Can’t we all just get along?
Earlier, I was bored with the whole Obama/Reverend Wright kerfluffle, but not now. Because oh hell no:
“The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity,” he said. “But she is a typical white person. If she sees somebody on the street that she doesn’t know. . .there’s a reaction that’s been bred into her experiences that doesn’t go away and it comes out in the wrong way.”
That’s via Ace, who also has a post about a Time magazine piece coming out about how “incredibly ignorant” white America is about black America’s rage and resentment.
For shit’s sake.
Trust me, we’re not ignorant about it, because it’s all we ever hear about. We’ve known for a long, long time, too. Ten years or more ago, slavery reparation demands were all the rage. We’ve seen Spike Lee movies. We hear rap music. WE KNOW.
You want to start talking shit about “typical white people”, fine. Talk all you want but take your lumps in turn.
According to Merriam-Webster:
Racism:
1 : a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race 2 : racial prejudice or discrimination
Start with the first definition. I’ve known plenty of white people who “don’t like” black people but not a single one of them felt that way because they believe whites are genetically superior. It is always about the culture. Always. The reverse is completely true, as well. I’ve known blacks who “don’t like” whites for precisely the same reason. They don’t like the way we talk, dance, dress, behave, you name it. These are cultural differences, not genetic ones.
And the second definition? If everyone who has racial prejudice is a racist, then I think I’m on pretty solid ground when I say damn near every single human being on the planet right now is, in fact, a racist. There is absolutely ZERO difference between blacks and whites on that point and everybody knows it.
Welcome to earth, where we have this thing called “human nature”. Read a book about ancient Rome, it’ll clue you in to the wholly unoriginal idea that some people are better than others. Every culture or social group that’s ever existed operated on that assumption. The Romans enslaved millions of Caucasians. Africans have enslaved Africans for millenia. Native Americans hated each other based on tribe. On and on it goes and the point is, modern American honkeys didn’t invent this shit and they certainly don’t have a monopoly on it. And we’re sick of everyone pretending that we do.
No part of my heart or mind believes that any newborn baby is inherently inferior to any other because of its color. That is simply impossible for me to believe. I have zero ill will towards black people for being black. I have massive ill will towards any people who believe I’m somehow responsible for their troubles or that I should follow a different code of conduct simply because I’m white.
Technically, you can say it’s “wrong” for me to have preconceived notions about people of other races. Of course it is, but no more wrong than for a black person to have them about me. If we’re all doing it, which we are, it’s utter bullshit for Whitey to be the only one held responsible or raked over the coals for it.
You want equality, then take it, on all levels.
That means when Obama uses the phrase “typical white person”, he deserves to have his figurative ass kicked just like Whitey’s figurative ass would be kicked for saying “typical black person”. It means Reverend Wright is an asshole of a racist just like David Duke. Play fair or don’t play at all.
Listen, if I were black, I’d have simmering rage and resentment, too. I’d be furious if my ancestors came to this country in slave ships and if my grandparents had to drink from separate water fountains. What I wouldn’t do is blame white people who didn’t have anything to do with those things and never would because we were born in a different time and we know those things are WRONG. That includes most whites under the age of about 70.
I know my genealogy on both sides back to the point when they came to America. None were even remotely associated with slavery; almost all were Kansas farmers. But I recognize the fact that that was possible because they weren’t at risk of being killed or enslaved like black people were in that time, in this place. I fully accept the premise that, indeed, my ancestors had privileges and rights that black ancestors did not, and that those privileges have in some way trickled down to me because they could own land which they passed down, they could earn decent money which they passed down, and so on. It’s really not fair for most whites to claim otherwise.
Knowing all of that, which I figured out when I was a child and reading about the Civil War and American slavery, I’ve always striven to understand and acknowledge how the current state of black Americans has its root in those days. I’m a historian at heart and I never let myself fail to see the big picture through time, to understand how this resulted from that. And the truth is, I feel bad about it. Not guilty or responsible, but genuinely bad. I care.
I’ve never done anything to hurt any black person because they’re black, and I never will. I want credit for that. I want the benefit of the doubt from blacks. We’re all adults and we should be able to be fair to each other, and it shouldn’t have to be one-sided.
As long as it is, nothing will ever change, because the more this goes on the more angry white people are going to get, which will lead to black people growing more angry, and on and on. It’s ridiculous and I really wonder when it’ll stop.
Still no comments? Alrighty then. Ditto every word that Rachel typed.
March 21st, 2008 at 12:14 pmESTbravo. BRAV-FUCKING-O! can we get you to write speeches on a full time basis? because it’s these little ditties that really matter. i will now proceed to use choice quotes from your post and tuck them away for further use forever and ever.
March 21st, 2008 at 12:14 pmESTI’ve been trying to write about this situation for more than a week now, and every time I put virtual pen to paper, Senator Dumbass lays another jewel at our collective feet in his own defense. I think I’ll wait another week until “kill whitey” actually slips out.
As for your premise about history and its effects on current black anger, I would agree wholeheartedly that anger at past injustice is justified. The problem is that we have allowed a few people in both the white and black populations to use that anger to further an agenda which would leave blacks perpetually dependent and whites perpetually guilty. You can guess who benefits from that situation.
