No matter what people tell you, it’s just not a thing.
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By s.e. smith
The state of race relations in the U.S., a country where people seem to be under the mistaken belief that we are “post-racial,” is dire. This week saw a young, unarmed black man killed by the NYPD in a stairwell, and a refusal to indict from a Ferguson grand jury. Responses to these events from those concerned about systemic discrimination against people of color also saw the revival of a familiar battle cry among my fellow honkies: “Reverse racism!”
Accusations of “reverse racism” are dragged out in many cases when people of color and nonwhite people speak out, sometimes passionately, about racial issues. In Texas, for example, a teacher was recently forced out of her job after a profanity-laced tweet from her private account, in which she referred to white people as “crackers.” Make no mistake: The district’s pressure wasn’t about the use of some four letter words. It was about “crackers,” and the belief that some people think it’s a racial slur. Yes, really. Recently, in another example, the “tanning tax” was called “racist against white people.”
#Breaking: Reverse racism doesn’t exist. Here’s why.
1) Racism = privilege + power
In order to be racist, you need to possess two traits. The first is privilege: A structural, institutional, and social advantage. White people occupy positions of racial privilege, even when they are disadvantaged in other ways. White women, for example, consistently make more than black women, because they benefit from racial attitudes. Furthermore, you also have to have power: the ability, backed up by society, to be a strong social influencer, with greater leeway when it comes to what you do, where, and how.
For instance, white people benefit from privilege and power when they aren’t arrested for drug crimes at disproportionate rates, while black people experience racism when they’re arrested, and sentenced, for the same crimes. This reflects a racialized power imbalance in the justice system. It’s about the privilege and power of white offenders (less likely to be racially profiled, more likely to have strong legal representation, more likely to be able to talk police officers out of an arrest) and the lack of social status for black offenders.
People of color talking about white people don’t occupy positions of privilege or power. Therefore, they cannot be racist.Racism is structural, not personal.
2) Anger is a legitimate response to oppression.
When “reverse racism” is flung around, it’s often in response to angry language, to protests, to fights for equality. People of color have been pushing back on privilege and power for a long time. Many of them are understandably pretty tired of it. Unsurprisingly, some aren’t interested in moderating their tone for a white audience. That means that sometimes they use strong language, out of frustration, rage, or to make a heavy impact on observers. Still not reverse racism.
More importantly, insisting that people of color need to be nice about the way they talk about racism is, in fact, racist: It suggests that, for example, “angry black women” don’t merit social attention, because they’re being unreasonable.
3) Attempts to rectify systemic injustices are not examples of reverse racism.
One of the most common pieces of evidence used as “proof” of reverse racism is that of affirmative action and minority admissions at colleges, universities, and some companies. The argument goes that people of color are stealing positions and jobs away from better or equally qualified white people.
This is not the case. The problem is that generations of injustice have resulted in underrepresentation of people of color in these settings, and the goal of affirmative action and related initiatives is to ensure that they aren’t harmed by racial bias in admissions and hiring decisions. People of color aren’t admitted or hired “over white people.” They’re considered equally, with an eye to the fact that subconscious bias may be influencing decisions made by people in power, who are, you guessed it, often white.
“White folks will tell me time and time again that Affirmative Action is ‘unfair,’” writes Jamie Utt, a diversity and inclusion consultant and sexual violence prevention educator, “because it discriminates against White people. What the term ‘fair’ assumes here, though, is that we live in a society where there’s an equal playing field for all students, regardless of race or wealth.” Addressing these injustices is intended to give people of color more opportunities, and to ensure that future generations won’t face the same imbalances current generations do.
4) Having spaces set aside for people of color is not racist.
Whites are often resentful of clubs, organizations, and groups focused on people of a specific race, with membership closed to people who are not members of that racial community. The claim goes that such groups segregate and discriminate; after all, if members of those minorities cared so much about racism, they’d open their membership to all, right?
Josh Odam writes in the Daily Collegian, “One of my favorite examples of such a mentality is this: It’s unfair that black students have a Black Student Union when white students do not. To put it simply, the University of Massachusetts is a White Student Union.”
