Crying racism | Abagond

http://abagond.wordpress.com/2009/07/30/crying-racism/

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Crying racism
Thu 30 Jul 2009 by abagond (http://feminocracy.wordpress.com /2008/08/01/race-card-racecard-whose-got-the-race-card/) Crying racism is the idea among white Americans that blacks see racism in every little thing, that they are looking for cases of racism. The phrase is supposed to remind you of the story of the boy who cried wolf. Blacks are seen as whining, as being oversensitive, as having a chip on their shoulders, as blowing things out of proportion, as playing the race card. What is going on here is the opposite of what it seems. It is whites who are being oversensitive. You are challenging their colour-blind image of themselves. You are shaming them so they are trying to shame you back to shut you up because they do not want to hear it, to discredit you so they do not have to admit they are racist. They have made racist into such a dirty word among themselves that it is like calling them a liar. It has gone from being a description of certain kinds of acts, of lines crossed and mistakes made, to questioning their whole character, which they must then defend. That is why they do not want to admit to racism even when it is staring them in the face. That is why their apologies come out so half-baked because they do not want to admit to being racist in the first place.
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To them racism is rare, something from the bad old days that has died out. But it did not die out it just changed shape: from hatred to a smugness and contempt that is covered under a thick layer of politically correct words. They cannot see through their own lying words. Or do not want to. Crying racism assumes that racism is rare. If you are white it is rare! So rare that it seems like blacks are just making it up. It is hard to believe in something you have never experienced, much less understand it. Yet despite their lack of experience, despite their lack of understanding, despite their wanting to read events in a way that avoids seeing racism and admitting to it, despite all that they still think they are the best judges of when something is racist! That is what the word oversensitive assumes. That makes no kind of sense. But they notice none of this. Because they do not want to notice it. Because they talk mainly just to other white people. Because they have created a vast Talking Machine of newspapers, blogs, cable news and talk radio that repeats their self-serving white point of view over and over again. Blacks appear on their stage only as complainers and not, say, as hosts of news shows who can frame issues and report the facts they think are important, helping to keep the reporting of others honest. Because of this the injustices that blacks talk about appear unimportant and, because only blacks see them, they are merely perceived injustices just black people crying racism. See also: The r-word (http://abagond.wordpress.com/2009/02/24/the-r-word/) blame whitey (http://abagond.wordpress.com/2009/05/16/blame-whitey/) colour-blind racism (http://abagond.wordpress.com/2008/05/31/colour-blind-racism/) How the press is soft on racism (http://abagond.wordpress.com/2009/07/13/how-the-press-is-softon-racism/) How to tell if a commenter is white (http://abagond.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/how-to-tellif-a-commenter-is-white/) Why whites are blind to their racism (../2008/07/02/why-whites-are-blind-to-their-racism/) Posted in 2000s, America, racism | 25 Comments

25 Responses

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Crying racism | Abagond

http://abagond.wordpress.com/2009/07/30/crying-racism/

alwaysright101 on Fri 31 Jul 2009 at 16:39:03 i have seen exactly what you have described Abagond, so much, and too many times. it sux, cause what does one do about it? how do you deal with this? have you ever done a blog on that? cause im interested in knowingthe reality is grim, and we have to live in it everyday of our liveswhile others get the luxury of denying it and being more happy because they are in the majority. so exactly how does one deal with this stuff constantly happening, when they are outnumbered and cant really do anything about it? (im only asking you Abagond, not others) other than that. Good blog post Abagond!!!!

Kat Great post, Aba.

on Fri 31 Jul 2009 at 17:33:01

Jhem on Sat 1 Aug 2009 at 13:03:54 i noticed with the coverage of the valley swim club incident, the (white) news reporters seemed to disagree that the incident was racially motivated..like it is so unbelievable

Black&German on Sat 1 Aug 2009 at 14:05:35 Its believable. Remember all of the talk of Obama being a post-racial candidate. Umm whatever. On a positive note, I think interracial marriage is starting to put paid to this, Abagond. I know quite a few (white & other) interracial couples and the white partner is often quite shocked when they see first hand what is really going on. Most of them arent very racist themselves and are surprised to find out that they are in a minority. Theyve always thought: Well, Im white and Im not racist, and then extrapolated to the rest of the population. And then they are often even more outspoken about this stuff than their other spouse/partner. And other white people are more ready to believe them than us, sad as that is. True story: We were in a store where I was looking at a beautiful (and very expensive) dress that I considered buying to attend a wedding. At first, I just looked around by myself as my husband was in a bookstore next door. I couldnt find the dress in my size and asked a saleslady (who didnt look occupied) about it. She just pretended to be deaf. I thought: umm okay. So then I walked over to the saleslady behind the register and repeated my question. She also pretended to be deaf and walked away. At that point my (white) husband joined me and when I mentioned what had happened he said, Hogwash. Theyre probably just very busy. Lets go ask them again. May I note here that I had been in the store at that point for over 15 minutes and was the only customer in the place. He went up to the counter and they spoke to him (figures) but only to tell him that they were very busy and didnt have time to help us. He couldnt believe it! I think he was going to tell them off, but I just said, Lets go to a different store. Someplace where theyll understand that our moneys just as green as everybody else. So we did and spent over $500 there. At the second store we were approached by a salesperson immediately and where helped extensively by the very professional staff. I felt like
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Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman or something. Their loss. And hes now refused to go back to various restaurants if he remembers that they sat us next to the toilets the last time. :-p They sit us next to the toilets even if the whole place is empty. Its just little stuff like this that he didnt even notice for the longest time but he cant help but notice when it happens over and over again.

