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Can only white people be racist?

By Staff 3 years ago

Defining and detecting “racism” is difficult. If I have negative thoughts about racial groups, but never express them or act on them, am I racist? If I’m an editor at a publication that publishes personal essays about life experience, if I primarily publish minority authors because I find the minority experience to be a rich subject for description, am I racist?

These questions could go on all day, with any one of a number of tricky edge cases illustrating that racism is a somewhat foggy concept, despite its perennial place in the national discourse. As a result, the divergence in extant definitions of “racism” is striking.

Currently, there appear to be two competing definitions of racism vying for mainstream popularity. The first is a classical, limited definition of racism: explicit prejudicial acts towards a person based on their (real or perceived) biological grouping. The second is inflected by concepts of social justice and power struggles: Racism is the exercise or expression of racially prejudicial societal power.

Under the second definition, it’s coherent to at least claim that white people are the only racists in America, because white people arguably hold the most institutional power. As Rohn Kenyatta writes in Black Agenda Report : “Racism, inherently, implies power; Black People in America have virtually no institutional power.” Similar claims are advanced by social justice oriented associations like the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Center , whose page links to other examples.

Now, the case gets thornier once we proceed to the individual level: If I’m a black judge and I’m racist towards a white convict, don’t I have institutional power? Does my grouping really matter in that case? Nevertheless, you could sensibly claim that whites have the plurality of institutional power, and thus inflect the justice system in ways that benefit their interests.

However, why muddy the waters by adding all of this conceptual weight to the word “racism?” Why not introduce another term to the lexicon and leave the original word alone? (Some progressives have done this by distinguishing “structural racism” from the plain article.) It seems like there’s only one practical reason to do this: to demonize a group of people because some of them hold the majority of institutional power, and excuse everyone who isn’t in that group. In other words, to make white people the bad guys.

Under the common-sense definition, matters are simpler. It is manifestly untrue that only whites commit racist acts in America. Beyond small-scale everyday racist incidents that go unrecorded, we can point to historical events like the 1991 Crown Heights riots , in which black residents violently retaliated against the local Jewish community after a local Rabbi accidentally struck and killed a black child with his car. A more recent example comes from 2017, when four black youths in Chicago tortured a white peer while chanting “F*** white people” while streaming the event on the Internet.

So, ultimately, the evaluation of this claim is simple. If you want to claim that anti-white racist acts don’t count as racism, then you need to radically change the definition of racism to villainize white people and excuse everyone else from culpability. But if you’re using plain language, everyone can be racist. And since racism only goes down, bigotry up is tacitly allowed, fostering division. The addition of the power dimension for racism has taken the eye off the legitimate inaccuracy and fallacy of bigotry. Since only whites can be racist and all whites are racist, anti-racism means anti white by these definitions

What do you think?

Do you think "having power" is required to be racist?

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12

And even if it did, we've had a black President, a black Attorney General, there are black Governors and many black Mayors and we have many blacks in Congress and state legislatures. Not to mention black Police Chiefs, black Generals and black leaders in medicine, academia and technology.

So, there is LOTS of blacks in charge of the institutions that were historically claimed to be seats of racial suppression.

@TheMiddleWay Percentages mean nothing, for example, we've had no women Presidents despite women being 51% of the population.

When you get to the top of any career, or industry, you have to understand the decades that took to get there. And the foundations necessary to help build a career. Pelosi has been at the top of the Democrat party for years and decades as part of the leadership - though never ran for President. Blacks have represented Republican districts for more than 100 years, not so much Democrat ones.

Just because a group has existed doesn't mean that it should be perfectly, or even close, to being represented in a group. I'd wager that blacks do not equal 13% of doctors....here, let me check...

....why 5%. I wonder why? Maybe because education is FROWNED upon in the black community?

The percentage of any group relative to their population size is not a good indicator of 'sufficient diversity' when many other factors go into the makeup of a group....

