Racism in America
Written by Michael Vass
Recently some of my readers may have noticed a bit of a back and forth I had with Christy in Utah. Christy is a racist, which it only took 3 back and forth comments for her to admit. Christy initially responded to my post The most dangerous people in America - 11.4.2007.1, seen at Black & White Blog – where I am a co-author.
You can read the commentary there or look at my post Reader comment: Christy in Utah to see what was said.
I want to point out Christy for a reason. It’s not to embarrass her, or to point out her lack of reading skills, illogical thought, repressed thought processes, or her complete lack of knowledge on history and historical fact. At the same time my comments are not to claim that all Whites are equivalent to the pitiful life that Christy lives. But there are bigger issues to be seen.
Christy, and those like her, live in a small world. They avoid fact or events present around them. They feed off of negative stereotypes kept alive by the news and major media. They cling to half-truths and misconceived ideas like manna from heaven. Their insistence on anyone not like them being inferior and subordinated is cult-like.
I have read how many believe that racism does not exist anymore in America or the world. I recall how Nick, the son in Ice Cube’s groundbreaking television show Black.White., states that racism is a problem of the past – something he believes wholeheartedly. I can remember too many discussions with 20-somethings across America that share his view, and believe that the use of 1 hateful word can be changed because they have no understanding of the actual meaning of the word.
But the comments of the bile spewing Christy prove my case more than anything I can say. It is people like her who will not see the lack of existence of people of color on television programs, in movies. It is these people that strive to create problems or allow other problems to fester.
Christy believes that what one group of Americans does have no effect on her. Imagine that. Imagine if the 60% of the military that is non-White just stopped protecting the nation. Imagine if AIDS was never investigated because some thought it only killed gays or the non-religious. Imagine if the over 1/3 of the nation that is non-White just stopped working or buying goods – as racists like to believe. The effect on Christy, other racists, and every single person in America would be enough to destroy this nation in days.
Christy has issues, and I’m sure she would be loved by the KKK – except that she is Jewish and they believe her to be as vile and non-White as she believes Blacks to be. But what can be done about such stupidity? What can we do to help backwards individuals that think in the 17th Century but live in the 21st?
I touch on difficult topics in my blogs and posts. I address the realities in America that the media and daily social interaction try to shield some Americans from. Sometimes that means placing the sordid past of America in front of my readers so that we can see that the old wounds have never healed. Sometimes it means I take to task the Black community for glorifying base behavior. And more often it means that I will highlight the venom in the actions and inactions of the media, whether that is in movies, video games, music videos, books, television shows, the news, the internet and/or other blogs and blog posts.
Why am I mentioning this? Because I made a mistake. I allowed myself to succumb to the pestilence that Christy represents and delve into the slime she habitats. It’s one thing to correctly put a stupid petulant racist in their place, providing them knowledge and facts that they must either deal with or consciously avoid. It is another to devolve that conversation into a personal commentary that is anything but the purpose of this blog.
You my readers are accustomed to better. I strive to provide better, even in the face of racists – Black, White, American, international, religious or whatever.
I am not ashamed or repentant of what I said about Christy and any racist like her. I stand by my words and their meanings, even if those kinds of minds are incapable of comprehending them. But I’m not here to commit flame wars.
And there is a lesson to he had in all of this. Read the comments I wrote and the response by Christy. Note the lack of comprehension, the refusal to understand fact (actually the direct statement by Christy that she throws out facts that dispute her thoughts). See the real enemy of America, racism in its less obvious face. Because it is this kind of undercurrent of thought that permeates our society and poisons our future.
Christy is weak, like most racists. They hide themselves in shadows and corners, only brave in large numbers or when they are protected by the ambiguity of the internet. They cannot fathom a world shared with anyone but themselves and those that look like themselves. They are cowards, afraid of the world filled with people that aren’t like them at all.
Racists are not that far from radical fanatics. They too live in a world they cannot fathom. They to would destroy anything not akin to their beliefs. They too poison the very ground they stand on.
So if my comments and posts dealing with Christy say anything I hope it points out that. Racism, and all forms of irrational hate, not only exists in America it festers. It has not died but waits for a time when we are distracted, seeking to attack us like vultures and carrion feeders. Like a parasitic mold they hold onto society, weakening it, decaying its life essence.
Knowledge and patience are the keys to defeating such stupidity and fanaticism. Great men like Dr. Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi had both. I am merely a man and my reserves of both are far more limited. But I can hope that my blogs and posts can help. That is the intent.
But I want to ask you my readers, what do you think? What is the best way to deal with a racist and/or fanatic? What words would you choose what course of action? And how might we Americans use moments like this to unify in greatness, rather than the scum that is the breathe of Christy and her ilk?
July 24th, 2008 at 12:35 am
I love you Mike….I felt so bad you weren’t getting any responses.
Just wanted you to know that I love you, you are the best!
August 26th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
i dont have much to say on any race issue.. but all the time u hear about a white man callin a black man a nigger then everyone is in an uproar and the white man is seen by most as a rasist asshole but then if a black man calls that white man a honky or a cracker its ok because “we enslaved their people”… hmmm ok no one alive today enslaved “their people” and no im not saying slavery was right.. need to point that out before im called a rasist.. i just think that anytime something happens with more than one race involved it gets turned into a race issue. im tired of hearing it.. i personaly dont call black people niggers but how many black people call white people honkys or crackers? thats all i have to say i just needed to get that out
August 27th, 2008 at 1:10 am
Sadie,
Thank you for your comment.
