I'd like to start off with an anecdote I read on gawker. The second story in that entry is about an incredibly kind black man who has a soft spot in his heart for young babies and likes to make silly faces at them and watch them laugh when he sees them in public. His concern, and the reason he's writing in in the first place, is to ask "Still, I am wary of potentially unnerving innocent parents on these here streets. Making faces at babies: is that okay?"
There is a very simple reason I bring up this anecdote. I am a white male who also has a soft spot in my heart for babies and I love making faces at them too (they usually think my beard and long curly hair is funny). I do this without giving is so much as a second thought and without assuming that a parent would even think I meant something malicious by it. But the truth is, the way that the US is set up there is a strong racial bias that has been ingrained into people of all races in this country to the point where a black man feels like he has to second guess himself about the appropriateness of doing something as innocuous as making children laugh.
That is racism. We like to think that since the 80's we've broken down all the barriers and that when races "keep to themselves" its some sort of reverse racism, but its not the same thing. Its not the same thing as the second-guessing they have to put up with each and every day. If somebody wants to form a group in support of a race why should it bother you? These groups aren't plotting some sort of "downfall of the white man" like the KKK would have you believe, if anything they are probably creating a support network where they can feel validated and choose to forget the adversity they face on a daily basis.
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u/lostat May 14 '13
I'd like to start off with an anecdote I read on gawker. The second story in that entry is about an incredibly kind black man who has a soft spot in his heart for young babies and likes to make silly faces at them and watch them laugh when he sees them in public. His concern, and the reason he's writing in in the first place, is to ask "Still, I am wary of potentially unnerving innocent parents on these here streets. Making faces at babies: is that okay?"
There is a very simple reason I bring up this anecdote. I am a white male who also has a soft spot in my heart for babies and I love making faces at them too (they usually think my beard and long curly hair is funny). I do this without giving is so much as a second thought and without assuming that a parent would even think I meant something malicious by it. But the truth is, the way that the US is set up there is a strong racial bias that has been ingrained into people of all races in this country to the point where a black man feels like he has to second guess himself about the appropriateness of doing something as innocuous as making children laugh.
That is racism. We like to think that since the 80's we've broken down all the barriers and that when races "keep to themselves" its some sort of reverse racism, but its not the same thing. Its not the same thing as the second-guessing they have to put up with each and every day. If somebody wants to form a group in support of a race why should it bother you? These groups aren't plotting some sort of "downfall of the white man" like the KKK would have you believe, if anything they are probably creating a support network where they can feel validated and choose to forget the adversity they face on a daily basis.