Language of Closet Racism

[Bass v 2.0]

Language of Closet Racism

Any person who has grown up in the American public school system has been educated to hold racial prejudices. To illustrate this point, ask any child to tell you about the first date in history he or she remembers learning: "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue." What happened in 1492? "Christopher Columbus discovered America." Did he? The history books I prefer to read have informed me that people were actually already here. Remember, the people who would eventually be driven from their sacred lands, forced to surrender their native tongue and customs, and "American-ize"? The result of children learning such "facts" is a depreciation of an entire people--in this case, Native Americans.

So the American education system (with strong reinforcement from the media) has bred a nation of what I will call "closet racists." Closet racists are unaware of their prejudices. They have learned from text books presented to them by people who are supposedly knowledgeable enough to choose the best possible materials. They are trained, or more precisely, coerced into believing in "the system." If a child were to question a teacher's assertion that "Columbus discovered America," it is more likely that the child would be chastised for showing disrespect than the possibility of the teacher initiating a discussion on the discrepancy. A closet racist is defined, then, as simply a person with racial prejudices who is unaware of those prejudices as such, usually because he or she has never been afforded the opportunity to discuss racial prejudices as such.

The question arising from this assertion is clear: Where is the evidence of this nation of so-called "closet racists?" What links them? What are their characteristics?

The answer, emerging from years of experience facilitating conversations on race issues, interviewing specific cases, and participating in a variety of cultural diversity workshops, is equally clear: language. Closet racists share a distinct and surprisingly easily detectable language when observed in a discussion about race or racism. The intention of this paper is to explore this language through the case study of Jen, a third year college student who participated in Multicultural Education, a class designed to help students find, face, and battle their own prejudices. In order to analyze Jen's closet racist language, interviews were conducted and reaction papers written at the end of each class were collected and analyzed..........

 

[AllieBaba]

How is it racist to believe Columbus discovered America?

He discovered it as far as Spain was concerned. So the people who lived here knew it existed. How exciting. However, as far as the rest of the world is concerned, NOrth America was discovered by Columbus.

 

[Bass v 2.0]

How is it racist to believe Columbus discovered America?

He discovered it as far as Spain was concerned. So the people who lived here knew it existed. How exciting. However, as far as the rest of the world is concerned, NOrth America was discovered by Columbus.

its racist in the sense that its only white Europeans who "discover" places and people outside of Europe, but the reverse is never said of people who come to Europe. It has that tinge of "we the superior white Europeans are the only ones who were explorers and discoverers, but we have not been discovered ourselves because the world revolves around us.

 

[Againsheila]

How is it racist to believe Columbus discovered America?

He discovered it as far as Spain was concerned. So the people who lived here knew it existed. How exciting. However, as far as the rest of the world is concerned, NOrth America was discovered by Columbus.

Actually, he never set foot on north America, not in 3 (or was it 4) voyages. He did however, set foot on South America, maybe he discovered that?

I do not belive it is racist to believe Columbus discovered America, I just believe it's wrong. Too bad our schools are teaching false history to our kids. Paul Revere never made that midnight ride either, he spent the night in jail.

Megellen never made it around the world, he died in the Phillipines. One of his ships did make it back though.

I think there's a lot of history we don't know, like how far into North America did the vikings go? Did the Japanese/Chinese really make it to the Pacific Northwest?

History is an interesting subject.

 

[Againsheila]

its racist in the sense that its only white Europeans who "discover" places and people outside of Europe, but the reverse is never said of people who come to Europe. It has that tinge of "we the superior white Europeans are the only ones who were explorers and discoverers, but we have not been discovered ourselves because the world revolves around us.

I've got news for you, the world revolves around me.

Anyone looking for racism is going to find it, whether it exists or not.

 

[Andrew2382]

Columbus gets recognition for discovery of the new world, not America.

There were people before Columbus, prob migrated here over the Bering which had land on it, thousands of years ago

 

[Shogun]

 

[Bass v 2.0]

I've got news for you, the world revolves around me.

Anyone looking for racism is going to find it, whether it exists or not.

It is racist, in the Eurocentric sense. Notice how Europeans "discover" while non-whites are only "discovered" and notice how no one is credited with "discovering" Europe and Europeans. You have blinders on if you don't believe that's Eurocentric racist nonsense.

