Here’s the bottom line: you can be discriminated against because you are white, just like you can be discriminated against for ANY quality, characteristic, or trait on an individual or institutional level. You can NOT be the recipient of racism if you are white. This offends almost every white person I have ever spoken to about the matter. Whites want to co-opt racism and make it their own. Why they are so hell bent on insisting that they, too, experience racism I believe has a direct correlation to their understanding, or lack there of, of their White privilege. Here is the difference between racism and discrimination: racism explicitly relies on an institutional (not individual) position of power. It is systemic discrimination. You being called a cracker is not racist. If anything, it is a reaction to racism experienced from a culture that positions White at the top of our social hierarchy. It is another way to sweep under the rug the real issues of race we have in our society and culture. Reverse racism tries to make the colonizer the colonized, the perpetrator the victim. The theory of reverse racism is racist. When half of the White male population is imprisoned, when whites are followed in stores on suspicions of theft, when White people experience racial profiling, we could maybe begin to talk about how whites experience racism. Until then, I think it is important to really understand what we are talking about when we discuss issues of race. It doesn’t mean you might not experience something negative because you are white. It just means it isn’t racism.
Waiting tables is sort of like that thing you do until you can get a real job. It’s great in a lot of ways: it can work around your schedule if you are in school or trying to be an actress or a Mariah Carey biographer or something, you can leave with cash and make pretty decent money, and you can meet a lot of cool people. That being said, waiting tables is also one of the most grueling jobs and can sometimes make you hate people, a lot. It’s a pretty weird concept when you think about it: you are there to serve someone else, by definition. A little dehumanizing right off the bat. Second, it puts your financial success (or failure) in the hands of random people you don’t even know. I guess a lot of people still don’t realize that the wait staff relies (usually) entirely on their tips for income. You make $2.15 an hour and that money goes to your taxes. So your paycheck is a big fat zero. When you stiff me on a tip, it really affects me. For anyone out there who happens to...
i get your point, and under your definition of racism, you're right. but until you grow up as a white kid in nearly all-minority hoods, being white is about the worst thing you can be. whether you call it reverse-racism, or race-related hate, it ain't no fun...
ReplyDeleteright, but that is an individual experience and it is important to avoid using anecdotal evidence when talking about these issues on a macro-level. but i appreciate your comment!
ReplyDeletefor some reason i am just now getting around to reading this. but i'm going to do so. and i'm going to do my best to keep up with it.
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