please help me explain?

Question

Someone sent this to my daughter and now she wants me to explain to her why it is this way how do I properly?
You call me "Cracker", "Honkey", "Whitey", "Gringo" and you think it's OK.
But when if I call you Kike, porch monkey, sand ni**er, rag head ,Towelhead, WOP, Camel Jockey, ****, slant eyes, yellowskinned, blackie or Chink you call me a racist.
You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you, so why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live?
You have the United ***** College Fund.
You have Martin Luther King Day.
You have Black History Month.
You have Cesar Chavez Day.
You have Yom Hashoah
You have Ma'uled Al-Nabi
You have the NAACP.
You have BET.
You have the NCAA.
If we had WET(white entertainment television) ...we'd be racist.
If we had a White Pride Day... you would call us racist.
If we had white history month... we'd be racist.
If we had an organization for only whites to "advance" our lives... we'd be racist.
If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships...you know we'd be racist.
In the Million Man March, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights. If we marched for our race and rights...you would call us racist.
Did you know that some high school students decided to make a club for only the white students because the other ethnicities had them... they all got sent to court for being racist but the african-american, Latino, and Asia clubs were not even questioned.

-You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you're not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists.
I am white.

I am proud.

But, you call me a racist.



Why is it that only whites can be racists?


Now watch, I'll be a racist for posting this

Answer 1

HAHA I'll be brave enough to post my reply, I see no one else has yet. Here goes, and I think this is a great question.

The truth is that the message in that email is correct. Yes it is.
So why is it ok for other ethnicities to behave one way and not ok for one?

The truth is that racism in ANY form towards ANY group is never ok in any setting at any time.

A lot of the reasons that it is socially acceptable for ethnicities other than caucasian to have groups, benefits etc. based on race is because historically they have been discriminated against and mistreated on racial basis by whites. Historically whites have, in general, had more priviledge, wealth, education, opportunity, advantage, etc.

The reason many of these ethnic groups etc were formed was to rally support and resources to give ethnic minorities a fair chance, or opportunities they otherwise would not have.

My personal belief is that sometimes this system works and sometimes it doesn't.

The bottom line to teach your children is that it does not matter what race/ethnicity/color/heritage someone comes from- we are all humans and need to respect each other and learn about each other instead of fearing our differences. Also, that it's ok not to like everyone but never dislike someone just because of their ethnicity. Teach your child that unfortunately not everyone thinks or behaves like that, and to be able to see it and choose not to participate in any racist behaviour.

Answer 2

Your question is how do you explain this to your daughter? Its easy, in North American / Western Society there is a mis-preconception that you have to be white to be racist. This is not true, its actually racist to think that. Explain to her that anybody regardless of colour, country of origin, language, religion or philosophy that dislikes a group of people for no reason other then the before mentioned reasons is prejuidice against that group. Explain to her that it is never ok.

Myself, personally, I am Metis though I look white and I live in a predominantly black neighbourhood. Two blocks up is GHETTO! In every modern sense of the word. I work at a nearby youth center and it took me a LONG time to get the respect of young black teenagers who've been brought up to fear the police due to admitted racial profiling. This has feed a LOT of racism in the area, but I got over it. They still laugh their asses off when i use 70 sunblock so I laugh at them for greasing their hair. But my being there is teaching them being white does not make you rich, powerful, spoiled, snobby and racist. You do your part now to fight racism by explaining the same concept to your daughter and teach her that racism knows no bounds and is equally ugly no matter where it comes from.

Answer 3

And you thought "Where do babies come from?" was tough eh? You first have to think about why it is so racist for whites to fight for their race and why other races would see it that way. Tell her that throughout America's history (not the world, America) the differences that make us strong have also made us nervous. Whenever a new group has entered the picture, the older groups have always tried to keep the new group from becoming successful because it encroaches on the older groups success, even among differen groups of white people. With teh Industrial Revolution, it became quite obvious that those differences mattered less and less. It was true that being black or asian or some other race made it harder to get work, harder to get credit, and harder to make it in America. That has changed but the attitudes haven't. It is not okay for white people to extoll the virtues of our race because it seems to everyone who isn't white that we have it easier. It is not that we are wrong, it's that other people are scared. Scared that we may actually be better and that there really is something in their DNA that makes them weaker, stupider, lesser. Tell her she is not wrong to be white, but it is harder than those of other colors think.