One of the goals of Diversity Ink is to have differing viewpoints on the issue of race relations. Earlier this month, I came across the following post on the blog RKL Writes. I contacted the blogger (RKL) and asked him if he'd be interested in letting me use it as a guest post at Diversity Ink; he gave me the thumbs up. The following post was written by RKL on July 30, 2009:
If you ask me the simple question, "How can we end racism in America?" I'll give you a simple but true answer. "Stop making an issue of it." Think about it for a minute. Do you really know anyone who is driven by racism? I don't mean an off the cuff remark now and again. I mean do you know someone who defines their life based upon hatred of others due to race? I don't know anyone like that, and I never have even growing up in the south. The truth is, the largest majority of the people in the United States are long past racial issues. Whites especially. And yet if you were to believe the media or some activists you'd think that we were still living in segregation.
Here is the way I look at it. I would be willing to bet that a huge percentage (90% or more) of Americans live their daily lives with no thoughts of racism. If you go along with that, then who benefits from racial divisions in this country? When you look at it that way, it's easy to pick them out. I heard the term "Race Hustlers" a while back and I think it hits the mark perfectly. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, John Wiley Price, and many others build their entire careers off of just one issue, Race. And because Race Hustling works for them they keep churning up the same tired, false, hate-filled ideas and in reality, they do more damage to the people they are supposedly trying to help than does "the man."
So when I see our President who during his campaign styled himself as a person who could break down racial boundaries drinking a beer with an seemingly honest white cop and a black race hustler professor, it makes me sick. The truth is that Obama got caught trying to tow the line for the race hustlers. That's the kind of "racial healing" he gives, and he knew he had to backtrack. But honestly would you expect anything less from a man who spent time in Jeremiah Wright's pews?
RKL
7 comments:
Wow! (SMH) Hard to know where to even start with this kind of head--buried-in-sand type of thinking. Since it is Sunday, perhaps I should start off with a little prayer. Lord, have mercy. (LOL)
RKL,
While I respect your view, I have to point out that it serves up a contradiction. You say the key to ending racism is to stop making an issue of it, yet you view Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson and Professor Crowley as "race hustlers" and the police officer involved in the melee with Professor Crowley as "seemingly" honest?" That is taking a one-sided view of the issue, and one that is based in stereotypes.
I will give you that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have made a name for themselves by attaching their names to high-profile race cases, but ask Black folks how they feel about them and you will get the feeling that Rev. Al and Jesse don't speak for them. And you are basing your views of Rev. Wright simply on what you heard on a few minutes of a videotape...have you ever sat in those pews and listened to an entire sermon of his? How can you form an opinion of his views based on a snippet?
I do agree with you on one point: a large majority of the US are past the point of racial issues and segregation. But that doesn't mean that folks don't feel it, don't think it still is out there, and when it rears its ugly head, instead of coming together to destroy it, we take sides. Instead of looking at it as a human issue, we look at it as a racial issue...that is the crux of the problem.
Your post also makes an implication that it is Black folks that still hold on to racial issues ("...Whites especially."). I take offense to this because you are again lumping the entire Black race in because of your one-sided view. You and your circle of friends may have conversations about this and come to the point where you have all agreed that you are past all the racial bull...but what about the folks on the next block? Or the next block over?
The issue of racism is not one-dimensional; you can't look at it head-on and think that you can solve one facet of it and it will disappear. It will not work that way.
RKL: Thanks again for allowing me to use this as a guest post.
I think the way to end racism in America is through education and intelligent discussion. I'm not sure what your definition of "making an issue of it" is, but not talking about race isn't going to make the problem go away.
Although America has made great strides when it comes to race, we still haven't gotten over race in a lot of ways. The reaction of you and others to the president's comments about the Prof. Gates incident is proof of that. I feel the president was clear when he said he didn't know what role race played in the incident. Still, people accused the president of being racist simply because he came to the defense of Prof. Gates and criticized the police. I think the president would have still said what he said if Prof. Gates was white and Sgt. Crowley was black.
I hear members of the right consistently accuse people like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson of race baiting, but never call out anyone on their side of the political fence such as Rush Limbaugh. The comments made by Rush last Tuesday about the story involving the black kids who beat up the white kid on a school bus were deplorable. Not only did Rush make the story about race when none of us know if that was the motive for the beating, he then took it way over the top by blaming President Obama (who hadn't even commented on the situation)! Rush is a guy who loves to use racially divisive rhetoric, but he usually gets a pass from your side. Why is that?
Good Lord! I am speechless (well almost). This is reminiscent of Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" speech. While the sentiment might be noble, the tactic is more than simplistic, it's downright ridiculous. While you might consider Sharpton, Jackson, etc. "race hustler"; without them "race haters" would definitely not "stop making an issue of it" (race). In fact people like Limbaugh would exploit the situation and probably try to return America to the so called glory days when minorities were subservient and/or hanging from trees. This might be an over exaggeration, but no more unreal than ignoring the problem.
Not making an issue out of it is the WRONG way to go. All your asking for is for everyone to turn the other cheek so it can get slapped too.
Hmm...
The problem with this notion of ignoring "off the cuff" remarks, is that sometimes those remarks hurt people. And often times they're indicative of a passive sort of racism that underlies more progressive attitudes.
My GF is half Korean and half black. Seemingly progressive types have made off the cuff remarks, along the lines of how lucky she is that she got her intellect from the Korean side. Or the mere shock people have expressed because she's particularly clever. The unspoken implications being that her black half is somehow a detriment to her intellect or the expectation that as a brown person she is less likely to be above average.
I will grant that those are rather extreme examples, but there are "lesser" offenses that are, nonetheless very hurtful. I grew up privileged, in that I never had to think about it - I'm beige, so it's all good. It didn't occur to me that simply complimenting a POC for having "made it," might be rather offensive in it's implications. Yet it is a firm example of passive racism and while less hurtful than more overt racism, it is still bloody damned nasty.
I suspect that most people who really want to stop discussing it, are the sorts who get uncomfortable when these discussions come up, because they engage in the behavior being discussed. Not wanting to feel bad, they would rather put a quash on the conversation altogether.
The problem with that, is that this discomfort can foster changes that the passive racist can make. POC's or queers or trans people are not in a position to become someone else and stop being uncomfortable when that passive bigotry arises. And their feelings are just as valid as, say, mine. So it behooves me to decide that I'm going to change and stop causing the discomfort - while also rooting out the underlying passive bigotry and addressing it.
How to end Racism in America? How can you end a distinctive doctrine, theory, system or practice, that is thousands of years old. You can't! Love is a choice, just as hate. In this world we live in, there appears to be a stronger price to pay for love than for hate. Therefore it appears easier to hate than to love. Let me give you some examples:
Loss of Love = pain
Loss of Hate = relief
Say "I love you" = expected response
Say "I Hate you" = imediate response
Hate kills - hate crimes
Love kills more - crimes of passion
Allow me to share a biblical truths.
Not many who say that they are Christians, are truly Christians.
1 John 4:20If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
How can you end something that you did not start? Do you know the orgin of racism?
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