Re: Is white racism nec. all bad?

mellow mike (mbowen@panix.com)
2 Apr 1995 06:09:19 GMT

In article <3linha$72n@ixnews3.ix.netcom.com>, wswilso1@ix.netcom.com
(Hadrian) wrote:

: In <mbowen-3003952335290001@mbowen.dialup.access.net> mbowen@panix.com
: (mellow mike) writes:
:
: >i say that for the same reason american *individuals* blithely accept
: >white identity, they blithely accept and support white supremacist ideas
: >which effect their politics in profound and anti-democratic ways.
:
: I would disagree with this. You overestimate the threat of white
: supremacy in this country. At least at this point in time. It seems that
: when the knee-jerk press finds a story that even *hints* of racism they
: jump on it like a pack of wild dogs. If white supremacy was so strong
: then you'd at least expect to find some people of importance openly
: advocating "white power". The fact that if any people of power have such
: beliefs they keep them quiet is a firm indicator of the nation's view of
: racism. After all, if the majority supported it, where would be the harm
: in saying it aloud?
:
indeed. i suppose that is a question for drs. murray and herrnstein but
they already have surmised the american public's opinion correctly. a
little asian supremacy at the expense of white supremacy isn't so bad, as
long as whites remain superior to blacks. amnesty international can see
through it, why can't the american public? because the american public is
mostly white and forrest gump is best picture of 1994.

#1. white supremacy is not strictly kkk and hate-group activism. white
supremacist beleifs are very central to white identity. proper
multicultural instruction (for a lack of a better term) is probably the
first context in american history that allows whites in the mainstream to
understand their racial chauvinism in non-political dimensions. most white
folks are rather shocked to find out but many do. by and large the
american public is not deprogrammed of white supremacist beleifs and are
constantly assuaging their guilt on racial issues. as the cases become
clearer in the public mind, white folks are finally beginning in the main
to feel their whiteness palpably. some progress, some regress. fewer can
ignore it.

#2. the mainstream press is very circumspect in its reporting of racial
issues and rarely advocates an anti-racist position editorially. the
overwhelming concensus from civil rights activism's early successes is
towards a non-racial constitutional and non-racial political future. that
future has come and gone, progress made has been undone. non-racial
politics does not cut it, anti-racist is necessary. a significant number
of americans weaned on the soft non-racial 'colorblind' politics have
indeed become unable to see racist action in america. we hear from all
those 'can't we all just get along' folks every day. thus, in the press,
only the obviously outrageous offenses are covered. so when the lapd said
'abberation' in the case of rodney king, america never heard from johnnie
cochran (yes that johnnie cochran) who knows more about institutional
racism in the lapd than just about anyone.

in short, unless los angeles is burning, the chronic ills of institutional
racism fueled by white supremacy remains unreported. of course this only
serves as justification for riots. the 'knee-jerk' press is that because
it is not steady on the issue. (and who wants to hear about it anyway?)

:
: >
: >one way to combat this is to let all the injured parties take over that
: >part of politics and basically kick whitey's ass. it doesn't work as a
: >long term strategy but it has some excellent tactics not the least of
: >which is that it gets attention and results.
:
: yeah, but as Hitler found out when you openly make war on a people
: because of their race or ethnicity, you make a lot of enemies.

no doubt. if american whites were all actually like europeans things would
be cooler. but american whites have relatively no culture that they
respect as their own. but they do have whiteness. i suppose if we had more
canadians down here, race wouldn't be the criteria as much. but now all we
have is politics and whites don't have an anti-racist politics that would
make the division more palatable..

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mbowen@panix.com                                            harambee!

keeper of the cool zone        http://drum.ncsc.org/~bowen/zone0.html

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