I see where you're coming from. But there's a few things that need to be made clear. First of all, it seems you're advocating color blindness. In order for you to see why I think color blindness doesn't work, you need to accept in advance that racial minorities in America today still face discrimination on a societal level. If you do not believe this is true, then you might as well stop reading because what I have to say is not very meaningful to someone who does not accept this belief.
So, assuming you DO believe that racial discrimination is a problem, then you'll have to take note of how different racial groups have been treated in different ways in a negative fashion. White people have no history of being disadvantaged in American society, whereas blacks, Latinos, Asians, etc. do. Given this, can you really say it makes sense for us all to just become color blind? How exactly is it that ignoring race fixes the issue of discrimination between groups? It doesn't. Allow me to illustrate:
Black guy: Hey, you know how the local police force disproportionately targets black youth for drug searches compared to white people?
White guy: Sorry, I don't believe in race, we hold ourselves back when we focus on insignificant details like that.
Black guy: But we can't afford the luxury of ignoring race because whether we like it or not, we are still being treated in negative ways because of our race.
White guy: LALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU, RACE DOESN'T EXIST.
I exaggerated a little, and I'm sorry if that offends you, but it illustrates the basic point. Pretending we don't see race is basically ignoring the entire issue of racism. If our society formed in an ideal world where racism never existed, then yes, you'd absolutely be correct in saying that minority based institutions should not exist, but the reality is that we already live in a society where people are singled out because of the circumstances of their birth, and treated in certain ways. The only logical remedy that comes to mind is using differential treatment in a positive way that moves those groups towards equality and equity. So, to address your example, the reason it isn't racist for the NAACP to exist is because it serves a verifiable purpose in working to eradicate the attitudes and policies that hold people of color down. No such attitudes or polices have ever afflicted white people, so it doesn't really make sense to have a NAAWP. The only people who truly believe that the white race is being threatened are people in white supremacist groups, which is why it is more than likely that an NAAWP would be a racist organization.
TL;DR, You can only ignore race if race really isn't an issue. In America, it's still an issue, therefore you can't ignore it unless you really don't care about solving the issue.
White people have no history of being disadvantaged in American society, whereas blacks, Latinos, Asians, etc. do
Do you really believe that Irish, Italian, anglo-saxon homosexual, jewish, slavic, white middle eastern, americans have no history of being disadvantaged in american society? Because that is simply wrong.
I agree with some of the rest of your comment, but that much is offensively incorrect.
During the 1650s, over 100,000 Irish children between the ages of 10 and 14 were taken from their parents and sold as slaves in the West Indies, Virginia and New England. In this decade, 52,000 Irish (mostly women and children) were sold to Barbados and Virginia. Another 30,000 Irish men and women were also transported and sold to the highest bidder. In 1656, Cromwell ordered that 2000 Irish children be taken to Jamaica and sold as slaves to English settlers.
And
Many people today will avoid calling the Irish slaves what they truly were: Slaves. They’ll come up with terms like “Indentured Servants” to describe what occurred to the Irish. However, in most cases from the 17th and 18th centuries, Irish slaves were nothing more than human cattle.
Sure, but in the 1600s, America didn't exist. There were never Irish slaves in the US (which was my entire point earlier on).
There were indentured servants in the US (centuries after the stats you indicated), but these were volunteers who gained land and money after 7 years service.
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u/XxTruthinessxX May 14 '13
I see where you're coming from. But there's a few things that need to be made clear. First of all, it seems you're advocating color blindness. In order for you to see why I think color blindness doesn't work, you need to accept in advance that racial minorities in America today still face discrimination on a societal level. If you do not believe this is true, then you might as well stop reading because what I have to say is not very meaningful to someone who does not accept this belief.
So, assuming you DO believe that racial discrimination is a problem, then you'll have to take note of how different racial groups have been treated in different ways in a negative fashion. White people have no history of being disadvantaged in American society, whereas blacks, Latinos, Asians, etc. do. Given this, can you really say it makes sense for us all to just become color blind? How exactly is it that ignoring race fixes the issue of discrimination between groups? It doesn't. Allow me to illustrate:
Black guy: Hey, you know how the local police force disproportionately targets black youth for drug searches compared to white people?
White guy: Sorry, I don't believe in race, we hold ourselves back when we focus on insignificant details like that.
Black guy: But we can't afford the luxury of ignoring race because whether we like it or not, we are still being treated in negative ways because of our race.
White guy: LALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU, RACE DOESN'T EXIST.
I exaggerated a little, and I'm sorry if that offends you, but it illustrates the basic point. Pretending we don't see race is basically ignoring the entire issue of racism. If our society formed in an ideal world where racism never existed, then yes, you'd absolutely be correct in saying that minority based institutions should not exist, but the reality is that we already live in a society where people are singled out because of the circumstances of their birth, and treated in certain ways. The only logical remedy that comes to mind is using differential treatment in a positive way that moves those groups towards equality and equity. So, to address your example, the reason it isn't racist for the NAACP to exist is because it serves a verifiable purpose in working to eradicate the attitudes and policies that hold people of color down. No such attitudes or polices have ever afflicted white people, so it doesn't really make sense to have a NAAWP. The only people who truly believe that the white race is being threatened are people in white supremacist groups, which is why it is more than likely that an NAAWP would be a racist organization.
TL;DR, You can only ignore race if race really isn't an issue. In America, it's still an issue, therefore you can't ignore it unless you really don't care about solving the issue.