March 21st, 2008 at 12:21 pmESTJez, what else is there to say? Now if we could get the MSM on to this, but no, they are too busy with how great his speech was…. Let them focus on Billary vs. Obamaramadingdong. They’ll tear each other up and leave a more level playing field for McCain. I really don’t care what race, creed, nationality or sex our president is, as long as they aren’t socialists and are worthy to follow the footsteps of George Washington. ‘Nuff said!
March 21st, 2008 at 12:21 pmESTYou betcher bippy. What she said. Amen, Amen I say to you. Nihil Obstat. Correct. Right-On my sistaaaaaaa!
March 21st, 2008 at 12:24 pmESTIt’s so interesting and somewhat frightening at how Obama’s “race speech” was received and interpreted in such different ways. It probably goes back to one hears what one wants to hear. What I find so annoying is that most of the black talking heads, commentators, and Obama apologists do not get how offensive Jeremiah Wright’s views on America are to most people.
Wright’s delivery (the shouting, the preening, the strutting) remind me of Adolf Hitler. I’m waiting for a YouTube offering juxtaposing the two.
March 21st, 2008 at 12:25 pmEST“Typical White Person”? WTF kind of racist BS is that?
Obama’s supporters bristle at the suggestion that he gets a “free pass” because he is black, that he wouldn’t be where he is were he not black. And yet, everytime Obama opens his mouth to pontificate on the issue of race in America, he proves the converse to be true.
It’s why he focuses solely on his Black-ness, denies almost patholigically his bi-racial background, and claims the mantle of his Father, a Kenyan who left his Mother behind when Obama was a baby. It’s why he raises his father to almost mythic status when said Father had almost nothing to do with him. It’s why he is the member of a Congregation that is avowedly racist and led by a racist, anti-american, anti-semitic pastor. Rather than behing above race, he’s mired in it!
Why are people so blind to this?
March 21st, 2008 at 12:36 pmESTMakes for a great t-shirt tag line. I’d wear one, being white and typical and such.
March 21st, 2008 at 12:43 pmESTHere’s a t-shirt I made yesterday.
March 21st, 2008 at 12:51 pmESTObama needs a new theme song:
http://gullyborg.typepad.com/weblog_archive/2008/03/obamas-new-camp.html
March 21st, 2008 at 12:58 pmESTI got a laugh at the comment about Obama’s grandmother fearing black men. In the 70’s I was in seminary in the bay area. One evening four of us future preachers went for a walk in Oakland. We passed a movie theatre with a long line waiting to enter. Most of those in line were black. As we walked past them fear was a dominant emotion on the faces of most of the women and many of the men. The four of us talked about it later. It was non-religious revelation that four large harmless men could generate such fear.
March 21st, 2008 at 1:01 pmESTHeard a white cracker use a phrase once that BHO’s comment brought to mind: “your average common negro.” Obama’s comment is no different.
March 21st, 2008 at 1:05 pmESTWatched Larry King interview Obama last night, same old Obama with the same old tired promise of “change.”
langtry, you brought out questions that I never understood, such as why Obama idolize his biological father when he met him, what, once? I thought it’s supposed to be the deadbeat dad coming out of nowhere to claim a famously successful son, not the famously successful son claiming a deadbeat dad in nowhere somewhere.
For anyone unlucky to have read Obama’s Dreams of My Farther, Clarence Thomas’ My Grandfather’s Son will salve it.
March 21st, 2008 at 1:10 pmESTWright’s delivery (the shouting, the preening, the strutting) remind me of Adolf Hitler. I’m waiting for a YouTube offering juxtaposing the two.
I believe this is what you were looking for evvybuns.
March 21st, 2008 at 1:13 pmESTThis reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw about 12-15 years ago, still true today:
It’s not your color, it’s your attitude.
March 21st, 2008 at 1:18 pmESTGreat post Rachel.
I am no real big fan of Pat Buchanan but, Oh My God, he hit one outta the park today. Read his editorial on humanevents.com called “A Brief for Whitey.” Great stuff, with historical facts, data, statistics, etc. It’s exactly along the lines of what Rachel has written here.
I’m a technical boob, so I don’t know how to provide the link - someone else will do this I hope….
March 21st, 2008 at 1:21 pmESTHaverwilde, did you and the future preachers looked like this while saying “Art thou talking to me? Art thou talking to me?”
March 21st, 2008 at 1:21 pmESTYou f’ing GO girl!!!
March 21st, 2008 at 1:22 pmESTHands down one of the best posts on race that I have ever read. If I could, I’d buy you a beer.
March 21st, 2008 at 1:24 pmESTI have been reading you for a couple of days now. Found you through the “Five Conservative Female Bloggers” article. I just got two words for you … You fucking RAWK! er, yeah … I mean You rock!
March 21st, 2008 at 1:33 pmESTBrilliant. Just effing brilliant.
March 21st, 2008 at 1:36 pmESTAnother homer, Rachel.
The difference, of course, is that when a white person vocalizes their dislike of Black culture, they are racist, as you deftly pint out.
BUT
When a Black vocalizes it, they are being paid to practice their “art” as a comedian at the Apollo Theater.
