- Mar 11, 2015
- 89,517
- 63,755
- 3,645
Black racism is not a mirror image of white racism. It is not equal and opposite. Instead it is different in scale and kind:
Blacks lack institutional power. They do not, for the most part, control the banks,
the police,
the courts,
the schools,
the hospitals,
the newspapers,
the film industry,
the fashion industry,
the labour market,
the housing market
and on and on. Instead whites do. So much so that their racism affects rates of black unemployment, income, life expectancy, education, segregation and incarceration. Blacks do not even begin to have that kind of power over whites. If wealth is power, as it largely is in America, then whites as a whole are a hundred times more powerful than blacks (that is double what it was before the Great Recession). Even though we had a president who was black, he could not openly help blacks without being accused of racism.
Internalized racism: The racism among blacks is mostly directed against other blacks, especially against one’s self. Blacks are subject to much of the same racist brainwashing as whites, particularly through television and school. According to one test of racism (the IAT), 42% of blacks are racist in favour of whites!
Blacks understand whites way better than whites understand blacks: Because they have to just to feed their families in a society that is mostly white.
Because they read white books, watch white television, receive white educations, work at white companies, etc. They have to deal with whites. Meantime whites can avoid dealing with blacks or having to take them seriously.
This makes it hard for blacks to stereotype and dehumanize whites to a serious degree.
Blacks have not committed serious injustices that require racist whitewashing.
Blacks do not build their sense of self-worth on looking down on whites.
There is nothing like a black n-word for whites.
There is nothing like the black Klan. Some whites think Black Lives Matter is like that, but they have never gone into white neighbourhoods to spread terror and lynch white people.
Blacks do commit hate crimes and so on, but to think black racism is equal and opposite to white racism is to miss the nature of both white racism and black racism. White racism is institutional and cultural and a hundred times more powerful. Black racism is personal and, to a large degree, is a response or reaction to white racism.
Blacks lack institutional power. They do not, for the most part, control the banks,
the police,
the courts,
the schools,
the hospitals,
the newspapers,
the film industry,
the fashion industry,
the labour market,
the housing market
and on and on. Instead whites do. So much so that their racism affects rates of black unemployment, income, life expectancy, education, segregation and incarceration. Blacks do not even begin to have that kind of power over whites. If wealth is power, as it largely is in America, then whites as a whole are a hundred times more powerful than blacks (that is double what it was before the Great Recession). Even though we had a president who was black, he could not openly help blacks without being accused of racism.
Internalized racism: The racism among blacks is mostly directed against other blacks, especially against one’s self. Blacks are subject to much of the same racist brainwashing as whites, particularly through television and school. According to one test of racism (the IAT), 42% of blacks are racist in favour of whites!
Blacks understand whites way better than whites understand blacks: Because they have to just to feed their families in a society that is mostly white.
Because they read white books, watch white television, receive white educations, work at white companies, etc. They have to deal with whites. Meantime whites can avoid dealing with blacks or having to take them seriously.
This makes it hard for blacks to stereotype and dehumanize whites to a serious degree.
Blacks have not committed serious injustices that require racist whitewashing.
Blacks do not build their sense of self-worth on looking down on whites.
There is nothing like a black n-word for whites.
There is nothing like the black Klan. Some whites think Black Lives Matter is like that, but they have never gone into white neighbourhoods to spread terror and lynch white people.
Blacks do commit hate crimes and so on, but to think black racism is equal and opposite to white racism is to miss the nature of both white racism and black racism. White racism is institutional and cultural and a hundred times more powerful. Black racism is personal and, to a large degree, is a response or reaction to white racism.
Last edited: