"Why is it that only WHITES can be racist?"; unbelievable email I just received

[liberalhistorian]

This is so disgustingly ignorant and racist and bigoted and dumb and unbelievable that I don't even know where to begin. I've made it clear to people that I don't want to get any stupid ignorant RW emails, and in return I won't send any political emails myself, but I still got this shit today from someone who's been a friend for over twenty years. And the hell of it is, he lives in a black neighborhood and has always had plenty of black friends! Go fucking figure. This is a super-mega-hurl-toss-your-cookies alert, so be prepared:



Subject: White

This is very blunt but true.

Proud To Be White

Someone finally said it.
How many are actually paying attention to this?

There are African Americans, Mexican Americans,
Asian Americans, Arab Americans, Native 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?

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.


Umm, yeah, okay, I'm gonna send it on. I'm gonna send it on, alright, right on to the trash bin.

[Beaverhausen]

1. so- someone you know actually sent that to you?

Do you know them well? Man...if anyone sent that to me I would never speak to him/her again.

[northofdenali]

2. Got that in one. Automatic block of the sender.

Followed by an inperson rant if it was a family member. I have NO friends who would dare send this to me.

[liberalhistorian]

33. See, that's just it, he should have damn well known me better

than to have even considered sending me this shit. It's so unlike him to even send it in the first place, I, again, can't help but wonder if his new girlfriend is having some undue, unwelcome influence.

[The Straight Story]

19. I have people I know send me a lot of odd and crappy stuff

I may indeed post one here sometime and send them the link to DU's responses.

Heh heh heh :evilgrin:

[Beaverhausen]

28. This one is way beyond "odd and crappy" - this is the most racist thing I've seen

[liberalhistorian]

31. Hmmmm.....now, that sounds

like a plan! :evilgrin:

[The Straight Story]

3. White (pilgrim's) pride:

Chicken, The other white meat

[Behind the Aegis]

4. That's pretty sad.

But, it (racism/bigotry) is re-emerging at an alarming rate. It is not surprising, either, given the fear-mongering about others who may be different than us.

[liberalhistorian]

10. Exactly! That's why the KKK is experiencing a resurgence,

which has been attributed to immigration fears. We've been here before in our national history, we always seem to go through ultra-nationalist, anti-immigration, anti-anyone-different-from-the-mainstream periods, despite the fact that we are nothing if not a nation of immigrants. The thought of the KKK's re-emergence is truly frightening.

[KingFlorez]

5. That is the stupidest thing I've seen

Their basically saying, it's okay to call other people names, but white people, that's what I get from it.

The only reason, the NAACP, minority scholarships and cultural channels exist is because minorities needed to advance their own causes and lives because of oppression.

[Joe Chi Minh]

6. That is one of the dumbest things I've ever read.

I think it would have been kinder if you had not exposed your friend's dopiness to the world's awareness.

What on earth made YOU think such imbecility was worth publicising to a fairly intelligent adult forum?

[Canadian_NewDemocrat]

11. meh

I dont even bother dignifying such stupidity with attention or time. Let these people live in their own little world.

[liberalhistorian]

38. But, see, that's the problem, they DON'T just

live in their own world, they live in OUR world as well and affect our lives as well. That's why they always need to be called on this shit and why we need to always stand up against it. DU is not, unfortunately, the real world.

[JacksonWest]

7. If?

If we had WET (White Entertainment Television) it would be called CMT (country music television).

If we had a White Pride Day .. it would be called St Patricks day. Or Presidents Day. Or the Fourth of July. Or Thanksgiving.

If we had White History Month, it wouldn't be the shortest, coldest month of the year.

If we had any organization for only whites to "advance" OUR lives .. it would be called the Republican party.


We have a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber of
Commerce, and then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce. Which is why we do most of our "white business" at the white country club.


If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships- we would disguise it as a reward for scoring high on a culturally biased acheivment test that favored students who lived in affluent communities.

[liberalhistorian]

13. Excellent! Mind if I

borrow this?

[JacksonWest]

14. Not at all.

[ThomCat]

16. Well said.

:applause:

[Beaverhausen]

20. WET would be every other network

That's what I was thinking at least.

[patrice]

8. Always the threat, veiled or otherwise . . .

Send this on or else . . . :spank:

[Lautremont]

9. Hey, yeah, wait a minute... Why IS that?

This email has just made me take a complete 180 from my previous view on this subject!

(I'm kidding, in case there was any doubt.)

[LeftishBrit]

12. Sickening!

Did he perhaps just forward an e-mail he'd been sent without reading it? People do. If he genuinely believes all this racist crap, then I wouldn't consider him as much of a friend.

As regards the following piece:


'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.'


it reminds me of the old chestnut about the child who asks his mother on Mother's Day why there isn't a Children's Day, and gets the reply: "Every day is Children's Day".

All television is White Entertainment Television.

Every day is White Pride Day.