March 21st, 2008 at 1:42 pmESTMost persuasive, Rachel - and a must read across the web. The only thought that I would add is that it has been proven that there is no genetic basis for “race.” Skin color is a function of latitude and is but an attribute of the “human race.”
The most perplexing, ongoing question to me is: how can bigotry survive against intelligence?
March 21st, 2008 at 1:51 pmESTI’m tired of being called a racist myself. I’ve never uttered a racial slur in my entire life. But I hear it all the time…And honestly it’s offensive because I truly hate racism.
I don’t understand why it’s okay for blacks to say anything they want about whites. I feel terrible about the injustices that have existed in the past and still exist today. But, I’m also not responsible for it. Get it. I didn’t get a vote!
http://whatsgoingon-bekalynn.blogspot.com/
March 21st, 2008 at 1:51 pmESTTrust me, we’re not ignorant about it, because it’s all we ever hear about. We’ve known for a long, long time, too. Ten years or more ago, slavery reparation demands were all the rage. We’ve seen Spike Lee movies. We hear rap music. WE KNOW.
Well, I guess if you’ve listened to Public Enemy and seen Do the Right Thing, there’s nothing more to tell you.
March 21st, 2008 at 1:58 pmESTI’m no racist. Hell, most of my illegitimate children are black.
March 21st, 2008 at 2:01 pmESTUh, you care to provide some evidence to back that up? Because an awful lot of non-caucasian people who have lived in northern latitudes for generations are still a different color than the people who lived there for tens of thousands of years. If we used the same terms for humans that we use for animals, we would call “Race”, “Breed”. Same thing, but “Breed” implies an animal, whereas “Race” implies a human.
That said, most other differences in people’s appearance are genetic, too, so there’s no reason to believe that the genes determining skin color would make them any more different in the important qualities, like intellect (for example), than do the genes determining eye color.
March 21st, 2008 at 2:18 pmESTRachel, even if your ancestors WERE slave owners, WTF difference would that make? I am not my parents or my ancestors. I take no pride or shame in anything any other human has done, regardless of race, gender or heritage. I feel shame for things that I have done and pride for things that I have done. I… me… myself. Nobody else. I am an individual and will only tolerate being judged as one. The same courtesy I extend to every body else. I don’t give a rats crusty ass if your Dad was John Wayne Gacy, or if your great grandfather was Abraham Lincoln… what have YOU done with your life? Thats all that matters, period.
March 21st, 2008 at 2:22 pmESTFred’s link. Absolutely worth the read.
Personally, I’m a mutt. I don’t tack any extra names onto American because it would take way too long to type out. And I just don’t care to do it anyway. Not that I don’t take pride in where I come from, but I’m an American first. My father’s father would not teach his sons his native language because he wanted them to be Americans. A practice that is unheard of in today’s society. Hell, it wasn’t that long ago that black people tried to push ‘ebonics’ as an actual language to further separate themselves.
Yeah, lets have that talk about racism. A real discussion with equal weight given to all parties and not just those that have decided that they are victims.
March 21st, 2008 at 2:30 pmESTObama, and the “Rev.” Wright, Jackson, and Sharpton need to review Dr.King’s “I have a dream” speech. DR.King was talking about living in a COLOR-BLIND society, not one with white guilt and black rage.
Liberals have succeeded in shaming racism out of the past couple of generations they’ve brought up in public school. However, they’re too stupid to see the victories they’ve won in this part of the cultural war, probably because Condaleeza is working for a Republican, and it’s supposed to be the Democratic party which owns the black vote. But if a rich black man can buy himself lawyers good enough to be declared not guilty in a jury trial (Mr. Simpson, call your office) like any rich white man can buy himself lawyers good enough to be declared not guilty in a jury trial, well, that speaks to me that there’s some equality between the races now.
March 21st, 2008 at 2:34 pmESTRachel,
March 21st, 2008 at 2:38 pmESTTHIS is why I keep coming back (Dog pics help too). Last week you were worried about blog suckery. After some time off, you give us a masterpiece!
The problem: white people allow ourselves to be silenced about truth and falsehood; we are damned mad that we do so; and we’ve no one to blame but ourselves.
White people give in … to the politically correct shut down of any criticism directed towards even the most ludicrous ideas spouted by a black person.
I am white. I have done it. We have all done it. Sometimes we have silenced ourselves because we would lose our jobs if we did otherwise. Sometimes we have silenced ourselves because it would take 5 minutes to explain to a group of people why we were morally right to break silence, and no one amongst the group has 5 minutes to waste on listening to our explanation. Sometimes we have done it because we’ve mistakenly bought into the fallacy of large numbers: i.e. if everyone in a group around us knee-jerk condemns us for speaking out (which we anticipate will happen), then we must automatically be wrong in our reasoning and logic.
I am not advocating inappropriately losing one’s job; I am not advocating speaking into listening which is not prepared to hear; I am not advocating any particular thing in any particular situation. Grace and gracefulness are good things. I am saying, though: white people allow ourselves to be silenced about truth and falsehood; we are damned mad that we do so; and we’ve no one to blame but ourselves.