 

[AllieBaba]

its racist in the sense that its only white Europeans who "discover" places and people outside of Europe, but the reverse is never said of people who come to Europe. It has that tinge of "we the superior white Europeans are the only ones who were explorers and discoverers, but we have not been discovered ourselves because the world revolves around us.

Take it up with the civilized Europeans.

In the meantime, the fact of the matter is Columbus found America for his Queen, and as a result, it came onto the radar of the world.

I don't see it as a racial issue. It's semantics.

 

[Bass v 2.0]

Columbus gets recognition for discovery of the new world, not America.

There were people before Columbus, prob migrated here over the Bering which had land on it, thousands of years ago

The question is, who discovered Europe and Europeans? If Columbus "discovered" the New World someone must have discovered Europe also.

 

[Bass v 2.0]

Take it up with the civilized Europeans.

In the meantime, the fact of the matter is Columbus found America for his Queen, and as a result, it came onto the radar of the world.

I don't see it as a racial issue. It's semantics.

That's exactly what Mr. Bass was talking about when he said "We the superior Europeans" discover inferior uncivilized people. Coumbus discovered nothing and no one, he simply came to a place he thought was India[since that was his intended destination] mistakenly called the Native peoples here "Indians".

 

[AllieBaba]

The fact that Columbus was lost doesn't prove your claim that teaching the "discovery of America" by Columbus is in any way racist.

 

[xsited1]

Closet racists should come out of the closet and embrace their racism. They should have parades and racist-pride days. Legislation should be passed to promote tolerance towards racists because, after all, that's the way god made them.

 

[Ravi]

Bass, you can take comfort in the knowledge that Columbus discovered syphillus and many white people became infected.

 

[Shogun]

perhaps if africa spawned a society stable enough to become the basis for western civ then it wold be worth asking who discovered europe. As it is, blaming white people and screaming racism at every corner won't make kenya relevant outside of Olympic long distance running.

 

[Bass v 2.0]

The fact that Columbus was lost doesn't prove your claim that teaching the "discovery of America" by Columbus is in any way racist.

Its a Eurocentric racist lie thats taught to children and Columbus himself never thought of himself as being the "discoverer" of the "New World".

 

[dilloduck]

The question is, who discovered Europe and Europeans? If Columbus "discovered" the New World someone must have discovered Europe also.

That would be the neanderthals and the cro magnon but they decided to just call it Europe because it looked like a Europe in all the cave paintings.

 

[Bass v 2.0]

perhaps if africa spawned a society stable enough to become the basis for western civ then it wold be worth asking who discovered europe. As it is, blaming white people and screaming racism at every corner won't make kenya relevant outside of Olympic long distance running.

Ever heard of Ancient Egypt, Nubia, Zimbabwe, Mali, Songhai, The Swahili Coastal Civilizations, Kanem Bornu, Ghana[ancient Ghana, not modern day Ghana], the Hausa States, the Saharan Almoravid Moors who conquered parts of Spain, Aksum, Djenne Jao, Timbuktu, etc? jackass you need to get educated about Africa first before you even make that statement.

 

[Againsheila]

Its a Eurocentric racist lie thats taught to children and Columbus himself never thought of himself as being the "discoverer" of the "New World".

Like I said, you look for racism, you're going to find it.

The first black person I ever met in my life was in junior high. She was sitting on a bench outside the cafeteria, crying. Being the person I am, I sat next to her and asked her what was wrong and she said "No one will talk to me because I'm black." I pointed out to her that I was talking to her and she said "Yeah, but you're only talking to me because I'm black."

Get over it already. yes, there is racism in the world and considering the crime statistics blacks hate whites a lot more than whites hate blacks. Heck, 50% of whites voted for a black president while 5% of blacks voted for a white president. Now show me the racism???

 

[Bass v 2.0]

That would be the neanderthals and the cro magnon but they decided to just call it Europe because it looked like a Europe in all the cave paintings.

Neanderthals were *NOT* AMH[anatomical modern humans] and Cro-Magnons are just primitive Europeans who migrated from the Middle East and Africa. The notion of a "Europe", "Europeans", etc, didn't even exist until colonial times during the imperial age when was re-written to make "Europeans" look superior to non-Europeans.