But it’s about more than that. It’s not just that every public space is open to white people, but that white people have an expectation that every private space should be open to them, too. Some conversations and community events need to take place behind closed doors. People of color may need to have sensitive conversations about discrimination, racism, and their lived experiences that are difficult to have when they are surrounded by white observers or people who talk over them. Such spaces provide a medium for doing so, just as members of the LGBTQ community use retreat spaces, and women join women-only organizations and groups for mutual support.
5) White people are not oppressed.
The history of the oppression of people of color by the West, and, by extension, white people, spans centuries. Africans were enslaved and brought to the New World, where European colonialists stole land from Indigenous people. Colonies across the Global South brought untold wealth into the coffers of Europe, with the low, low cost of suffering for native populations.
Today, we’re still living with the legacies of colonialism: In the United States, the black community is dealing with the aftermath of slavery and the poverty and systemic prejudice it left behind. In many African nations, the collapse of former colonies left governments in shambles and unable to support themselves. In Australia, indigenous people struggle with a high poverty rate and low access to health care.
White people, in contrast with people of color, do not experience systemic discrimination that makes it difficult to find and hold jobs, access housing, get health care, receive a fair treatment in the justice system, and more. When it comes to social disparities, they’re the ones consuming and receiving the bulk of the resources; in just one example, black women in the U.S. aremore likely to die from breast cancer due to delayed diagnosis. That’s the result of racism within the medical system.
Despite the belief stated by some white people that they aremore oppressed than people of color, their claims don’t bear out when looking at social metrics like statistical representation in the justice system, poverty, educational achievement, andunemployment rates.
6) Prejudice and racism are not the same thing.
Some people of color may view whites prejudicially; no wonder, given the interactions of racism in society. Anyone can believe instereotypes or hold ideas about members of other groups that are not entirely accurate.
However, being, and behaving, prejudicially isn’t the same thing as racism, especially when such prejudice punches up, not down. As Justin Simien of Dear White People puts it, “Prejudice and racism are different. A joke about white people dancing has no impact on the lives of average white people, whereas jokes about black people and reinforcing stereotypes about black people do have an impact on the lives of everyday black people.”
7) Hard truths aren’t racist — they’re just hard to hear.
Making a racist statement is a manifestation of racist culture; being “mean” isn’t. For whites, it can be difficult to be confronted with the reality of racism, and with comments from people of color about how privilege and power operate. It’s tempting to take such comments personally and to insist that people of color are being “mean,” which is often a hop, skip, and a jump away from an accusation of reverse racism.
In this case, the goal is often to invalidate the points made. If someone is being racist, surely her comments can be dismissed instead of taken seriously. Thus, a white person uncomfortable with a racialized conversation may claim that it’s reverse racist in order to escape the conversation, or escape her own role in racist power dynamics.
On the Internet, where such conversations fly by at lightning speed and often get heated, accusations of reverse racism often come in hot and heavy. It’s worth taking a moment to back up and hit those commenters with a healthy dose of truth serum.
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This article originally appeared on The Daily Dot.
Photo credit: Nicholas RIVET/Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)
I’m a 54 year old grandma. I’ve seen plenty in my lifetime to tell you “Reverse Racism” Does in Fact Exist. I’ve experienced it personally, as many other races of my friends. It’s only become more extreme. So, instead of separation/ranting of what race is more superior, try meeting in the middle? And come up with solutions to make things better. All races had/ have struggled and suffered. So, we all need to get over ourselves and fix things before it becomes a stupid race war. Our children, grandchildren, and their’s deserve better. Remember, 》All lives matter《 ✌
I am white have never had some position of power and or privilage and have experienced TONS of racism in my life. In fact i have always been dirt poor but still have had black and white social workers tell me that other people out there of color need help more than me, and respond very different to me than pof when they have family and money and support and im the one who grew up in foster care and have been kicked and litteraly beaten all my life. So what do you call that? Hmmmmm
Your not alone. Well said. ?