PS: Shrinkwrapped mind-melded with Rachel:
March 21st, 2008 at 2:41 pmESTThe Obamessiah is the gift that keeps on giving.
It’s like he can’t go five minutes without making it abundantly clear how unqualified he is to be President of the United States.
March 21st, 2008 at 2:50 pmESTMary Katherine Ham has an excellent take on the subject of the Obamessiah’s so-called “speech” in her Townhall column:
March 21st, 2008 at 2:53 pmESTIf white people are superior it is only in their ability to maintain a positive attitude, work hard and plan ahead. White people have manage to get along with each other better than any other race I can think of and that is how they managed to build the great free democratic democracies that are the leading nations in this world.
That is not genetic it is learned and black people need to learn that too.
March 21st, 2008 at 2:57 pmESTWell sorta, John West, sorta. Prior to 60 years ago the white world could be counted on to be at war with some other part of the white world at least once per generation. That was going on before the Roman Empire and continued all the way to WWII. But I will agree that the USA was built by the go-getters from several white countries. I think the phrases you may be looking for are “Yankee Ingenuity” and “Protestant Work Ethic”? And yes, those originators had some assistance from people of other shades too.
Hmm, I’m wondering if Obama will wind up being the sacrificial lamb to the Great Race Debate? He’s done as far as I’m concerned, but if it gets people talking honestly and some solutions come out of it, then that’s a very good thing.
March 21st, 2008 at 3:18 pmESTStill trying to get to the bottom of why you aren’t Tyrant of the World.
March 21st, 2008 at 3:37 pmESTPosts like this just seem to make the shortcoming inexplicable.
Oh fer cryin’ out loud. All mankind has been warring with its nearest neighbors since the dawn of civilization–white, black, brown and yellow. The reasons the warring white world stands out in your mind are 1) that’s what euro-centric and/or revisionist white guilt history books have taught you, and 2) the overwhelming technological advances of the “white world” have made warfare spectacularly deadly, from the Sumerian phalanx to Little Boy. If and when other races possessed deadly technology, they used it.
I watched Apocalypto with my goddaughter (who really is black—long story.) She sat silently through all the savagery, slavery and human sacrifice, only to sneer “Aha!” at the arrival of evil white Europeans. Sheesh.
March 21st, 2008 at 3:37 pmESTAs a Kansan I’d like to point out that Kansas was fighting against slavery–and taking a lot of casualties for doing so–long before the Civil War officially began. The phrase “Bleeding Kansas” isn’t just historical hyperbole, and the Underground Railroad ran through it.
March 21st, 2008 at 3:48 pmESTWhen the Celtic tribes were getting torn up by the Romans, they didn’t listen to the whiners and appeasers among them. They joined Boudicca and burned Londinium to the ground.
http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/parsonal/boudicca.htm
When the Brits were getting bombed relentlessly by the Germans, they didn’t listen to the cowards among them.
“Shut up, you poofter.”
They listened to Winston Churchill.
http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=389
The Jews who remained after the holocaust didn’t listen to the defeatists among them, but to persons who wanted revenge and a homeland.
“Shut up, you putz!”
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/jabotinsky.html
The Italians were toughened by Garabaldi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Garibaldi
Sadly, Blacks are propagandized by “leaders” (political, religious, and cultural) who sustain in their followers a perpetual victimhood, which implies weakness, and which leads to infantile behavior—hatred of the “oppressor” (meaning the stronger), threats (intimidating style), and tantrums (interpersonal violence, collective burning and looting).
Meanwhile, the typical white person acts like a Bobo doll punching bag.
http://www.theneitherworld.com/qjtoys/images/bobo.gif
Punch Bobo and he just keeps coming back for more.
He wants to be forgiven.
The effort to be nice (sympathetic, giving, accepting anti-white vitriol) merely sustains the impression that typical whites are Bobos who can be pushed around.
Maybe it’s time to respond to the ever-popular charge (made by blacks or whites) of being a racist in a different way.
“You say I am a racist. And your point would be…uh….?”
“Mmmm hmmm. And what exactly are you going to do about it?”
“If I were a racist, do you think I would be intimidated by you calling me a racist? You aren’t real bright, are you?”
“Oh, go f$#@ yourself.”
In a meeting a few years ago, a black colleague—an anti-semite and black victimization promoter, who also drives a metallic copper Jaguar convertible—argued that whites indeed owned black reparations.
Most of the audience (self-styled liberals) nodded in affirmation, like the good sheep they are.
“We done baaaaad things. We need to be punished—as long as you feel like victims.”
I raised my hand—which was conveniently attached to my body—and said, “I’ll give you fifty cents!” [I used boldface there to suggest that that was the important part.]
SILENCE—well, except for an occasional fart from someone suffering from Crohn’s disease.
LOOKS—the beady eye.
I felt like Gary Cooper in High Noon.
So, I pulled my pistols and shot ‘em all.
Then I rode off with one of the office staff—young slip of a girl name of Grace Kelly.
Sadly, we were still in the building, so the ride was fairly short.
But she was wearing a bonnet that looked like Sunny’s (bonnet).
March 21st, 2008 at 3:51 pmEST“The most perplexing, ongoing question to me is: how can bigotry survive against intelligence?”