B.L. Haynes on Sat 1 Aug 2009 at 18:19:31 Thank goodness you wrote this! It is so true, and is often the accusation I encounter on my blog from white commentators (and even black commentators) whenever I try to write honestly about subtle or overt racism that Ive experienced or see going on around me. Oh, and To them racism is rare, something from the bad old days that has died out. Or it is something reserved for Southern hicks. Many whites of Middle America often refuse to accept that anyone (themselves included) other than Southern hicks can accurately be accused of racism. So annoying. Btw: Is it okay for me to put this post on my blog site as a guest post?

abagond on Sat 1 Aug 2009 at 20:30:18 So long as you link to the original, feel free. Also tell me where it is so I can see it.

B.L. Haynes on Sat 1 Aug 2009 at 22:06:11 Thanks, abagond! I will definitely link to the original. My website is http://nickelforathought.wordpress.com/. Youve commented on some of my posts before.

Amy on Sun 2 Aug 2009 at 02:44:13 White racism has been relegated to the margins in America. The government, once the guarantor of oppression against blacks, now employs double the percent of AfricanAmericans than are in the general population, aggressively prosecutes hate-crimes, and mandates racial preferences in its agencies and for those with whom it awards contracts. In the societal realm, bigoted remarks are not only unfashionable, but unacceptable as well. Even comments that are more demonstrative of poor manners and bad judgement than of hatred of other races are now grounds for mandated psychological treatment. Just ask John Rocker. Black racism, on the other hand, is often in the open and rewardedparticularly on campus. Angela Davis, Louis Farrakhan, and Sister Souljah are among those who have expressed extreme bigotry and anti-white hatred and yet are given thousands of dollars by colleges and universities to lecture on their grounds. Separatist institutions like all-black residence halls, student unions, and graduations that would be deemed racist if undertaken by whites are deemed progressive when members of minority groups engage in such segregation. The news media, prime time television, Hollywood, and the schools all paint a picture of hate crimes being a one way street of white on black attacks. Law enforcement agencies, perhaps taking their cue from such societal shaping institutions, rarely target anyone but white males for prosecution in such crimes. Yet crimes committed by whites against blacks are far more unusual than crimes

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committed by blacks against whites. According to Justice Department figures, the author notes, 85 percent of the crimes of interracial violence are committed by blacks against whites. While some of this disparity can be explained away by the larger population of whites in society, it does not account for the fact that a black is 50 times less likely to be the victim of a violent crime by a white perpetrator than the reverse. The most despicable hate crime, rape, the author maintains, is committed by exponentially larger numbers by blacks against whites than vice-versa, as well. Fifty years ago, hotbeds of discrimination in education included the University of Virginia and the University of Mississippi. Such schools as the University of Massachusetts and the University of Michigan had no such official discrimination. Today, the later schools discriminate and the former do not. Yet it is the schools which award merit rather than race that are now labeled racist. Multiculturalists rely on this tactic to blame whites for black problems. Are African Americans oppressed? If so, what would explain the desire of so many black Haitians to come to American shores? Why were so many Haitians ready, a few years before their immigration was blocked, to risk life and limb to make the illegal passage across shark infested waters? Was it their desire to be oppressed? Were they longing to be dominated by a master race? Although the progressive cause of hating whitey bemoans the legacy of slavery and racial tensions as if these problems were unique to the United States, it ignores something that is truly special about America. Blacks are less persecuted and more prosperous in America than in any place in the worldincluding Africa.

abagond 1. Not all interracial crimes are hate crimes.

on Sun 2 Aug 2009 at 03:22:35

2. Haitians are trying to escape poverty. Poverty is worse than racism in most cases. Also, people in other countries think America is less racist than it is because their ideas about the country are shaped by Hollywood. 3. Just because Angela Davis says unkind things about whites that does not make her a racist.

abagond Amy said:

on Sun 2 Aug 2009 at 03:36:07

Blacks are less persecuted and more prosperous in America than in any place in the worldincluding Africa. 1. Less persecuted? Is that why Josephine Baker, James Baldwin and others went to live in France? Most countries do not have White Americas profound hang-ups about blacks because they never kept them as slaves. 2. More prosperous: so long as blacks in America are richer than those in Africa, they should just shut up, is that it? You are starting to sound like Barbara Bush after Katrina.

canalpublishing on Sun 2 Aug 2009 at 06:28:15 James Baldwin also went to France because he was gay and needed a place where he could be free to live as he wanted.
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There is a great set of essays by Baldwin called Nobody Knows My Name. He talks about how America alienates the artist.

