Joey thinks about race and racism

This week may be controversial.  It's really a message of love, but some people only want to see hate.

     So this week I've been thinking about racism, which I often do.  Its a bit of an enigma to me.  I've never been personally the victim of racism, which I guess kind of makes me less qualified to talk about it than others, but I still have my thoughts on it, and I think they're about as valid as anyone else's.

     I watch a cartoon called The Boondocks about a little black boy named Huey, his brother Riley, and his Granddad.  The show pulls no punches on racism.  It uses the N word frequently, and seems to have a pretty low opinion of popular black culture (I.E. the kind popularized by "gangsta" rappers and whatnot).  The show is funny, but I also find it interesting to watch.  I'm always wondering who the target audience is for this show.  I'm not sure.  Anyways that isn't important.

Shown: Hilarity

     I was talking to a black friend earlier today and I mentioned how the show had pretty much desensitized me to the N word.  He cut me off and said "Look, man, I'm cool if you say negro, or even nigga, but if you throw an er at the end of that nig, I'll probably pop you in the face."  I'm pretty sure he was saying that to assure me that I could say nigga around him without feeling awkward.  But instead I had this thought.  What is the difference between an A and an ER.  Really not much, but for this young man the difference would be worth (probably not really, but he most likely thought so at the time) striking his friend over it.

     Now all forms of the N word are an ugly word to my ears.  I don't think its kind to say it, and I don't think there's really ever a good reason to say it.  It represents a time when true racism existed, and I don't mean the petty, almost pretentious racism we have today.  I mean the purest form of racism; truly believing that one race was utterly inferior to another.  However, it's just a word.  If I was telling my friends about a time I heard a guy call a black guy the N word, I would feel obligated to say N word, not the actual word.  On the other side, if I heard someone call an Italian a Spic, or a Chinese a Chink, I would use those words.  Why?  Because while they're both ugly words, out of context they won't offend anyone just because a non Chinese or Italian said it, and if the word did offend them, it would be offensive coming from anyone.  You could argue that Blacks were oppressed and attacked more than Chinese or Italians, and maybe that argument is valid, but I don't think so.

    I hear this a lot.  I hear that special consideration has to be given to Blacks because they have uniquely suffered at the hands of the white man.  I don't think this attitude is helpful for anyone.  I think its actually quite harmful to all sides.  I have four reasons.  

     First of all, its divisive.  By saying Blacks have been wronged, and Whites have something to make up for, you're automatically separating us into different camps, opposed armies in a war.  I can't say nigga out loud in a crowded place and my black friend can.  Because of this divide we can't ever be equal.

     Second: its flawed logic.  The idea that I have anything, ANYTHING to make up for towards my black friends is not only preposterous, its immoral.  If my great grandfather was a convicted felon, I would not be held responsible for his crimes.  If I was distantly related to Adolf Hitler I wouldn't be expected to tip-toe around Jews and never say Nazi.  And furthermore, if I was punished for the crimes of my father, it would be wrong!  When is it right to punish someone for another's sin?  Never.  Its never right.  It may be necessary, which it unfortunately is in our society because of stupid men's actions, but its never right.

     Third: I'm a staunch believer that anything that can be proved to be true about individuals can also be applied to societies.  Here is a firm belief I have always held about both physical and mental deficiencies: you are doing a great disservice to anyone by coddling them.  If a man has only one arm, lowering your standards on a driving test will not only produce an unsafe driver, it will also stunt the growth of that man.  If you expect a child with dyslexia to fail at every class in school, that child will fail at every class in school.  And if you give special consideration to a particular race because of past crimes, than that race will in time require that special consideration to function, though in reality they don't require it and never did.

     Fourth: this may sound kind of weird, but its racist.  The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines racism as  "a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race."  Treating Black people different from other races is seeing one of them unequal to the other.  And that is racism.

     So, assuming anyone reads this (which I kind of doubt will happen), people will try to bring up arguments about how bad slavery was, and other people will rush in to defend "my" (I put it in quotations because my argument is certainly NOT that slavery wasn't all that bad) argument by saying that chattel slavery in Africa was as bad if not worse.  And all of this will obscure the point I'm trying to make.  Which is this: we should all be equal.  We should have the same opportunities in life, and we should be able to say the same words.  We shouldn't treat each other differently because of the color of our skin.  No one should, not blacks, not whites, not Mexicans, not Asian, not Latins, not anyone.  And the people who claim to be the strongest supporters of Blacks are doing the most harm by dividing us where we stand and making us into separate factions in a war, instead of one people who can love each other as equals and brothers.