@TheMiddleWay Oh, I don't know. I know there is more flour than eggs in a bread recipe - doesn't mean I should add more eggs, or take away flour. You do understand the physical density of the specific fruits has an impact on the fruit salad? Too many apples to bananas results in a 'harder' salad than the reverse?

Relative merit, relative interest, relative innate skills can all have an impact on relative diversity, depends on the issue.

I live in a senior complex with 91 others - it is 70% female and 30% black. Both higher percentages than the surrounding community. There are NO women that are interested in politics. None of the blacks are engaged (I asked about a dozen the names of our Senators or Congresswoman, none knew. I asked them to name the Presidents of their adult lives, none could. Granted such questions might be too simplistic, but then they all voted for Biden so I asked them to name a position Biden had - this was over the summer into the fall. None could except a general - he cares more and is smarter.)

I will take Baltimore as an example:

Black or African American: 62.46%
White: 30.45%

Of Baltimore City’s 39 High Schools, 13 had zero students proficient in math.
Digging further, we found another six high schools where one percent tested proficient.

Those numbers were from 2017, but a report for 2019/20 indicated that the overall percentage of 14% for the high schools was up to 17%.

I have argued for years that the number one indicator for student success was: parental involvement regards of school performance. I stand by that argument.

I AM making a broad generalization about black commitment to education - I don't see it in the overall community. In some parts, yes, but not overall. BTW, I would point you to the Dalton School issue currently going on in NYC.

Disparity in population is not evidence of inequality. It MIGHT be. It is simplistic to suggest economic issues are driving the disparity. I used the refugees from SE Asia in the 70s into the 80s as my example: they lacked knowledge of the language, they were generally from uneducated/unskilled populations, they were placed into poor communities with marginal schools yet by the first generation they dominated high school achievement in their communities and the State of California. Education was paramount to the families. I made similar arguments about the black communities in Chicago that surrounded the University of Illinois at Chicago, where I was a student in the late 80s. I was raised on the Southside of Chicago, attended city public schools.

Nearly all of under- and low-performing Chicago high schools are on the South Side and sit in or border the city’s poorest census tracts [the black neighborhoods]

There are examples of blacks succeeding despite having come from low income/poverty level families in cities.

Last point - I am NOT interested in diversity for diversity's sake. I don't believe it has any impact on the quality of an organization. I am the first generation of immigrant parents and fully support LEGAL immigration as beneficial to our Nation (skimming the cream of the crop of other countries might not be good for those other countries, but great for us!).

@TheMiddleWay >I would hardly consider 0.5% of our presidents or 2% of our current governors (for example) as being black as a metric by which to claim we've surpassed racial suppression

Good point. Which makes me wonder why Jews are constantly pressing the narrative that they're oppressed when they're arguably the most over-represented ethnic group in high-prestige, high-earning, -high-power fields such as politics, finance, media, medicine, science, and law.

Why is that? Isn't the fact Jews represent 2% of the US population but 6% of Congress, 8% of the Senate, 15% of the cabinet, and 22% of the Supreme Court an indicator that antisemitism is practically non-existent?
[jta.org]

@TheMiddleWay At what point does anecdotal become data?

Like studies showing women make less than men, the devil is in the details. Diversity doesn't, by itself, change the dynamics of an organization...

@TheMiddleWay I accept that diversity matters in a corporation - and can lead to more profitability, less so at the board and customer facing positions - where innovation drives profitability. More diverse thinking in innovation is highly desirable. As an econ major with heavy stats background, I understand the problem with studies (similar to our discussion on modeling) - but don't discount the effort made to quantify human behavior....

@tracycoyle "....why 5%. I wonder why? Maybe because education is FROWNED upon in the black community?"
Exactly. Black people used to even joke about that very issue before it wasn't PC to joke about that stuff, or to point out their own failings. But that is not White People's fault, and I'm tired of being blamed for their issues.

If education is frowned upon in the black community, how does that make me racist if I don't want my kids to go to school with other kids whose goal is to NOT learn, or not hire a black person who is uneducated or unqualified? Lower our standards? Really?

