Ugh

[twirlgrrl]

I just got this "proud to be white" email forward in my inbox. It's from an old high school friend who I recently got reconnected with via classmates.com. It's not skinhead-level, it's just the usual ignorant us-against-them BS, but I have no tolerance for it. It literally made me feel sick. I just sent this link (http://mmcisaac.faculty.asu.edu/emc598ge/Unpacking.html) back to her and to everyone else whose email address I could see (why are serial stupid-email-forwarders incapable of trimming the forwards before sending them on?) but I know that nothing I do will help. I'm just so disgusted.



-------------------------------------
AMEN!!!! WELL SAID

TO GOOD TO NOT PASS ON :)




Read all the way to the end.......................................


""WHITE" Pride"
This is great. I have been wondering about why Whites are racists, and no other race is.....

Proud to be White
Michael Richards makes his point...............
Michael Richards better known as Kramer from TVs Seinfeld does make a good point.
This was his defense speech in court after making racial comments in his comedy act. He makes some very interesting points...


Someone finally said it. How many are actually paying attention to this? There are African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Arab Americans, etc.

And then there are just Americans. You pass me on the street and sneer in my direction. You call me 'White boy,' 'Cracker,' 'Honkey,' 'Whitey,' 'Caveman'... And that's OK.


But when I call you, Nigger, Kike, Towel head, Sand-nigger, Camel Jockey, Beaner, Gook, or Chink .. You call me a racist.

You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you... So why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live?

You have the United Negro College Fund. You have Martin Luther King Day.

You have Black History Month. You have Cesar Chavez Day.

You have Yom Hashoah. You have Ma'uled Al-Nabi.


You have the NAACP. You have BET... If we had WET (White Entertainment Television), we'd be racists. If we had a White Pride Day, you would call us racists.

If we had White History Month, we'd be racists.

If we had any organization for only whites to 'advance' OUR lives, we'd be racists.


We have a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber of Commerce, and then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce.. Wonder who pays for that??


A white woman could not be in the Miss Black American pageant, but any color can be in the Miss America pageant.


If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships... You know we'd be racists.

There are over 60 openly proclaimed Black Colleges in the US . Yet if there were 'White colleges', that would be a racist college.


In the Million Man March, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights. If we marched for our race and rights, you would call us racists.


You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you're not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists.

You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us. But, when a white police officer shoots a black gang member or beats up a black drug dealer running from the law and posing a threat to society, you call him a racist..

I am proud... But you call me a racist.


Why is it that only whites can be racists??


There is nothing improper about this e-mail. Let's see which of you are proud enough to send it on. I sadly don't think many will. That's why we have LOST most of OUR RIGHTS in this country. We won't stand up for ourselves!


BE PROUD TO BE WHITE!



It's not a crime YET..... But GE tting very close!


It is estimated that ONLY 5% of those reaching this point in this e-mail, will pass it on.
-------------------------------



BARF.

Comments

[eac.livejournal.com]

You know, I understand how people can silently feel they're better because they're white and just never question it, but my brain stalls out at people who somehow think there should be a public discussion about their superiority.

[mrsdewees.livejournal.com]

Proud to be white?

I'd be interested to see the e-mail. Not because I am a skinhead (or ignorant, for that matter) - I just want to see what you mean.

[laren.livejournal.com]

I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with being proud of one's whiteness. After all, people of any other color are allowed to take pride in their race, ethnic group, and culture. The problem is that whites can't seem to do this without talking down on everyone else and regarding themselves as superior. If it ended at "I'm not ashamed to be white and I like who I am", I'd be cool with it. In fact, I think a lot of people in my demographic NEED to start feeling that way. I have lived a life of shame, misery, low self-esteem and a sense of being rejected because of my skin color (WHITE). I don't think self-hating/auto-racism is limited to non-whites, and frankly I think it's an issue that needs to be addressed.

That said, I still hate most white people, especially the KIND of people who tend to forward these e-mails.

[f1ymetothemoon.livejournal.com]

Emails like that it's-not-fairfest are a huge reason people might feel *shame* for being white... it's just embarrassing.

I agree, there should be no shame in white pride, especially regarding ancestry. I was told recently that I shouldn't be proud to be Irish (well, Irish-American) because Irish pride is racist. Wha??

I don't hate the people who send those emails. I just feel embarrassed for them, and by them.