Answer: Simply because some intelligent people have learned how to, or can conceive how to, exploit bigotry for personal or political gain. That’s how. It will survive as long as it benefits the unscrupulous and invigorates the ignorant. There are plenty of both.
Wonderful article, Rachel!!
March 21st, 2008 at 4:00 pmESTYou’re missing my point Carbo. Yes, everyone has been warring with each other since forever. Given. Which just proves my pont that White people haven’t been able to get along with each other any better than anyone else. But we have managed to do some really good things in between.
Are we getting along with each other these days within the so called “white community”? That might be a trick question, since I don’t know that any such thing even exists. White people in America break it down further, into Irish, Italian, Swedish, etc., if they even think of it at all. So right now we seem to be, although we’re currently suffering with the Left vs. Right affliction.
March 21st, 2008 at 4:17 pmESTOK, so I overreacted. I’ve done that here before.
March 21st, 2008 at 4:24 pmESTRespectfully, I don’t think that proves your point at all.
The key word is “better”. White people have gotten with each other along better than any other race has. The fact that the Western world was more technologically advanced than any other is proof enough at that. You don’t have time to invent all that stuff if you’re always killing each other.
Chinese people in China break down into Manchu, Han, Turkic, Mongolian, Tungusic, Tibeto-Burman, etc.
What’s your point?
March 21st, 2008 at 5:00 pmESTGee, I live in a decidedly mixed community, and we seem to get along pretty darn well.
We don’t ask anyone for reparations but we do help each other do home repairs. Especially the older people who can’t do it themselves.
The nicest thing about living in a mixed community is that the bigots (of all races/colors/etc.) move out because everyone doesn’t look just like them. The second nicest thing is that bigots are usually cranky lousy neighbors anyway, so both ways you end up with better neighbors. The third nicest thing is that your kids are so much less likely to grow up to be ignorant bigots.
March 21st, 2008 at 5:23 pmESTActually to a large extent you invent that stuff trying to find BETTER ways to kill each other–or others. And when you invade you get to steal all the stuff they invented that you didn’t. Cultures without significant skill at warfare tend to be extinct, and the best way to get good at war is to have some.
March 21st, 2008 at 5:29 pmESTTo a large extent, yes. But how do you account for all the non-military technology invented in the Western world? Was the light bulb invented because the military wanted it, or so we could have light? Was the train invented because the military wanted it, or to revolutionize trade and travel?
You don’t have the time to build yourself up into an industrialized nation if you are constantly fighting.
March 21st, 2008 at 5:44 pmESTOn “no genetic basis for race”- yes and no.
That there are genetic differences among groups of humans, and that those genetic differences shake out along region and lines of migration, is indisputable.
What isn’t true is that our conception of race bears little enough resemblance to those genetic groups. There’s far more genetic difference between a Khoisan and a Maasai- both “black” African tribes- than there is between a Chinese man and a white man, and American blacks are a genetic gumbo of different African groups, white, and Native American. They’re mutts genetically, but not culturally or politically. This is why I roll my eyes so hard whenever the stupid “IQ differences among race” canard comes up- yes, there are differences between the races as we’ve defined them in IQ test results, but their genes aren’t the cause. If they were, we would have much more confusing results because even the clearest genetic groupings are misrepresented by the definition of race we’ve been using to collect data.
March 21st, 2008 at 6:34 pmESTI love you.
In a strictly platonic, non-lesbian way of course.
March 21st, 2008 at 9:02 pmESTIf Obamaramalamadingdong’s granny is a “typical white person” because she was afraid of blacks in the street, is his father a “typical black person” for abandoning his family?
March 21st, 2008 at 10:42 pmESTThank you, Jennifer, for providing the link to “A Brief for Whitey.”
March 21st, 2008 at 10:44 pmESTRight-o, Rachl Lukis.
March 21st, 2008 at 11:36 pmESTI used to be a fan of the various later Star Trek series. Then one day while watching DS-9 some of the principles were going into a holo-suite of a 1960s Las Vegas casino. They invited Benjamin Cisco, the commander (black) who got angry and full of righteous outrage about the fact that black people couldn’t go in to casinos then/there and even those performing had to use back entrances.
His crew were all understanding and solicitous and explained how ‘this’ place was not at all like those in history…
This show was placed ~300 years in the future. Las Vegas (if it still exists) hasn’t had such restrictions for 300+ years. The United States, bastion of Evil Racism, hasn’t existed for quite a long time either, subsumed into planetary government and the Federation. Racism in the (official) Federation and Star Fleet are unknown for generations (racial has an entirely different meaning even; pointy ears and tentacles are, after all, much more obvious differences than mere skin pigmentation, and talk about your cultural differences!) though even the original series indicated friction across planetary race lines.
Yet here he was, product of an enlightened culture, a station commander at an important post full of variant races, in a diverse service full of _truly_ different races…. and he got viscerally angry about a holo-simulation of a time and culture 10+ generations removed because of the color of his own skin.
I could never watch the new Star Trek series after that. I wrote the Berman guy who was responsible (never heard back) about the terrible choice, and the amazing missed opportunity (which the original series probably would have taken!) to have Cisco instead be bemused at the shortsightedness of those ancients, not angry but honestly unable to understand how such situations could have existed at all. Or even if the crew had been similarly mystified at his rage over something that hadn’t been an issue in his or his ancestor’s lives for all those generations.