If this were a group of white people we were talking about it would not even be a topic of conversation. It's obvious you shouldn't send your kids to school with problem kids, your kids won't learn. It's obvious you don't hire someone not qualified for the job.

I'm not going to sacrifice myself or my kids just to look PC or to make black people feel better about being where they are. I will continue to live up to the standards that we've created and the standards that have built a Nation, or I should say, the standards that have built the entire 1st world.

8

My own experience has taught me that racism itself definitely knows no race; it can affect anyone of any race. For example, for part of my childhood I was a member of the only white family in an all black neighborhood. There were a couple of old white ladies that lived in the area, but we were the only other white people, and we were the only family. I and my three siblings lived with my father there, and later with my father and stepmother, and I often experienced attacks against me simply because I was white. I was called every name they could think of (the terms honky and cracker being prominent ones), and I was often threatened and sometimes assaulted. Groups would often follow me home from school deriding and threatening me. On at least one occasion a very large group surrounded our house throwing rocks at the house and shouting threats at us, but, thankfully, the police were able to disperse them before things got really bad. This was during my formative years in the early seventies, but finally my father and stepmother were able to afford to move us away from there and into a better neighborhood and school system.

Sadly, I was eventually bused right back into an even worse situation that I had previously left behind, and I ended up being one of a very few white kids in an all black school, at which I once again experienced being on the receiving end of racism. Now, I'm not saying that I never saw any racist words or actions from white people toward black people during those years. My own maternal grandfather could be a pretty racist guy. My father, however, would not allow any racist attitudes in our family. He had been an ardent supporter of MLK and the Civil Rights Movement, and he constantly pointed out that we could not judge a whole race because of the actions of a few. One of his very best friends was a black man, a man who often took me and my siblings on outings so that my father and stepmother could be alone together. He was kind of like an uncle to us. We also had many good black friends in our church, which uniquely (at least at that time) had a mix of both white and black families. Anyway, my experience taught me that racism existed among both white and black people (as well as among other groups) and that there were also very good people -- people who are not racist -- among other races as well. So, I know quite well that it is not only white people who can be racist. The very notion is one of the more stupid lies I think I've ever heard. All people are sinners, and all sinners are capable of just about any sin, including racism.

Oh, and by the way, NO ONE liked forced busing! At least not that I can recall.

@KeithThroop I'm sorry you had to endure that.

@ZuzecaSape That video certainly brings back memories of the time.

@KeithThroop I'm sorry. 🙁

@ZuzecaSape I appreciate the sympathy, but I'm quite fine. I have gotten past the problems I experienced growing up. I now find the memories more helpful than hurtful for the most part.

@KeithThroop Forgiveness frees us from the burden of resentment.

I, on the other hand, am happy to bear that burden for the sake of the survival of my Volk. If it had been a sacrifice that bore the fruit that was intended (i.e., racial harmony), I could let it go, but our goodwill has only been repaid with animosity and spite. I, for one, have no qualms returning the sentiment.

@ZuzecaSape You raise good points. For my part, I have forgiven past hurts and moved on, but I do understand that we cannot simply overlook continued spiteful and unforgiving behavior from others involved.

Thank you for sharing your personal experience. I have been there from the black perspective when other black people unprovoked ridicule white people in a whole and I dislike it. I have also been around black people who didn't not care what you looked like. Like you said, it goes both ways.

I think my current issue is that it is perfectly acceptable within the black community to say whatever hatred you want about another race and no one will call you out on it in fear of being called a racist. I am hoping for this type of mindset to one day disappear.

I can't remember who said it but the one was something like "Racism was on life support but people are trying to resurrect it". The issues of the past are for the most part long gone because we've progressed past that point....it's just that some people want us to keep living in the past so they can manipulate and manufacture victims.

5

Institutional power is the basis of racism?
The highest institutional office in the United States is President.
The President of the United States was a black man for 8 years.
During those 8 years only black people could possibly be racist.
Now, only orange people can be racist...

5

Just remember that white, mentally challenged homeless guy being beaten by the black cop in Baltimore is oppressing that cop.