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

Me too. Embarrassed for and by them. Also I'm just plain revolted by some of the language in it as well as the general ignorance. But I don't hate the person who sent it. I just don't have any desire to associate with her on any level unless she happens to be interested in talking about the essay I sent her, or trying to learn in some other way just how repugnant that email was.

[f1ymetothemoon.livejournal.com]

I hope she'll wake up.

[laren.livejournal.com]

You're right about those e-mails being part of the reason for shame. It IS embarrassing.

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't understand the idea of being "proud to be white." I can understand being proud to be Dutch--which I am--or French, or Danish, or Polish or whatever. I can understand appreciating things about a certain culture or nationality. But what is being proud to be white all about? Isn't "white" a sort of general construct? What is it? What does it mean? What is there to be proud of that's specific to skin color? Ooh... I just thought of something... I can understand being proud to have translucent alabaster skin, especially on the chest because it looks so good in a bustier with cleavage. But that's not about being proud to be in any particular group.

I don't know enough about you yet to know what you can possibly mean by the second half of your first paragraph... I can't really relate to being ashamed to be white, either, except in the same way that I don't like to feel like I'm conspicuously enjoying any other sort of privilege. I wouldn't be comfortable being ostentatiously rich, either, and I try not to be too obnoxious about my white privilege when I can stay conscious of it. I'm also not super thrilled to be associated with ignorant white racists (or ignorant boorish Christians, or ignorant yucky anything-else-I-also-call-myself) but whatever, they're not me.

I don't get your last sentence either. What do you mean, you hate most white people? Do you hate them for being white? Or are you talking about hating people for possessing certain traits that you perceive to be prevalent in white people?

[laren.livejournal.com]

Well, I think we can be proud to be white the same way Asians are proud to be Asian. Of course you there is ethnicity specific pride, but the dominating phrase you hear and see is "Asian pride" (often spelled "AZN Pride"). The various Asian groups are united by their race, and I don't see why we can't be as well- and that's basically the only reason, since I have very little interest in whiteness.

I'm ashamed to be white because of the resentment non-whites feel towards whites, because of the acts of genocide and colonization by whites, and because of the oppression that whites continue to inflict on non-whites in many parts of the west including the United States (it's just a much more subtle oppression now). I find it hard to associate myself with whites and not feel sick to my stomach. White privilege also plays a part in that.

When I say I hate most white people, I refer mainly to the white establishment (power structure, the people running the media, etc.), but also to what amounts to a disgusting proportion of white Americans who are at best ignorant and at worst complete bigots. I don't hate them because of their whiteness, but because of what they (and their whiteness) represents and perpetuates, if that makes any sense.

Most of my female friends are white, FWIW.

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

Posted.

[the-changeling.livejournal.com]

Do these people not know we are all decended from black people? That black IS the biological norm?

I can never get my head round this....

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

There's a whole lot that they seem not to know.

[roseredhoofbeat.livejournal.com]

Oh trust me, there are still LOTS and LOTS of people who think that God created White people and Black people totally separate from one another and who refuse to believe in the slow evolution from black to brown to the pure white Scottish girl typing before you. =P

Somehow the US ended up with a disproportionate amount of these people....

[the-changeling.livejournal.com]

'Member the reading I was doing on Out Of Africa a coupla weeks back?

One article, very good, spent some time refuting another article, which I didn't read, which used the human evolution evidence to prove that blacks were more 'primitive' than whites, who were more prmitive than Asiatics, based on the travelling out pattern.

So you know the gene history, and this is _evidence_ of different levels of 'peopleness'?

I have never got this whole shebang.

Just like I can't see how anyone could actually define 'white' or what a 'white race' is. Even the Nazis got stumped on that one! As well as the South Africans, actually. "White" always comes down to a phsycial checklist, in which sibblings are often deemed to be in different categories, oops, race.

Just like how 'white' you are, changes as you move about. Exactly like how black you are does.

Cultural constructs, one and all.

It's like people who think 'caucasian' means 'white'. Argh.

*bang* *bang* *bang*

[two-roads.livejournal.com]

Wow... just wow.

I am SO glad you returned the email with the link you sent. That is awesome. You'll have to let us know if you get any replies ;)

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

None yet... I don't know any of the people I sent it to except for the girl who sent it to me, so I'm really curious to see what I'll get back! Putting on my flameproof vest.

[two-roads.livejournal.com]

I love your fire ;)

[lust-inthe-dust.livejournal.com]

was it maybe sent by accident or virus?

