Blogging Against Racism Week

[sarahmichigan]

I've seen it noted in a few places that this is "Blogging Against Racism Week."

Of course, I think Racism is Bad. And I can come up with a fistful of personal anecdotes as well as statistics to counter anyone who says that racism is a thing of the past and isn't a problem today.

But there are so many issues where I just don't know what to think. Here are some issues I'm conflicted or confused about:

-Racism and humor. What's the difference between a joke about racism and a racist joke? Who's allowed to make jokes that are racially charged? Should white people lose their jobs over making racist jokes?

-Racism and "The N Word". For the most part, only white people who are rednecks (yes, I know this is a racially charged word as well- I come from redneck stock and think I'm allowed to use it) or blatantly racist use this term with any regularity these days. Should Blacks stop using it as well? Should there be MORE use of it to diffuse the charge of the word, kind of like diffusing other epithets like "bitch" or "slut" or "dyke"?

-How to talk about race. How do we start a dialogue about racism and race without ending up in accusations, shutting people down, and making people feel like they can't talk about it at all?

Maybe some of the blog posts I'll read this week will shed some light on one or more of those issues. I'm not sure if I'll post more about the topic or not; it seems like there are plenty Guilty White Liberals posting about race already.

Comments

Re: Tiresome

[lefthand.livejournal.com]

Hmmmmm so his choice had a reason rather than just being knee-jerk racism? That's where the conversation gets harder because we are removing his right to run his business to what he sees as his best advantage. Do I agree with him? No, but I do see his logic and while it is discriminatory, I am not as sure that it is racist since he was considering the effect of race rather than dismissing them out of hand as unqualified due to their race.

If someone wants to dig ditches with soup spoons, that's up to him. Deliberately crippling yourself by refusing better tools is short sighted and the markets will respond appropriately. What do we tell people when they are making choices based on their own experience and they are the ones who bear the consequences?

Re: Tiresome

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

What I'm trying to say is that he didn't think black sales agents would do well selling in his market, BUT he was also making the assumption that blacks were not part of his target market, which I think *is* racist. There are plenty of affluent African American communities in Michigan, but he never thought to send the black agents there. And his assumptions were racist because he had never hired a black agent, so how the hell would he know they wouldn't do well selling to whites?

Re: Tiresome

[lefthand.livejournal.com]

Ok. So he was being short-sighted, happens to a lot of businesses, which is why they go under. I think that is an appropriate consequence for bad management.

Re: Tiresome

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

My original point for bringing it up wasn't about EEO or Affirmative Action but just to say that racism is alive and well today. Some folks want to believe it's an artifact of the past, but it isn't.