Ben Stein is racist.
Stella Parton is racist.
Scott Adams is racist.
Racism is a part of daily life in America, whether it is as overt as people marching around in Klan uniforms or as subtle as someone making passive-aggressive negative comments about Black people in our presence.
As much as we want to give most white people the benefit of the doubt, there usually comes a time when even our faves (or their siblings) disappoint us by saying something so outlandishly racist it’s hard to ignore.
I had a recent experience on Facebook with a former co-worker who I always thought was just a nice older white lady. She showed up in the comments of one of my posts and completely showed her ass, and she doubled, tripled and quadrupled down on her ignorance even when she was called out by her fellow white people.
Here is a list of white people I was extremely disappointed to find out were (undercover) racists
For theGrio, I wrote about how I was shocked and disappointed to find out that Ben Stein, Stella Parton and comic strip author Scott Adams are raging racists.
Ben Stein told the world he misses when a big Black woman was on the syrup bottle. Apparently, the mammy trope is a source of comfort for him.
Stella Parton is out here embarrassing her big sister by claiming white people are the victims of reverse discrimination and racism.
Scott Adams called Black people as a whole a “hate group.”
It’s not enough that every single day in the United States feels like we are barreling back toward the days of Jim Crow.
Rich and famous white people have to keep coming out and showing us how racist and bigoted they are.
We are living in the upside down.
Everyone you describe is a color, that makes YOU the racist. Acting like black culture is perfect, wake up.
Yes. I’m the “real racist” for discussing the actual racists. You people are so damn fragile and predictable. Go read a fucking book.
Okay, Mrs. Judge, here is slightly less predictable question (from a cis-het white man) : isn’t the definition of racism simply ‘ the belief that any person or group of people is inherently inferior, undeserving, or a threat simply because of their race, and ANY words, actions or reactions that arise from that belief’?
And, no, I didn’t read a book. That is simply the only definition of the word that works for me.
I’m asking because you just declared that white people don’t have the right to be angry when racism happens to us. Which is kind of like saying men don’t have right to be angry when they are raped in prison because of some assumption that rape is only supposed to happen to women.
The three stupid white people who you are criticizing are every bit as pathetic to me as they are to you. But are we ever going to reach a time when racism is simply understood as racism, which can be committed by, and inflicted upon, anyone at all??
That is an overly simplistic definition of racism that white people tend to lean on because it absolves them of any complicity as long as they are not using racial slurs and calling people names.
Race is a social construct and a classification system created by white people for the purpose of making white the default and everything else “other.” It is a power structure and a power dynamic. Saying that’s the only definition of the word that “works” for you is you admitting that you are willing to be obtuse about the true definition and meaning of the word so as not to have any blood on your hands.
I highly recommend you read a book.
Sorry, but… Can you be bothered to read what I typed?
I said specifically ‘ANY words, actions or reactions’, which obviously would have to include appropriation, microaggressions, conscious inaction, willful ignorance, AND all of the things you listed. This actually makes it a painfully complex definition, which does not absolve me of anything.
If you are not capable of engaging with a white person who doesn’t automatically agree with you, you should say so on the front page of your site and save everyone some time.
Also, I’m still hoping you’ll find time to respond to the question I brought up. Do you think there is any specific race of people who don’t have the right to be angry when they are confronted with prejudice? (And, no, I don’t think Ben Stein, Stella Parton, or Scott Adams have ever experienced it.)
The part that you are missing is that racism is also a power construct. At no time in the history of ever have Black people in this country had the “power” to control the outcomes for another race.
So you can stop all the “If you are not capable of engaging with a white person who doesn’t automatically agree with you, you should say so on the front page of your site and save everyone some time.” You are being willfully disingenuous, and that is a waste of my time.
I have an op-ed coming out on Monday that goes into greater detail about this. Hopefully you will read it.
*** Sigh*** No, I am not being willfully disingenuous. You missed my crucial ‘AND’ in there. I’ve read ‘The Case For Reparations’ and lived in this country my whole life. I’m perfectly aware racism is a perpetrated power structure. I’m arguing that any definition of the word must begin with the reasons FOR the power structure. And… You are still avoiding the critical question I asked in the first place. This is why you appear to not wish to engage with a white person who disagrees with you. Wouldn’t it be hilarious if it turned out we don’t disagree at all?
By virtue of the actual definition and the power structure therein, the “critical” question you asked doesn’t apply, Luther. You have now moved the goal posts by changing the word you are using from racism to “prejudice” and arguing a point I never made in the first place. Anyone can experience bigotry and prejudice, yes. White people don’t experience “racism.” Period.
Yep…you caught me. Pants down, hands in the air. I semantically slipped from ‘racism’ to ‘prejudice’. So… Let me apologize and go straight back to ‘racism’. And I will also ask you to go back to simplistic wording of the ‘racism’ definition I offered in the first place, (any words, actions, or reactions) and consider ‘racism’ as both an act you commit, and (as you have just offered) a thing you experience. Then I will ask you to imagine what I would experience while listening to speech given by these people.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/dpwyqz/white-people-black-jesus-will-enslave-you
I’m really not trying to be a smartass. I think I have a fair point to make here.
And I already addressed that point. It’s bigotry, not racism. Racism includes a power construct, and Black people do not have that level of power in this country. PERIOD. All caps to stress the point, not yelling. I know it’s hard to read tone in comments, but I’m not yelling or arguing or angry with you. I just want you to understand the logical fallacy in the argument you are trying to make.
Well, I think we’ve found the point here where we philosophically part ways. You’re in the population who believe racism requires political power. I respect that, but don’t feel the same. I think it is a state of belief and something an individual is capable of, which is why (for example) we consider blackface incidents to be racist, or why we use the term ‘racist attack’ to describe incidents of violence against Asians. I feel we may have become trapped in the semantics of it all.
And here is where your inherent white privilege comes into play. You don’t have to think of the power structure of racism because it doesn’t impact you the same way it does marginalized people. Whiteness shields and protects you from having to even consider it.
Again, I highly encourage you read up on it. It’s not an argument of “semantics.” It’s an actual dynamic and classification system was created by white people to excuse the colonization of non-European countries and the subjugation and enslavement of African people.
I’m among those who hear the terms ‘racism’, ‘bigotry’ and ‘prejudice’, and who cant see the reasoning behind making such hard distinctions between them, since our response to all of them by necessity must be the same.
I will do as you suggest. Thank you.
I thank you for remaining civil during this discourse even though you may not have agreed with or fully understood where I was coming from initially. I don’t always get that from white people who question the things I write, and it is appreciated here.