You were most likely never turned away from a job for being a POC, you’re never had your “suspicious” grocery bags checked by a wallmart greater, I bet you’ve never had anyone accuse a son or daughter of stealing something when they weren’t the one doing it. When people assume you’ll dress, act, and talk a certain way, based on “race.” And furthermore: Race is socially constructed. The differences we see, such as skin tone, hair texture, or eye size or color are superficial and emerge from adaptations to geography. The fact that most of us didn’t know this stealthily… Read more »
I am white have never had some position of power and or privilage and have experienced TONS of racism in my life. In fact i have always been dirt poor but still have had black and white social workers that other people out there of color need help more than me, when they have family and money and support and im the one who grew up in foster care and have been kicked and litteraly beaten all my life. So what do you call that? Hmmmmm
I’ve been stating this for a long time.
This is the dumbest article anyone has posted to Facebook all week. I think I lost brain cells reading it. The author should get a real job and buy a clue, this is horrible.
From the outside it certainly looks like the US has a police that is racist.
And I have also often asked why is the US society so obsessed with RACE?
Are there other countries on earth where you can look up any city and see how many black,white, .,etc that lives there?
Why on earth do you document and register a persons race? And how do you define the different races?
I learned in school that humans are one race only but we have different population gruoup and yes they may look different but we are one race.
You’re right, its on every form in the US, you fill out! I am still trying to digest this article as it’s from one person’s view and is mostly opinion. In anycase, speaking from a poor white single mother, I can tell you I know oppression and it exists!!!! I have witnessed the difference cops make between white and black, but to say reverse racism can’t exist because white people have never been oppressed is like me saying racism can’t exist because of affirmative action. Let’s face some real truths, 98% of Americans are oppressed by a system made and… Read more »
Hi Dana I agree with you. To say that reverse racism can’t exist because white people have never been oppressed show lack of knowledge. And articles like this does not help much. To understand why some groups in the US today struggle we need an analyzes that bring in lots of factors and the history that lead to this development. And the sad thing is that it so hard to make social change even if you have a good analyzes of what causes the problems. And if race and ethnic belonging is seen as the same thing then it is… Read more »
“Why on earth do you document and register a persons race? ” In a lot of situations ethnicity identification is optional. For example, when my kids registered and re-registered for High School, we were given a form “asking” about ethnicity. My wife (of Mexican heritage) would put a big “X” on the page and write in “American.” It bugs my wife that people hyphenate when they identify who they are, “Mexican – American.” As I said, she sees herself as simply “American.” My son would be considered half Mexican but looks black or should I say “African American” because he… Read more »
“Native-born Americans criticized Irish immigrants for their poverty and manners, their supposed laziness and lack of discipline, their public drinking style, their catholic religion, and their capacity for criminality and collective violence. in both words and pictures, critics of the Irish measured character by perceived physical appearance.” http://picturinghistory.gc.cuny.edu/item.php?item_id=211 “The Irish slave trade began when James II sold 30,000 Irish prisoners as slaves to the New World. His Proclamation of 1625 required Irish political prisoners be sent overseas and sold to English settlers in the West Indies. By the mid 1600s, the Irish were the main slaves sold to Antigua and… Read more »
LOL
BTW, my “LOL” was about my comments being moderated.
sikle, when my kids were in HS, we have to register them and re-register them through the years. There was an optional form on ethnicity. Although my could have marked “Hispanic” my wife would always cross out the entire page and write “American.” on it.
Hi Tom
Most of us ,probably all of us have slaves ancestry. The Viking society was 30% slaves and they did not return home but stayed and are the for fathers and our for mothers so to speak.
But something in the development of the American society kept different groups apart based on their ancestry only and this still goes on to this day.
The question now is what to do to create a better society for all .
if we all took an DNA test it shows surprising facts about our background,
I think it’s outstanding that people keep their traditions that relate to their heritage. Personally, I’m German French and Norwegian, mostly German and French. We’ve carried on some of the traditions but what I have found more common with my family is that we’ve picked up more of my wife’s Mexican traditions. But here’s the deal, we’re American. We’ve developed our own traditions that are unique to our lives in America. Santa, as we know it is far different then St Nick. Why people can’t enjoy the fact that the American Culture is rich and beautiful. I’m amazed how so… Read more »
Thank you Tom.
I have never before hear anything about this slave trade if Irish men,women and children that lasted up until 1835.
