Which comments are racist?
Generally speaking, people are racist; comments aren't racist. Remarks can indicate a person has racist leanings or is a racist, but no single comment is, by itself, a probative indicator of one's being thus. Some remarks are more probative in that regard than are others.
At the end of the day, I doubt that many folks in the U.S. will attest to being racist; consequently, in determining whether any given individual is a racist, observers must use one's statements -- what one has said, how one said them, the circumstances in which one said them, what be the foreseeable implications of the statements, etc. -- to determine the nature and extent to which one is a racist. That said, slightly racist and overwhelmingly racist are both racist.
That is why I think intent plays an important role.
I'm sorry. I don't understand what you mean by that.
Words are just words without intent of the person that makes a comment racist.
There is always a lot of yelling over books written in another era suddenly being declared racist. Like Tom Sawyer. But that wasn’t the authors intent. It was the way it was then.
There is always a lot of yelling over books written in another era suddenly being declared racist. Like Tom Sawyer. But that wasn’t the authors intent. It was the way it was then.
In those bygone eras, the overwhelming majority of everyone who was not a member of a group that was the object of racism was racist, regardless of whether they intended to be, knew better, didn't know better, whatever. Intent is somewhat important, and I "get" what you're saying, but there is also an objective reality that is racism.
My ancestors had slaves, a few of whom they treated quite well, as well as they'd have treated anybody, but that they did does not take away from the fact they were nonetheless racists.
A couple years ago, I went to the wedding of my best friend's daughter. At the reception, I went to speak with my friend's mother. She was there because she wasn't given an option of not being there, and let me tell ya, she was not at all pleased that her granddaughter had wed a Latino. Does she think herself a racist or intend to be one? I'm sure she doesn't; she thinks her views and reasons for being pissed that there's a Latino in her family are perfectly justified. She isn't intending to be a racist, she just is. I suspect people from those bygone years were much the same.
If you aren't a racist, you are something of a monster.
Look, race is just a huge somewhat inbred extended family. It’s kin. In the same way I have more in common genetically with my parents’ other son than I do with you, you and I (assuming you are white) have more in common with each other than either of us has with any Chinese guy. You and I are more related. Our common ancestors are not only more recent, there are more of them.
That’s it. That’s all race means. So, if the charge of racism lands on you, the charge, whatever else it may mean, is a charge of familyism.
Try this thought experiment. Suppose you walk around a corner and discover a man beating a woman. Quick, what’s your first instinct? To come to the aid of the woman, right?
Now, suppose you walk around a corner and discover a Chinese man beating a white woman and another Chinese man beating a black woman. What’s your first instinct? Uh-huh, that threw you didn’t it, white boy? In reality, if you are white, your first instinct would be to help the white woman, but that would be racist, so…and your brain scrambles for the proper response.
Now, suppose you come around the corner and discover two white men beating two white women, and one of them is your mother. Quick, what’s your first instinct? To help your mother, everyone responds instantly and without a second thought.
Shame! You should be weeping on national television for your gut-wrenching display of open familyism.
In truth, no one thinks anything at all of you coming to the aid of your mother, first. No one would accuse you of hating or oppressing non-mothers, nor would anyone accuse your mother of unfairly benefiting from mother privilege. In fact, if you chose to help the other woman first you would be thought a kind of monster.
And monstrous, we are.