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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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58 comments (26 - 50)

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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.

4

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...

0

The only logical response to this stupid question is mocking and sarcastic laughter

0

the God that Created Life on universes seems to have used evolution to design species and races in its creation for the essential reason of maintaining difference for the best odds for the survival of life itself in catastrophe prone chaotic surface environments ... the methods the Creator used are becoming slightly comprehensible in scientific research, basic and primitive and only best guess opinion as it may be yet ... but we advance if we follow the levels of repetitive patterns and learn to avoid the limiting feedback control loops ... slowly some of us find the way to ascend ... Obey and follow the Creator's design ... keep all you own for only your own ... learn to be the best and fight or die to advance to the future

0

God creator of Life used evolution to design races and species for the essential requirement of DIFFERENCE for the best odds for the survival of life itself in a chaotic environment subject to sudden catastrophe ... evolution is racist ...God of Life is RACIST ... follow God and not the demon of eternal death

0

I am a former New Yorker living in the South I can tell you with real world experience ANY human can be a bigot or a racist POS. Bigotry and racism seems to be more prevalent in the local Black and Mexican communities. This is just my own experience.

0

I have no power and no authority but I feel free to be as racist, or not, as I want, in the privacy of my own home. With the end of the "sticks and stones" concept and words can indeed hurt you, well, I had better watch what I say. Or it will hurt me.

1

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.

1

If you want to claim white people are only racist,
Then don’t claim other races exist. You could say white people are colonialist, but that’s not all whites, only some governments. Also just because white people are all transparent skin tone, doesn’t mean they are all the same, also white people are often racist against other white races. Irish vs English vs French vs German
Also when ethnic groups or woman climb to the top of what was organized by white ethnic leaders aka Founding Fathers of American Government, you don’t get to say that it’s systematically repressing, actually it’s bringing your group up with them proportionately. The ancestors of slaves benefitted from the labor and success of the slavery. Those governments that sold the Africans into the slave trade could be racist, or they could be, it could been territorial rivals based off religion, not explicitly race based negativity.

Why all the success coming from a straight “white” Christian culture, surely all these ancestry lands that exist prior to America must be champions of social order. Like the East... (researches China, India, soviet union, Mongolians etc.) why is America not correct and most correct simultaneously. Or are there pig backing and standing in the platform which giants built to say they were always wrong to have built a successful system the repressed could control? Why do we have to take away the system from those aligned with its founding and progress? Where are the other societies that let parasitic control after building up a hyper-succesful. Ex: Design and the build the titanic, then give the titanic to eskimos because they are underrepresented in the project? Then shame the builders for not building good enough, meanwhile they’ve never accomplished a single project independent from that system which jealous feed makes people want to abuse the project. Anyone have that kid that ruins what the creative kid built?

1

Being unfamiliar with a type of people isn’t racism, that’s just natural stress

Disowning someone because of the family they are born into is racism.

You don’t get to claim racism because of natural family differences. Procreating doesn’t breed this out, respect and allowing to pursue society in a healthy manner is not racist. Reacting to a group logically isn’t racism. Condemning people by stereotypes can be racist, not allowing people to have generalizations based of group behaviors is repression.

3

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?

2

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!

0

Obvious example of 'Power' is classical Arts: paintings, music (Mozart, Beethoven, etc...), literature (Shakespeare, Goethe...). All the subjects represented in that particular branch of the Arts, that is European Arts, are white people. Thus angels are blond, women and men are white skinned, and there is no diversity. Since there is less representational Arts (as in with the science of perspectives, or advanced theory of music) in other cultures, almost inevitably there is a prejudice felt by all, not just Whites, for that specifically White Arts, and in particular white human beings. Does that represent real Power, and can everyone eventually get away from this self prejudice and feel OK with the particular way they look and act? That is up to the individual, to rise above that self inflicted racism.

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.

0

To some fact, if you hate another human being for the stereotypes of their nationality then it can be called "racist" but disliking a person because their character is bad isn't racist.

0

White have the institutional power
Black is the main power.
Two wrongs don't make a Right.

0

Notice that we never hear any Jew worrying that some woman, transgender weirdo or nonwhite person has the potential to become Literally Hitler? That is implicitly admitting that only an exceptional white man could have the goods to pull this off. White men can do racism better than everyone else because we are just more competent than other demographics in general.

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.

0

Racism ? It is given power by people!
It's a subject that should be examined in history classes.
It is bullshit.

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.

1

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.

1

Someone will first need to define "power". Are we strictly referring to governmental power whether it be federal, state, or local ? Would Black Lives Matter not have influential power, more so than say the Proud Boys. There are 14 members on the Board of Directors of the Southern Poverty Law Center, seven are black, six are white, and one is Hispanic. Does this organization then not have a black majority, and do they not exert a certain power over deciding who qualifies as a hate group ?

0

Any colour can be racist against a person or people of the same colour.

0

That’s the wrong question can black people be racist?

1

The real modern but covert definition of raycism, used the wokest SJWs, is 'prefering your own kind'. And as everyone in fact prefers their own type and birds of a feather flock together, so everyone is rayciss. Of course only the finger-pointing irrationality of the wokest virtue-signaller is used to accuse everyone not like them, who does not pretend to have 'best friend' of a different ethnicity - it is a bash everyone stick, it is an argument of infinite power, but only the mentally and morally weak need to use it to tyrannise the sensible and strong normal people.

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