I found that article published on March 2014 and I thought about our class. So I am posting right now.
Here, two writers are answering a simple question : Can Black people be racist ?
I totally agree with Glen but I found Amma's answer quite interesting.
I think she is contradicting "racism" with its consequences. Being victim of racism doesn't mean that you cannot be racist. Plus, she's implying that racism is about "whiteness", that white people had created racism and so, that they are the only one who can be racist. It's more about "who started first" to her. Sounds like a nonsense to me.
Anyway, I found it interesting enough to be published in our blog.
I hope you'll enjoy it.
Read it here : http://www.voice-online.co.uk/article/can-black-people-be-racist
~Inès Allag
In my opinion, racism is about power: who exerts it and who has power exerted upon them by others. White people did indeed "invent" race in the 18th century, but that doesn't mean that all white people are inherently racist OR that black peoples--or any other non-white peoples--are less likely or incapable of being racist. Anyone seeking to maintain or achieve power over others is just as likely to engage in racism, sexism, discrimination, prejudice or other injustices.
ReplyDelete--Jennifer
Absolutely. In addition, I like to approach power as a result of a constant struggle, one that is never distributed equally. Racism is one of the ways through which one can gain an unfair advantage, a head start in this context. (One can easily add sexism or classism to the list.)
ReplyDeleteIt is quite intriguing, when analyzed from this perspective, how “the peculiar institution” of the US had been born out of a competition not between races* but within whites themselves. Labor shortage goes a long way. (This is not to blame capitalism in any way. Capitalism can and does adapt any ethical structure and has no racial agenda of its own. It’s neutral.)
I'm just thinking out loud here -and pretty much playing devil's advocate- but this might be a plausible explanation as to why black people "cannot be racist": They've never gained anything solid out of it and are not likely to do so anytime soon.
*in the “racist” sense of the word
-Buğra Murat Altan
I agree with the idea that racism is about power since according to the dictionary meaning of "racist" which is "a person who believes that a particular race is superior to another", you need to have that power to become superior to someone (Of course it is as Glen says, not as simple as one sentence yet for the sake of argument, I'm going to use this definition). In that case, even though white people have the superiority most of the time, it does not mean that, they have it all the time. As an example, we can give black communities in certain areas in the USA. I have only been to America for three months so I cannot give many real life examples but the attitudes of the blacks in our neighborhood towards white people were pretty obvious. They practically made fun of every white people who walked in front of them. Also in some movies, we see these ideas of black people on white people and their attitudes, bodies and such. So, what I was trying to say, I believe you certainly do not need to be white to be racist.
ReplyDelete-Ezgi ULUSOY