Thoughts on Race and Racism, From a Person of "Mixed" Ethnicity

I actually found something on Tumblr that made sense.

Not that it should even need to be said, but this newfound "only white people can be racist" line of thought is not only dangerous, it's also some of the most ignorant and hypocritical I've ever heard of in my 35 years of life.

To be blunt: If you are one of those who have adopted the SJW idea that "white people are naturally racist even if they don't try to be, and non-whites are incapable of being racist"? Then you're a bigot yourself, or more specifically, a racist. And you also need to learn what words mean.

I'm a writer, and a former English Major (and Honors Student, just to clarify). I don't know every word on the planet, but I have a pretty firm grasp. According to the dictionary, Racism means: "Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior." In short, ideas such as saying that all white people are racist by default, and that black people (the popular example) "can't be racist", is not only absurd in the face of logic and common sense, but it's also by the very definition, a racist ideal. That very idea that ANYONE is magically "exempt" from ever being considered racist, because of their color of their skin, let alone that many are actually coming to believe this, is both laughable, and quite disturbing.

Trust me when I tell you, that I have also read and heard MORE than enough from black bloggers, vloggers and commenters on the internet and social media alone, just within the last year, to tell you have have literally seen them and heard them being racist. It's not only possible, it's prevalent in the online sphere, every bit as much as, and perhaps in part in reaction to, white people being racist online. It seems that a lot of folks feel "safe" behind a keyboard in the online realm, and can put aside things like common sense and decency. They also seem to feel they can just openly be as bigoted as hateful as they feel like, because after all "what is anybody gonna do about it?"

But the bottom line is, yes, black people, and brown people, and yellow people, and red people, and purple people, and RAINBOW people, can ALL be racist. Just the same as women can be sexist. That is how those concepts work. They are not some big phantom blanket term that covers all of society. They are terms referring to each and every individual THOUGHT and ACTION. I have seen and heard just as vile and disgusting, depressing stuff from black Americans online, as I have from white Americans. I've seen PLENTY of white people be racist online. It surely exists. But I'm saying that it seems to exist just as much from non-whites. Everyone can be racist, defined by their thoughts, beliefs and actions towards others based on the color of their skin or their ethnic background.

When you have a fundamental philosophy behind a movement, that states that black humans are the original humans, the "children of god" (IE special and exalted), and everyone else is basically just an accident, that is racism. When that same core mythology also states, that white people were CREATED, as an abhorrent freak of nature by some ancient African evil scientist, or alternatively are still just some freak mutation by Nature that wasn't meant to exist. And that BY THEIR NATURE, white people are evil, destructive, and basically "no good", no matter how good they may ACT, THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is textbook racism. It is literally no different from 100+ years ago, when racists whites made up "scientific evidence" that non-whites were less capable or less intelligent. In that ideology I'm referencing, which can be clearly found without much effort repeated all across the internet, white people are, and I quote "less human" than blacks and other people. Or just outright "not human".

I know these things because I've read them with my own eyes, or heard them with my own ears. When you have people saying things, in all straight-faced seriousness, such as "the only way black people are ever going to be free, is with the eradication of the white race", THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is textbook racism. I know because I've seen it. And it is JUST as evil, JUST as ignorant, and JUST as depressing to see, as the SAME exact kinds of sentiments I have also read from some whites, such as, for example, the recent appearance of the so-called "Alt Right" crowd. Folks paranoid that "white people" are going to disappear from the earth in time, and they "need to fight for survival". People on diametrically opposed sides of the same ignorant coin, neither of whom are willing to actually listen, or learn, actually communicate, and grow. They are unwilling to try and be better, to try and think with sober, mature, and rational minds, because "everything wrong and everything we suffer is _____ fault". And that goes for more than just people obsessed with race online. That goes for people obsessed with gender, and sexist issues as well.

