rebel flags flying, I get nervous, or when a white person meets a group of young blacks on a deserted street, I’m told by them they get nervous.
I attended an NPR event recently and among over 500 people there were less than twenty blacks there, none that I could determine worked for NPR. I was nervous there too. Is NPR operating from a racist viewpoint, many of my friends have always thought so. They say there are no black radio personalities on NPR and view NPR as being bias against blacks.
So where do one draw the line on racism, is there people who are really racism or just people without understanding and knowledge like my friend who were taught to dislike blacks?
When we buy homes, cars and other items in predominantly black neighborhoods we pay more, interest rates are higher and in many cases credit are denied. Is that racism?
We support companies, individuals and organizations all the time that deny access to there activity. Take a look at churches on Sunday.
What do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment