The Study of Racialism

Patience · Mentor Joined: 13 Mar 2007 {Posts: 261 } Location: Canada

This is a question that comes up in this forum many times and I think part of the reason can be found in this article.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070719/METRO/707190419/1003

Powell · Guru Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 2462 }

Patience · Mentor Joined: 13 Mar 2007 {Posts: 261 } Location: Canada

G-Man · Moderator Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 2992 }

Powell · Guru Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 2462 }

Patience · Mentor Joined: 13 Mar 2007 {Posts: 261 } Location: Canada

quote G-Man:

but if it is a disconnect from the reality of the existence of a racially constructed society, what are we to make of white supremacists or white nationalists? Both acknowledge the reality of race and the existence of a racially constructed society.

Actually for these people it's an even more bizarre disconnect from reality. Lately they seem to be claiming that "white" people are being repressed and discriminated against.

quote Powell: I would also ask how there can be such a thing as a "white liberal" or "anti-racist white" since they don't "think white" (according to Parience's proposed definition)? There is no agreement on what "white" is or what "thinking white" means.

Perhaps if "white" is really more of a way of thinking and not in the phenotypes, there is no such thing as a "white liberal" or "anti-racist white."

It's also true that some people who claim to be liberal and/or anti-racists are merely riding a self-serving identity. I've met oppressive types claiming conservative affilliation as well as oppressive types claiming liberal affilliation----same type, different t-shirts.

Also, I'm not trying to make a declaration here. I'm throwing out ideas and concepts to further the investigation of the various interesting topics that arise on these boards, including the question, 'what does "white" mean?' It's easy to define socially but on a more emotional, personal and individual level, what is it about?

Salsassin · SuperWizard Joined: 04 Apr 2005 {Posts: 3515 }

Patience · Mentor Joined: 13 Mar 2007 {Posts: 261 } Location: Canada

pianoplayer111 · Wizard Joined: 16 May 2007 {Posts: 429 }

Well, Patience, you've posed a good question here.

I believe what Jaime means is that we often hear about it when blacks are discriminated against. When the reverse occurs, there is a lot of denial or silence...sort of like what privileged whites would do to oppressed minorities. Some people feel it is impossible for blacks to be racist in thoughts and actions. I vehemently disagree.

Anyone is capable of racism. Have you ever heard of a woman named Malaika Tamu Griffin?

pianoplayer111 · Wizard Joined: 16 May 2007 {Posts: 429 }

I forget that you live in Canada (which I love! Very Happy

), but that case was particularly horrific. It is one of the few cases I know of where black-on-white racism was made public. It is rather extreme but not unheard of.

I remember seeing it on "America's Most Wanted". In Colorado, this African-American woman named Malaika Tamu Griffin was living in a fairly upscale neighborhood. She was known to be extremely hostile and racist to anyone who was not visibly black, including other minorities. She hated anyone of mixed race as well. She read racist literature and had an arsenal of weapons in her home, despite having a good career. A young white couple moved in next door to her...a young man named Jason Horsley and his girlfriend, Debbie. She decided that because they were not black, they were the enemy, and she terrorized them in the hope that they would move away. She physically attacked Debbie on at least one occasion, calling her a "white bitch".

It escalated one afternoon when Horsley, a construction worker, was preparing to work with some tools in the driveway. Griffin went outside and started verbally abusing him. He ignored her because it wasn't the first time she had displayed that behavior. Infuriated, she went inside her home and returned with a rifle. She shot him at close range in the back of his head and continued to shoot after he had slumped over, bleeding to death. Debbie called 911 but it was too late. He died. Griffin escaped temporarily, but was later picked up by the authorities. I don't know how long she will be behind bars.

*Note: I know all of this might seem off-topic, but it's worth mentioning. I know a black woman who is very racist towards her elderly Jewish neighbors, both of whom are very nice people. They invited her over for lunch one afternoon since they were new to the neighborhood and she slammed the door shut. She has said that she doesn't associate with "white folks".

Salsassin · SuperWizard Joined: 04 Apr 2005 {Posts: 3515 }

Salsassin · SuperWizard Joined: 04 Apr 2005 {Posts: 3515 }

pianoplayer111 · Wizard Joined: 16 May 2007 {Posts: 429 }

Yes, Jaime, that is true. I attended schools like that and I learned to avoid being beaten up somehow. The black kids would want to fight if you so much as looked at them.

When I was in elementary school (attending public school for the first time at 10 years old), I remember this very clearly. A few weeks after school reopened, we had a new girl in class. She was white and obviously from a low-income family. She was plump, with short brown hair and a sweet personality. We became friends immediately. The black girls HATED her for no reason at all besides the fact that she was white. This one girl in particular was very cruel towards her. Ironically, the bully's name was Ebony Ivory!!! Laughing

Anyway, they wound up "jumping" her after school. They beat her up so badly. They broke her nose. I can still see her in tears with blood running down her shirt. She never returned to school again. I wonder what happened to her and where she is today and how she feels about black women because of what those little girls did to her. Our English teacher, a Jewish lady, chastised them for what they did. I think that even as young as they were, they were acting out racism.

Powell · Guru Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 2462 }

kpauljohnson · Posted: Wed 01 Aug 2007 00:42 Post subject: Re: Black Racism

Hello Jaime, A.D., Pianoplayer, and all,

My 2 cents is that my two biracial half-sisters went through the D.C. public school system and were vilified as "yellow bellied sapsuckers" etc. until one of them became a basketball star in their high school, at which point the racial epithets stopped.

They were treated much better in their almost all- white college than in their almost all-black high school, but one of them has taught at the latter for many years and loves it.

Paul

Patience · Mentor Joined: 13 Mar 2007 {Posts: 261 } Location: Canada

Thank you for all for sharing your experiences.

When I first asked the question, it was in relation to a wider soci-economic and political picture that included "white" people but I think the personal experiences shared here raise another topic which is very relevent to this forum.

There seems to be a serious problem within the African American community with "racial" hierarchies and "racial" biases. It's a lot like the Tutsi and the Hutu of Rwanda, where these imagined divisions were established long time ago by "white" people but are then continued on by the very people who suffered and will suffer from this cultural system.

The honest attempt to try and erradicate the shame and hurt that AD Powell talks about, by trying to instill "black pride" can sometimes add fuel to this fire. "Black" is suddenly not an ethnic identity but an exclusive club that you are either admitted to or refused entry. "Black" becomes the same as "white" in that respect.

G-Man · Moderator Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 2992 }

G-Man · Moderator Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 2992 }

Patience · Mentor Joined: 13 Mar 2007 {Posts: 261 } Location: Canada

pianoplayer111 · Wizard Joined: 16 May 2007 {Posts: 429 }

G-Man, I see your points. There are so many nutty notions in people's minds. Rolling Eyes

Have any of you posted on or visited that Blackvoices website? I signed onto it out of curiosity to participate in what looked like an interesting discussion. I plan to not post on or visit that site again. I was appalled at the hatred spewed by these folks, most of whom I'm sure are black. Nearly every other thread was a racist diatribe, some of it about white people...most of it AA's looking down on Caribbean people who live in the US. This one woman was a real troll...she assumed multiple online identities but her words were always the same. She referred to young Jamaican girls as "dirty prostitutes" and claimed that all people from the Caribbean were "evil scum" who want to con AA's.

Then there was the guy who created a thread entitled "AIDS Was Created By White Men". He did not ONCE present proof of this. No factual evidence whatsoever. No credible links. When I pointed out that many white people have died from AIDS, he came at me with this nonsense about: "I don't care what your complexion is (I never mentioned my looks at all so I was puzzled), you're still a sista and you need to know the history of your people" ad nauseum. He skirted around my very direct comment by trying to rope me into this odd club of blackness, if you will. Most of the people on there are as bad as the white racist websites. Only unlike the white racists online, they are in denial of their racism.