Racism is just a word, it can be defined any way. You can argue that it shouldn’t apply to X, Y or Z but there is no ultimate arbiter of the meaning of a word in English. I have met people of all races who have an irrational dislike of people of other races. I live in Silicon Valley, where there is a huge population of people from Asia, who are often in dominant positions in the tech industry. There is a fair amount of prejudice against whites (who are seen as spoiled and lazy) not to mention Blacks and… Read more »
What do you Americans see as “latinos”?
I heard some Americans say latinos and hispanics are the same… hispanics are spanish people as far as I know, so they are white. Why another term for white people, only because they are from Spain?
Then some other people say Latino means any and everyone from Latin America… but that is not a race, more like nationality. Latin (South) American people can be of any race and/or mixed.
I’m forever confused about this.
The Latino people I know like to be called Latino (or Latina). I think it refers to Latin America. I’ve been told it is preferable to Hispanic. I try to call people what they want to be called.
The Mexican I know, who is closest to me (my wife), hates the term “latina” She also hates the term “hispanic.” …. always has. But for the record, she likes to be referred to as “American” with a Mexican heritage.
And, agreed, Latinos can be any race. It is not a racial designation, it is linguistic and geographical.
Maybe you should read up on world history?
What Brandon said! Sexism is sexism, racism is racism. And white people have never been oppressed? Please! Saying that white people have been oppressed does not negate the fact that black people have been oppressed…or Native Americans…or Jewish people…or pick a group. But it happens. It is happening now. 99% of the wealth is controlled by 1% of the population. There are blacks that are poor and being denied opportunities, there are white people that are poor and being denied opportunities, there are Mexican immigrants that are poorer than poor….we are ALL being oppressed. Until we realize that all the… Read more »
You are right.
And one example is the Roma people in Europe. I am not sure how many they are,some say 12 millions and others say 20 millions. They are white.
And look at the world history and it will confirm that white are slaves just like others.
Look at forced labour today that is today’s slavery. People from all over the world ,any skin color are victims of traffick and forced labour.
Brandon and Leia …. Can’t add much to what you stated but I may later …. Having a hard enough time reading through the entire article so I glanced down at your comments. I’ll have to read the rest of the article later. One thing I will add is that blacks can be racist within their own race. I’ve experienced in on my unit with dark skin verses light skin blacks. So let’s not be so foolish to think that blacks can’t be racist toward people of other color.
May want to see the movie “Crash” … says a lot
That doesn’t surprise me at all. This article does nothing to promote anything of value here. It just gives more fuel to white separatists that are causing most of the problems. And let’s non-white people off the hook for any bigotry they might have. It’s worse when white people do it right now, because white folks have a disproportionate amount of power. But, when the US demographics shift, are we still going to have to pretend like there isn’t any racism directed at white folks? I also deeply resent the way that the article implies that the times that I… Read more »
This is as bad as when Anita Saarkeesian said that Sexism doesn’t exist for men…not to mention the writer of this crap didn’t take the time to demolish the silly term “Reverse-Racism”. I will, “Reverse Racism” does not exist because Racism is racism, discrimination is discrimination; whether you want to refute them or not. This is so one-sided close minded and asinine, I can’t believe it was posted to this site, really disappointing…and I’m an African-American, or black or whatever the PC term is (Idc). I just wow. Done.
I think the distinction is that there is ALWAYS going to be prejudice in any group, but that racism is generally about systematic oppression.
Hi Joannna
We use this word,this concept differently around the world.
A quick search on definitions in serious dictionaries gives different result than what the author here.
Some will use the concept institutionalized racism.
The Daily Dot are free to have their opinion about this.
I think the distinction is that there is ALWAYS going to be prejudice in any group, but that racism is generally about systematic oppression.
That’s not so much a distinction as someone deciding that the way that they use the term racism is right and if you don’t use it that way you’re wrong.
“People of color talking about white people don’t occupy positions of privilege or power…therefore, they cannot be racist….”
So what if a person of color says a racial slur to an Asian-American woman minding her own business and waiting on line at White Castle? That’s not racist?
I believe you’ll find your answer in this, from the top of the article you’re commenting on:
1) Racism = privilege + power
Do you know what people of color means?!?! People of color is recognized as anyone of is not white so that include black, Hispanic, Asian, native Americans etc do not try to make a point if you don’t know what you are talking about… Its comments like that is the reason why this article was made