Now I know. In the Star Trek DS9 universe, Barack Obama became president, and extended the agony of racism and hatred for generations to come.
I can just see those generations of Ciscos, passing along their tales of abuse and hatred to their kids and grandkids, year after year, generation after generation. Great Grandpappy Cisco telling little Benjamin about the Evil Whitey and the God Damned America that was the reason _still_ for all the suffering for all time.
How depressing.
March 22nd, 2008 at 12:52 amESTObama Expounds on
Christian Charity and
the Religious Wright:
I’m not offended
When Reverend Wright
Damns from the pulpit
All you who are white.
Nor am I bothered
When he spreads the hate;
It’s just the quaint way
We blacks celebrate.
White folks are guilty,
We all like to say,
When blacks commit crimes
And get sent away.
So I bring my girls
To hear how they ought
To hate their white blood;
They need to be taught.
Mama and Grandma
Okay, they were white,
But I won’t stand up
To Reverend Wright.
You say I’m racist,
March 22nd, 2008 at 4:39 amESTAnd I’m a disgrace?
Well, that’s a problem
That you have with race.
The sick fact that proves your point is that your piece had to contain sooo many disclaimers and qualifiers regarding your thoughts on race relations. If you had simply stated that white people are just a race of worthless a-holes (every single one) and left it at that then you would need no disclaimers and you would not hear much more about it. But bring the black race into a discussion on race and half of your article has to brace against future attack and criticism.
March 22nd, 2008 at 5:24 amESTRace relations in the USA are screwed up not because of a white majority hating and oppressing a black minority. They are screwed up because of a white majority being condescending to a black minority. The so called soft racism of low expectations. This white fantasy tea party is what allows actual racists like Rev Wright to operate openly and receive a free pass from both races.
You might be interested in an essay by Michael Medved entitled Six Inconvenient Truths About the U.S. and Slavery. It’s very interesting. And you know it’s good because there were a great many pissed off Lefties all screeching about it on their blogs.
March 22nd, 2008 at 8:31 amESTI’ve got to hand it to you, Rachel. This is the best post I’ve ever read on any blog anywhere–and I read a lot of good blogs. There is so much original thinking and well crafted points; it succinctly sums up exactly how I’ve felt about this issue all along, and struggled like an idiot to put it into words. In fact, I’ve never been able to explain it anywhere near as well as you’ve done here. When I have an opportunity, I’m linking to this post at my blog.
You didn’t just hit a grand slam–you hit for the cycle and you got a 1, 2, and 3 run homer as well.
Way 2 goe, Rachl Lukis. Me work for u whn u take ovr werld.
March 22nd, 2008 at 10:15 amESTThat Obama………….what can you expect? He’s just a typical black guy. Hey, that’d make a great t-shirt. Are you sure you don’t believe in God? This past week has had me saying “Thank God” several times a day and it just keeps getting better! Maggie is stunning in that scarf, gives her that Virgin Mary look.
March 22nd, 2008 at 12:34 pmESTGPS: Based on military technology.
707, 737, 747, 777: All use engines developed for military aircraft.
Space Program: initially a military response to the Soviet Union…anything invented for said space program (pens that write upside down, Tang, velcro), developed for military purposes.
Stirrups (for Gods sakes): Introduced by the Mongols…because it enabled them to fire arrows while they rode…military.
Diesel engines: Perfected for U-boats…again, military.
Cell phones, satellite phones: Would not work were it not for military satellites.
Hot air balloons: developed for military observation.
And we can’t forget the things that were not specifically designed for the military, but which saw huge advances due to their usage by the military. The fastest aircraft in 1914 could, maybe, hit 100 mph. By 1918, it was well over 200, and by 1945, it was close to 600 (Gloster Meteor hit a top speed of 608 in 1945).
How about those civilian satellites? How could they have been put into orbit unless the U.S. and the Soviet Union had not had the opportunity to test V-2 rockets developed by the Germans to bombard England? Better yet, how many satellites now in orbit, that serve numerous civilian purposes, were launched by rockets developed to carry nuclear warheads?
War advances technological knowledge. This is a fact. Hell, if anyone owns a Mazda RX-7, or its new incarnation, the RX-9, they are using an engine (a rotary) that powered most of the warplanes of WW1.
Our highway system was modeled after the German Autobahn, which was created with the express purpose of allowing Germany to move materiel to various points quickly.
March 22nd, 2008 at 12:45 pmESTRacism will never die. It’s much too valuable a tool to divide the people. And the so-called victims of racism wouldn’t have the means to sustain their victimhood.
Those who preach about its end, who publicly show the most “feeling and concern”, are the ones who stand to benefit.
The left will always look for a way to divide the people, even creating as needed new means of division and envy. Think of “the Digital Divide”.
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:01 pmESTChinese people worked like slaves building the railroads out west, you don’t hear them kvetching about it at every possible opportunity.
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:44 pmESTotcconan,
I don’t deny that technological advance can come from warfare, but when your society is caught up in constant warfare there’s only so much advancement that you can achieve. Eventually you reach a point of diminishing returns.
