Rasta TimesCHAT ROOMArticles/ArchiveRaceAndHistory RootsWomen Trinicenter
Africa Speaks.com Africa Speaks HomepageAfrica Speaks.comAfrica Speaks.comAfrica Speaks.com
InteractiveLeslie VibesAyanna RootsRas TyehimbaTriniView.comGeneral Forums
*
Home
Help
Login
Register
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
April 23, 2024, 10:59:13 PM

Login with username, password and session length
Search:     Advanced search
25910 Posts in 9966 Topics by 982 Members Latest Member: - Ferguson Most online today: 59 (July 03, 2005, 06:25:30 PM)
+  Africa Speaks Reasoning Forum
|-+  GENERAL
| |-+  GENERAL FORUM (Moderators: Tyehimba, leslie, Makini, Zaynab)
| | |-+  Racism Doesn’t Exist Anymore and Blacks Need to Get Over it
« previous next »
Pages: [1] Print
Author Topic: Racism Doesn’t Exist Anymore and Blacks Need to Get Over it  (Read 12751 times)
Kairi
KS
*
Posts: 99


« on: April 10, 2015, 08:38:40 PM »

Racism Doesn’t Exist Anymore and Blacks Need to Get Over it
by Benjamin Dixon

When will black people understand that racism is over in America? It is impossible to be racist anymore. Unless someone calls you “nigger,” you cannot possibly be the victim of racism.

If you are black, and a police officer stops you without probable cause, it is only because statistics state that blacks are a minority of the population and commit the majority of crimes. So, stopping you only makes sense. They have a better chance of finding a criminal if they stop blacks on a regular basis. They are only doing their job, right? That’s not racism? So what if black parents have to tell their kids to handle encounters with police with special care while white parents can tell their kids the police are there to help them. That doesn’t mean anything.

Never mind the fact that peddling those statistics manipulate the larger story by starting the narrative in a convenient place—looking only at the arrest rates with no consideration of the factors that create the conditions that lead to crime. Never mind those statistics have been used for generations as a means of vilifying African Americans so that now all African Americans are viewed through the lenses of those same violent statistics regardless of your achievements, education, or economic status. Statistics state that blacks are violent so it must be true. That’s not racism.

So the police are only justified in treating them as criminals even if it turns out that they are not, right? That couldn’t possibly be racism because the police officers aren’t calling them “niggers” as they arrest them. Calling you a f-cking animal isn’t racist. Calling you a savage isn’t racist. There is only one racist word in the American lexicon and if they didn’t use it on you, you aren’t the victim of racism.

The sentiment behind these “code” words has nothing to do with determining whether it is racist. It’s not racist when young black men who get in trouble are labeled as thugs and young white men are called misguided youth. There is a difference, you know. No body conjures up an image of a black person when they hear that word, do they? It’s not racist when hierarchical crime organizations in the black community are called Gangs while in white communities they are called the Mafia.

The fact that the police officer sees you as a potential criminal because of your skin color or the neighborhood in which you live has nothing to do with racism. Did they call you a nigger? Well then, there was no racism. Because racism is defined as a word and never as the actions of people in authority that can systemically target people of color, there can be no racism. All people need to do is to be sure never to use the single racist word. Never mind their actions or their intent.

And don’t forget racism is defined as someone saying anything against a person of a different race. So now everyone is guilty of racism regardless of whether they have the authority and power to impact the lives of the other person. Actions can be ignored because words are the focus. And so long as the actions are not laced with the only racist word, actions can no longer be considered racist, right?

When the narrative of crime begins with the statistics of who commits the crime and never with the conditions that create crime, then those in power are justified in treating blacks as criminal on sight.

The police are justified in shooting black boys with toy guns because statistics say that there is a possibility that they are criminals. It is no longer possible for the police to be racist even though they will give a white man ten to thirty minutes of time before shooting while giving a black child only two seconds. So what if cops shoot the one with bean bags and the child with bullets. So what if they were in open carry states. There’s no racism in that, is it? Tamir shouldn’t have been playing with a toy gun with the orange safety removed, right?

