Posted on 12/27/2015 5:44:51 AM PST by Altura Ct.
n an open letter to white Americans, Emory University professor of philosophy George Yancy asked readers to deeply consider “the ways in which you perpetuate a racist society, the ways in which you are racist.â€
Yancy called his letter “Dear White America†— published in the New York Times on Christmas Eve — a “gift.†In it he also asked readers to not “run to seek shelter from your own racism. Don’t hide from your responsibility. Rather, begin, right now, to practice being vulnerable. Being neither a ‘good’ white person nor a liberal white person will get you off the proverbial hook.â€
More from Yancy’s letter: George Yancy (Image source: GeorgeYancy.com)
George Yancy (Image source: GeorgeYancy.com)
I can see your anger. I can see that this letter is being misunderstood. This letter is not asking you to feel bad about yourself, to wallow in guilt. That is too easy. I’m asking for you to tarry, to linger, with the ways in which you perpetuate a racist society, the ways in which you are racist. I’m now daring you to face a racist history which, paraphrasing [James] Baldwin, has placed you where you are and that has formed your own racism. Again, in the spirit of Baldwin, I am asking you to enter into battle with your white self. I’m asking that you open yourself up; to speak to, to admit to, the racist poison that is inside of you.
Again, take a deep breath. Don’t tell me about how many black friends you have. Don’t tell me that you are married to someone of color. Don’t tell me that you voted for Obama. Don’t tell me that I’m the racist. Don’t tell me that you don’t see color. Don’t tell me that I’m blaming whites for everything. To do so is to hide yet again. You may have never used the N-word in your life, you may hate the K.K.K., but that does not mean that you don’t harbor racism and benefit from racism. After all, you are part of a system that allows you to walk into stores where you are not followed, where you get to go for a bank loan and your skin does not count against you, where you don’t need to engage in “the talk†that black people and people of color must tell their children when they are confronted by white police officers.
As you reap comfort from being white, we suffer for being black and people of color. But your comfort is linked to our pain and suffering. Just as my comfort in being male is linked to the suffering of women, which makes me sexist, so, too, you are racist. That is the gift that I want you to accept, to embrace. It is a form of knowledge that is taboo. Imagine the impact that the acceptance of this gift might have on you and the world.
Take another deep breath. I know that there are those who will write to me in the comment section with boiling anger, sarcasm, disbelief, denial. There are those who will say, “Yancy is just an angry black man.†There are others who will say, “Why isn’t Yancy telling black people to be honest about the violence in their own black neighborhoods?†Or, “How can Yancy say that all white people are racists?†If you are saying these things, then you’ve already failed to listen. I come with a gift. You’re already rejecting the gift that I have to offer. This letter is about you. Don’t change the conversation. I assure you that so many black people suffering from poverty and joblessness, which is linked to high levels of crime, are painfully aware of the existential toll that they have had to face because they are black and, as Baldwin adds, “for no other reason.â€
“What I’m asking is that you first accept the racism within yourself, accept all of the truth about what it means for you to be white in a society that was created for you,†Yancy wrote. “I’m asking for you to trace the binds that tie you to forms of domination that you would rather not see. When you walk into the world, you can walk with assurance; you have already signed a contract, so to speak, that guarantees you a certain form of social safety.â€
More from Yancy’s letter:
White America, are you prepared to be at war with yourself, your white identity, your white power, your white privilege? Are you prepared to show me a white self that love has unmasked? I’m asking for love in return for a gift; in fact, I’m hoping that this gift might help you to see yourself in ways that you have not seen before. Of course, the history of white supremacy in America belies this gesture of black gift-giving, this gesture of non-sentimental love. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered even as he loved. [...]
Take one more deep breath. I have another gift.
If you have young children, before you fall off to sleep tonight, I want you to hold your child. Touch your child’s face. Smell your child’s hair. Count the fingers on your child’s hand. See the miracle that is your child. And then, with as much vision as you can muster, I want you to imagine that your child is black.
In peace,
George Yancy
While it appeared many of the more than 1,600 comments gave Yancy’s letter a thumbs up, there were detractors.