When someone tries to convince me that such absurdities are in fact real, and fail to see the hypocrisy or idiocy of their comments, it is challenging to find logical or reasonable common ground to commence an actual conversation.

Unless someone is arbitrarily redefining words to control the conversation, anyone can be racist.

"Unless someone is arbitrarily redefining words to control the conversation, anyone can be racist."

That is exactly what is being done. "Control the conversation," to the extent that no discussion is permitted questioning the redefinition of words. To the extent that even discussing certain topics gets you censored, if not banned, from certain social media sites.

The woke progressive narrative is not an invitation for discussion, but dogma for which there is only strict compliance or heretical disobedience. Witness woke progressives like JK Rowling or Sarah Silverman, people who drank deeply of the Kool-Aid, but erred in stepping one toe out of line and were cancelled for their troubles. 99.9% adherence is NOT strict compliance, and so the wokerati punished them.

4

BLM calls for the death of white people because they are white, is this not racist? and if it is then the question has been truly answered has it not?

3

I’m reality, biases are characteristic of all humans. In the fantasy world of woke-progressive thinking, however, whites, especially American whites, are the only group deserving of condemnation.

Robin DiAngelo is getting rich saying all whites are racists, even if most of them lack the self-awareness to realize it. DiAngelo and other woke-progressives, hard-pressed to find instances of real racism, have instead “invented” completely new forms of the scourge, like unconscious bias, and structural or institutional racism. Conveniently, all of these are invisible and impossible to disprove. We just have to take their word for it.

The sad truth is that the black community has always been mercilessly exploited, not by some secret army of southern supremacists, but by woke academics like DiAngelo, who traumatize young blacks by feeding them a steady, frightening and false message of helpless victimhood.

3

Any person who has had experiences with people of other races is going to have opinions about people of those races. We build associations based upon our experiences and observations of people of different races. Those experiences and observations cause a certain amount off pre-judgment when we meet or see someone of that race. Thus we all are ""racist" to a degree.
Any who deny they are at least somewhat racist are not aware of their own biases.

3

I believe that all races can be racist. One current example is Joe Biden's choice for the DOJ Civil Rights Division leader: Kristen Clarke. Kristen Clarke is a black woman who was president of the Black Students Association at Harvard. In 1979, she co-authored a letter to the Harvard Crimson saying that blacks are superior in both physical and mental abilities, because of the melanin in their skin. This debunked theory (which still has followers to this day) is called the Melanin Theory. Joe Biden is a white man who has supported policies that have harmed black people, such as the Biden-Roth which he co-sponsored in 1977. Joe Biden did not want black students to attend white schools; so he said he was against buses being directed to transport black students to better schools in predominately white neighborhoods. I am thinking that Joe Biden is attempting some sort of "reparations" appointing a black racist as the Department of Justice's head of the Civil Rights Division.

Those that yell racism are the most racist!

3

Coming from a South Asian & completely non-white background there is one thing I'd like to address and that is the title 'Can only white people be racist'?
My reply to this is a massive NO, and I have come across plenty of non-white people who are racist-towards another group, be it white, or non-white.
Nobody can ever convince me that only white people are racist, and I have never believed such nonsense in my entire life.
If we're going to talk about 'whites must be racist' due to the power they hold, due to their positions within society, due to all the priveledges they've been given, then we might as well nit-pick and spend our entire lives seeing every-damn-thing as racist.
Asian people live in western countries and many of them are in high paying jobs, it's the norm for Asian parents to want their children to go to University and obtain degrees and obtain higher paying jobs.
Power struggles are going to be there, if you allow them to enter your life.
Some people like to complain about USA being racist and people of colour struggling, well makes me wonder...
If America is (or was) as racist as people claim it is/was then answer me this:
Why then was Madam C. J Walker (a black lady) the first female millionaire in the USA, despite being made an orphan and with very limited choices in life?
She worked her way up-which shows determination, perseverance, discipline and a willingness to succeed.
If she'd held limiting beliefs, such as those supported by BLM, she probably wouldn't have gotten to where she got to!

