Imagine that on any given day a white person could be lynched or beaten to death, just because they’re white.
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Lately, I’ve been hearing and reading a lot of arguments on reversed racism and to that end, some people feel that there’s no such thing.
Some White folks feel they’re unjustly treated because of certain exclusions or views from Blacks. I respect everyone’s views and believe that those feelings are valid. But I wanted to paint a realistic picture on what reverse racism in this country would be like if, of course, it were equal to “regular” racism.
Imagine an America where “reverse racism” was real. Imagine hundreds of white men being killed by the hands of black police officers. Imagine a population of white people who are under privileged and under educated being called thugs and niggers. Imagine white people being told they’re what is wrong with the country, and they should just go back to Europe where they came from.
Imagine Black Privilege…
Imagine that every CEO, of every major corporation in America, was a black man. Imagine black communities that had low crime rates and safe schools. Imagine poor neighborhoods were predominantly white.
Imagine white children being labeled as delinquents before they even had the opportunity to get an education. Imagine jails being built for little white boys because a test that black people made up for them says they will fail. Imagine rich black prison owners paying rich black judges money to prosecute and sentence anyone that has white skin, just so they can keep getting rich, and then their black children will be born rich, too!
Imagine millions of white children with learning disabilities and behavioral and emotional problems because of development issues due to a lack of resources.
Imagine that all you saw when you turned on the news where black reporters reporting on the crimes that are not only effect white people, but are cause by white people, too.
Hide your black kids!!!
Imagine prisons filled with predominately white men while universities rewarded spoiled black kids that could pretty much get away with anything because of Affluenza.
Imagine if time was reversed….
Imagine if segregation was legal again, but “reversed”. Imagine for a moment “no whites allowed” signs plastered on most, if not all, public service buildings and businesses. Imagine if white people were not allowed in schools where black children where learning about the world and how to create and sharpen their minds.
Imagine if on any given day a white person can be lynched or beaten to death, just because they were white. Imagine if black babies where cared for by white women who did any and all work for black mothers, no matter how demeaning, just to put food in the mouths of their starving white children.
Imagine four beautiful little white girls burned by the hands of hateful black men….
Imagine that flourishing business owners, church leaders and all government officials where only black men. Imagine a growing America, being built on the backs of white people, but the only benefiting black people. A magnificent time for America!
Car companies and the industrial businesses booming… opportunities afforded only to black men… while white men weren’t even allowed to compete. During these great times for black people there was no room for sharing with white people…. they were only just recognized as humans.
Imagine reverse slavery…..
Imagine Africans discovered a land with rich soil and being too greedy to share with its natives, killed them instead. Imagine that these Africans where too lazy to work and decided it would be easier to enjoy the fruits of other people’s labor. Imagine that these Africans went into European countries and destroyed these European families by stealing them away from their loved ones and their culture. These African would end the English language by killing and beating the Europeans until they spoke the African languages.
Imagine the enslaved white faces, being sold like cattle. Imagine little white girls and little white boys screaming in terror as they were ripped from the arms of their mothers.
Imagine white women raped by African men and white men beat until their skin fell off.
Imagine that the hope for European nations all laid in a struggle… a hope for peace in a land they never wanted. Imagine that there would be wars and fighting for equality that would last for centuries.
Imagine decades of marching, rioting and protest… all just for white people to be viewed as equals.
Imagine for a moment…. reversed racism.
by Felicia Roche
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B.O.L.D member Felicia Roche is a youth advocate, parent and active Philadelphian.
Thanks for reading!
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Photo: C. Norris ©2015
Unfortunately is comes down to survival of the fittest (or smartest in this case). Light skinned people became light skinned because they received less sunlight than their darker fellow man. Less sunlight = less natural vegetation and less animal life, thus a situation in which survival becomes tougher. To survive light skinned people had to adapt and in so doing they became smarter, more creative, more inventive and ultimately and I am very cautioned to say this “superior”. A downside to this was that with the pale skins inventing aqua ducts, the wheel and just about every invention ever made,… Read more »
Great article Felecia. I am a white South African, currently living in SA. We obviously have a horrible past when it comes to our treatment of indigenous people; apartheid. But what I hear so often now, from white South Africans, is that there is now reverse racism. It absolutely appalls me. We face many of the same problems you face regarding race, with one major difference being that we came here, and didn’t leave. Not only did we not leave, but we completely took over! Not only that, but we stole all native Africans freedom and land and everything that… Read more »
Wow… this is amazing. Thanks for sharing. It works with every group of people that find the need to oppress and judge those less fortunate… the hope is to ignite a little thought into understanding that you cannot judge someone if you have not faced what they have faced or simply that you can disregard what has happen to whole nation of people and call their problems yours. Thanks again.
You have to imagine it because the stuff she imagines isn’t happening. Imagine if people were crucified for their religious beliefs – that IS happening now. Concentrate on real atrocities instead of imagined ones.
I have always disliked the term “reverse racism” because it feels wrong and, to my ear, unneeded. Racism is racism whether it is white against black or black against white. When we group people by racial identity (or any other grouping) we practice racism. I believe we are ALL racist in some degree. The problem isn’t that we are racist, but that we deny the reality of how the color of our skin determines our place in a community. Once we recognize how thinking is shaped by forces both seen and unseen we can begin challenging myths about race in… Read more »
Also you may want to educate yourself a little on the fact that whites were enslaved and taken to Africa – Barbary pirate raids are a good starting point.
How would including that whites were once enslaved in Africa add to the narrative on what it is like to deal with racism/being black in America?
Well, according to this piece, for reverse racism to be a thing, Africans would have to have abducted and enslaved whites.
I’m pointing out that their historical ignorance is showing. Somehow, I don’t think that’s what they were going for.
Poetic, but largely irrelevant.
The claim of reverse racism isn’t a claim that some racist behaviour is similar in severity, rather it’s usually a claim that the same sort of mindset is in play. If racism is harmful then there is no minimum safe dosage for it.
I’d agree there’s no such thing as reverse racism though. There’s just racism, and all races perpetrate it to some degree or another. I’d rather it all be done away with rather than playing Oppression Olympics.