My friend just sent me this (to see what we thought, not because she agrees with the sentiment):
Don’t want to stir things up, but it makes one think…….
“WHITE ” Pride”
This is great. I have been wondering about why Whites are racists, and no other race is…..
Proud to be White
Michael Richards makes his point…………..Michael Richards better known as Kramer from TVs Seinfeld does make a good point.
This was his defense speech in court after making racial comments in his comedy act.. He makes some very interesting points…
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.
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??
There is nothing improper about this e-mail. Let’s see which of you are proud enough to send it on. I sadly don’t think many will. That’s why we have LOST most of OUR RIGHTS in this country. We won’t stand up for ourselves!
BE PROUD TO BE WHITE!
It’s not a crime YET…. but getting very close!
It is estimated that ONLY 5% of those reaching this point in this e-mail, will pass it on.
So I thought I’d share my response with y’all 
“It is estimated that only 5% of those reaching this point in this e-mail, will pass it on.”
That’s because it’s a racist pile of shit. Sorry, but it is. The only vaguely decent point in it is that we cannot say we are ‘proud’ to be white without being seen as racist, but to be honest I don’t think you should be ‘proud’ of being of any race, cos it’s not an achievement it’s natural.
The stuff about ‘black history month’ and all black colleges and the like is ridiculous. The fact is, we don’t NEED a white history month because every day it is white history that is given precedence. We don’t NEED scholarships specifically for white people because they are more encouraged to continue education. We don’t see it as racist for a white police officer to beat up a white criminal, because race doesn’t come into it. It doesn’t stop it being an issue if someone is abused by the police, it’s just not a matter of race. White people rob, carjack and shoot. It is not just black people, and if it is black people it is not entirely directed at white people. We don’t NEED a march for white people’s rights. We have all the rights. Well, white men do. White women come a close second. There is no need for protest when there is nothing to protest about.
It just reminds me of all the people (mainly men) who respond to feminism with ‘yeh but you’re sexist the other way, men are being oppressed by positive discrimination blah blah’ – like the girl from philosophy society at the beginning of the year who thinks that somehow white men have less rights than women because there are more laws stating the rights of women and people of colour. She didn’t stop to think that this is because white men (and white people generally) automatically have those rights in our society. They don’t need it written down to enforce it.
And no, it’s not ok to call some one a ‘cracker’ or any of those other names. Because that is racist. But that doesn’t make it ok for white people to be racist, not in the least. It just means that this is another issue that needs to be addressed.
Thoughts?
|
|
9 comments
Comments feed for this article
March 3, 2009 at 4:37 pm
ubuntucat
Sounds as if some people need to read a little Peggy McIntosh and Noel Ignatiev.
March 3, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Caitlin
As do I…
Unless that was aimed at me?
*has confused self*
March 4, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Jacob Ward
I know my opinion doesn’t count for much round here but here goes.
White working class boys are, according to countless recent governmental reports, the demographic doing worst in education in this country – they achieve the lowest grades and a disproportionately small number go to university. Therefore, it would, with what you said, be acceptable to set up schools specifically for this disadvantaged group – to help them achieve better grades and get more to university. However, were such a school established then it would be branded racist. That is what I think he’s getting at.
In my own opinion all such institutions are wrong. Working class white boys don’t need their own schools, and neither do black people. They need better mixed schools instead and efforts to change the social attitudes which mean they fall behind. Segregation is just ignoring the problem. The same goes for history – instead of having the concepts of ‘normal history’ and ‘black history’, and indeed ‘women’s history’, it would be far more productive to see it all as just history, as it is here. It’s just as legitimate to study the history of the African race as to study the Tudors, and I’m happy to say I’ve not come across this discriminatory nomenclature thus far on my course.
More generally I think it’s just as legitimate to be proud to be white as to be proud to be black. Personally I don’t give a toss about the colour of my skin, but if I did I would be somewhat disgruntled that I could not express this but my black friends could.
