We must as a nation get beyond this false and counterproductive notion of “colorblindness/race- blindness” and confront head-on our past history and current realities of racism and white privilege.
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“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be. And what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?” ― Alice in Lewis Carol’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
I have been imagining Lewis Carol’s nonsensical upside down world of Wonderland where right is wrong and good is bad, and where characters shrink, grow, and disappear quicker than a wink of an eye, where the Mad Hatter sings “a happy unbirthday to you,” and the Cheshire Cat correctly reminds us that “We’re all mad here.”
This strange world resounds now in political discourse as those of us who work to dismantle racism and white privilege in our country find ourselves labeled as the “racists” whenever we raise issues of race, racism, and white privilege while the deniers pose as the true defenders of equality.
I will give two cases in point. Following the 2012 presidential election, I published an editorial blog on the Huffington Post titled “’Interest Convergence’ and the Republican Party” in which I referred to voting block statistics derived from polling station exit results in which I stated:
“Though Romney pulled in nearly 60% of the White vote, a voting demographic that has steadily declined relative to the overall electorate since 1992, fully 45% of President Obama’s total came from minoritized communities carrying 93% of African Americans, 73% of Asian American, 71% of Latino/a. In addition, since the election year of 1964, more women than men have voted, and President Obama garnered 55% of the women’s vote this time around. Young people between the ages of 18 to 29 made up nearly one-fifth of the total votes cast in this election, with Obama carrying 60% to Romney’s 38%.”
My thesis was that in order for the Republican Party to have any chance of winning national elections, it would have to change not only its rhetoric but its policies to attract more people of color, women, and younger voters.
Soon following my posting, Tim Lubinus, Global & Regional Ministries Director of the Cornerstone Church (affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention) in Ames, Iowa wrote an editorial titled “An Example of the Neo-Racism on the Left, Surfaced Today in Iowa,” November 13, 2012 in which the author stated:
Dr. Blumenfeld, let’s join together and become a ‘colorblind’ nation by stopping this naive neo-racist categorization and counting of people based on a few race categories. Instead of endorsing and quoting politicians who seek to divide us based on race, we should expose and condemn this behavior.
To Lubinus, my mention of the demographic of “race” constituted in itself an act of racism.
Another example hit recently following an article I wrote defending the White Privilege Conference against attacks that it “openly promotes hatred against white people, especially white males.”
In my article, I stated that the resistance we have seen and are continually experiencing to the White Privilege Conference, while venomous and blaming in tone, is nonetheless predictable in that these tactics have been employed time after time against individuals, groups, and communities that have challenged oppression and dominant hegemonic discourses. I continued by arguing that dominant groups try to intimidate minoritized communities and incite fear within the larger population in its attempts to silence opposition and to prevent minoritized groups from engaging in the decision-making process that affects the course of their lives, and even to name and define the terms of their existence.
Following my posting, Lee Fox wrote on the Ayn Rand in Education Facebook page that: “Here we see Warren reveal his hate filled, racist heart….yay…”
Hey Alice, am I in Wonderland where my exposing racism makes me racist? Well, Lee Fox thinks so:
You are the one using race to judge others, Warren. You are no better than Al Sharpton or David Duke or Jesse Jackson or Robert Byrd or any other vile racist attempting to prove that, somehow, their racism is good and moral and desirable.
Actually, by Fox placing me in the same company as Rev. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, while I am truly underserving of such an honor, I am proud nonetheless!
So if I understand Fox, anyone who talks about race, anyone who challenges the socially constructed racial hierarchy that still functions in the United States with whites having greater social privilege and power vis-a-vis people of color, and anyone who challenges white privilege is in his upside world “a racist”?
It would make it easier for Fox and Lubinus if we rather just pretend that racism no longer exists, to mindlessly accept the false notion that racism once was manifest in the United States but no longer poses a problem. This is, to use a couple of metaphors, asking those of us who understand the realities of “race” and social privilege in the United States to stick our heads in the sand, or to never lift the rug under which racism is continually swept.
How do we defeat racism? Lubinus offers a way:
Let’s join Martin Luther King, Jr. who said almost fifty years ago: ‘I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.’
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Well, yes, Tim, that was Dr. King’s “dream,” at least one of his dreams, but certainly not his reality then nor the reality today. While you, Tim, directly assert and Lee implies that we all “join together and become a ‘colorblind’ nation,” you assume that race has become unimportant, that white privilege is a fiction, that we don’t see “race” anymore, and that racism (i.e., prejudice along with social power to enact oppression by white people over people of color) is a thing of the past.
Is the United States now a “colorblind” society? Or even more importantly, should the United States be a “colorblind/race-blind” society? The very notion of “race-blindness” is deeply problematic.
Though when we tell another that “I don’t see your race; I just see you as a human being,” may seem as a righteous statement, what are we really telling the person, and how may this come across: “I discount a part of you that I may not want to address,” and “I will not see you in your multiple identities.” Also, “I don’t truly appreciate the saliency that ‘race’ has on the lives of people.” This has the tendency of erasing the person’s background and historical legacy, and hides the continuing hierarchical and systemic positionalities among white people and racially minoritized people.
