> You can't hide your racism with the right combination of words. Racism
> is not words, it is a system of ideas and actions in the real world, it
> is a social fact. Making fun of it, or thinking you are excepted from it
> because you are not from the U.S. is a pass you can't give yourself. We
> , Black people, will be the final arbiters as to whether you are a
> racist or not.
Bear with me, please. How exactly will we (whites) be judged? I am not making jokes - I seriously want you (and Chris) to tell me what you would like me to do. I don't consider myself racist because I've thrown away all the conditioning that teaches people to categorise people and relationships as black, white, hispanic, etc. I've also disposed of conditioning that hides the racism inherent in certain institutions, like the Drug Jihad and the US foriegn policy.
Learning and later working in the digital age allows one to deal with personalities and positions blind to race, and to some degree, sex. This racism discussion on the list has now led to people categorising themselves and others along racial boundaries. Wojtek isn't white, he's eastern euro. No, now he's white, and CB gets to decide because he is black. Chris explains his views more explicitly to other blacks, but not to whites because...? I can't help feeling that it is all getting, well, kind of racist.
I thought I was fighting racism when I fought racist institutions. Now I'm told that's not enough, that I have to fight "whiteness". I have no idea how to do that, or even what it means, and I've read all of Chris's posts. Being anti-white has a dubious sound to it, just like anti-hispanic or anti-black or anti-asian.
Matt
-- Matt Cramer <cramer at voicenet.com> http://www.voicenet.com/~cramer/ Man is his own star; and that soul that can Be honest is the only perfect man.
-John Fletcher