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In my Constitutional Law class, we are currently going over racism and Supreme Court cases having to do with eliminating it. On our school’s website, we have a discussion board where people are encouraged to post things to facilitate discussion. Imagine my surprise when I discover this in the website today (horrible formatting included)

Group 2 thought this was on topic for the “social aspect of racism today” in our last assignment… This was attributed to Michael Richards after he made racial comments during his comedy act.

“Proud to be White”: Michael Richards better known as Kramer from TV’s Seinfeld makes a good point…………..
“Someone finally said it. How many are actually paying attention to
this? There are African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans,Arab Americans, etc.

And then there are just Americans. You pass me on the street and sneer
in my direction. You call me ‘White boy,’ ‘Cracker,’ ‘Honkey,’
‘Whitey,’ ‘Caveman’… and that’s OK.

But when I call you, Nigger, Kike, Towel head, Sand-nigger, Camel
Jockey, Beaner, Gook, 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 Negro 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… If we had WET (White Entertainment Television), we’d be racists. If we had a White Pride Day, you would call us racists.

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If we had White History Month, we’d be racists.

If we had any organization for only whites to ‘advance’ OUR lives, we’d
be racists.

We have a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber of Commerce, and then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce. Wonder who pays for that??

A white woman could not be in the Miss Black American pageant, but any color can be in the Miss America pageant.

If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships…
You know we’d be racists.

There are over 60 openly proclaimed Black Colleges in the US . Yet if
there were ‘White colleges’, that would be a racist college.

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 racists.

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.

You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us. But, when a white police
officer shoots a black gang member or beats up a black drug dealer
running from the law and posing a threat to society, you call him a
racist.

I am proud… But you call me a racist.

Why is it that only whites can be racists??”

MODIFIED
The response I posted is below the fold:

First and foremost, this may have been attributed to Michael Richards, but it has been around for quite some time. I shall do my best to answer each point. (I hope people don’t mind, I adjusted the formatting from email-forwards)

“Proud to be White”:
Michael Richards better known as Kramer from TV’s Seinfeld makes a good point.
Someone finally said it. How many are actually paying attention to this?

There are African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Arab Americans, etc.
And then there are just Americans.

All of those people are Americans. They just have another descriptor, because we consider the “default” to be “White-Americans” or “European-Americans”. This is a sign of racism against minorities, not against whites.

You pass me on the street and sneer in my direction. You call me ‘White boy,’ ‘Cracker,’ ‘Honkey,’ ‘Whitey,’ ‘Caveman’… and that’s OK.

No, it isn’t. I don’t know what straw-man your burning that thinks that these slurs are acceptable, but that smell is terrible.

But when I call you, Nigger, Kike, Towel head, Sand-nigger, Camel
Jockey, Beaner, Gook, or Chink .. You call me a racist.

Because those insults are racist. You are maligning people based on a race; that is the definition of “racism”

You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you… so why are
the ghettos the most dangerous places to live?

Does one wipe away the other? I would imagine that the “you” in this line is referring to people in “ghettos”, which I’m assuming mean low-income areas. But crime (violent) crime rates are consistent along income lines, not so much among racial lines. If we have a lot of poverty among minority communities, a better question we might ask is “why”?

You have the United Negro 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… If we had WET (White Entertainment Television), we’d be racists.
If we had a White Pride Day, you would call us racists.
If we had White History Month, we’d be racists.
If we had any organization for only whites to ‘advance’ OUR lives, we’d
be racists.

Not to steal a common line or anything, but EVERY day is “White pride day”. The only reason that we have separate days is because we have not integrated ALL groups of Americans into our history. Quick test: name a black activist who wasn’t Martin Luther King Jr. Try naming a women’s rights activist that isn’t Susan B. Anthony. Try naming a Hispanic activist at all. Now name some of the Founding Fathers. That’s why we have separate racial groups; because institutionally everything else is set up to help white men. You can’t possibly claim with a straight face that men are underrepresented in business, politics, or academia.
And to complain about Yom Hashoah is sickening; you object that strongly to having a day of remembrance for the HOLOCOUST?!?
And of course different religions have different holidays: the question you should ask yourself is why Christmas is a federal holiday when people who aren’t Christian, or even religious, don’t celebrate it?

We have a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber of Commerce, and then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce. Wonder who pays for that??

The different Chamber of Commerce groups. And, again, the only reason you have these different chamber of commerce is because different groups were historically not allowed into the “plain” Chamber of Commerce. There are still plenty of Chamber of Commences that discriminate, but made sure it’s no longer explicit.

A white woman could not be in the Miss Black American pageant, but any color can be in the Miss America pageant.

The Miss America pageant was explicitly racist until 1970, where the first black woman entered (under protest from many). Now, Miss America still remains very white-oriented, as the idea of “beauty” is still a very thin, straight-haired, delicate feature ideal. Thus the Black Miss America. (Oh, and the first black American crowned Miss America was in 1984: lovely for a pageant that started in 1921. Since 1970, there have been 6 black Miss America’s, two Pacific Islanders, and one Native American)

If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships…

There are, explicitly. Of course, then you have the “merit” scholarships that default to rich people whose families have enough money to provide a secure educational environment.

You know we’d be racists.

Considering that they’re from the KKK, there’s a pretty good chance, yeah.

There are over 60 openly proclaimed Black Colleges in the US . Yet if
there were ‘White colleges’, that would be a racist college.

Again, I default to the fact that MOST of the colleges in the United States started out as “white’s only” colleges. You’ll also find that of those 60 colleges, none of them have been opened since blacks have been allowed into “white” colleges. Also, most of those “black” colleges let white people in.

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 racists.

What “rights” are you missing? The right to call people racial epithets? And there are groups that march for the “white race”.

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.

Brown, yellow and orange? Who’s marching for those? And I see plenty of “Norwegian Pride” and “Irish Pride” and “Scottish Pride” and “German Pride” so I don’t think white people are exactly being neglected.

You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us.

“You”? Who is this “you”? I’ve been robbed by a white guy. Does that mean I get to say all white people are robbing me?

But, when a white police officer shoots a black gang member or beats up a black drug dealer
running from the law and posing a threat to society, you call him a racist.

Only when he assumes the black guy is a gang member or drug dealer just because he’s running. If I saw videos of cops shooting a black guy because he “mixed up his tazer and gun” or beating the life out of guy while calling him “nigger” I’d be fairly concerned about getting fair dealing from them as well.

I am proud… But you call me a racist.

It’s not your pride that people are calling you racist for.

Why is it that only whites can be racists??

That straw you’re burning smells pretty bad. I think the people who wrote this need to check their privilege.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 5th, 2009 at 8:06 pm and is filed under discrimination. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.