Friday, February 15, 2013

Kicking The Habit

According to Mychal Denzel Smith over at The Nation, white people have to "give up racism." "Not every white person is racist," he points out, but all white people enjoy the spoils of racism.

Jeeze, are there any black or hispanic racists to speak of, and shouldn't they have to give up racism as well? Smith apparently doesn't believe so, which seems slightly racist to me (old joke).

I've long contended that there's not much point in quibbling with racemongers; I believe they're less interested in solving racial issues than in talking about solving them. Here's an excellent example:
So my solution? White people have to let go of racism. From the avowed racist, to the anti-racist activists, to the “I’m not a racist, I have two black friends” folks, to the “I don’t see color” people and everyone else between or on the margins. It has to be a concerted effort on the part of white people to actively reject racist beliefs, thoughts and actions.
See what he did there? He took two examples of explicitly non-racist people---those who have interracial friendships and those who deliberately ignore other peoples' races---and put "scare quotes" around them, as if trying to illustrate that their anti-racism is somehow invalid. More to the point, he says these people have to "reject racist beliefs, thoughts and actions." They already have! So he chooses two classes of people in which the problem of racism is solved, and yet he still insists that the problem needs to be solved, somehow.

Moreover, why would an "avowed racist" want anything to do with racial reconciliation? Does Smith even know what a racist actually is, or is it just a buzzword for him?


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