I have mentioned many times, that I myself am of "mixed" heritage. As such, I know from personal experience that non-whites can be every bit as much racist as whites. How do I know this? Because sadly, I've experienced racism from both whites and non-whites in my life, directly. And if you've never had that experience, for one thing, count your blessings, but for another, let me tell you with authority: It SUCKS, and feels shitty, no matter who it's coming from. I've heard it all in my time: whites being racist to blacks, whites being racist to Latinos, whites being racist to Asians, whites being racist to middle eastern people (including myself), blacks being racist to whites, blacks being racist to Asians, blacks being racist to middle eastern people, blacks being racist to Latinos, Latinos being racist to whites, Asians being racist to blacks, martians being racist to cat-people, the list go on and on.

But in all seriousness and blunt honesty, it never stops befuddling and sickening me, just how obsessed petty humans are with skin color, or ethnic background. Hell, for all the talk about "white people", you still hear people of Irish ancestry talk shit about Italians, or German people talk shit about the Polish, or the French, or Russians, etc. etc. I've heard Asians talk shit about other types of Asians, blacks talk shit about Jamaicans or Haitians, etc. etc. While "Rich White Dudes" DO in fact mostly rule the world, and it sucks (not because they're white, but because they're greedy, callous assholes), the fact of the matter is, racism seems to be pretty damn universal. People in various Latin American countries are racist towards people from OTHER Latin American countries. People from various African countries, or European or Asian countries, are racist towards people from other countries in THEIR own region. And on and on.

Meaning: Anybody, and EVERYBODY, can be racist. There are no defaults, and no exemptions. Any notions as such, are merely fantasy, and pure ignorance, acts of racism in and of themselves. And until more people of EVERY skin tone actually start getting that Truth through their skulls, this tiresome race shit is never going to go away. It isn't that simple, at all, but there IS still something to what Morgan Freeman said, "If you want racism to go away, then stop talking about it". That's an oversimplification of course, but I feel like his actual point, was probably along the lines of what I myself am saying: That people, especially in America, but frankly all over the world, are so obsessed with "Race", skin tone, sexuality, gender, nationality, religion, and all of these other absurd, petty things that we use to divide ourselves, that too few people ARE actually focusing on growing the hell up and being better as human beings.

All of these racial issues, even just in America, are not merely going to magically disappear someday when all white people finally "stop being racist". Even if all white Americans suddenly vanished from the face of the earth, most of these issues would persist, in some form or another. We, as a human race, in the 21st Century, are still stuck on dumb, childish bullshit like skin tone. And instead of embracing and celebrating each other's differences, instead we delight (yes, delight) and obsess in vilifying each other for them.

If Aliens, assumedly "more advanced" than us, dropped down for a visit right this second, they would think that ALL of us, not just those of us who are "evil by nature because others say so", are fucking morons. And that's putting it nicely. Our Mother Earth is sick and slowly dying at our own hands, species of plant and animal life continue to disappear from the Earth forever by our own hands, yet all we can do is argue about skin tones, and "whose fault" all of our problems are. Instead of just growing the hell up, taking responsibility for ourselves AND our planet, and fixing things like we can, and should. And that, ladies and gentleman, makes us pathetic. Not just the ones who are "at fault", not just "Straight White Men" or "Rich People". ALL of us are to blame, because ALL of us still willingly just stand around stuck in our own quagmire of psychological and cultural bullshit.

Not a single adult on this earth is "innocent" of this. And no one will be a true Hero, until more of us grow the hell up, stand the hell up, and actually do things that matter, instead of continuing to argue over our petty differences, like spoiled, insufferable brats. Social issues matter. But none of them are AS important or AS dire as we pretend. And NONE of them are going to matter, if we don't have a planet that is still livable to our grandchildren. That is where my heart and mind lies...and always has. We could just wake up one day and decide to save ourselves, and the planet. But we have to actually decide to, actually want to. And that, I'm afraid, is simply how it is.