Black Racism?????????Real question for real people, keep your opinions to yourself, this is a scholarly debate

Question

People actually believe that blacks can be racist, but author Joel Kovel believes differently, he is Author of the book"White Racism".
He explains that a black person cannot be racist, after all who runs most of the financial , and structural resources in the world? who runs the biggest Armed forces in the world? Who in history has turned racist thinking into discriminatory practices?Who instituted, and implemented the Jim Crow laws? Who implemented laws to keep blacks and whites from marrying?

I want fact based answers , not what you think. Like when you were in college and the professor wants you to cite sources!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

A) you cannot believe or take as "gospel" everything you read in a book
B) any person of any race,creed,culture or national origin who has a decided bias against another person because of their rae,creed,culture or national origin is prejudiced.
c) it is not ALL ABOUT RACE
d)Why are you bringing up the Jim Crow laws in a modern venue? It is done and was over a long time ago.
e) BTW- the catholic church was biased against B/W marriages until the 80's- much longer that any state law
f) Get on with your life and stop ruminating over things that happened a century ago
g) Kovel is a socialist- not necessarily a bad thing but some of his ideas are more of a "woodstockian"flavor- the book you quote is 35 years old- try reading the bible to soothe your angst

Answer 2

Well, only a small fraction of the population has any real power. The rest of us are just pawns. Some feel that one can only be racist if one has power. If that is the case the majority of whites are unable to be racist. If Kovel's belief is correct, very few people could be racist. Would that make the Chinese the only racist because China owns the US? The average white person has no power. He does not run an army or a multi-billion dollar company. He did not create any laws. He is a common man who can suffer at the hands of the true forces of power in this nation. The belief that the average white man has all this power is just an illusion. We are fighting with each other about while the real power forces are going to destroy us all. The average white man can not control the price of oil, the cost of health insurance, or how many troops are deployed to Iraq. The average white man will struggle to keep up when the true powers that be outsource jobs and allow illegal Mexicans to get their Social Security. Racism is a creation that keeps us fighting with each other instead of focusing on the real enemy. If racism is simply the belief that one’s own race is superior and is prejudiced towards other races, then all can be racist.

Answer 3

Saying that a certain group can't be racist is a racist statement in itself. Any form of generalizing of a certain race is racism. So separating a race for outdated reasons is racism. In actuality the Chinese has the ability to have the largest armed forces in the world. So would that make them the only race that could be racist? According to your arguement, yes. If running a major institution gives a person the ability to be racist, then does a black man who is appointed chairman of the board suddenly able to be racist. Or is it still reserved for the whites? It's a very weak and obsolete argument by Mr. Kovel. Not very significant for race relations in this day and age. A lot of racism exists in all races as a reaction to past histories. But doesn't make it right for one race, which seems to be you're looking for justification of such.

Answer 4

Anyone can be racist! It does not matter the colour of your skin! Just because someone writes a book does not make them a scholar or right !Funny I was looking a talk show just an hour a go and they had some black author claiming that black athletes were treated badly and servants to the owners of the clubs.(???) because he was speaking in the 50's when blacks had to have their own baseball leagues.Don't people move on ???
He claimed they are now servants because their is no black owner of a NFL team .Well first does he expect someone to give up what they worked for to anyone just because their black?I'm sure in the near future their will be,when a person of black heritage decides to invest in one . but it does not justify his claim .As blacks make the same salary as white players and they follow the same rules of the teams they play on ...it then only stands to reason the same white players then are servants or slaves to those same owners !Sorry I don't know any curretn laws if any that prevent blacks and whites marrying now . I do know it was the case years in "AMERICAN " history but not the case now .

Answer 5

Racism is believing you're better because of your race. In this instance, I do not believe that most blacks hold this contention. There are many that do and they can be found at the Nation of Islam and other black seperatist organizations. Now, prejudice is another thing, altogether. Many, many blacks are very prejudice of whites. So who wins? No one.