3

I guess nobody here has ever seen nor heard of incidents where "Teens" (code for Black people) rampaged through county fairs, beaches, shopping malls, upscale places of restaurants attacking and harassing, terrorizing as many White people as they can. They beat, verbally attack, steal things like purses, watches, wallets - basically they blitz "White places" with intent and they terrorize all in the name of asserting their perceived justification for having been slaves...ridiculous.

3

Every human being is racist. I am racist, I don't want to be, I try not to be, but it is there. I am an old white male who was brought up in an all-white, non-ethnic suburban neighborhood. Anyone displaying ethnic behavior or look were immediately seen as being suspicious. And so it goes with all human beings that are brought up where the people who look like, dress like and act like them are what is right and anything outside that norm is somehow not quite right. (Look at those stupid people on the other side of the river. They wear their baseball caps backwards, not bill forward as things should be.)

It is a hangover instinct from our hunter/gatherer days where it allowed our group to better survive. We have developed too fast to grow out of it yet.

@Pand0ro Would you care to explain why the Black-White achievement gap has persisted in spite of a half century of intensive economic, educational, and social interventions to bring Blacks up to speed?

@ZuzecaSape Because the dominant culture, no matter what race, makes sure that a sub-culture does not have access to the same opportunities. We of course have laws that state that everyone is equal before the law, but it is obvious that things don't work that way in everyday life. In most societies the sub-culture becomes involved in criminal enterprise because that is where there is money available to them. I am in no way excusing the sub-culture for criminal behavior. There is no quick and easy fix. The best way would be for the sub-culture to accept the surrounding conditions and form groups that inspire discipline to help raise the standards of their community without relying on the behavior of the dominant culture.

@Pand0ro How do you explain race tendencies that transcend cultures and continents? Is White Supremacy to blame for Africa's failure to thrive? If so, why does only Africa fail while Asians and Jews thrive in this allegedly environment of global #WhiteSupremacy? Could #AsianSupremacism become the White Supremacy of the 21st Century?

@ZuzecaSape I don't know which things you are talking about meant to bring black students "up to speed." School choice is one area where black students have not been given the same opportunities as white students. Joe Biden is against school choice because he is against using buses to allow school choice for black students (Biden-Roth 1977). Jim Abourezk, a Democrat, penned a book about a decade after leaving public office that detailed the battle over busing sponsored Biden and Roth (a Republican) and how Abourezik ultimately defeated the . School choice should be one area that Democrats and Republicans support, IMO.

@JChaknova Busing is only a small part of the problem. The ugly fact is there is strong racial division in America. It is mainly the white culture that is causing it in their refusal to recognize that everyone is equal before the law. Certainly not all white people but enough to drive the dysfunction of racism. We are stuck with de facto segregation that will not change for a long time. I would like for some charity or organization to build a fund of a few million dollars and go to black community leaders to set up a pilot project where the leaders work out how best that money can be used to secure and economically revive a black neighborhood. No connection with the government, strictly directed by residents and leaders. There is too much headwind to be able to rely on the government.

@JChaknova I support vouchers for private education in place of public education.

@ZuzecaSape You should be able to figure that out by yourself. Everybody has equal opportunity and is equal before the law, on paper. Why do people interviewing for a job often get passed over for job when they are found to be black. After centuries of segregation in fact and de facto blacks have been forced to live in separate communities. Those black people who have broken out of the cycle are few and not representative of the overall trend. Would a famous wealthy black athlete be welcome in a white gated community? Probably. Would his trainer be welcome there? Probably not. Most black people are still being blocked from full participation in life. It is one of the reasons why there is so much crime in their communities. That being said protests and insistence on white communities to change their behavior are useless. There will have to be a movement in the black community to repress crime, make education and achievement a prime goal and attractive to young people. The impetus must come from within the community and not rely on white support.

@Pand0ro >There will have to be a movement in the black community to repress crime, make education and achievement a prime goal and attractive to young people.

I agree, but that movement doesn't need white people or white communities to do that.