First let me mention that I hate the N-Word. I don’t use it in my speech or in any of my posts – ever. It’s a deplorable word and I dislike its use in any format or for any reason. I do realize that your use of the word was not meant to be disrespectful. I just don’t like that word.
But to your point.
Yes, a White guy saying that to a Black man is a racist commentary. That does not immediately mean the White guy is racists as well, though it does cause reason to wonder.
A curse is used when a person is incapable of using any other term(s) that might convey the thoughts they have. The more limited the vocabulary (and therefore the intelligence) of an individual the more common the use of curses in place of an actual thought. And the purpose of a curse is to inflict rage and anger and hurt, nothing else.
In the American (and English in general to my knowledge) language there is no curse or term more derogatory, insulting, and painful than the N-word. It is defined as “the possibly single worst word in the English language”. There is no comparable or equivalent word for any other group, sex, or race. None.
So when a White uses this term they are not merely cursing the Black person, they are using the most vicious word in the language to inflict the most pain – solely on the basis of their race. Because they have no other word in their vocabulary to either win their discussion, or to express themselves. And that is key.
In the minds of those that use this word is the knowledge that this singular word is violent, degrading and painful to a specific race. That with one word they are insulting a person, their ancestors, their children, the entire race all at once. And there is no comeback, no reply that can top it or equal it.
By comparison a ‘cracker’ was a term created by the North to describe Southerners in a disparaging manner. Since at the time Whites were the only ones considered of worth the meaning only applied to Whites, but it was meant to describe a region. So you have a word created by Whites to describe Whites on a regional basis. Very similar in the manner that ‘yankee’ was used to describe Northerners, and I imagine had the South won the Civil War would hold the same meaning as cracker does today. It’s a word that is specific to a style of life in a region, and therefore has minimal impact today and is not relevant to describe all Whites.
So while your point that you have not enslaved anyone is valid, there is the difference. You may not have acted directly against African Americans, and Native American Indians for that matter, you are the direct beneficiary of those that did. There is no argument that slave labor literally built the foundations of the nation on the backs, bones and blood of millions of Africans. It was the slave labor that funded the growth and wealth of the nation. A line can be drawn from that labor to the wealth and prosperity of the nation today.
And that word relives that pain and inhumanity.
But in America, when a crime has been committed the criminal cannot benefit from that crime. A killer cannot write a book, nor have an insurance policy that pays them because of the crime they committed. And slavery is acknowledged as a vile evil criminal act.
Yet not one American has been asked to return their profits from their crimes. Ever. In fact it was not until this year that any Governmental body ever expressed remorse or an apology for what was done. And when it was done this year it was done by a voice vote, such that not a single name could be recorded either way – and only in the House of Representatives thus preventing it from becoming an official statement of the Government.
So when the N-word is used it is a reflection of an unrepentant nation, which is prosperous because of millions that were enslaved, killed and died without regard for hundreds of years, and are described as being inhuman and without worth. That’s what it means when a White says the N-word (and it only has a slightly less repugnant meaning when said by a Black to a Black).
You may not use this word against a Black person vocally, but you have no problem using the word. Because you do not see or feel the meaning of the word. I do.
And it is because of that sensitivity (or lack thereof) that you do not see why this or that action can be viewed racially (right or wrong). It’s not something that will ever affect a White person in America. It is something that does affect every person of color in America today. And I can prove it.
Pick 5 generic television stations. Watch each station for 1 hour. Mark down every time you see a non-background character that is non-White. Also mark down every White character. This includes commercials.
If you have more than 2 Asians in 5 hours I bet you were watching a kung fu marathon. If you have more than 7 Hispanics you were watching the non-generic Spanish television stations (like Telemundo). If you get more than 15 African Americans you were watching BET. And I guarantee that you will have at least 300 Whites no matter what.
[Based on 4 main characters per 1 hour show, 2 recurring characters or guests, and 3 people per commercial with 10 commercials per ½ hour – which equals 330 people/hour]
If I am right, and I am very sure I’m at least close within a couple of people, then that means that American television reflects a world where .61% of the population is Asian, 2.1% are Hispanic/Latino, and 4.5% are Black. Native Indians or any other group do not exist. [Just for the record, the actual fact is that 1 in 3 people in America are non-White.]
In effect television is saying that America is 7.2% non-White, or essentially that America is an all White nation. It means that any non-White is unimportant and does not need to be shown in any setting – whether based in reality or fantasy. And I’d bet that if you are White and reading this you never noticed or thought about this. But every person of color gets the statement being subtly made to us every hour of every day.
So I am not surprised Sadie, that you are tired about hearing something that you do not directly feel or have affect you daily. But for the rest of us, it’s not the same thing. And the only way to change this is to remind you that your take-it-for-granted view of America is wrong.
So expect that until racism and the use of the N-word ceases to happen or exist you are going to always be tired of hearing about how biased America really is.