Every month is White History Month.

[walldude]

21. Wow you beat me to it. I swear my post below is not plagerism

just a great mind thinking alike! :toast:

[liberalhistorian]

26. I would really, really like to think that that is the case.

It absolutely shocked me that he would send this on. Like I said, I've known him for over twenty years, he lives in a black neighborhood and has had black friends for as long as I've known him. The only thing I can think of is that he has a fairly new serious relationship, maybe his new girlfriend has had some unwelcome influence on him.

[SemperEadem]

32. perhaps you need to give his black friends a copy of that email

and tell them first to ask him what his email address is before saying anything to him.

he's a coward. plain and simple.

[jmowreader]

15. I thought we DID have White Entertainment Television

But because "WET" isn't such a good name, they call it Spike TV.

Its tagline should be "Television Only White People Can Stand."

[walldude]

17. Here we go again...

Um.. Every channel is the White Entertainment Network. Every month is White History Month. Every college is a White College. When you hold all the cards you don't need any more aces. I have never been called a "Cracker, Honkey, Caveman or whatever. Yes I call you a racist. Because you are one.

[maxsolomon]

18. every day is white person's day

just trash it

[The Cleaner]

22. Good LORD! What the HELL? If that isn't the epitome of racism,

I don't know what is.

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

DUH!! What the hell do you expect asshole? The N-Word is highly racially and emotionally charged. Oh what, was it black people hanging white people just for looking at a black woman funny or whatever? Was it white people who were beaten, tortured, intimidated, made second-class citizens by the black majority?

This is SO IGNORANT, man, I gotta go get my blood pressure down. :(

Water! Please, water!

[liberalhistorian]

36. Exactly! And I don't know about anyone else, but I've never been

called "honkey, whitey, cracker", etc. And I don't know any other white who has, either. But I've known plenty who've used the other names mentioned, and who use the "aw, geez, shucks, I was just kiddin' there, ya know" bullshit defense when called on it. And there's a HUGE difference between "whitey, honkey, et al." and the n-word and all the other slurs mentioned. A HUGE difference.

Here's one of the things that truly pisses me off about this. I work on an Indian reservation and will be moving here permanently at the end of this month; I'm here most of the time now, anyway. For the first time in my life, I'M the minority. And you know what? I have yet to experience any problems with anyone here. I have yet to experience any racist discrimination or any other problems like that. I feel quite comfortable here. But when I go into Rapid City or the other "white" areas of the state, you'd better believe the opposite isn't true. You wouldn't believe the seething racism against native americans in this state, it's like the pre-civil-rights south. I don't know about other western states, but that's the way it is here. And I constantly hear, "oh, you're working with THOSE people?" and several unpleasant variations of that theme. It's unbelievable. And it's much more overt than I would have expected.

[The Cleaner]

41. Wow, I didn't know that kind of racism exists.

What do you do? Just curious, I've always been interested in Southwest anthropology/archaeology. It's been kind of a dream of mine, but alas, responsibilities...

[liberalhistorian]

53. I'm a paralegal. I came to Rapid City from Ohio originally to work

with native americans at a legal services agency. When that grant-funded job ended, I found a job with an attorney on one of the nine reservations in this state and have been working with him ever since. I'm licensed in the tribal court, which means I can represent clients the same way an attorney can, the tribal courts run on their own rules. There's a truly desperate need for it, believe me. But the racism against native americans in this state is unbelievable. The thing is, it isn't reciprocated, not at all.

[Bluebear]

23. If ANYONE sent me this trash, they would hear about it. nt

[orpupilofnature57]

24. It's scary to think there are people who dwell on pro racism.

[GaYellowDawg]

25. This is not an excuse...

but Christine Sleeter will tell you that the privileged are the last to see their privilege. This is simply another case of that.

[liberalhistorian]

35. Bingo! I read an article on alternet.org a few years ago that

really hit it right on the nail. It was from a white author who specialized in writing on racism (Tim something, can't remember the last name). He said that whites are like fish swimming in water, with the water representing the privilege we enjoy just by virtue of being white, regardless of our class or socioeconomic status. Just like fish don't even pay attention to the water and it's just always there for them, so whites don't even pay attention to or even realize the privilege we enjoy in this society just by virtue of being white.

That really hit home with me when I'd go out to lunch with a co-worker at a former workplace. She was half-black, half-cherokee, and the difference in attitude and treatment I experienced when I was alone or with white friends and family as opposed to when I was with her was unbelievable. Sure, I knew in the abstract that racism and bigotry were more than alive and well, especially in the area where we worked. But I was white, so that knowledge stayed in the abstract. Until I was with her.

I'd experienced something similar when I was much younger, when my mom would bring her black co-workers she was friends with over for dinner or invite them to holiday picnics we had, things like that (she taught at a predominantly black school and was one of the few whites who worked there). We would hear snide comments from neighbors about having "those people" over and shit like that. Which, frankly, I didn't really understand at the time.

