I cringe every time I hear someone use the word tolerant in reference to race relations in this country. It's not that I don't think that there is anything wrong with the word; it is the context in which it is used. "We need to be more tolerant of others," I hear it all the time. Well do me a favor please don't be tolerant of me, I don't need you to tolerate me, and I certainly don't think that when it comes to race relation we need to tolerate anyone. Either accept them or don't and move on.
You see, tolerance to me says that their is something fundamentally wrong or offensive with that which you are tolerating. Like some pungent cheese you don't like, but you tolerate so as not to offend your host who serves it. People aren't stinky cheeses. Gay people, as a for instance, don't need to have their lives tolerated, if you don't like them then just don't like them. Move your ignorant ass somewhere else, but please don't don't be so condescending as to tolerate them. Tolerating also says that you are somehow above that which you are tolerating. How arrogant to assume that the way you were born is somehow better than a fellow human being, and so therefore you "tolerate" them.
Allow me to say that I don't tolerate the people who believe that they are somehow doing us all a favor by tolerating all of the other races in our country. In fact, I don't like you. I'm not going to tolerate or not tolerate you, I am just not going to deal with your nonsense anymore. You will either become accepting or in the near future you may find yourself the one that people won't tolerate anymore. Later.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Reverse Racism
Let me state emphatically that I do not believe in Reverse Racism. Racism is a white problem in this country not a Black, Latino, Asian, Middle Eastern, etc... problem. Let me try and explain myself. The reason for this belief is how you define racism. The best definition I have ever heard is simply Racism= Prejudice+Power. So when you add power to the equation their can be no reverse racism.
I am not saying that there are no prejudice people who are non white, for certainly there are. However, Black people, for instance, do not have the power necessary in this country to institute policies and procedures that affect White people on an institutional level. They simply don't have access to the resources or the representation in the areas of power that would allow them to implement those changes.
So I say again that there is no such thing as reverse racism. Racism is a White problem exclusively in this country. White people are the only ones with the power added to their prejudice that can allow them to implement far reaching policies that negatively affect people from another race.
Next time someone gets up on their high horse about reverse racism be sure to tell them that they have their definitions confused. They probably won't care much, white people who aren't willing to examine their own actions in affecting others probably aren't willing to listen to you explain to them why they are wrong. A lot of White people cling to the prejudice that they experience on a limited basis as their evidence that they aren't the only racist people in our country. When in fact they really are. Later.
I am not saying that there are no prejudice people who are non white, for certainly there are. However, Black people, for instance, do not have the power necessary in this country to institute policies and procedures that affect White people on an institutional level. They simply don't have access to the resources or the representation in the areas of power that would allow them to implement those changes.
So I say again that there is no such thing as reverse racism. Racism is a White problem exclusively in this country. White people are the only ones with the power added to their prejudice that can allow them to implement far reaching policies that negatively affect people from another race.
Next time someone gets up on their high horse about reverse racism be sure to tell them that they have their definitions confused. They probably won't care much, white people who aren't willing to examine their own actions in affecting others probably aren't willing to listen to you explain to them why they are wrong. A lot of White people cling to the prejudice that they experience on a limited basis as their evidence that they aren't the only racist people in our country. When in fact they really are. Later.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Isn't racism mainly a southern thing?
Ahh the South. They always get the lions share of blame for racism don't they. Well I am not going to say that the south is a great island of racial understanding, but you can't put all of the blame on them. In fact during the Nadir period of racism and even through today the south has far less "Sundown" towns and counties by a huge number than the rest of the nation. Of course part of the reason for that is that the south wasn't about to keep their cheap source of domestic labor out of the areas where they worked, but still...
The rest of the nation has just as bad of a history of racism as the south. It is just easy for those of us whites not living in the south to say that the problem is just there. For instance I live in Portland OR, and this town is one of the most segregated communities in the United States. My university is fairly diverse, but the actual town and the suburbs are really segregated. Even in a hotbed of liberalism like Portland we have the same problems that are subscribed to the rest of the country. If you live in the right area than your kids get a good education, and you don't have to be rich, just live in the right area. I live in a suburb called Beaverton, which is admittedly mostly white with small pockets of Latinos and Koreans in the area. Our schools are great, but if you go just across the river and north a bit you will encounter schools that can't afford PE, Music, Art, etc...
