Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Behaving Like a Racist Makes You a Racist



Funny thing…if a white person says something derogatory about a person of color or performs an action to the detriment of a person of color, that white person will be considered a racist or a bigot. However, if a person of color says something derogatory about a white person, whether in comedy or as an act of defiance, that person of color will be considered to be acting out in response to many years of oppression and racial mistreatment. The sad reality is that racism is racism, whether as an action or as a reaction. 

Racism is defined as the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. One of the things that I have taught my children is that if they want to be respected, then they have to show respect. While it is true that there will be instances where decisions will be made based on race, religion, gender or some other classification, more often than not, people will get out of life whatever they put into it. If a person behaves in a racist manner, they will be considered a racist, even if they are simply, in their minds, reacting to racism that they themselves had to endure.    

This piece is not designed to do anything more than say that racism is wrong, while some will see this as anti-black, anti-white, anti-comedy or anti-something else that can create controversy and conversation. The truth is that as a black man, I have been mistreated racially by white people, but I always looked at those instanced as exceptions as opposed to as the standards. The bible tells us that God wants us to treat others the way that we would want to be treated and that we should leave acts of revenge to God, and this is what I teach my children. Behaving is a racist manner in response to being racially mistreated makes us no better than those who we claim to have oppressed us. 

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