[sakabatou]

27. O_O

[liberalhistorian]

30. OMG, I love that! Where did

you find that?

[sakabatou]

37. fstdt.com

[KamaAina]

29. If you're feeling puckish, send it along to his black (soon-to-be-ex-) friends

first making sure they know EXACTLY where it came from. :grr:

[SemperEadem]

34. this is the example

of a mediocre underachiever who has missed his chance to be exceptional and instead of looking inside of himself and ascertaining how he missed the mark and what he can do to achieve better than he has, he has chosen instead to blame minorities for his inability to rise above what he's learned to live with.

He has no excuse for any type of lack in his life if he's a white man in America. There is none to justify his mediocrity. And it's this very type of guy who is easily led into the ranks of the white supremicist organization which are littered with males just like himself---too stupid to make something of themselves, but still feel that they are entitled to that which they are not qualified based solely on the fact that they are white male xtians in America.

And about pride: pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before the fall.

[frustrated_lefty]

39. I've pondered this kind of attitude from time to time.

The difference, I think, is that racism as espoused by caucasians in America is intitutionalized. It pervades every aspect of society. The occasional experience of a caucasian experiencing a hostile environment simply doesn't compare in the least.

[Virginia Dare]

40. Hey whitey, are you proud enough to send this on?

[liberalhistorian]

57. OMG! Wow. I should send this to him, that might shut

him up real fast. Better yet, I should send him this entire thread. No commentary, even, just the thread.

[Bassic]

42. The ignorance!

It burns!

Dumbest. e-mail. ever.

[BoneDaddy]

43. The reason this hits home for many "white folk"

is that there is a belief among some people in a historically persecuted minorities that this is true. I once had a black colleague tell me that black people couldn't be racist because they have no access to power. I have heard it several times since.

That said, that email is a piece of crap in so many ways.

[Karenina]

54. Your colleague was correct.

The difficulty is in our language. The nuances are not commonly accepted, as to do so would reveal too much. "Hot buttons" and vaguely defined terms serve TPTB well.

[BoneDaddy]

55. My colleague was correct?

You have to be kidding me, right?

[GOTV]

44. Why would anyone be proud of being white?....

... or of any other attribute over which they've had no influence?

Proud to be a Liberal, proud to be a Christian, proud of the job you did, proud of a skill you've developed... I can see any of those.

But why would one be proud of the outcome of random chance?

I can even see someone saying "I'm GLAD I'm White" or Black, or tall, but why be *proud* of something that you had nothing to do with?

[Katherine Brengle]

45. Of course, every day is already the White Man's Day. TV is already

primarily designed for whites. Colleges are already dominated by whites. All of these things minorities have to fight for have been handed on silver platters to white males since their inception.

It's easy to buy into a screed like this until you actually take a minute to think about the distribution of power in this country, and remember who is still on top, even in 2007.

[aikoaiko]

46. I know I'm going to get hit hard for this but......

Democrats have to address the economic, sociocultural issues for the people for whom that email resonates.

There is a lot of misdirected hate in that email, but that sort of hate normally just doesn't come out of nowhere. I'm not saying we need to coddle racists, but there are a lot of poor white angry men and women who need the help of the democratic party. They need helping hands just like the other oppressed peoples.

Anyway, continue on.

[RevolutionStartsNow]

47. The ignorance in that message doesn't come from poverty..

I've heard plenty of privileged people express those views, esp. in regards to affirmative action. I've even heard people (okay, some of my ignorant in-laws) suggest that they felt like minorites in their own neighborhood ("omg, we're surrounded by....Asians!").

[uppityperson]

48. What are "just Americans"? European-Americans?

"There are African Americans, Mexican Americans,
Asian Americans, Arab Americans, Native Americans, etc.
And then there are just Americans."

Is an Irish American a just American? How about a German American? Interesting that the only people this person sees as "just an American" is a descendant of European genes.

Do you want to get into a discussion with the sender of this?

[liberalhistorian]

56. What I want to get into a discussion with him about is why

the fuck he sent me this shit in the first place. In the twenty years I've known him, he's never given any indication of believing anything like this, and he should goddamn well know better than to send me this trash. If it's his new girlfriend's influence, then he should seriously reconsider whether or not he wants to continue in the relationship.

[WernhamHogg]

49. I saw that posted on a message board recently

I saw that posted on a non-political message board recently. When not a single person (other than me) objected to it being posted on the board and a small handful of posters actually AGREED with that racist filth...I'll just say that was the last time I visited that board.

[sniffa]

50. what? no defenders on this thread yet?

:shrug:

[The Straight Story]

51. A reply to them can be found here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x198345

[OnionPatch]

52. I guess context means nothing to this person

Or they would look at the history of what's been done to blacks in the name of "white pride" and understand why these differences they point out exist. But I guess expecting a conservative to think harder is like asking my dog to do the bills for me.