There’s also the matter of tribalism. I would posit that one of the main reasons why Europe and America (especially America) are so much more technologically advanced than, say, Africa or the Middle East, is because there is much more willingness to work with people of different backgrounds and nationalities for the common good (and I mean the real common good, not the totalitarian version espoused by collectivist ideologies like Communism). The English and the Scots may not like each other very much, but they’ll work together when they have to.
On the other hand, many of the problems in Africa and the Middle East can be traced directly to tribalism.
But then, that’s more of a cultural thing than a racial thing. Oh well.
March 22nd, 2008 at 6:01 pmESTNow, if Obama had given this speech, I would have thought him bold, intelligent, and audacious.
Gotta give ups to the Girl instead. Heh.
March 22nd, 2008 at 7:39 pmESTGreat! Now Song of the South will never be re-released.
March 22nd, 2008 at 8:27 pmESTGreat post, Rachel.
This is somewhat off-topic, but I found this Daily Mail story earlier today via a link at Gulf Coast Pundit:
Meet the families where no one’s worked for THREE generations - and they don’t care
Read the whole thing. There are just too many quotes to excerpt. OK, here’s one:
(Note: “Council house” is Britspeak for “public housing”.)
Got that? They feel entitled to a ten-bedroom house at taxpayer expense.
My point in linking this article is to show that many of the pathologies of the inner city have more to do with welfare and the sense that “society owes me” than with race. But the race hustlers, both white and black, are doing everything they can to cultivate and perpetuate this attitude among black Americans.
March 23rd, 2008 at 12:41 amESTotcconan, I generally agree with your point about warfare advancing technology. However, I do have to point out that early aircraft rotary engines and the Wankel rotary engine are not related, despite both being called “rotaries”. (Also note radial engines, which are often confused with rotary engines.)
March 23rd, 2008 at 1:42 amESTUh, what? Whenever Obama opens his mouth, he proves that he is black because he is where he is? (the converse of A ==> B is B ==> A) [/snark]
Um, if this were true, then kids in a given location would all be of similar coloration since they’ve received similar amounts of sun. Since they’re not, I believe there’s a genetic component to race. QED. Or is your point that the degree of genetic difference between two people is unrelated to the degree of difference in the color of their skin? Because that’s a reasonable one (and I see that LabRat’s already made it). At the same time, that doesn’t mean that one couldn’t conceivably group people by race using their genes, assuming one could find the gene or complex of genes that is responsible for our skin color - it just means that that one gene/complex doesn’t necessarily influence what the rest of our genetic code looks like.
So your argument is that because we’re not ALWAYS fighting each other that we’re able to advance farther…no, doesn’t make sense. After all, consider the Chinese, for example. They weren’t anywhere near the level of their Caucasian counterparts when we made contact, and they weren’t any more violent than white culture of that time. Plus, the argument that warfare eventually produces diminishing returns doesn’t make sense in the context of, say, the Cold War. The two most technologically advanced countries in the world fought a forty-year war with each other, and technological production for military purposes continued to accelerate the pace of development throughout. Now, the Cold War is a slightly different case than most, but the point can undoubtedly be made with other examples (just not by me).
Oh, and props to Rachel for an awesome post.
March 23rd, 2008 at 2:04 amESTDisagreement with a premise = racism? Don’t think so.
There are enough people seemingly ready to claim racism at the drop of a hat that I’ve wondered “What’s worse than racism?” Two things - racism claims as de facto unrebuttable, in the circular argument that says self defense itself is racist, and claims of racism that don’t even pass the giggle test.
We’re surrounded by still-too-many whose reason for existence is the struggle that’s been steadily and increasingly less necessary (though not yet fully so) for 30+ years. And those folks can’t seem to just declare a well-deserved victory and let it go.
March 23rd, 2008 at 2:46 amESTEric E, you got me on the Wankel. I was stretching a bit.
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:58 amESTBut remember the original premise. The Western world advanced faster because we are better able to get along with one another better than people in other regions. Just because you aren’t actually fighting doesn’t mean you aren’t getting along.
Still, I would wager that if you could go back in time and actually quantify all the wars humanity has ever fought, you would end up with less wars in Europe than in any other region.
There are exceptions to every rule.
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:00 amESTA facet of this discussion that I think has been missed is that while the ancestors of the black Americans suffered horribly, their progeny have reaped untold benefits from it.
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:18 amESTThink about conditions in Africa. Think about the poverty, ignorance, disease, wars and mutilations that occur so frequently. Now think about the conditions and opportunities for black Americans.
Instead of hating me for something neither I nor my ancestors (mostly Grand Banks fishermen) did, howsabout being grateful for the sacrifices that allowed the successes?
To my mind, that is reparation enough.
OOF-DA! If that doesn’t nail the absurdity of the so-called race “discussion”, I don’t know what does. Bravo, Gino.
Rachel, you’ve outdone yourself again, girl. I gave your article to my younger brother (who also happens to be a 37 y.o. black man - we are an interracial family), and he agreed with it 100%. It goes without saying that I do as well.
