Re:Will Racism Ever End?

This is in response to a note by Mr. Parker...

First of all, Mr. Parker, I'd like to say that I appreciate the thought and insight that clearly goes into your notes. They are thought provoking and interesting.

In response to the question posed by your note, "Will Racism Ever End," I would have to say that my knee-jerk reaction is "No." At least not in our lifetime...maybe in the lifetime of our offspring. Let me tell you why...

Racism often stems from two things, ignorance and a sense of victimization (which is undoubtedly coupled with a sense of entitlement. )

Ignorance comes into play more often than we tend to acknowledge...

When white people crack the offensive jokes about our hair, features, African American Vernacular English, and other things it stems from ignorance. Since, more often than not, they haven't experienced black culture, nor do they know more than their few token black friends they (just like all of us) tend to refer back to stereotypes and pop-culture imagery to help them form their opinion. This "ignorance fueled" racism, I tend to see as racism of the "low brow" variety...

Grandfather clauses, Good Ol' Boy networks, Ivory Towers, Glass Ceilings, and the logically flawed arguments against minority equality programs are a combination of the two reasons for racism.

They are ignorant because they assume that blackness exists in a vacuum. It is as if the, as Condoleeza Rice said, "birth defect" of having skin blessed with melanin makes us incompetent and incapable in their eyes. They believe that we are all the same....except for those that are a "credit to our race"....you can't believe how many times I've been called "one of the good ones"....

It also points directly to a sense of entitlement because HISTORICALLY the only demographic that has ever mattered in America has been the white male landowner...

The sense of victimization comes into play because they feel as though minority quotas and equality programs are taking positions, jobs, and whatever else from qualified white males....let's not go there right now.

The sense of victimization basis for racism is often seen in middle class to lower class individuals who feel as though they have been pushed away from their birthright of success and a slice of the American pie by all these "G*ddamn foreigners," "F*ckin Mexicans," and "Stupid Ni&&ers!" (Taken from an actual quote I heard once...)

They are the ones who are easily mislead by various forms of propaganda and are most likely to revert back to stereotypes to explain their frustration with people of a different hue...

The man who displayed his ignorance with you, Mr. Parker, felt victimized...because you had invaded what he felt as though was his "personal" place...his Birmingham version of "Cheers"...(which had no black people that I can remember)

I think we are FINALLY on the road to healing...rather than the appeasement that has been going on for the past 40+ years. Senator Obama has a lot to do with that...

Racist attitudes on BOTH sides are coming out more and more....Only by honest examination can we eradicate the plagues that have stricken this country known as racism and prejudice...

I'm done...