Re: Is white racism nec. all bad?

Gary Strand (gary@ncar.ucar.edu)
14 Apr 1995 17:43:33 GMT

jo> John Otteson
gs> Gary Strand

gs> So, do we chalk up these "lost neighborhoods" to white racism or to a num-
ber of direct and indirect socio-econo-political forces?

jo> Look at the context those communities were in. Why were they affected so
severely? Why were they more fragile than other communities? To me, the
answer is "400 years of white racism."

Why? Were these communities *that* fragile? Look at Japanese-American com-
munities in California - they were destroyed by US government actions dur-
ing WWII. They seem to have recovered. Why?

jo> Our culture

Whose culture? Whites have no culture, according to "mellow mike". Is this
the culture of Southern rednecks, Western ranchers, Eastern liberals, Min-
nesota farmers, what?

jo> has been systematically trying to break down the strength of the black
family and community for 400 years through slavery, sharecropping, seg-
regation, etc.

The black family collapsed *after* those things ceased to exist. Why not in-
clude welfare dependency in there too? Because liberals' intentions cannot
be other than good?

jo> Now white conservatives, claiming that history is irrelevent, ask blacks,
"How come you let your families fall apart?!" What's the old cliche?...
"Be careful what you wish for, you may just get it!" Surprise!

"*White* conservatives"? What about blacks who are concerned? And I don't
believe blacks are entirely blameless victims here.

What's the worse sort of white racism? The overt KKK kind, or the liberal
"you need our help, you poor victims" racism?

I'm reminded of what I heard Russell Means (AIM activist) talk about in a
lecture I attended. Native Americans have had more government "help" than
any other oppressed group in history - they have an entire government agen-
cy devoted solely to their needs (Bureau of Indian Affairs). They are also
the poorest and worst-off group in the country - black ghettoes and Latino
barrios are Eden in comparison to some Indian reservations. You know what
his solution is? "Leave us the hell alone!" Our well-intentioned "aid" has
blown NatAm cultures apart. Is that a possibility to you, at all?

jo> (A side note: I was thinking that another force at work was the decline
of the rust-belt industries; industries that provided a lot of blue-collar
jobs for inner-city blacks.)

Yep, education is the key to progress in this post-industrial age. Too bad
some people think getting an education is a white thang.

--

Gary Strand                   WWW: http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/cscor/gary/gary.html

strandwg@ncar.ucar.edu         PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 (303) 497-1336

Opinions stated here are mine alone and are not those of NCAR, UCAR, or the NSF