Quote:
Originally posted by Wine&SilverBlue
Forget the definition of racism.
I think that if it's bad for a white person to do [xxxx] to a black person, it should be equally bad for a black person to do [xxxx] to a white person. Or an asian person. Or indian person. Etc.
I've seen plenty of situations in which a group of people of a minority race said/did things that would make headlines if the groups were reversed.
All I'm saying is that I think groups should be held equally accountable for equal actions.
/endrant
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That is just it. The action is NOT equal because the two races are still NOT treated "equally" in our society. (And unless YOU are an African American person in our society, you do not have the perspective or right to state otherwise.) While some may argue that the environment has improved considerably for minorities in our country, we still have much further to go. And even when/if we get there, because of the deep historically negative and ugly roots of black opression (not to mention the conotation of "blackface") in our country's history, a Halloween costume that has a white person painting his face black will NEVER be funny. It will only be threatening and/or obscenely insensitive to anyone who is non-white.
Think about the movie "WHITE CHICKS" that was released this summer....stupid, but dang funny!....because it was COMEDY! And, as several others have pointed out, it's not the "race in power" making fun of a race in the minority. Rather, it's the opposite....no harm done at all....nothing said or done hurts or conjurs up negative images of past oppression because we were NOT oppressed in this way...it's just comedic.
This movie, if reversed, would NEVER be viewed with humor...and you can call it "double standard" if you like....but the "double standard" is because there is nothing negative or inherently threatening to "whiteface"....not in the way that a white guy painted up in "blackface" evokes hurt, anger, resentment, and conjurs deep wounded memories of a horrible, fearful time in our nation for generations of an entire race...and not "100 years ago" either....but a mere 35 years ago in this country...widespread laws that separated the races....(and most would argue still exist on a non-legistlated, informal level today)... And this adverse culture and climate was CREATED and is often still perpetuated by white America's "superiority" and dominance over an entire race of people...so if in fact, there is a double standard, we have earned it and must accept that with a little less defensiveness. Those of us who were born white Americans have never had to "walk a mile" in the shoes of those who have been subjected to this kind of hate and blind prejudice by people who had/have the power to deprive us of our wants and desires. So, in my opinion, until we are in that position, like it or not, we don't have the right to cry "racism".