“The article should have been titled ‘Dear Humanity.’ Racism isn’t endemic to whites only,†reader Song Yu commented. “Growing up in the 70s as one of the few Asian Americans in my neighborhood in Connecticut, I occasionally experienced racism from other kids. Particularly relentless badgering about how ‘funny’ I looked and spoke came from Puerto Rican and Black kids who did not already know me. Desire to feel superior and belonging to a ‘better’ group is a natural human instinct. We need to fight this instinct through education and awareness. However just picking on the whites is ignoring the true nature of the problem.â€
Another commenter wrote: “This focus on getting white people to admit their privilege instead of focusing on conversations about how to improve black schools, inner cities and poverty makes no sense. I don’t buy all whites are racists but for the sake of argument, suppose the white race (which itself is very diverse you realize?) admits this. Fine, now what? What’s next? How do we destroy gangs in the city? How do we ensure all kids get a good education? How do we stop the violence? Those are topics worth a long-winded NY Times editorial. This isn’t.â€
If as a results of reparations ALL Affirmative Action and raced based welfare ended I would be for it.
Mr. Yancey, when self loathing blacks quit blaming whitey (me) for EVERYTHING they perceive to be wrong in their life, I will sit down and have a heart to heart, indeed open heart, discussion with them. In the meantime, I do not accept that they have a RIGHT to start off yelling at me.
That’s where the rubber meets the road. LIBERALS like you, also self loathers, just won’t sit down and shut up and leave blacks alone thus perpetuating the notion that the vast majority of them have that they think they have The Right to START OFF any conversation yelling at everybody.
Trying to be nice, I won’t print what I think of that notion.
To speak to his talk about being followed in stores....
When I worked in a grocery store i always worried if i was too nice and gave great customer service to a black person that they would think i was just watching them because i didn’t trust em....but if i didnt jump to help them and greet them tbey would assume it was because they were black and i thought they were not worthy of good customer service.
Guess i was right.....
Some folks see everything through the lens of their insecuritues....for some that is race.
#Figgers
He proves his own “Racism”.
I’m beginning to believe that Blacks in America lack a sense of irony.
Yes, racist, I know....
I restrict my hatred to Democrats. There is something about stupid that makes me want to revisit eugenics as a judge for voting rights.
R.A. Heinlein had the idea that you would have to solve a simple quadratic for two values before the voting machine would unlock and offer a ballot. (He thought the idea of, after three trys, the curtain would open and there would be a pile of ashes was, perhaps, over the top...)
I was going to respond, but why?
Not guilty, I have the same low opinion of all colors of people.
Just another crap weasel with a 175 thousand salary from a university. At least he steals his paycheck from EMORY which is a private university.
Just saying that this penny ante pork chop bloviator is not getting paid directly by you and me via our taxes
If Emory wants to squander its money on this blackulated racist buffoon.... go right ahead this is a private affair
The irony of someone asking people to admit to being a racist because someone assumes that a whole group if people are racist because of their skin colour.
see my tag line for further elaboration on this point.
Awesome, kudos to your mom and dad! My situation was not quite that bad but at times we didn’t have one lousy dollar in our 5 person family. But, living in the country in those lean years we were always self supporting TOTALLY on food.
Also, NEVER ONCE!........did we blame others or feel sorry for ourselves or beg or borrow or get one thin dime in ANY FORM from the fn government!
We did go to church on Sunday morning AND Sunday evening and most Wednesday nights though and many times helped our neighbors with food and particularly water as they were worse off than we were.
Are you an equal opportunity misanthrope? ___________ :)`
Yet it is the black prof who is the one using the ole race card.
==
That gets tiresome. As with previous periods of time when the race card was one of the major topics of the day, many people intentionally ignore the issue due to overuse and abuse.
Sorry, prof, my ‘give a damn is broken’. Take your race card and cram it.
In our country's recent history we've celebrated diversity in our population as if it were a good thing. However, one look at world history will show you that no country with a diverse population of different races, languages, and religion has long survived.
Countries don't naturally form with a diverse population, and when in the past they've occurred it's usually been as a result of armed conquest. These unnaturally formed countries have either melded together into a single population made up of one mixed race with one language and one religion or they've come apart, and they've usually come apart with extreme violence. The longer these diverse populations were forced to coexist with one another without mixing and becoming one, the more the hatred grew among them and the more violently they've broken apart, but break apart they have, or genocide has settled the issue once and for all.
There’s a lot of privileged whites in Appalachia in 2015 that would love the government iphones and bigscreens the downtrodden blacks take for granted. They might even appreciate power in their homes to run them. Or the $500 Air Jordans. But they would settle for any pair of shoes really.
They sure are privileged.
BTT
5.56mm
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