So yeah I think you missed the point of what he was saying.
March 7, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Cerys
The guy that first put that email together and sent it out?
Racist fuckwit. Like you said, if all you have to be proud of is the colour of your skin (or your gender, your sexuality, etc) then you probably have a very sad, empty life.
However, I think that Mr Richards had a good point – which is that “reverse discrimination” is still discrimination. I don’t understand what makes it OK, and that’s all I’m going to say because I’m not alowed to talk about reverse discrimination since I almost hit my politics teacher over it.
Oh, any I wanted to ask – what rights do men have that women don’t? (seriously, cuz if that’s true I might have to beat Jake up on principal
March 24, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Caitlin
Jake – if you hadn’t put that last sentence, I would bother with you. As you did, you are not worth my time.
Cerys – have you considered the fact that women in other countries might not be as privileged as us? Some aren’t allowed to vote, to drive, to choose who they will marry, to have control of their reproductive rights, to go out alone (rather than with a male relative), to have a job – need I go on? Even in this country, women are, on the whole, paid less than men. Health issues that only affect women are less researched. The rape conviction rate in this country is the lowest in Europe. Again – need I go on? If that doesn’t cover it, read The F-Word and other feminist blogs, do some research and hopefully it’ll become clearer
March 24, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Jacob Ward
My last sentence was not intended as an insult in any way; it was merely an observation – I think you did miss the point, and my comment was an attempt to help you see this. Besides, were it an insult, it would be a lesser one than those included within your reply – me not being worth your time, your condescending manner when replying to Cerys. She’s not a child; don’t speak to her as if she is one. On the whole I can’t help feeling that had I not written that last sentence you’d have made up another reason not to reply.
Your reply to Cerys had nothing to do with what she said. She was questioning the implication inherent in your assertions ‘white men (and white people generally) automatically have those rights in our society.’ and ‘We have all the rights. Well, white men do.’ that women have fewer non-legislative rights than men in our society. She at no point questioned the problems rife in other countries. Your following points do not have much to do with rights.
March 24, 2009 at 11:41 pm
Caitlin
Jake. I agreed with a lot of what you said in your comment, but you managed to turn it into a personal insult with your final sentence. I’m very glad if it wasn’t intended as an insult, but it felt rude and offensive to me, and others who read it agreed. To be honest, I’m not going to just write off how it makes me feel because you didn’t think it would bother me.
I love that you tell me off for being patronising when you initially pretty much suggested that the intellectual comments being made in that email were clearly beyond me. Regardless – I apologise if it seemed patronising, I’ve just had a long period of having to defend my views at uni and it’s resulted in having to take everything back to basics to explain to people. I realise, reading back, that it could be seen as condescending and for that I am, genuinely, sorry (to Cerys, of course – I would never deliberately offend her). That said, my statement holds true – they seem obvious issues to me, issues of basic human rights. Whether they are abroad or closer to home, they are relevant. There IS a rights issue in the UK, and the examples I gave are relevant – the right to safety on the streets, the right to equal treatment, hell the right to be treated like a rational human being.
And yes, I was insulting towards you. Because I do not have to put up with people being patronising and rude to me, and they are not worth my time. Really, it’s nothing personal, it’s just a way of protecting myself from unnecessary distress and from wasting my time. Which I am aware I am doing now, and which I will return to avoiding in future.
March 25, 2009 at 12:36 am
Jacob Ward
I wasn’t by any means suggesting the comments were beyond you intellectually, just that you missed the point being made. Everyone at times misses the point. I may disagree with some of your views, but I have a tremendous respect for your intellect, and I would not dream of criticising it.
I apologise profusely for the offence caused by your reading of my comment, and for the tone, if not the content, of previous comments. I shall endeavour henceforth to hold my tongue.
March 25, 2009 at 12:54 am
Caitlin
Thank-you for the apology, Jake