So no it isn't just the south, it's everywhere. Look around wherever it is you are and you will see it. Trust me. Later
The rest of the nation has just as bad of a history of racism as the south. It is just easy for those of us whites not living in the south to say that the problem is just there. For instance I live in Portland OR, and this town is one of the most segregated communities in the United States. My university is fairly diverse, but the actual town and the suburbs are really segregated. Even in a hotbed of liberalism like Portland we have the same problems that are subscribed to the rest of the country. If you live in the right area than your kids get a good education, and you don't have to be rich, just live in the right area. I live in a suburb called Beaverton, which is admittedly mostly white with small pockets of Latinos and Koreans in the area. Our schools are great, but if you go just across the river and north a bit you will encounter schools that can't afford PE, Music, Art, etc...
So no it isn't just the south, it's everywhere. Look around wherever it is you are and you will see it. Trust me. Later
Thursday, January 3, 2008
New Jersey to Apologize for Slavery
Well as a way to ring in the New Year the state of New Jersey is working on an actual atonement for slavery. Well it's only been 147 years or so, so why not. Good lord this is so pathetic. 147 years and all the black people in this country get from New Jersey is an official apology. How about some repartition for all the gains that those same politicians got from slavery. How about a real working justice system that doesn't profile African Americans. How about becoming a state where 8 out of 10 motorists stopped and searched weren't minorities (Source:Interim Report of the State Police Team Regarding Allegations of Racial Profiling, 1999).
No, the fine African Americans in New Jersey are going to get an apology. Not better living conditions, better education, a more equitable system to function in, but an apology. This thing is gonna be so hollow you will be able to hear an echo in it for years to come.
I am not saying that all of us as White people shouldn't apologize for slavery, we absolutely should have done it long before this. There is just so much more that we have to do, this is a bandaid for a bullet wound. I can just hear my White brothers and sisters now, "What the hell do you want, we apologized for the whole slavery thing."
I hope that all of you who heard about this apology had a good laugh. Not because it was funny, but because it was so absurd that you just had to. Later
No, the fine African Americans in New Jersey are going to get an apology. Not better living conditions, better education, a more equitable system to function in, but an apology. This thing is gonna be so hollow you will be able to hear an echo in it for years to come.
I am not saying that all of us as White people shouldn't apologize for slavery, we absolutely should have done it long before this. There is just so much more that we have to do, this is a bandaid for a bullet wound. I can just hear my White brothers and sisters now, "What the hell do you want, we apologized for the whole slavery thing."
I hope that all of you who heard about this apology had a good laugh. Not because it was funny, but because it was so absurd that you just had to. Later
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
One More Privilege of Being White
If I go to the hospital in pain, I am more likely to be give meds for my pain. So says this article I just read.
CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Emergency room doctors are prescribing strong narcotics more often to patients who complain of pain, but minorities are less likely to get them than whites, a new study finds.
Even for severe pain, narcotics such as oxycodone were prescribed less frequently for minorities.
Even for the severe pain of kidney stones, minorities were prescribed narcotics such as oxycodone and morphine less frequently than whites.
The analysis of more than 150,000 emergency room visits over 13 years found differences in prescribing by race in both urban and rural hospitals, in all U.S. regions and for every type of pain.
"The gaps between whites and nonwhites have not appeared to close at all," said study co-author Dr. Mark Pletcher of the University of California, San Francisco.
The study appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association. Prescribing narcotics for pain in emergency rooms rose during the study, from 23 percent of those complaining of pain in 1993 to 37 percent in 2005.
The increase coincided with changing attitudes among doctors who now regard pain management as a key to healing. Doctors in accredited hospitals must ask patients about pain, just as they monitor vital signs such as temperature and pulse.
