Next on the bullet list: "Reverse racism is racism."
These are just words, until you define exactly what you mean. If you just mean that an ideology that treats a normally privileged caste as inferior is racism, as is an ideology that endorses a traditional hierarchy, sure. If someone were to claim that people of European descent are somehow inferior humans, and ought to be deprived of educational an economic opportunity and even the right to vote, that would be racism. However, that is obviously not what people are trying to assert, since nobody would argue with them.
What they are really saying is that frankly acknowledging historical injustice, and trying to find ways to correct it, is racist. Teaching children about slavery, and Jim Crow and the KKK terror and disenfranchisement and separate and unequal schools and discrimination in employment, housing and criminal justice might make white kids feel bad, so just shut up about it. Advocating for policies to overcome the disadvantages that some people face in life might threaten the privileges that some people currently enjoy, and they're entitled to those privileges because ... oops, that's actual racism.
I'll be brief. As for the first claim, that we ought to hide unpleasant truths, that is never beneficial to anyone. Truth is empowering. I want to know and understand history, and that never makes me feel bad about myself. It gives me the tools to understand the world I live in, to find my way in it, and to work to change it for the better. I know I have ancestors who enslaved people (specifically in southern Maryland, on the Delmarva peninsula) but I don't personally feel ashamed about it. It just means I understand something about my family's history and how we came to where we are. (I also understand something about some famous African American people who share my last name.)
As for the second, that ameliorating oppression threatens the privileged, even if that were true I'd say it would be just, so we need to do it. However, I don't believe it's true. Societies succeed as a whole. If we provide high quality education, more opportunity, and equal participation in civic society to everyone, we all benefit. It is not what they call a zero sum game. Societies that waste the talents and potential of a large part of their population are disadvantaged and impoverished societies.
There are some specific questions about how to go about promoting justice that can be rather complicated, I'll grant you that. But the principle is not.
2 comments:
It is so painful to acknowledge the extent to which conservatives and Republicans go to butcher language and miss use it.
Pro-life is actually anti-abortion and anti-female.
"Make America great again" actually means reinitiate racism, inequality and lack of governmental oversight to pollute air and water. Bust unions and crack down on labor to enrich people that are already ungodly rich.
"Clean skies initiative" means MPower polluters. Here in Ann Arbor, the mayor and the city Council are facilitating unconscionable growth in the city, while a dioxane Bloom threatens our water supply (and our roads and traffic signals are a joke). And these guys are supposedly Democrats!
Greed and ignorance are destroying our country.
Sounds like you're using a horticultural paradigm. Give seeds all the moisture, nutrients, and sunlight they need and let them be. The vast majority of them will do just fine. Those that got their start in a hostile environment may need a little TLC to get them back on track.
One of the amazing things about this country is the number of varieties that have taken root here. And every one of them has produced some amazing specimens, even if they got started in less than ideal conditions. When the world sees an "American" he or she can be of any ethnicity. I don't think that is true of any other nation. "Race" has nothing to do with our definition as a people. That is a feature, not a bug.
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