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

I wish, but no. She sends me all sorts of things that people who know me know better than to send me. This is the only one I can recall that's specifically racist, but yeah... a bunch of ignorant, stupid, annoying stuff. And she sent this one in between two others that are more typical of her boringness.

[roseredhoofbeat.livejournal.com]

UGH.

I mean, I kind of see the point. Sort of. It's still a stupid point to be making.

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

And a stupid way to be making it!

[psyko-kitty.livejournal.com]

I always think it's weird that white supremacists talk about being proud to be white. I mean, are we so out of touch with our family history that we don't know who we are beyond the color of our skin? Really?
Honestly, I know that I have a sliver of Native American, German, and Irish, but I can't tell you squat about my history. I'm sure there's something there to be proud of, but my pasty skin just ain't it.

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

Exactly. And cultural pride does not nec = cultural superiority. I think that the Dutch are great engineers and have smart laws but that doesn't mean that they're better than Ugandans--just better at THAT stuff, maybe.

[righteousbaby.livejournal.com]

I'm a little confused. Sorry.
Are you disagreeing with your post? Was the Michael Richards thing part of her email?

I actually talk about things like this all the time, and quite agree. I solidified my feelings about the topic after experiencing reverse racism living in Brooklyn.

I do agree that there is a fine line between pride and racism, but I'm proud to say that I don't discriminate. There are a whole lotta white people who disappoint me too.

Edited to say that I don't think it's right for anyone to have "pride" in their color. We should have pride in our heritage, or as a human race, but for blacks to be proud just because they are black, or whites to be proud just because they're white is ridiculous.

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

The email she forwarded starts with "AMEN!! WELL SAID" and ends just before "BARF."

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

If by "reverse racism" you mean being shunned, called names, or otherwise treated poorly by people of other races because you were white, I was really bothered by that stuff also when I first moved to San Francisco. I moved to what they call a "mixed" neighborhood and it was definitely not all pleasant. But as I worked with and learned about the complexities of race and racism I started to see where that stuff was coming from. I started to understand that the scale was completely off--that my black neighbors being mean to the white girl was like David throwing pebbles at Goliath's feet. And the sting that I felt helped me to understand just a teeny tiny little bit what it must be like to be discriminated against by the dominant culture, for real, every day, pervasively. My hurt feelings from being threatened or called names are laughable in the face of what it means, and has historically meant, to be a person of color in America. So for this email to come along and allege that "it's almost illegal to be white in America" or that "we've lost our rights" (WHAT?!") or to somehow compare calling someone a cracker with calling someone a nigger is absolutely repulsive and disgusting to me.

I never thought about it before this, but I can see why it would make sense to be proud of being black in America. Leaving aside those who have voluntarily emigrated from other countries more recently, being black in America means that you are descended from people who were forcibly taken from their homelands (and most people aren't able to find out even which region their ancestors came from.) It means that your ancestors, your great-great-great-great-great grandmothers and grandfathers, were beaten, starved, raped, and had their children ripped from their arms and sold. It means that your relatives started from nothing and overcame many generations of prejudice, ridicule, denial of rights, and laws against them. Just to be alive, I would think, would be a source of pride. Not that every black person in America is thinking about slavery every day--that's not what I'm trying to suggest at all. But there is a lot of pride in survival, in being the underdog and still making it. There's a lot more to be proud of but that's the first thing that comes to mind when I think about the question.

Also, I have been fascinated to learn from my black friends and coworkers that so much of black American culture, from music to food to worship, derives from the history of the era of slavery. It's one thing to look at those facts academically; it's quite another to try to absorb what that really means.

I'm sure I sound like an idiot, and this stuff is hard to talk about, but I'm trying to get across just a few of the things that come to mind when I start to think about this. Also, I've only talked about black/white, but I think that's the best place to start.

Did you read the essay I mentioned sending?

[righteousbaby.livejournal.com]

It's a huge topic, huh?

I just personally think that black people help perpetuate some of the racism towards them. I do. I even have black friends who agree.

I also find it very interesting that no one really talks about how the Africans sold their own people into slavery.

I didn't have time to read the essay. I most definitely will try.

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

It *is* a huge topic! Thanks for participating in the discussion, and for hopefully taking the time to read the essay. There is so much to learn from the various perspectives, and I find that that essay is at least a decent starting point for a discussion on what it means to be white in this country.

I think maybe the reason people don't talk much about Africans selling other Africans into slavery is that there is not much to talk about. I'm not sure what that has to do with anything, other than being an interesting historical fact.

[tellinellen.livejournal.com]

this is all so well said.