In their book Whitewashing Race: The Myth of a Color-Blind Society, the authors show how the concept of “colorblindness/race-
We must as a nation get beyond this false and counterproductive notion of “colorblindness/race-
Until and unless we fully resolve this collective denial of the very real racism and other longstanding forms of oppression continuing to permeate and saturate our nation, we will remain forever in the upside down world of Wonderland without any chance of coming home.
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Photo: Jacqueline/Flickr
Show me one minority or ethnic group that does not practice racism. Blacks denigrating Latinos, Japanese insulting Koreans, etc. Does this column cover them as well?
LOL an American confounding nationality with race? How surprising. 😛
How do you not get fatalistic and just give up? We haven’t made much progress against racism. It’s deep and so far impossible to destroy. Just when you think you have it beat, it just goes underground. We have a long way to go and may not ever get rid of it. The civil rights movement hardly moved the needle at all. Progress against racism is an illusion created by racism. Not sure how this is at all encouraging to anyone; white folks may as well give up. They’ll get criticized for trying and criticized for not trying. I’m lucky… Read more »
So, I’m still not sure what to make of the “I Have a Dream” speech. What I hear you saying is that we are not there yet, that it’s fantasy to say that we live in a colorblind society. I can see your point there. But what about this as an end goal to strive towards? Isn’t this a worthy ideal, that people will be judged based on the content of their character? I think it is, but I can’t seem to find any white privilege theory enthusiasts who can even accept this as a long-term goal, no matter how… Read more »
Hey Warren, Thanks for the cartoon. The only person who ever called me “Tommy” was my brother-in-law whom we haven’t talked to in 15 years. That’s not to say I dislike the name. You see things your way and I see things my way. I live in a different world then you. But as I see it, I know racism exists and have seen it first hand toward my wife and son. I see it in my daily work and I think I made it clear that I never denied its existence. But what I also see is that there… Read more »
Tom, Thanks for the invite. Sounds good.
If you have enough money, no one cares what color you are. Which is how Michael Jackson got away with molesting kids.
But I still remember people saying how much of a “white black” person he were and using racial slurs to offend him.
One of the best comments I’ve ever read on the subject of racism is found in the poem “For the white person who wants to know how to be my friend” by Pat Parker (text available at http://www.neiu.edu/~lsfuller/Poems/white.htm and elsewhere)
>.the first thing you do is to forget that i’m Black.
>Second, you must never forget that i’m Black.
This is, of course, completely impossible.
It is also absolutely correct.
I think what many hear are missing and that the author doesn’t really elaborate on is the fact that most racism today is subconscious, those executing it are not aware they are acting on it. That is why you can make two identical resumes where one fake applicant has a traditionally African American name like Jamal or Tyrone and the other has a typically Caucasian name like Jason or Christopher and the second resume will get significantly more call backs. Do you honestly believe someone is sitting there thinking to themselves “Jamal is probably black, better not hire him’? While… Read more »
Scott, what I read in this article is that people who have so called “color blindness” are wrong and that those who see society not by the color of ones skin, are ignoring the issues. It can’t be farther from the truth. There are many people who come to a point in their lives that they see a person for whom they are as human being. And these people are continuously being told that they’re ignorant to societal issues and to be honest with you ,I’m tired of it. I and many others are tired of going through a litany… Read more »
Tom. I am not going to play your game of “Who Has Been in the Trenches the Longest.” Suffice it to say, that my writing stems from my community activism and personal lived experiences. I hope I’m not hearing an anti-intellectual bias on your part, a way of dismissing me since you perceive me as someone inhabiting some sort of “Ivory Tower.” If you are going to debate me, do it on the facts, not on your assumptions –false I might add — of whom you imagine me to be.
Accordingly, I’m waiting for your facts. And when I reference “trenches, I’m speaking of “urban” trenches as in “inner city.”
Look everyone, Tom has a Black Friend (TM) and has been in the Urban Trenches (TM). Let’s all applaud him while he castigates and nullifies the sociological realities of America with his Inner City Cred (TM).
If you want to fix racism, pretending it doesn’t exist won’t help. Get over it.
Just for clarification Platypus, I have more then one black friend and I don’t expect applauds. The article wasn’t a question as to weather or not racism exists, it was about the accusation that people like me (and there are many) who can look at a person for who he is and not the color of his skin, avoids the reality of racism.
Here’s what seems to be the rule:
If you agree with the author and have nonwhite friends then you’re a great guy.
If you disagree with the author and have nonwhite friends then you’re making excuses for your racism.
