[quote name='Ruined']Arguably, the most powerful man in the US is black. Many other positions of power are held by blacks. And further, just because things aren't rainbows and gumdrops doesn't give anyone the right to make blanket racially prejudiced statements as Wright (the president's spiritual mentor for 20yrs) did.[/quote]
You see power in individuals, and don't understand how power can transcend that and exist for categories of people. The President has power, and the person in the pulpit has power. But power isn't reserved for individual positions, but group ones as well. Power is not being followed in a store for fear of suspicion of theft; power is not being pulled over because you don't look like people in the neighborhood, and the police just wanted to know what you were doing there. Power is not being denied job after job after job after job.
I find it pretty offensive some would justify blanket shitting on another race just because the race doing the shitting is a minority. That is a racially prejudiced viewpoint in itself! Bottom line, if you want equality, no one should be blanket shitting on anyone, and thats not going to happen when you have preaching of racially prejudiced division! All that does is prolong division and keep people like Wright popular (which serves Wright, no doubt - but not the cause of racial equality for sure).
This is where I think we're talking about two different topics: you have no concern *whatsoever* for the actual amount of discrimination and racism that exist in our current society. You don't care that research shows white males with felony drug convictions get more hiring opportunities than equally qualified black males with a clean record (or that being a black male felon means you get virtually no chance at all); you don't care that research shows that "John" isn't turned away from apartment complexes he wants to rent from to *anywhere* near the degree that his equally-qualified colleague, "Jamal," is; you don't care that racial attributions and discrimination in hiring and renting can happen via phone calls, based on how people presume our dialects dictate our race. You don't care about redlining; you don't care about disproportionate education funding that harms the inner cities (which are vastly, vastly minority).
What do you care about? One preacher who serves the purpose of validating your apathy, because one person's words make you as equal a victim as the legacy of 400 years of slavery and racism that have yet to end to this very day, and that you and your family have benefitted, and continue to benefit, from. You want to be the victim at the same time that you want to overlook the real ACTS of how racist attitudes harm and separate our society, and ruin the meritocratic foundation of America you so hold dear. Racism as an attitude is unfortunate, but you're overlooking racism as an ACT. Because you benefit from it. It doesn't harm you at all. Racism is good for you, because you won't be discriminated against, meaning you're more likely to be hired or rented to because of those opportunities that would have been filled by qualified minorities.
Meanwhile, you're relishing in your victim status and trying to claim that racism is equal, yet you SUFFER NOT AT ALL because of Wright's words. And yet you want to think it's equal to the degree of antiblack discrimination that happens every day and turns away people from opportunities they've worked as hard as anyone else for...because they're not as light skinned as you, or named "Deshawn" instead of "Shawn."
You don't seem to understand what "racism" and "discrimination" are. If you want to have opinions on par with mine (and I'm well aware of the narcississm of that statement, but bear with me that were I to discuss, say, hi-tech tv stuffs with you, I'd expect you to insist on me getting a better education of some obscure HD terminology), then I really think you should look into
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva's American Sociological Review article on structural racism.
Because if you're going to continue to think that, when I say "Americans are racist," that I'm saying they are (1) cognizant of their racist actions, (2) hateful of other races, or (3) all some kind of confederate-flag wearing, Johnny Rebel-listening, Hitler-saluting hee-haw, then I'm done with you. Because at that point, you're demonstrating your ineptitude, and I won't waste my time trying to erode the idiocy of something as tenacious as your understanding of racism. When I say racism, I refer to individuals, sure, but also attitudes people hold that legitimize racial differences and inequalities, that legitimize racial inequalities and refuse to acknowledge the historical contribution of slavery and Jim Crow laws that ended less than half a century ago, that disacknowledges the existence of discrimination or simply thinks it's a relic of the past, that laughs at "Kwanzaa" and claim it's made up while they hang ornaments from the Christmas Tree, that make absurd "Why isn't there a *WHITE* Entertainment Television" arguments while flipping past 3 dozen sitcoms featuring 100 actors across each show, and perhaps 4 of the secondary actors are nonwhite.
THAT is racism. Racism doesn't have to be intentional. But perhaps it is. But you wouldn't recognize it even then, would you? The modern racist doesn't burn a cross, or tell someone "you in the wrong part-a-town, boy." The modern racist puts aside Kyeesha's job application without so much as a second thought, and doesn't write off Sarah's job application in the same way.
But, yeah, grab that Bonilla-Silva paper and read it. Agree with it or not, at least try to come to my level and grasp where I'm coming from; I'm not arguing that racism is what you seem to think it's limited to. Your definition of racism is archaic.
