Race on NOSF

February 22, 2012

A friend posts on my behalf and brings some sanity to the conversation:

I have lived in Compton. SIPS wouldn’t be killed, he would be robbed but not because of his skin color. More likely his clothing and speech which would clearly define him as an outsider. Believe it or not, there are white people living in Compton, in Latin Kings territory and in K-town. Yes, the gangs are defined by race but the violence they commit is not racially motivated, it’s culturally motivated.

When you go into kindergarten not knowing how to spell your own name because your parents are both working as many part time jobs as they can find and no one ever taught them these things as toddlers, it’s hard to do well in schools which are judged by standards and a curriculum coming out of successful middle class schools. Your teachers came in with training and expectations accordingly only for their disappointment to become an isolating apathy over the years. They find solace in distancing themselves from the horror they have to see everyday (yeah it’s that bad when you drop to the floor for every backfiring car) and to keep their sanity, teaching becomes routine rather than inspirational. They don’t care, you don’t care. You have no role models. Your parents barely get by and are miserable. Sure there’s a black president, whatever. You don’t know him. He doesn’t protect you from overzealous cops who question you if you have a gun or drugs in your baggy pants (that you inherited from an older brother, the origins of the fashion). He doesn’t protect you from the gangs who want to kill you because of your cousin who narced on them. So yeah, you join a gang, they watch your back, they keep you and your family safe, and to fit in you do drugs. It’s something that feels good in a world that as far as you know doesn’t give a crap about you or anything you do. And if you’re dead by 18 at least you felt something and was a part of group bigger than yourself.

Then you see a commercial where this guy Obama is telling me you can be a part of something bigger, do something other than snort and screw. And hey, just maybe your neighborhood doesn’t have to be this way.

Yes, it’s pandering. No, it’s not racist. Whites need no reminder of what they need to be proud of as a race. I’ve traveled the world and if you’re white the stereotype is: he’s rich. There’s no singular word in the English language for white people that reminds them of an entire history of dehumanization. Frankly what it comes down to is: you can’t get it. You haven’t lived a life where people always assume you’re lazy or a criminal before you even opened your mouth. Even the most “liberal” neighborhoods do this. Let me be clear: I don’t think anyone here is racist. Nothing you’ve said implies that. However, I feel there is some obfuscation on what racism is.

My mother is white, I am not, and she can never fully understand what that means and is enough of an adult to acknowledge that. Part of being an adult is knowing when you’re wrong and when someone else’s perspective is beyond your grasp. Calling the video in question racist simply because if he were a white president asking whites to vote it would be, is ignorant of history, simplistic, and incredibly immature.

@Willard Fillmore
Being white and privileged has nothing to do with your accomplishments. I guarantee you, as hard as your father worked, there’s no way he worked as hard as his black friends to achieve the same success. Privilege has nothing to do with what you have, it has to do with walking into a room and people already assuming things about you based on looks (including height, attractiveness, clothing). Are you so naive as to say that an attractive person doesn’t get treated differently where ever he or she goes? If so, pick up an intro to psychology textbook. Race matters, subconsciously if anything. And before anyone says “well I know this one guy…” an exception does not negate overwhelming statistical data to the contrary. As human beings, it is part of our evolutionary psychological makeup to judge others on appearance. We can’t help it. The best we can be is self aware of preconceived notions before we act on them. It will take more than a single generation since the civil rights movement to alleviate the ingrained perceptions and repercussions of a long history of belittling and condescension.

I hope I enlightened some of you on this. Race has been an issue with me since the day I was born (really even before that). Just know that racism is more about context, than about skin color. It’s a word that gets thrown around a lot by both sides politically and often inappropriately.