We're not a 'post-racial' society. We're the 'innocent until proven racist' society

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

We're not a 'post-racial' society. We're the 'innocent until proven racist' society

When you encourage white people to be ‘blind’ to race, white people also become blind to racism

Why are we so reluctant to refer to racist incidents as “racism” when we see them happening?

It’s not even just the obvious right-wing political incidents, like rancher Cliven Bundy, who some people couldn’t identify as racist. Katy Perry’s history of racist costuming is supposedly just appreciating other cultures. Shock jock Anthony Cumia, who was fired by Sirius XM in July for a racist tirade, has fans who claim he’s not-racist, even when he says things like, “blacks aren’t people” in a since deleted tweet. There were even Donald Sterling apologists, like Gene Simmons of Kiss, who think the former Los Angeles Clippers owner’s racist rant about not wanting his girlfriend to bring black people to his games was nothing more than a joke unfairly caught on tape.

It’s often not enough to point out specific examples of racism – people of color are then often requested to write a graduate-level thesis to prove it.

For instance, when Gawker pointed out the inherent racism of apps like Ghetto Tracker and the new SketchFactor app, both designed to help its users avoid “sketchy” neighborhoods in major cities, some of the site’s commenters failed to see the racism, instead preferring to think of these apps as helpful ways to avoid becoming a crime statistic. Of course, there are racist cultural traditions that contributed to increased crime in those areas to begin with, including segregation, racially restrictive covenants, redlining and violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that improperly allocate funding in areas where there is a high percentage of minority students.

Even when individuals point out their own experiences of racism, people find ways to frame the experience as anything but racist. For instance, writer Roxane Gay recently recounted her experience of being racially profiled by a cashier at Best Buy – and then, on Twitter, she fielded questions and comments from total strangers who came to the defense of the security person who racially profiled her. (A manager at the store even told USA Today that the cashier’s mistake wasn’t racism, but “not communicating what was happening”.)

I’ve seen this “innocent until proven racist” framework in my own life, too. I once explained to a classmate that a librarian at our school constantly asked to check my bag when I entered the graduate stacks section – even when I was with other students – because I “didn’t look like a graduate student”. My classmate immediately said, “Maybe it’s just because you look young!” as if that would explain away just how much this librarian was clearly targeting me.

It’s difficult not to see this problem as the inevitable result of the politically-correct push during the 1990s for colorblindness: when you encourage white Americans to be “blind” to race, white Americans also become blind to racism. The idea that we could somehow eliminate racism by ignoring race to some extent stopped people from talking about either, and allowed the systemic effects of racism to flourish in a space in which no one wanted to admit it existed at all.

Racism is not just part of our shameful past (as many would like to think): it’s a vicious factor in the gulf of inequality that still plagues us today.

People of color still suffer the effects of racism on a regular basis: statistics show that we incarcerate African-Americans and Latinos at disproportionate rates; white people then strongly support continuing criminal justice policies that disproportionately target Latinos and African-Americans when given information about the disproportionate rates of incarceration. Our schools still expel and suspend black students at “triple the rate of their white peers”. People of color are more likely to be arrested for drug related crimes, even though whites use and abuse drugs at similar rates, and, once arrested, get longer sentences than white people arrested for the same crimes. Unemployment is consistently twice as high among black Americans compared to white Americans, and black Americans have to search for work longer than white ones. African-Americans pay more for car insurance, for home loans and for access to credit, and they are racially profiled while shopping by store security personnel – including at Best Buy. Having tons of money is no panacea: even though they make up 65% of the NFL, black playersreceive 92% of the penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct, and a store clerk in Switzerland refused to show a $38,000 Tom Ford handbag to Oprah Winfrey, whose net worth is $2.9bn, because it was “too expensive”.

And yet, people still hold on to the belief that we live in a color-blind system in which nobody is a racist, despite such obvious examples of persistent racism. The “post-racial” society is an intellectual refuge for white Americans, who largely benefit from racism even when they’re unwilling or unable to admit it. We certainly shouldn’t keep denying that racism exists, but white America needs to wake up and recognize just how complicit it has become in a system constantly perpetuating false notions of equality.

Source

[Janelle2002 3,865]

I could not have put this into better words.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

Yep.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Source

I got this far

"When you encourage white people to be ‘blind’ to race, white people also become blind to racism"

For people that don't like people lumping everyone into one basket based on race, you guys sure do it a lot .

What a crock

[GandD 5,966]

Everyone is racist. For now whites have power and therefore their racism is the target of all minorities. I can't wait till Hispanics take over the majority. Then we can all talk about how racist they are.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Everyone is racist. For now whites have power and therefore their racism is the target of all minorities. I can't wait till Hispanics take over the majority. Then we can all talk about how racist they are.