Even with the increase, the racial gap endured. Linda Simoni-Wastila of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Pharmacy said the race gap finding may reveal some doctors' suspicions that minority patients could be drug abusers lying about pain to get narcotics.
The irony, she said, is that blacks are the least likely group to abuse prescription drugs. Hispanics are becoming as likely as whites to abuse prescription opioids and stimulants, according to her research. She was not involved in the current study.
The study's authors said doctors may be less likely to see signs of painkiller abuse in white patients, or they may be undertreating pain in minority patients.
Patient behavior may play a role, Pletcher said. Minority patients "may be less likely to keep complaining about their pain or feel they deserve good pain control," he said.
Stricter protocols for prescribing narcotics may help close the gap.
A New York hospital recently studied its emergency patients and found no racial disparity in narcotics prescribed for broken bones. Montefiore Medical Center aggressively treats pain and is developing protocols for painkillers that dictate initial dosages and times to check with patients to see whether they need more pain medicine, said Dr. David Esses, emergency department associate director at Montefiore.
Such standards may eliminate racial disparities, Esses said.
In the study, opioid narcotics were prescribed in 31 percent of the pain-related visits involving whites, 28 percent for Asians, 24 percent for Hispanics and 23 percent for blacks.
Minorities were slightly more likely than whites to get aspirin, ibuprofen and similar drugs for pain.
In more than 2,000 visits for kidney stones, whites got narcotics 72 percent of the time, Hispanics 68 percent, Asians 67 percent and blacks 56 percent.
The data came from a well-regarded government survey that collects information on emergency room visits for four weeks each year from 500 U.S. hospitals. The new study was funded by federal grants.
"It's time to move past describing disparities and work on narrowing them," said Dr. Thomas L. Fisher, an emergency room doctor at the University of Chicago Medical Center who was not involved in the study.
Fisher, who is black, said he is not immune to letting subconscious assumptions inappropriately influence his work as a doctor.
"If anybody argues they have no social biases that sway clinical practice, they have not been thoughtful about the issue or they're not being honest with themselves," he said.
So there ya have it. If your white, apparently you are more believable. The sad thing is that these Doctors are highly educated, and are falling victim to racial stereotypes despite the contradictory data. Who knew? Well actually, Black people probably did. That's the thing with White Privilege, we are so closed to it that we are in shock when we hear this kind of information. What's worse the more you know about White Privilege, the less shocked you are. I wasn't aware of this statistic, but sadly not surprised either.
CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Emergency room doctors are prescribing strong narcotics more often to patients who complain of pain, but minorities are less likely to get them than whites, a new study finds.
Even for severe pain, narcotics such as oxycodone were prescribed less frequently for minorities.
Even for the severe pain of kidney stones, minorities were prescribed narcotics such as oxycodone and morphine less frequently than whites.
The analysis of more than 150,000 emergency room visits over 13 years found differences in prescribing by race in both urban and rural hospitals, in all U.S. regions and for every type of pain.
"The gaps between whites and nonwhites have not appeared to close at all," said study co-author Dr. Mark Pletcher of the University of California, San Francisco.
The study appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association. Prescribing narcotics for pain in emergency rooms rose during the study, from 23 percent of those complaining of pain in 1993 to 37 percent in 2005.
The increase coincided with changing attitudes among doctors who now regard pain management as a key to healing. Doctors in accredited hospitals must ask patients about pain, just as they monitor vital signs such as temperature and pulse.
Even with the increase, the racial gap endured. Linda Simoni-Wastila of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Pharmacy said the race gap finding may reveal some doctors' suspicions that minority patients could be drug abusers lying about pain to get narcotics.
The irony, she said, is that blacks are the least likely group to abuse prescription drugs. Hispanics are becoming as likely as whites to abuse prescription opioids and stimulants, according to her research. She was not involved in the current study.
The study's authors said doctors may be less likely to see signs of painkiller abuse in white patients, or they may be undertreating pain in minority patients.
