The day after Rev. King made this speech, he was assassinated. Killed in cold blood because he wanted, demanded, civil rights for people of color. He understood racism for the disease that it is, and sought to end it.
How far have we come in forty years? Shamefully, not very fucking far.
Because I’m white, I cannot truly grasp how devastating racism is. Because it doesn’t happen to me. I don’t walk into a store and find myself being watched closely to make sure I do not steal something. No one will ever remark that I’m very well spoken for my race. I will never be expected to be on my best behavior in order to be a credit to my race.
I’m white. It will never happen.
The prevalence of racism in our society is so deeply ingrained that most people are either simply unaware of it, or unwilling to deal with it. How often do you stumble over the right set of words to describe a person of color? Do you say “African-American”? Think about that, please, stop and think. This person is an African-American, that person is an Asian-American, and so forth. But, as a white person, how do you describe yourself? As an American. Because the default, the standard, American is white. And male, but that’s another set of issues all together - closely entwined with racism, but sexism isn’t the point today.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the deeply ingrained automatic racism that we are all brought up with.
The more blatant examples of racism set my teeth on edge and make me want to beat people senselessly for their ignorance.
Pat Buchanan wrote “A Brief for Whitey” in response to Barack Obama’s speech on racism:
“First, America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known.
Wright ought to go down on his knees and thank God he is an American.
Second, no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the ’60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream.
Governments, businesses and colleges have engaged in discrimination against white folks — with affirmative action, contract set-asides and quotas — to advance black applicants over white applicants.
Churches, foundations, civic groups, schools and individuals all over America have donated time and money to support soup kitchens, adult education, day care, retirement and nursing homes for blacks.
We hear the grievances. Where is the gratitude?”
Lou Dobbs came -very- close to calling Condoleeza Rice a “cotton picker”:
“Not a single one of these cotton…[stammering]…these just ridiculous politicians should be the moderator on the issue of race.”
Over at FreeRepublic.com you can scan through hundreds of posts and find some of the most blatant racist comments. I won’t link to it, it makes me feel dirty. These are supposed to be concerned citizens, the party of family values, and good conservative Christians. The simple truth is that the vast majority of commenters are racist pigs.
Of course, let’s not leave out Stormfront, the Prussian Blue forums, and any other number of “Aryan” websites and organizations.
And no, I won’t talk to you about “reverse racism” because it is a myth. Period. Yes, Obama’s minister made some rather inflammatory comments. He’s angry. I get it. Because if I were him, I’d be angry too. If I were confronted, day in and day out, with the level of racism that most people of color have to deal with, damn right I’d be angry.
Jermaine Fletcher, a broadcast journalism major at Florida A&M produced a very thoughtful video on being black in America that is featured on CNN’s iReport. This morning, when I first watched it, there were ten comments. As of this writing, it’s up to 70, and the absolute ignorance being displayed is astounding.
Living in a very small town in Florida, racism was something that simply was. It was everywhere. And it was accepted as normal. Totally and completely normal. And in my adopted family? Even though there are several mixed race marriages, racist terms still manage to fall out of their mouths. I nearly lost all semblance of control the last time my step-dad came to visit and used the N word while sitting on my patio.
Not in my house, not around my children. Ever. I didn’t escape that ignorance only to have it brought to my home.
But it’s out there. I see it, I hear it. It makes my soul bleed. There are times when I can confront it, and call it out for what it is, and times when I feel as if I am bound to silence by an unwillingness to engage in pointless conversation.
The next time you find yourself wondering if racism still truly exists in America, take a moment to examine your own privilege. And then try to tell yourself that it’s a thing of the past.
