Re: All ethnic dancers please read
of course you 'feel' that way. you don't have to live with the actual impact of institutionally-based racism on your daily life and mental/physical/spiritual health.
in america, white prejudices are effectively racism at all levels, because they carry the force of historic sociocultural biases towards 'whiteness' behind them. black and other not-white-people prejudices don't carry that force, and remain only prejudices, but not *racism*.
it'll be 'racism' against whites when they are denied loans and homes despite having excellent credit, when they are disproportionately arrested for marijuana possession instead of just fined (if that), and when news media starts talking about how 'white teens' are 'genetically predisposed to violence'.
until then, enjoy your privileges and stop complaining that you don't have even more of them.
Re: All ethnic dancers please read
Quote:
Originally Posted by
miabella
of course you 'feel' that way. you don't have to live with the actual impact of institutionally-based racism on your daily life and mental/physical/spiritual health.
in america, white prejudices are effectively racism at all levels, because they carry the force of historic sociocultural biases towards 'whiteness' behind them. black and other not-white-people prejudices don't carry that force, and remain only prejudices, but not *racism*.
it'll be 'racism' against whites when they are denied loans and homes despite having excellent credit, when they are disproportionately arrested for marijuana possession instead of just fined (if that), and when news media starts talking about how 'white teens' are 'genetically predisposed to violence'.
until then, enjoy your privileges and stop complaining that you don't have even more of them.
First of all, I think this is a very rude response. I was not denying the existence of institutionalized racism (in fact, I mentioned it over and over while trying to argue with ledumbe). I was simply saying that I don't buy into the semantic argument about the definition of racism. This is something on which people will disagree. It does not mean I feel I "don't have enough rights" as a person.
Also, I spent eight lovely years in a small, predominantly white, christian and middle/upper-middle class town in CT. It was really great for my brother and I, being bi-racial, Jewish/athiest, and lower-middle class. We each had two real friends the whole time. We were constantly ostracized. Those years definitely influenced us, because we dealt with racism and bigotry of all sorts first-hand, and understand how unfair, hateful, and ignorant it is. I think you should avoid assuming what any individual has gone through in their lives, and focus on refuting arguments, rather than assuming their ignorance.