Patient behavior may play a role, Pletcher said. Minority patients "may be less likely to keep complaining about their pain or feel they deserve good pain control," he said.
Stricter protocols for prescribing narcotics may help close the gap.
A New York hospital recently studied its emergency patients and found no racial disparity in narcotics prescribed for broken bones. Montefiore Medical Center aggressively treats pain and is developing protocols for painkillers that dictate initial dosages and times to check with patients to see whether they need more pain medicine, said Dr. David Esses, emergency department associate director at Montefiore.
Such standards may eliminate racial disparities, Esses said.
In the study, opioid narcotics were prescribed in 31 percent of the pain-related visits involving whites, 28 percent for Asians, 24 percent for Hispanics and 23 percent for blacks.
Minorities were slightly more likely than whites to get aspirin, ibuprofen and similar drugs for pain.
In more than 2,000 visits for kidney stones, whites got narcotics 72 percent of the time, Hispanics 68 percent, Asians 67 percent and blacks 56 percent.
The data came from a well-regarded government survey that collects information on emergency room visits for four weeks each year from 500 U.S. hospitals. The new study was funded by federal grants.
"It's time to move past describing disparities and work on narrowing them," said Dr. Thomas L. Fisher, an emergency room doctor at the University of Chicago Medical Center who was not involved in the study.
Fisher, who is black, said he is not immune to letting subconscious assumptions inappropriately influence his work as a doctor.
"If anybody argues they have no social biases that sway clinical practice, they have not been thoughtful about the issue or they're not being honest with themselves," he said.
So there ya have it. If your white, apparently you are more believable. The sad thing is that these Doctors are highly educated, and are falling victim to racial stereotypes despite the contradictory data. Who knew? Well actually, Black people probably did. That's the thing with White Privilege, we are so closed to it that we are in shock when we hear this kind of information. What's worse the more you know about White Privilege, the less shocked you are. I wasn't aware of this statistic, but sadly not surprised either.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
White Pride and how it can be a positive thing
White Pride, as soon as you say it you envision Nazi's, skinheads, and racism. Those of us who are trying to be allies in a more equitable world often find ourselves feeling guilty, or wanting to crawl back inside our whiteness and hide. Well we don't have to be ashamed of being White. We can be proud of being White as long as what we do as White people is something positive for the world around us. If you're truly trying to make the community you live in more equitable than you can be proud you are White. You can stand up with your head held high, because you are doing something to make a change. You don't have to consider White Pride something that is reserved for Fascists, or people filled with hatred. In fact I suggest that we, as white people who are allies in the fight for justice, we should take White Pride back.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Why can't Black people get their shit together. I mean they've had almost 150 years
Also entitled one of the stupidest questions ever asked. Actually, let me rephrase. The question is more ignorant than stupid, especially if you don't have the benefit of good info. I myself used to hear this and think that there had to be a reason that African Americans hadn't made the strides the whites had in this country. I knew it wasn't reasons like they were lazy, or welfare moochers or any of the stereotypical reasons, but I still didn't have a good come back for those who insisted that they had had enough time.
Well many classes and books later and I have found a lot of valid reasons. A couple of which I would like to discuss here. My info comes from various sources, and I am of course, as always, writing as a white man. I cannot and will not speak to the black experience in this country. There are several excellent African American authors that do it better than I could ever pretend to. I encourage you to look them up on your own. I know that Toni Morrison is a name that comes up often in disccussions of race writings. But I digress onto the examples.
1. "Black people in this country haven't really had almost 150 years"- In fact they have never really had a period of time that they were ever given anything like an equitable system in which to compete. The main problem with the ignorance that I and my fellow White brothers and sisters have in this misunderstanding is that we were never properly educated. The history books that we, and others, learned from were done in a linear fashion. That is looking at history as always improving. Slaves were freed, things kept getting better after that for everyone. Well, all of that is complete nonsense.
