>>> kirsten neilsen <kirsten at infothecary.org> 06/04/99 06:26PM >>>
Charles Brown wrote (to jordan):
>
> Let me guess. You are one of these people who thinks the charge of
> racism is over used.
i don't recall anyone on this list suggesting that "the charge of racism is over used." i do recall people discussing whether or not particular events could or should be characterized as "racist."
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Charles: I might take the time to look in my "archives" to find some specific posts to this list that say or imply this, but not right now.
Above , I didn't say "one of these people ON THIS LIST". I just said one of these people. There are gazillions of these people today. I here 'em on the radio, read their comments in the newspaper.
It mostly occurs not so much by people explicitly saying "the charge of racism is over used." It is expressed by people having a high level of skepticism in response to claims of racism. Somebody just questioned whether the use of the term "Charlie" during the Viet Namese war was racist. The direct implication is that the Asian person who asserted that it was racist is overclaiming racism. This type of denial occurs fairly often on this list.
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if you were referring to our earlier discussion, perhaps i can clarify my position for you.
Charles: I was referring to the person who responded to my post on the above questionable site, in which I mentioned that it had a link to the Michigan Militia, by joking "that it is racist" and then saying "oops I said it too soon" The point of his joke seemed to be that , I (Charles)was getting ready to mention racism and that I over mention racism. You know. It was sarcasm , so there is some interpretation by me.
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i believe that there is no shortage of media coverage of overtly racist activity/events. there is, of course, a shortage of media coverage of the racism underpinning american society in ways that remain invisible to the average person.
Charles: Of course, they aren't invisible to the person of color who is average.
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i think that the media focus on the former (sensational) promotes complacency and allows people to think: "gosh those racists are terrible. glad there aren't that many of them around. they are nothing like me and the people i know. we sure have made headway as a society vis a vis racism. time to do away with affirmative action, as racism is no longer a factor in this society."
Charles: Yes, you said this before. There is some truth in it, but to me, it does not get at the main issues and problems of the complex racism. Also, it seems the implied solution would be to publicize the most violent ( I would say violent,not overt) acts LESS, no ? I don't agree with that at all. Also, they have this tendency to publicize the most violent racist acts, but then to contort themselves and claim there is no racism , like with LIttleton ,(as we disagree on , I know). Take another example: A black man was beheaded by two white men, about two years ago. The local authorities could find no racist motive, the news reported.
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thus in my opinion had the media rushed to attribute the littleton shootings to racism, it would have been a continuation of this pattern; in this sense, calling the littleton shootings racist would have been, in effect, "denying racism," the very accusation you made when the media didn't declare that the shooters' primary motivation was racism.
Charles: On Littleton, my argument on racism as a motive was in reference to a specific article that I quoted. In that article, it explicitly said their primary motive was not hating Jews, blacks and Hispanics,but hating jocks. My argument was not that racism had to be the killers' primary motive, but that the ariticle itself started out by saying they hurled insults at Jews, etc.. Well, given what was said in the article itself , my argument was that the most significant SOCIAL AND POLITICAL motive (not necessarily their own personal primary motive) was that racism. Why ? Because hatred of jocks is not as important of a social problem as racism.
I explained this in the course of those unfolding news stories.
CB
i know we don't agree on this last part. no need to rehash the argument. we disagree. period.
kirsten