Scroll down to see the Mexican food invite for full expression of this simple rule.
tom’s article: March 16, 2013
So why am I writing this? It happens that one of the alleged shooters is someone who was a client on my unit 3 years ago.
https://goodmenproject.com/ethics-values/what-your-child-wears-is-important-and-im-not-talking-about-pink
tom has worked in a gang member treatment centre for 15 or so yrs.
one of his son’s has dreads and due to being half mexican appears ‘black’. tom has spoken repeatedly about the hassle his son gets from the police.
so platypus go and u shove your snotty nosed attitude.
edit: so platypus go and shove your snotty nosed attitude.
Hey Tom, if you can’t see the facts everyday around you, read this. Though it was written in 1988, most of the items are still true today.
http://amptoons.com/blog/files/mcintosh.html
Okay,so what does a paper written by a women at Wellesley College Center for Research on Women suppose to mean/provide me with? All I get from what she said is that MLK’s dream was no more then a pipe dream and was never something that was attainable. Fortunately in my life, it still remains attainable and in some cases (strike that) in many cased have been attained. Just as I have worked with AIDS programs, I don’t need to know if the person is gay or heterosexual, it doesn’t matter if the recipient of my work is male or female.… Read more »
Hey Tommy. So now I see. You can’t get anything from anyone who is intelligent. You can’t get anything from anyone who works at a university or a college. You can’t get anything from anyone who has ever published a book or in a journal. But, I’ve got one for you! It wasn’t published by an “academic” publication, and, in fact, it would probably be banned in many schools because it is a cartoon. So you might like it. In fact, you have blogged many of the things the people in the cartoon say. You might ask for royalites. Here… Read more »
Hey Tom, I just want to respond to your comment: “I’m sorry I’m white and I’m sorry I’m a man. I’m sorry for all the bad things whites have done, even though I didn’t do any of them. I’m sorry for all that bad things men have done, even though I’m not one of them. On behalf of the millions of alike white men, we are sorry.” Please speak for yourself. I am also white and I am a man, and I refuse to apologize for being either of those things. I am who I am and those factors are… Read more »
Dear CW, Tom, and Wes,
Please go to the following website, and look at the list of resistence strategies, and determine which of these you are playing into. I noticed at least 5 of them.
https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/white-privilege-conference-resistance-struggle-truth-liberation-kt/
Which strategy is incredulous derision? Because that’s the one I’m doing. Is there one for sigh and a head shake? I strive to treat all people well regardless of any demographic factor. The clocks may strike 13 in your house but not in mine.
Well, CW, You might want to look at specifically how you are certainly playing into the following strategies: #1. Denial, #3. Rationalization, #4. Intellectualization, #6. False Envy, 7. Minimalization, and #8. Benevolence.
I doubt it. I think the entire premise is borderline ridiculous. When striving to treat all people equally is racism then you know things have pretty much jumped the shark.
“Jumped the shark” is an expression flowing from mammal privilege, TV-ownership privilege, and waterskiing privilege. Shame on you….. 🙂
CW, I think the problem you’ve just run into is that under the Blumenfeldian perspective, all disagreement is a sign of denial, hostility, internalized racism, or social pathology. Disagreeing with the article for any reason, being critical of any part of it, is taken as direct evidence that you are wrong. It’s quite similar to one sort of Marxian theory about “mystification” — if you think Marxism is incorrect, that’s just the socioeconomic system fooling you into thinking that. If you think white privilege is exaggerated, that’s evidence that you have white privilege. In this context, your disbelief is just… Read more »
This article’s perspective is basically a form of evangelism, just the mirror image of a kind of Christian evangelical fundamentalism. In this case, racism is the equivalent of Satan, and the white privilege model (WPC folks capitalize it as “White Privilege”) is the gospel (evangelicals usually capitalize it as “The Gospel”). The anti-racist industry and the evangelical industry — just because two groups of people would don’t like to be compared doesn’t mean they aren’t just like each other. Look no further than the quote often circulated in white privilege circles, the one from _The Usual Suspects_ about how the… Read more »
I never said racism didn’t exist. But believing that Obama is any different or better than Bush is another
kind of willful blindness. When you get that kind of power the only thing you care about is keeping it.
Hillary Clinton is just as much a sociopath as her husband is. Does saying that make me a misogynist?
I don’t pretend to have any easy answers.
As I have said before, the only people with real privilege are the ones at the top of the pyramid, like CEOs or politicians. The only difference between Barack Obama and George Bush is the rhetoric they peddle. They both said what people want to hear to make themselves look better and to stay in power. And in case you are wondering, a female President would do exactly the same thing.
Getting there Tom- make sure you wear your hair shirt and chant mea culpa alba. Mea culpa alba. Mea maxima culpa alba.
How about this? I’m sorry I’m white and I’m sorry I’m a man. I’m sorry for all the bad things whites have done,even though I didn’t do any of them. I’m sorry for all that bad things men have done, even though I’m not one of them. On behalf of the millions of alike white men, we are sorry. That being said, later on today, I will be getting ready to have lunch with one of my closest friends, Bill. And rather then my seeing him as a close friend, I will make sure I recognize that he’s black. And… Read more »