I made the mistake of commenting on a recent article on how white privilege is the biggest problem we face today....I was kind in my response...However, I was met with rebuttle stating that I was a racist because ....basically.. I exist....this is my response....
I'm a racist?! I thought this:
This lady is a racist...She founded Planned Parenthood to wipe out minority children...She was EVIL!
I never thought of myself as a racist, but apparently I am…At least, that is what they tell me. You see….I’m white, and I guess that makes me a bad person because 200 years
ago, someone I have never met might have owned a black slave… Maybe 200 years ago, someone I don’t know was a slave… Does it matter
that some slaves were white? Does it matter that MORE slave owners were black? What about the Chinese or Irish indentured servants?! A slave by any other name...you know?! America is a melting pot of heritage...What if I have black ancestry? I do, actually... Does it matter? I guess not,
because I was told that I’m a racist. According to "they" I benefit from privilege and owe the black community reparations?!
No...No one born since 1970 has lived in a nation that supports inequality based on ethnicity. Certainly it takes time to undo the last facets of social injustice, but the majority of our nation has, even by revolutionary standards, embraced diversity quickly. I have friends that are black. I have friends who are mixed. I have friends who are Indian and Chinese and French and Aussie. I don’t care what color their skin is. Their heart is colored the same as mine. Does that make them racist? Apparently not…If they aren’t white. Perhaps it is my parents who are to blame for my being racist. My mother was a poor farmer who picked cotton alongside the black community…They were all friends…Interestingly, one of my mother's closest friends was a POC in 1967. The friend refused to allow my mom to attend her wedding because her parents would never approve of a white girl at the ceremony. My father grew up as a Chicago street rat…fighting gangs of every ethnicity equally…As he tells it, there weren't "better than" lines drawn in near north Chicago in those days...except where the rich on Lakeshore Dr. were separate from all the poor kids. They taught me to look at the character of a person before I judge them…My parents were never racist. Parts of society are trying to tell me I’m a racist not because of anything I have said or done, but because I was born to privilege…Maybe being born and raised at or below the poverty line is a privilege these days?! As a white, heterosexual person, I am eligible for fewer scholarships to college, fewer non-achievement based grants, and fewer job opportunities because it is now required by law, that every employer have a diversified staff thanks to affirmative action. Maybe not being able to find a job because everyone is struggling to meet their diversity quota is what it means to be special. As a middle aged white male, I got to watch my father struggle to find a teaching position because those less qualified than him were filling the roles. (In one instance a black man in a wheelchair was given a promotion ahead of my father, though he only had a two year degree...My father had a Master's.)
No. I think the reason people say I’m a racist is because I’m tired of talking about race. There is an abundant amount of good to be found in people…but discussing race brings out the worst. If I love you, it is because you are a beautiful person….on the inside…where it counts… Do not ask me to judge you based on your skin color, and do not accuse me of it, either…We are not better for creating a society of bitterness.
We are not achieving equality by singling out another ethnicity. You can't fire with fire. The people pushing this crazy agenda don't want equality...They want revenge. Somehow they see an angle to strong arm people into giving them more; More jobs, more money, more opportunity. I refuse to treat people differently based on skin color! I refuse to spit in the face of Martin Luther King Jr. and his strides toward a more civil and equal nation. I will not bow to pressure to shame my own culture, nor will I be forced to look up to or down on anyone else's...I suppose I am a racist…IF by racist you mean in league with all races to care about people as individuals….I only ask for the same courtesy…
No...No one born since 1970 has lived in a nation that supports inequality based on ethnicity. Certainly it takes time to undo the last facets of social injustice, but the majority of our nation has, even by revolutionary standards, embraced diversity quickly. I have friends that are black. I have friends who are mixed. I have friends who are Indian and Chinese and French and Aussie. I don’t care what color their skin is. Their heart is colored the same as mine. Does that make them racist? Apparently not…If they aren’t white. Perhaps it is my parents who are to blame for my being racist. My mother was a poor farmer who picked cotton alongside the black community…They were all friends…Interestingly, one of my mother's closest friends was a POC in 1967. The friend refused to allow my mom to attend her wedding because her parents would never approve of a white girl at the ceremony. My father grew up as a Chicago street rat…fighting gangs of every ethnicity equally…As he tells it, there weren't "better than" lines drawn in near north Chicago in those days...except where the rich on Lakeshore Dr. were separate from all the poor kids. They taught me to look at the character of a person before I judge them…My parents were never racist. Parts of society are trying to tell me I’m a racist not because of anything I have said or done, but because I was born to privilege…Maybe being born and raised at or below the poverty line is a privilege these days?! As a white, heterosexual person, I am eligible for fewer scholarships to college, fewer non-achievement based grants, and fewer job opportunities because it is now required by law, that every employer have a diversified staff thanks to affirmative action. Maybe not being able to find a job because everyone is struggling to meet their diversity quota is what it means to be special. As a middle aged white male, I got to watch my father struggle to find a teaching position because those less qualified than him were filling the roles. (In one instance a black man in a wheelchair was given a promotion ahead of my father, though he only had a two year degree...My father had a Master's.)
No. I think the reason people say I’m a racist is because I’m tired of talking about race. There is an abundant amount of good to be found in people…but discussing race brings out the worst. If I love you, it is because you are a beautiful person….on the inside…where it counts… Do not ask me to judge you based on your skin color, and do not accuse me of it, either…We are not better for creating a society of bitterness.
We are not achieving equality by singling out another ethnicity. You can't fire with fire. The people pushing this crazy agenda don't want equality...They want revenge. Somehow they see an angle to strong arm people into giving them more; More jobs, more money, more opportunity. I refuse to treat people differently based on skin color! I refuse to spit in the face of Martin Luther King Jr. and his strides toward a more civil and equal nation. I will not bow to pressure to shame my own culture, nor will I be forced to look up to or down on anyone else's...I suppose I am a racist…IF by racist you mean in league with all races to care about people as individuals….I only ask for the same courtesy…
“I have a dream, where they will not be judged by the color
of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Martin Luther King Jr.
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