Recently, thanks to James Loewen's book, Sundown Towns, I have read about a period of history regarded as the "Nadir Period of Racism." this was mainly from 1890-1930, but the affects are still felt today. See, after the Civil War things did get a bit better for the African Americans in this country. There was a real sense of national pride behind being anti-racist and many towns were integrated and proud of it. In fact there were black postal carriers, factory workers, and even black people in politics. Hell, up until 1933 we had black professional football players and even a black coach. Not to say that the African Americans were the White's equal, because they weren't given the opportunities to move into real positions of authority on the whole. However, things were heading in the right direction. By 1890 the Civil War had been over for some time and most of the people in the United States hadn't been alive during the war while even fewer had actually participated. That, along with the Democratic parties almost constant attacks on the Republican party to shut the hell up about integration, which finally did get the Republicans to shut up, ended us up in the Nadir period.
During the Nadir, African Americans were chased from towns and cities all over America. Forced out of jobs that they previously held as well as communities that had until recently welcomed them. "All White" communities became the rule rather than the exception. Whole counties were "Sundown." The South oddly enough was the exception, of course they wanted to make sure that their supply of cheap, exploitable labor didn't stray off, and so most Southern towns and counties weren't sundown at all.
OK, so there went almost 30 years of trying take at least small steps in the right direction. Add that to the 40 years of the Nadir and you have 150-70=80. So maybe they have had 80 years to get their shit together. Except that isn't true either. Without going into a detailed history of what happened to further screw all of the non whites in this country lets just assume that things didn't make much progress until 1964. 5 years before I was born, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated and the Civil Rights bill became a law. So lets see 1930 to 1964 is 34 more years, so 80-34=46.
I doubt that any truly educated person believes that even since 1964 that the black people in this country have been given a fair shake and an equitable system in which to operate. Let's assume though that you do find someone who says that racism isn't all that bad and uses the 150 years argument. Well let them have the 46 years, and then ask them how long the white person in this country has had to get their shit together. Well, let's see, White folk have been kicking around in the USA on a regular basis since, lets say Jamestown in 1607. Quick math and 2007-1607=400. So white people have had 400 years to get their proverbial shit together. As compared with the pitiful, inequitable 46 years that the African American has had. Not really such a great reasoning point after all, is it?
2. "The Bootstrap Myth"- Also referred to by some sociologist as the "Horatio Alger Jr Myth." Horatio Alger was this author who wrote several books whose main theme was people rising through the ranks to become these powerful people. There are many things very wrong with this myth, but the biggest one is that if you don't have bootstraps to begin with, you can't very well pull yourself up by them.
Now again, I can cite volumes of examples as to how African Americans and other non white people in this country have gotten the short end of the stick. These would include unequal access to resources that allow a person to be successful (e.g. decent education, safe living environment, health care, etc). That is really just a start, and I encourage you to do your own research in this area. There is tons of info everywhere on the unequal distribution of resources in this country. Read one or two of the articles or books, and this theory falls apart.
So my answer to the question itself of "Why can't Black people get their shit together? After all hasn't it been almost 150 years?," is this...They never were given any real opportunity to do so. That's why African Americans like Oprah, Barrack Obama, etc.. stand out in our minds so vividly. Because they beat the ridiculous odds, they are the exception that proves the rule. Black people that I know, in my estimation as a white male, would do every bit as well for themselves if not better than their white counterparts if they were ever given any real and equitable opportunity to do so.
Think that last part is crap? Name two major inventions that changed the course of human development aside from electricity and steam power that a white person is responsible for. Even those two were built on from previously existent concepts. All of it adds up to this, no one has an equal chance to rise up and be something if the moment they are born they have a boot in their back. Later.
Well many classes and books later and I have found a lot of valid reasons. A couple of which I would like to discuss here. My info comes from various sources, and I am of course, as always, writing as a white man. I cannot and will not speak to the black experience in this country. There are several excellent African American authors that do it better than I could ever pretend to. I encourage you to look them up on your own. I know that Toni Morrison is a name that comes up often in disccussions of race writings. But I digress onto the examples.