3

Idi Armin Took power in Uganda in 1971.
He is believed to have massacred 300000 civilians while in power.
He killed those who were not of his tribe.
For his special enemies he had their heads frozen so he could lecture them on their failings.
He also hated the chinese. The lucky ones got out.
He is in a . He hates others in other groups. He hates others of differing ethnicities. All his makes him a racist and monster
Anyone who discriminates by race is a racist. Makes no difference what race they are.
Armin also discriminates by group. Also an evil thing. It gives those full of malice the opportunity to bring harm to others while claiming to fight the good fight.

3

Complaints of racism in America is about 150 years too late. Even during the 60's civil rights movement, there were more whites who agreed with MLK, with many joining the marches, so there's that. Look at the blacks in SA today killing off white South Afrikaaners, by the way. Here the blacks are the racists, and it is institutional, as the Black SA government is pushing for it. I'm Filipino, by the way, all the way from the 🇵🇭

In South Africa the leaders of the #EFF & the #ANC (Mandela's terrorist org) government are turning a blind eye to the brutal murders of whites because they are white!

These "leaders" who refer to whites are racist!!

#StopTheWhiteGenocideInSouthAfrica

2

No I do not think so in where I live people have met are so nice in the United Kingdom. Its basically all about treating people respectfully equally and fairly.

2

Only the gullible or simply uninformed will let racism be thought of in terms of "critical-race-theory." Such thinking is not critical because it does not examine itself; it's not theoretic because theory directly implies the need for proof and objective verification; it's not about race except as an object manipulated by "societal power." But this re-definition allows racist behavior to be acceptable, political enemies to be smeared, and low information voters to be swayed. It is a tool of propaganda and political control.
We should also note that the only power it does not object to is the power its proponents seek--a very convenient rhetorical property for totalitarians to own. To be explicit, racism is a set of behaviors not an intellectual construct. Critical Race Theory is based on a lie, and is unworkable and damaging.

2

A ridiculous supposition. I am white and have traveled extensively, and live in "multicultural" Australia. I have experienced racism towards myself from Asian, Arabic, Aboriginal and African-cultural groups in my own home country, in addition to experiencing racism towards myself and my partner while traveling in India.

2

Merit is the way to go. A person's ability, their demeanor, their intelligence, their intent, the way they connect. Lets try an experiment. Hide a person's skin colour and interview them based on their ability to communicate effectively, their intelligence etc. Take skin colour out of the picture entirely. Then no argument can be made about racism.

2

Racism is one form of bullshit that is used to control. Find any group and you will find bias toward other groups. I will defend my family before I help others.
As for the rest some people are worth knowing and some not.

2

Simply asking this question is complete idiocy.

Racism is unfortunately a fairly natural human condition. It has always existed in some form. In the current society we are getting extreme and unchecked racism from certain segments of the black community who have been given the OK to do so much of the media and certain politicians. When that happens it can only awaken an enhanced racism on the part of targeted whites against blacks as a due matter of course.

Racism can only be tackled in America when the media and the Holywood luvies and the politicians start punishing racists across the board and not just vilifying the white people who are under current social attack. Otherwise it's fair game on all fronts. Racism will always be here so long as you allow it, and enforcing idiotic and untrue BLM rhetoric only supports and encourages it.

Only a condition that is born and bred in the USA. No other country goes on so much about this topic.

2

I love my Volk. I've been told that makes me a racist because I hate those things that threaten my Volk. If my love for my people is racism, then I'm gladly racist.

2

"Why not introduce another term to the lexicon and leave the original word alone?"

This is the crux of the argument. It is not by accident that critical race theorists chose to redefine an existing term rather than invent a new one; they WANT the confusion that doublespeak causes, because they know that resistance to being called racists plays into the narrative that whites actually ARE racist and as such, intentionally refuse to give up their "institutional power."

Conversely, telling non-whites that they are incapable of being racist socially frees them from the consequences of committing acts of bigotry towards whites, the result being more anti-white rhetoric being openly spoken and written about.