I’ve always said I will never hate someone for how they look, but I will despise them for how and what they think. What is polluting your mind is a helluva lot more important (read: dangerous) than the color of your skin or the origin of your long-forgotten ancestors.
OT: Rachel, I remember that Rupert is leaving today. I’ve said it several times already, but I am so thankful for him and his part in this war. I’m very proud of you, too, for being the kind of partner that Rupert needs. Let us know how you’re doing when you get a chance.
March 23rd, 2008 at 12:22 pmESTmightysamurai, if you believe Europe was peaceful for any time at all, I suggest you review the history of Europe. Electric lighting? Don’t go looking to Edison, he refined it for cheap mass production, he didn’t invent it. The first known arc lamp came from the Brits during the Napoleonic wars, before Edison was born. Do you think that mass production techniques waited for the Industrial Revolution to be invented? Uh uh. Peaceful little old Venice worked out the mass assembly line principle to make their fleets hundreds of years earlier. Oh wait, the Venetians weren’t peaceful, were they? And those ships were war fleets, weren’t they?
Advanced faster because we were better able to get along? Oh my. I don’t think so, and I’d challenge you to prove that thesis. Maybe advanced faster because we organized better–but that’s also an element of successful militarism and national survival, not of holding hands between nations for a round of Kumbayah. The history of invention and early industrialization is the history of massive excess capital formation and concentration, which in turn was the direct result of war, expansion, and empire.
Or are you trying to say that we got along better within nations, not between nations? ‘Cause that’s a whole ‘nother discussion. The Industrial Revolution was in many ways a result of the breakdown of feudalism in Britain, but the transition wasn’t peaceful.
March 23rd, 2008 at 12:45 pmESTA Democrat here, and have to say I pretty much agree with everything you say on this topic. Take it you have seen his camps latest demands to the media? He wants them to stop harping on Jeremiah Wright’s statements, and instead elevate the conversation so that he can lecture White’s on the Black Church and community.
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:42 pmESTHooray for Rachel. Right on the money, honey.
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:03 pmESTtypical
Also found in: Acronyms, Wikipedia 0.04 sec.
typ·i·cal (tp-kl)
adj.
1. Exhibiting the qualities, traits, or characteristics that identify a kind, class, group, or category: a typical suburban community.
2. Of or relating to a representative specimen; characteristic or distinctive.
3. Conforming to a type: a composition typical of the baroque period.
4. also typ·ic (-k) Of the nature of, constituting, or serving as a type; emblematic.
I am a typical white American citizen and I am not hesitant in any way to say that when using it in it’s proper definition and context. If you choose to take it out of context and define it for yourself using a slang definition then I suppose you have taken things I said wrong. You have assumed it’s meaning, instead of looking in an educated way at the real intention. The real question is why would you have taken it out of context? Was it convenient for you to do so?
March 23rd, 2008 at 11:46 pmESTSteve:
You appear to have missed the point, perhaps intentionally. Convenience has nothing to do with it.
The asymmetry implied by the howls that would occur if reference were made to a “typical black person” is at issue here.
March 23rd, 2008 at 11:54 pmESTRachel,
Best post on race, bar none. Obama is done in the general election. He’s over, but he’ll still get the nomination. The Democrats will have war if they nominate Hillary, so they’re stuck between race and gender and race will win. It’s “symbolic” at this point.
This election is rather delicious.
March 24th, 2008 at 9:18 amESTGood luck whitey! Obama has the Wright to hate you.
March 24th, 2008 at 12:57 pmESTAbsolutely awesome post. And so true.
March 24th, 2008 at 2:51 pmESTThere’s been lots of stuff out there like this the past few days, so I plan to do a follow-up myself.
Thanks for the honesty - and the inspiration.
Excellent post! During the OJ trial, I watched in my office how the black people and the white people were all of a sudden divided. The white people were afraid of offending the black people and the black people felt OJ’s trial was all about his race. I thought then that this issue of race will boil to the top again at some point.
I was born and raised in Germany about 20 years after WWII. Yet, I have been called a Nazi and made to feel as if I was responsible for what took place. I totally understand your post here…completely, and I could not agree with you more!!! Thanks for writing it!
March 24th, 2008 at 6:43 pmESTMy 96 year old Grandmother was brutally raped and murdered by a black man in Enid, Oklahoma. We are Irish. We moved to America during the Civil War and were treated worse than dirt.
We never owned slaves. As a matter of fact, while the slaves in the Confederate South had food and a roof over their heads, we had nothing.
I want reparations from Black America for murdering my precious Grandmother.
March 25th, 2008 at 12:05 amESTAll due respect to your departed grandmother, but while it’s reasonable to seek reparations from her murderer, presuming to seek reparations from people who “look like” her murderer seems pretty silly on its face, no?
Oh, that must be the point you were making?
March 25th, 2008 at 12:20 amESTObama thinks racism is ‘typical’ among white people because many of the views expressed by Rev Wright ARE typical fodder in black churches.
Casually accepted racism is rampant in the black community. Many blacks simply accept that whites deliberately oppress them.
We have nurtured a nest of vipers in our midst.
March 25th, 2008 at 8:32 amESTWanted you to know I linked your article: here
March 25th, 2008 at 9:23 amEST