Cops can’t be wrong when it comes to blacks because blacks are statistically more violent. And even when they are wrong, why can’t black people just learn to be respectful to the police? Who cares if they are trying to force you out of your own home because you don’t look like you live there. Your neighbors called them. You should have been more neighborly. Their fear of you ins’t a glaring example of institutionalized racism, is it? Black folks need to understand you can’t get angry when injustices occur. Then you just look like an angry black man and then they have to arrest you for resisting.

And we all know how black men just love trying to grab police officers’ guns. So why act surprised when they get shot? By now you would think that they would know grabbing a police officer’s gun is bad for their health. And the fact that America so easily believes black men are just so violent that they always reach for their gun isn’t a byproduct of institutional racism, is it?

When will black people get it through their heads? Racism isn’t in how people perceive you without any knowledge of who you are. Racism isn’t in how they approach you or how they first speak to you as though your presence requires justification. Just because a person speaks down to you as if you are inferior to them doesn’t mean you’re the victim of racism. The fact that you’d better speak to them with respect regardless of how they speak to you isn’t an example of institutional racism. Did they call you a nigger? Well then, it isn’t racist. Get over it.

Never mind that this “privilege of approach” gives a person the ability to come at you aggressively, or with inflammatory words. Grown man stalks teenager then kills him.Never mind they are privileged to start a confrontation with you, knowing that the narrative will always begin with the confrontation and never with how that confrontation began. No one cares to ask why George Zimmerman felt he had the right to stalk and confront a black teen walking home. They just care that the teen fought back. He shouldn’t have fought back, right? Trayvon had no right to stand his own ground. He should have respected the authority of Mr. Zimmerman and answered with “yes sir” and “no sir.” It’s not racism because, according to statistics, he was probably committing a crime anyways. Therefore, anyone is justified in confronting him or you, for that matter. That’s not racism. That’s America.

It isn’t possible for racism to exist in America anymore.  When people start a conversation with, “I’m not racist” that excuses everything they say after it. It even excuses their actions. It’s not racist when white teens make blackface a thing again. They’re just expressing themselves, right? That’s not racism.

Racism can’t exist in America and black people need to get that through their heads. When people speak about the “moral” problems in the black community, as though there are no problems in any other community, its only because they care about you. Racism can’t exist because white people giving advice to the black community about how they can improve themselves isn’t in itself racist. They only want to see you rise to their level. And that mindset in itself couldn’t possibly be white privilege at best and racist at worst, could it?

Let’s face it. Racism died once we elected a black President. That proves that no matter how many times they refer to him as the welfare President, or Barack the “Magic Negro,” it isn’t racism. So what? You have to think twice about taking a jog in your neighborhood while wearing a hoodie for fear of your neighbors mistaking you for a thief. All that matters is that you understand we live in a post-racial society.

Who cares if you have to be twice as hard on your kids just so people think you’re not raising a thug. Be happy that white Americans congratulate you on not raising a thug. And remember, it’s not racism just because there is an unspoken belief that blacks have to prove their worthiness.

In fact, in America, blacks are the only racists left. Let’s be real. We are being racist when we constantly complain about being seen as criminal just because of our skin color. We are persecuting white Americans whenever we bring attention to our struggles. Never mind that we are actually being treated like criminals because of our skin color. Never mind that that perception led to the summary execution of dozens of black people, including children. They aren’t racist. In America, we are racist for speaking out against it. Understand?

Racism doesn’t exist in America anymore because racism is viewed only as extreme actions or words that are outside of the norm of regular society. Bad news for us, everything described above is the norm in America. It happens every day and is impossible to see because it is so ubiquitous. Racism in America is like a home with a strong stench. Despite it being obvious to people on the outside, people living in it cannot smell their own stink because they are surrounded by it all the time. And as painful as it may be, it takes someone else pointing it out for them to realize it is even there. Or, it requires them leaving the subjectivity of their home to see that the rest of the world doesn’t stink like that.

How can anyone tell the difference between the glass of salt-water they’re drinking and the ocean they are struggling to stay afloat in? One cannot, that is, until they drown.

Article link here  - http://thebenjamindixonshow.com/racism-doesnt-exist-anymore-blacks-need-to-get/
Logged
Pages: [1] Print 
« previous next »
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines
Copyright © 2001-2005 AfricaSpeaks.com and RastafariSpeaks.com
Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!