The question we should be asking is, "what end are critical race theorists hoping to achieve through this confusion?" I think it's too simplistic to assume that they believe a Marxism is a panacea for all the social issues plaguing non-whites (as well as many whites); the historical evidence simply isn't there. There is no successful model to follow. So what is the end goal then?

2

It really does come down to the definition. If we are talking the USA, and institutionalized racism, then yes it really only applies to white people, because they are the majority and have power and privilege. Just as saying if we are discussing institutionalized sexism in the USA, it only applies to men. USA institutionalized religious bigotry - only Christians.

If we talk about the "ism" in general, as in racism is being prejudiced based on race, then yes any race is capable of being racist towards another.

Institutionalized racism is a farce!
It is a way to pretend a of people have guilt because of their race. And that view is blatantly racist.

It really does come down to the definition ... or people arbitrarily and selectively changing definitions in order to fit any given circumstance and bend it to fit their "argument" when reality is not on their side.

Apparently institutionalised racism is simple a fallacy.
Only Democrats and Progressives believe in it to support their wacky opinions.

@JacksonNought I'll pose the same question to you that I did to @WilyRickWiles

If institutionalized racism exists, why are Asians and Jews more successful than Whites, in majority-White countries, if #WhiteSupremacy is an institution in such countries? Are Asians and Jews simply better at defeating White Supremacist policies? How can we teach disadvantaged groups how to defeat White Supremacy like Asians and Jews do? Or is White Supremacy just a really ineffective policy?

Do you have any concerns about Asian Supremacy?

@ZuzecaSape Jews are white.

@JacksonNought We disagree on that. I used to believe Jews were White, until Jews started saying they weren't White because being White no longer conferred the privileges it used to. You of all people should know there's a healthy debate in the Jewish community about whether Jews are White.

However, you and another Jew I know claim Jews are White. That's fine with me. Jews can call themselves anything they want. I side with the Jews who say they aren't White.
[forward.com]

@ZuzecaSape as a Jew, I identify as White. When there is an ethnicity section on a form, there is no "Jew" box to check. I've never come across a Jew (at least an American born Jew) who doesn't identify as White - just anti-Semites who call Jews non-White in order to "other" them and keep their racial purity / white supremacy free of Jews. Not accusing you of that, just saying that has been my experience. And even if Jews don't consider themselves White in a technical capacity, they are still "White-passing" meaning they will be perceived as White and given similar privilege. Obama is technically White, as he is half, yet his whole life he has been perceived as purely Black. I have a friend who is mostly Italian, with some Native American ancestry, but he looks like he is Black and is perceived as such. Institutionalized racism isn't always strictly genetics - it is also how you are perceived.

I ask you to watch these videos to see how Institutionalized Racism, even if not in in the letter of the law today, still causes impacts today.

Even our current president has been part of a lawsuit in the 70's for taking measures to prevent renting to Black people.

@JacksonNought If there were a "Hebrew" box on the census, would you check it?

>>I've never come across a Jew (at least an American born Jew) who doesn't identify as White

I have, but not personally. I had a Jewish acquaintance I once asked point-blank if Judaism was a race or a religion and he said, "Both." (he was orthodox, if that matters). Since then I've come to understand #Judaism as an "ethno-religion".

My beef with Jews calling themselves White is rooted in the #MyFellowWhitePeople meme, in which Jews admonish Whites - as "fellow white people" to do something that is arguably disadvantageous to Whites, then are later found to disavow their previously professed White identity. If you want to identify as White, be my guest, but backing out of that identity when it's inconvenient - saying, "Oh, I'm not White! I'm Jewish!" - is disingenuous at the very least, especially if one has used that "white" identity to cut down their "fellow" Whites.

I'll watch the videos.

@ZuzecaSape yes, Judaism is both a religion and an ethnicity. Anyone can practice the religion of Judaism, just as anyone can practice Christianity. Anyone can even be culturally Jewish - if your parents convert before you are born, you are technically considered a Jew through heritage, just as being adopted by Italian parents can make you raised with Italian culture, regardless of your actual bloodline. And then Judaism, or "Hebrew" is an actual ethnicity with unique genetic markers. I am one of the whitest people you can come across, but my DNA test came back 100% Ashkenazi Jew.