1. "Black people in this country haven't really had almost 150 years"- In fact they have never really had a period of time that they were ever given anything like an equitable system in which to compete. The main problem with the ignorance that I and my fellow White brothers and sisters have in this misunderstanding is that we were never properly educated. The history books that we, and others, learned from were done in a linear fashion. That is looking at history as always improving. Slaves were freed, things kept getting better after that for everyone. Well, all of that is complete nonsense.
Recently, thanks to James Loewen's book, Sundown Towns, I have read about a period of history regarded as the "Nadir Period of Racism." this was mainly from 1890-1930, but the affects are still felt today. See, after the Civil War things did get a bit better for the African Americans in this country. There was a real sense of national pride behind being anti-racist and many towns were integrated and proud of it. In fact there were black postal carriers, factory workers, and even black people in politics. Hell, up until 1933 we had black professional football players and even a black coach. Not to say that the African Americans were the White's equal, because they weren't given the opportunities to move into real positions of authority on the whole. However, things were heading in the right direction. By 1890 the Civil War had been over for some time and most of the people in the United States hadn't been alive during the war while even fewer had actually participated. That, along with the Democratic parties almost constant attacks on the Republican party to shut the hell up about integration, which finally did get the Republicans to shut up, ended us up in the Nadir period.
During the Nadir, African Americans were chased from towns and cities all over America. Forced out of jobs that they previously held as well as communities that had until recently welcomed them. "All White" communities became the rule rather than the exception. Whole counties were "Sundown." The South oddly enough was the exception, of course they wanted to make sure that their supply of cheap, exploitable labor didn't stray off, and so most Southern towns and counties weren't sundown at all.
OK, so there went almost 30 years of trying take at least small steps in the right direction. Add that to the 40 years of the Nadir and you have 150-70=80. So maybe they have had 80 years to get their shit together. Except that isn't true either. Without going into a detailed history of what happened to further screw all of the non whites in this country lets just assume that things didn't make much progress until 1964. 5 years before I was born, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated and the Civil Rights bill became a law. So lets see 1930 to 1964 is 34 more years, so 80-34=46.
I doubt that any truly educated person believes that even since 1964 that the black people in this country have been given a fair shake and an equitable system in which to operate. Let's assume though that you do find someone who says that racism isn't all that bad and uses the 150 years argument. Well let them have the 46 years, and then ask them how long the white person in this country has had to get their shit together. Well, let's see, White folk have been kicking around in the USA on a regular basis since, lets say Jamestown in 1607. Quick math and 2007-1607=400. So white people have had 400 years to get their proverbial shit together. As compared with the pitiful, inequitable 46 years that the African American has had. Not really such a great reasoning point after all, is it?
2. "The Bootstrap Myth"- Also referred to by some sociologist as the "Horatio Alger Jr Myth." Horatio Alger was this author who wrote several books whose main theme was people rising through the ranks to become these powerful people. There are many things very wrong with this myth, but the biggest one is that if you don't have bootstraps to begin with, you can't very well pull yourself up by them.
Now again, I can cite volumes of examples as to how African Americans and other non white people in this country have gotten the short end of the stick. These would include unequal access to resources that allow a person to be successful (e.g. decent education, safe living environment, health care, etc). That is really just a start, and I encourage you to do your own research in this area. There is tons of info everywhere on the unequal distribution of resources in this country. Read one or two of the articles or books, and this theory falls apart.
So my answer to the question itself of "Why can't Black people get their shit together? After all hasn't it been almost 150 years?," is this...They never were given any real opportunity to do so. That's why African Americans like Oprah, Barrack Obama, etc.. stand out in our minds so vividly. Because they beat the ridiculous odds, they are the exception that proves the rule. Black people that I know, in my estimation as a white male, would do every bit as well for themselves if not better than their white counterparts if they were ever given any real and equitable opportunity to do so.
Think that last part is crap? Name two major inventions that changed the course of human development aside from electricity and steam power that a white person is responsible for. Even those two were built on from previously existent concepts. All of it adds up to this, no one has an equal chance to rise up and be something if the moment they are born they have a boot in their back. Later.
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