You can't expect to live harmoniously with people when you're harboring hatred for them. It just won't work. It works for all races. You can't expect a white guy to give you respect when you're not giving him respect and to assume that he's automatically a racist because of the color of his skin is fallacious and to your own detriment.

I moved out of Detroit which is one the the most, if not most, segregated city in the country. Many blacks there do not like whites. But it's stupid. The whites that you see on the streets are not your enemies. It's the corporate pigs that are taking 90% of the country's wealth that is our real nemesis. We need to wake up and stop hating eachother and starting hating the right people.

They want us to hate eachother. We're all on the same levels. Economically. Morally. Etc. The mongrels of all races are the problem - the criminals, drug addicts, and overall losers are the problem.

We're not thinking here, people. And the one's on top are just laughing all the way to the bank. You think the top 1% (which owns 90% or so of the country's wealth) cares about the middle class white guy or black guy? *** no. Wake up.

Answer 6

Ok so by your definition only the group in power can be considered racist. In that case, now that South Africa is run by the ANC, a black government, meaning blacks are in control, taking lands from white farmers, affirmative action policies essentially barring whites from many jobs etc. Does this mean when i lived in South Africa, as a white girl, i could not be racist, but rather the comments and situations i expierenced because of my race... meant the blacks were racist to me?

Answer 7

I'm starting a new organization it's called the"NAAWP",(National Association for the Advancement of White People) anybody want to join? Does the name of my association sound racist though?Membership would be open to all races who believe in the cause.All donations are excepted and our goal is to have membership chapters in every American city.Hell we might even get a white caucus in the House of Representatives or the Senate.We could protest injustice when white people don't get preferential treatment because of their skin color,and picket in front of businesses that don't hire enough whites and elicit donations from them for our cause to make us go away.How about government jobs,we could protest until every government office is filled with white people.We don't care if someone is more qualified for the job or made a higher score on the employment test,we want points given to us because we're white! We want college funds,social programs,and generally an unfair advantage over everyone else because we're white.Join the NAAWP today and help stamp out racism.

Answer 8

I honestly believe it has more to do with the cultural setting than anything. For instance, Hicksville USA will view their ideas of "racism" a little differently than in Detroit...where me, a white girl, has to deal with taking the blame and punishment of something that happened over 200 years ago that neither me nor ANY ONE of my personal ancestors had anything to do with or condoned....and all I have to do is walk 2 blocks from my front door to the damn grocery store.

And if you insist on keeping this a "scholarly debate", how about you reword your argument so that you're not placing blame solely on the white race?

Answer 9

You know as well as I that black people (not all, just some) tend to hate everyone, including themselves. The light skinned blacks don't get along w/ the dark skinned, Good hair, Bad Hair, too skinny, too fat, blah, blah, blah. Just because another race was able to find a way use their hatred to discriminate against another does not make them "more racist" it just makes them more powerful. I have never read a Joel Kovel book, but it seems pretty pathetic to me that you would even consider something like that as truth.

And to Just Duckey above me having a black expo and other culture enriching events is not racist that is showing cultural pride. When Italians americans have a thier funtions and organizations such as the National Italian American Foundation (http://www.niaf.org) or if chinese people have thier own museum (http://www.camla.org) such as the chinese american museum that is showing pride and we have the black expo and other functions and organizations to show pride in who we are, where we come from. You seem to have no cultural pride of your own and can't understand that, however we who have a cultural that is mixed with our american culture (which we too are proud of) and would like to celebrate it and pass it down to future generations.

Answer 10

You and Kovel live in a fantasy world. Black racism is alive and well. All one has to do is look around and pay attention. You can argue until your hair turns grey, but it won't change the facts.
http://www.sacblackexpo.com/
http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/long-beach-hate-crime/15346/
I could go on and on, but somehow I don't think you're mind is ready for the truth.