Thursday, March 12, 2009

Joe Scarborough: Shut Up and Listen

I probably shouldn't say this, but when will white people shut up and actually listen to black people when we talk about race?



Seriously?

So, black people aren't allowed to talk about racial injustice or inequality or the lack of substantial dialogue on race if we do something successful? Do we need your permission to speak our minds?

And are you really responding with "guys our age don't think about race?" Joe, that just shows how ignorant you are on this issue. It also shows how much of a coward you are that as soon as someone starts talking about race in a way that doesn't make white America look like angles sent from heaven, you go to "I'm not a racist." No body called you racist. Yet you go straight to talking about how colorblind you are.

If you wonder why some blacks feel so fed up with, so annoyed by whites, here's your answer. If you really want to make progress on the issue of race, try this: shut up and listen.

2 comments:

Denis Navratil said...

Oh but you are calling him a racist.

Racism does not "just exist on an individual basis. It is very collective. So, while not all individual whites have "power" they are part of a collective power structure."

Joe Scarborough is a member of the collective white power structure that continues to oppress minorities. Doesn't this, by your own definition of racism, make Scarborough and all other white people racists?

Kevin Lockett said...

No, you're just proving my point.

It is possible for the power structure and the systems of our society to be racist without all the individuals who are part of that structure to be racist. Personally, I don't think that Joe Scarborough is racist, just uninformed at times.

Also, I didn't say that whites as a collective unit are racist, just that they represent a privileged, uniquely empowered group in our society. That's not a judgment on white people, but rather an appraisal of our society.

Consider this: If a school board is run by a group of racist, and they mold the structure of the school system so that it becomes racist, then a new group of people, who are NOT racist take over the school board. If they don't do anything to fix the structure of the school system, it will still be racist, even if they as individuals are not.

So, I'll say again, I don't think Joe Scarborough is a racist, and I don't think white people are inherently racist.