The following is commentary intended for discussion. Add your comments.
When it comes to the goal of erasing racism, there are differences among people as to what that means and how it’s achieved.
Many, including Martin Luther King, Junior, thought the key was in behaving in a color blind fashion: not judging others by skin color and, preferably, not taking it into consideration when assessing a person.
These days, there are activists who are pushing for a reversal of such thought. They claim people are nothing more than the sum total of their race, and can never change. Some even make racist claims to advance what they say is an anti-racist agenda: that say all white people have certain negative characteristics when it comes to behavior, thought and morality, based simply on their skin color. They also claim all black people share a victimhood status because of nothing more than the color of their skin.
As the media and some corporations have been convinced to take a role in this activism, it has put an increasing focus and awareness on race where there used to be little to none.
Have these trends made you think more about race and racial issues than you used to?
Is that a positive thing for the cause? Or is it a negative development? Has it brought people together or divided them?
Has race-focused activism and news made you more race-conscious? No. I’ve never been race-conscious, gender-conscious, size-conscious (other than obesity is a health issue), age-conscious. or whatever-conscious. And I’ll wager the vast majority of Americans feel the same. Yes, we will always have racists and misogynists and people who-despise-other-people, but these are exceptions.
Racism is not systemic; if you hunt hard enough you will always find racists. But that’s all they are — exceptions. The politicians and media are amplifying what’s not there. Doubt my claim? How’s that Russia collusion story working for you?
Becoming more racially aware has been a process for me over the last 20 plus years. The campaign to marginalize European people (Whites) has been increasingly noticeable during this time. Acceleration began with the first days of Obama’s first term and 2020 appears like critical mass was achieved. This is a good thing to make Europeans more racially aware and to begin thinking collectively as a defensive measure and start considering their own group interests as well. When dealing with any individual one on one I remain open and flexible and allow that person’s own merits and virtues to come out naturally. When I find myself needing to consider my situation in a crowd of people or an area or region of a populace, I must consider people by average group behaviors and sensibilities for my own well being and that of the people I love.
It has made me more race conscious when it comes to people I see in news and politics. But I don’t think it has affected my personal interactions with people based on their or my race.
It has had a definitely negative impact on how I view my liberal friends when they start spouting nonsense like “we’re all racist and if you don’t know you’re racist that’s just proof that you’re racist.”
Overall I think it has had a net negative effect on race relations in America and I think it is incredibly sad and thoroughly enraging.
Yes, and it’s a huge annoyance.
I never thought of myself as white until I read DiAngelo. It happened on the first page. The book talked about “original sin,” and in that moment, I realized I’m white and that there are people who hate me because of it.
Since then I have been forced to participate in “bias” training at work that literally portrayed white people as mosquitos sucking blood from black people and needing to be squashed.
I have undergone a significant shift in racial awareness in the last year, and it hasn’t been a shift toward greater trust and racial harmony.
As a food deliverer in a large city, I can tell you that folks are fleeing the city. In the 60’s, it was called white flight. In 2021, it’s folks of all skin colors who are buying expensive new builds. These are folks who want to raise their families with some semblance of morals and values. These are folks who are making lots of money in the medical profession, or as business owners, or lawyers. It’s very interesting because real-life is totally clashing with MSM. Does not compute, Will Robinson!