Suppose there is a white cashier in a store who is a real jerk, and is just plain rude to every customer. After each transaction with this cashier, the white people walk away thinking “What a jerk.” Some black customers probably walk away thinking “What a racist.” In other words, not every time a person of one race slights someone of another race does it have a racial element. Let’s call this “mistakenly perceived racism” (MPR). Keeping in mind that when most white people (even the racists, I would assume) get up in the morning, the very last thing they want in their day is an interracial incident, and keeping in mind that college campuses are not exactly the types of places that attract white racists, do you think the majority of perceived racial incidents on college campuses are real racism, or are they MPR?
Perceiving that the people who cut in front of you while boarding a plane did so because of racist reasons, to me, sounds like classic MPR. First, the pre-boarding scrum and cutting in line happens to EVERYBODY. Second, how does Party’s husband discern that when this happens to him, it is due to racism instead of just plain rudeness?
Party’s remark about worrying about your kids also struck me as odd. Show me parents of ANY race who don’t worry when their kids go out at night.
As for the racist white women holding their purses tighter when a black man approaches, etc. …I’ve heard black people say this claim is odd, because black people do these sorts of things all the time, and they call it being “street smart.” When white people do them, it is called racism. Again, MPR. (See Jesse Jackson’s famous quote about feeling relieved.)
Party tells her kids to get things in a bag. My parents taught me to always get a receipt for the same reason. My wallet is still overflowing in receipts for this very reason. Trying to keep your kids from being falsely accused of shoplifting is good parenting for all races.
Again, nobody is saying racist incidents are 100% extiguished. But we’re at the point where we can’t find a real racist incident, so we have to invent one as in Albany; where micro-aggressions are inflated because macro ones are in short supply; where accepting another’s culture is deemed offensive appropriation; where there isn’t actual subjugation but white people simply had a head start (white privilege); UCB linked an article that said something like “well, people aren’t performing racist acts, but they are THINKING about them” (mental racism). I’m not doubting, trivializing, or mocking the notion that Party perceives the infinite acts of racism she mentions. It’s not fair that people have to endure real or perceived racism, and my intent, as a member of the group she’s accusing, was to try to assure Party that things are not as bad as she’s perceiving them to be. I am asking if real, intentional racism was as omnipresent as Party perceives, would Albany, micro, appropriation, privilege, and mental even be in the discussion…would those concepts even exist?
I write this in good faith, in an effort to improve things, not worsen them (cue the scoffing). I’m aware I will get blasted, shredded, and accused of all manner of misdeeds.