There could be Jews considered non-White, depending on other factors and darker skin tones (perhaps Jews currently born in Israel even), but most I would still consider White or at least White-passing. I would disagree with people like the one you posted saying they are not White... though I understand his context - it was mostly White Christian Anglo-Saxons who came to America and stole the land from Native Americans, whereas many Jewish Europeans came after while fleeing persecution. Though he is still White.

Perhaps it is a problem of being lumped in completely with all White people, as White Jews are considered a minority which faces oppression compared to White Christians, especially in America and Europe with anti-Semitism, but that does not change the fact that they are still White.

@JacksonNought I'll have to do some deeper investigation into #redlining. I have a hunch the video is glossing over details to push a narrative. For instance, ostensibly redlining was a means of determining the level of security for real-estate investments. Given POC were likely the lowest wage earners, it serves to reason areas predominated by POC would be redlined as these were the lowest income and most likely to default. 1:55 says people in redlined districts weren't any more likely to default, but maybe they didn't default because lenders were extra careful about lending to only the best candidates in redlined areas. When Freddie Mac started lending willy-nilly, it resulted in the subprime mortgage crisis. Maybe people in redlined districts didn't get loans because they couldn't afford homes. Also, it doesn't seem like ending this practice did much to improve the situation. Segregation is still rampant and formerly redlined districts still impoverished. 🤷♂️

I'm just spitballing because the video isn't intended to answer questions like these as much as it's intended to push a narrative.
[en.wikipedia.org]

As for the second video, why is desegregation the goal? I think originally it was thought that the reason POC weren't achieving as much as Whites was because they didn't have access to the same schools and resources Whites did in racially segregated neighborhoods. So we forced integration and what changed? Not much. Many immigrants lived in and preferred ethnic enclaves where there was safety and community. It should come as no surprise that Blacks congregated together in cities during the Great Migration to facilitate safety and build a unique identity. I would argue that actually worked. Black-only universities, schools, and communities were means of building themselves up. Money stayed in the community. Wealth was generated. Then well-meaning (?) outsiders pushed integration. Some ethnicities (e.g., Asians) did really well. The Black community, however, fell flat on its face. People complain about #WhiteFlight, but I would argue #BlackFlight - enabled by desegregation - drew more money out of the Black community than anything else. Affluent Blacks moved to White neighborhoods and the money that circulated in the community during segregation vanished.

So, I guess you could say I have my doubts about the narrative being pushed in those videos. If people want to integrate, let them; but if they want to remain separate, allow that as well. Neither should be forced.

@adriaan23 No, it's exactly not about individual guilt. It is about a system that works in a discriminatory manner.

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We need to accept that hurting someone’s feelings which constitutes the most common accusations of racism depends on how sensitive is the person complaining. Films like Gone With The Wind that have been banned or as we say cancelled may be hurtful to overly sensitive people. It will be impossible to ban or restrict films, books or words based on perhaps someone could be offended. Racism in truth is physical or financial harm inflected with malice.

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I don't think racism is only a trait of the people of European/Caucasian aspect. In fact, white people, to called them in that way, are quite neutral in that aspect now.

Let me give a couple of examples of flagrant racism in the black communities.

White and Asian men and women usually can date outside of their communities without much backslash from their communities. Conversely, it is globally accepted in the black communities that is natural to ostracize black men dating women of European or Asian ancestry. Usually black women cannot even do that without being expelled out of their families. This for me is not only an accepted form of racism, but promotion of racism as a cultural trait.

Another symptom of the same racism becomes manifest when one realize that, unlike at USA, people in UK speaks with the accent of their social economic group and not of their race, if that exist at all. The very idea that black communities have a parallel culture and language, independent of the rest of the USA, spells a form of racism disguised as self-isolation.

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Racism can only originate in the mind. What is racism? It's any individual acting on the premise of race alone, however that term is defined by that individual.

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