The Justice dept that is investigating the brown shooting. Whites sure don't have that power

[GandD 5,966]

The Justice dept that is investigating the brown shooting. Whites sure don't have that power

Yeah I heard that on npr today. Dumb. This is a Missouri problem.

[decocker 7,198]

The Justice dept that is investigating the brown shooting. Whites sure don't have that power

what does that even mean, whites don't have what power?

[OnMyWayID 1,489]

And yet, people still hold on to the belief that we live in a color-blind system in which nobody is a racist, despite such obvious examples of persistent racism. The “post-racial” society is an intellectual refuge for white Americans, who largely benefit from racism even when they’re unwilling or unable to admit it. We certainly shouldn’t keep denying that racism exists, but white America needs to wake up and recognize just how complicit it has become in a system constantly perpetuating false notions of equality.

Who believes something like this? Who Who Who Who??? I can search in google and find somebody but I find more that think batman is real and that are convinced the all margarine diet is a good deal. beyond stupid statement for people who join protests for the sole reason it makes them fell good and want to beleive they are part of the solution. This doesn't show progressive thinking, it shows a naive thought proces.

Need another straw man argument? People still hold onto the belief that rape is not so bad.. here is why they are wrong... Wow! Arn't I deep and clever to destroy that wide held belief.. Gaa!! Tired of reading the overwhelming stupid and having to pretend it somehow is not.

Edited August 19, 2014 by OnMyWayID

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I got this far

"When you encourage white people to be blind to race, white people also become blind to racism"

For people that don't like people lumping everyone into one basket based on race, you guys sure do it a lot .

What a crock

Well what you're saying is that you have nothing to contribute except the admission that you didn't read it.

Moving on.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Who believes something like this? Who Who Who Who??? I can search in google and find somebody but I find more that think batman is real and that are convinced the all margarine diet is a good deal. beyond stupid statement for people who join protests for the sole reason it makes them fell good and want to beleive they are part of the solution. This doesn't show progressive thinking, it shows a naive thought proces.

Need another straw man argument? People still hold onto the belief that rape is not so bad.. here is why they are wrong... Wow! Arn't I deep and clever to destroy that wide held belief.. Gaa!! Tired of reading the overwhelming stupid and having to pretend it somehow is not.

The point I took from the commentary is that racism has become something of a taboo subject - that people tend to tune out when there is an allegation of racism. Obviously there are a number of reasons for this - knee jerk allegations for one, but I would argue its also because of the pervasive nature of racism.

It has been said on here in the past that the election of the first black president is proof that racism is in the past. However, perhaps consider that there continues to be a debate as to whether the president is a genuine American citizen and several allegations that not only is he not a USC but is in fact a secret Muslim. At least one poster on VJ regularly refers to Obama as 'The Kenyan'. Why is that tolerated as a legitimate conversation piece? Do you agree with it?

We have even had people on VJ try to rationalise that it is OK to depict Obama as a chimpanzee because people did that to Bush. As if somehow, the comparison of a black man to a apes and monkeys doesn't have any historical racist connotation whatsoever.

Another observation. There is an idea, for example, that white people experience racism equivalently to blacks. This is why people complain about black history month and (perhaps more controversially) Affirmative Action as being racist. The fact is that unless you have had the experience of being black in the USA it is impossible to grasp the concept that you are the beneficiary of an unfair system.

What it does do is deny black Americans the legitimacy of a voice to discuss their experience of racism. Instead we have to accept the spurious idea that political correctness has resulted in a situation where white people experience racism to a greater (or even equivalent) extent to blacks and other racial minorities.

Read the comment on the bottom of the article, it explains it all quite well.

Edited August 19, 2014 by Hail Ming!

[LibCampFireClub 635]

I got this far

"When you encourage white people to be ‘blind’ to race, white people also become blind to racism"

For people that don't like people lumping everyone into one basket based on race, you guys sure do it a lot .

What a crock

You got further along than I did. I got to here:

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

You got further along than I did. I got to here:

What's the point of a comment like this?

Take your issues with me elsewhere - or at least find better bait.

[LibCampFireClub 635]

Oh, I see you misunderstood the nature of my post. It's just that I thought Nature Boy completely encapsulated your entire thinking process in this post and that he was more patient than me to actually read from the source you posted.

Edited August 19, 2014 by ExExpat

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

You see the report button at the bottom of the page? That's the appropriate response here and the only reaction you're going to get.

Take it elsewhere.