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"If you have a low expectation of how a white person will treat you because they are white you are every bit as racist as a white person who would treat you badly because you are not white."
I just watched an interesting interview between Lester Maddox and Jim Brown from 1970 (youtube.com/watch?v=TAM…). And every time Brown tries to make …
"If you have a low expectation of how a white person will treat you because they are white you are every bit as racist as a white person who would treat you badly because you are not white."
I just watched an interesting interview between Lester Maddox and Jim Brown from 1970 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAMWsWvcbtg). And every time Brown tries to make a comment about the issues that black people faced in 1970, Maddox, to the jeers of the audience would interrupt him and say, "what about white people?" I think you're making the same mistake he makes.
Black people, can, of course, be racist. White people can be poor. White people can be bullied because of their looks. There is no issue that black people face that white people can't also face. This fact gives me a lot of hope. Because it means we can understand each other if we try. But there ARE issues that black people are more LKELY to face, and face for different reasons.
I'm lucky enough to have absolutely no expectations of how I'll be treated by somebody else because I'm black and they're white or Hispanic or Asian or anything else. I grew up almost exclusively around white people. And whether it was luck or my physical size or my scintillating personality, the colour of my skin was extremely rarely a significant issue. Life taught me, from a very early age, that people were just people. This is also the experience of almost all white people.
But there are some black people who grow up with a very, very different experience (https://x.com/TheConsciousLee/status/1819797250828128300). If you were treated the way this guy is in this video, if this had been a repeated experience in yours or your family's life, do you think you'd maybe grow up with a certain expectation when you interacted with white people? How about if you were one of the millions of people alive today who lived through segregation? Or one their children, and had grown up hearing stories about how it was?
So yes, black people can be racist. But black people didn't invent racism. I'm not condoning or excusing racism, whoever it comes from. But I think the 1:1 equivalence you're drawing is unfair.
All good points.
You state poor people commit more crime. I believe what you're saying is poor people commit more violent crime. Rich people commit more white collar crime (e.g. Trump). White collar crime is harder to determine and prosecute. Ergo why poor people are disproportionately represented in prison.
More interesting to start with the phrase "Black people". I capitalize "Black" for two reasons
1. The AP style guide suggests it:
"AP's style is now to capitalize Black in a racial, ethnic or cultural sense, conveying an essential and shared sense of history, identity and community among people who identify as Black, including those in the African diaspora and within Africa. The lowercase black is a color, not a person."
2. I read articles on medium a while ago from Black authors that stated the term Black should be capitalized and always used as an adjective. They identified with the capitalized term Black.
You use "black" in lower case. Why?
As for the origins of race (versus racism) as a distinction in humanity, assigning the concept to white people or Black people is disingenuous. It was first defined in Europe as part of the enlightenment. Its not surprising that early anthropological work that observable characteristic difference in humans would be a starting point for a categorization.
That morphed into the use of "white" as a racial category in the founding of the united states including the first census which asked for free whites, all other free persons and slaves. Should the census continue to use the white category as meaningful.
You state that culture is hard to assess. I don't believe that is the case at a community level. I believe a Black community in Birmingham AL has a very distinct culture versus the white community in Birmingham AL. In fact, I would state the cultural difference cause the divide more than the skin color differences.
"You use "black" in lower case. Why?"
Because I disagree with those authors and I think making "black" into an identity is, in every sense, a step in the wrong direction. I use the word black as a descriptor (even though my skin isn't technically black), so I don't capitalise it, any more than I'd capitalise any other descriptor.
Sometimes an editor will insist on capitalising "black," in which case I'll insist that they capitalise "white" too. But my preference is to do everything in my power to refute the idea that this minor physical characteristic is meaningful.
I returned from Vietnam in 1970, a 20-year-old Sergeant who could not vote of buy a beer. I was stationed in Albany Georgia for my last year as an active-duty Marine. I remember Lester (Ave Handle) Madox political ads against Jimmy Carter. "Wha Jimma Cattah claims to be a man of the people. He's got slave down thea in Plains on his peanut plantation." He was a read piece of work, Southern politics back in the day.
I understand that some people have more reason to be inclined to racism based upon their personal experience. My point is about the idea that anti-racists put that into the heads of younger people who did not live through the bad old days themselves.
I wrote nothing to indicate a ratio of racism between the races. Given that I believe that monolithic low expectations of individuals because of their "race" is the foundation of racism, I do think that we all need to keep our own house clean. The low expectations can be the result of personal grievance of propaganda. Does having more reason to be racist make it not so bad? You know that I am well aware that you have written numerous articles that address racism from all groups and don't think that.
Perhaps I have just grown weary of the steady evil straight white man drone on Medium. You may be weary of denial that even though things have improved there are still issues that affect black people more than other groups. I think that you know that i don't deny that.
"Perhaps I have just grown weary of the steady evil straight white man drone on Medium."
Haha, I don't think there's any "perhaps" about it. And while I completely understand why you'd be sick of this, it worries me that this weariness seems to make you more touchy and less nuanced about racial issues in general.
This, in a nutshell, is the danger of online radicalisation. People are bombarded with idiocy online, whether from "anti-racists" or racists, and they start to feel as if the whole world is like that. It's very difficult to fight that feeling. I speak from experience. But it's a really toxic influence in your life. And I'd strongly recommend, as I always do, to step away from the kinds of writers who turn out that trash. .
I actually am avoiding much of it, or am trying, but sometimes I feel like a moth being attracted to a flame.
Many topics have become so toxic that it's a good thing dueling is no longer an acceptable way of settling differences.