Amy on Sun 2 Aug 2009 at 09:50:22 Josephine Baker, James Baldwin, that was in the 40s. ude, if you hate it here you hould just move to a mostly black nation. You just love to complain, that why you have a blog. You will never leave because you know you have it good here. Baldwin was a hack.

abagond Amy: 1. James Baldwin was one of the best American writers of the 1900s.

on Sun 2 Aug 2009 at 17:12:26

2. The move-back-to-Africa argument assumes that America belongs to white people, that blacks have no right to live in a country that they helped to build and defend. 3. Love to complain is your way of not taking what I say seriously. That is what the post was about.

Truth B. Told on Sun 2 Aug 2009 at 18:25:47 Amy, it is called plagiarism. Please dont do it and come up with your own original thoughts.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en& q=bigoted+remarks+are+not+only+unfashionable%2C+but+unacceptable+as+well.+Even+comments+that+ btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

abagond on Sun 2 Aug 2009 at 18:42:59 Good catch! Thank you. Here she is channelling David Horowitz. On another post it was Ann Coulter. The lack of typos in such a long piece and the way it did not answer any of the particular points I made are red flags.

Dan @Amy -

on Mon 3 Aug 2009 at 07:19:19

You cant make a solid argument. Your posts revealed the color of your skin pathetically well and, no matter what, you simply dont, wont, will never fully understand it. If youre still arguing, 1 Dont plagiarize 2 Think for a second about the fact that black folk have been LEGALLY (for the first 450 years or so on this continent) and continue to be SYSTEMATICALLY OPPRESSED. That is why we have hate crime legislation. And heres another statistic to throw around 75% of drug abusers in this country are white. 75% of those incarcerated for drug offenses are black or latino. That is unnaturally, and quite obviously,
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racially skewed. And, as a progressive whitey myself, I think I can speak for others and say we do not loathe ourselves, we merely try and make ourselves aware of how we benefit, due to the color of our skin, at others expense.

Im White on Tue 5 Jan 2010 at 22:14:18 victim mind set of the black democrat yet you keep electing the very people who would oppress you and control you even more. MLK was a republican. Lincoln the guy who freed your asses was a Republican. Democrats are the party of slavery. Planned parent hood was set up to kill black babies.

abagond SOCK PUPPET WARNING: Im White is a sock puppet of Im Black.

on Tue 5 Jan 2010 at 22:18:48

abagond Im White (was black less than an hour ago):

on Tue 5 Jan 2010 at 22:22:26

You are right about birth control being pushed for reasons of eugenics: to keep the darker races from messing up the human race.

tulio on Tue 5 Jan 2010 at 22:40:05 2. More prosperous: so long as blacks in America are richer than those in Africa, they should just shut up, is that it? You are starting to sound like Barbara Bush after Katrina. Black Americans are the most prosperous blacks in the world, but people talk about that like it was just given to us as a favor. As opposed to something that was fought for every inch of the way, that is to be full participants in society. To be allowed to vote, to own property, to not be forced to give up your seat on the bus. None of this was given to blacks by the kindness of America, it was fought for and paid in blood, sweat and tears.

Mira on Tue 5 Jan 2010 at 23:48:37 You are right about birth control being pushed for reasons of eugenics: to keep the darker races from messing up the human race. I dont get this one. I see birth control as a very positive thing that helps people (especially female people) plan their future. I can understand if someone is against birth control because of religious or personal reasons, but I dont see birth control as something bad. And who said birth control concerns black people only?

abagond Mira:
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Birth control has long been pushed in America as way to keep down the birth rate in the Third World. Why? It always struck me as racist. As it turns out, it was not just me imagining it: Margaret Sanger, the founder of what became Planned Parenthood, said of blacks: Colored people are like human weeds and are to be exterminated. Google margaret sanger negro project. In the 1990s I remember Norplant being pushed as a way to keep black teenaged girls from from having babies. While I agree that having babies that young is generally a bad idea, the way it was pushed struck me as racist at the time. But I could be wrong about that: I do not remember enough about it to say for sure that it was racist.

Jefe on Tue 9 Oct 2012 at 06:05:35 The move-back-to-Africa argument assumes that America belongs to white people, that blacks have no right to live in a country that they helped to build and defend. GREAT RETORT.

Jefe on Tue 9 Oct 2012 at 06:18:53 seen as whining, as being oversensitive, as having a chip on their shoulders, as blowing things out of proportion, as playing the race card. It has gone from being a description of certain kinds of acts, of lines crossed and mistakes made, to questioning their whole character, which they must then defend. they do not want to admit to racism even when it is staring them in the face. When I faced some very painful experiences of racism in my youth, my white mother said these things to me. But, now I realize that these kinds of responses from my mother, the closest white person to me in my life, comprised a large portion of the reason I decided in my late teens that I could never ever identify as a white person.

Whippleberry Tame on Tue 14 May 2013 at 10:17:52 Just watched highway patrol a show like cops in Australia. 5 of the 7 non white people cried racisim to the police, one Asian woman didnt but did offer to cook the officer a very nice meal if he let her go (he did with a warning and refused her offer) and the muslim guy just confessed he was an idiot, just like the white idiots that did something wrong and had the coppers jump all over them.

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