Nothing to be Proud of
“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
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.”
This is my response:
Thanks for sending me this, but I will not send it on. I identify with the frustration stemming from the obvious hypocrisy this email demonstrates. The double standards in our society are infuriating. While I don’t agree with all of the analogies (for example, I don’t see “Martin Luther King Day” as a one-race-only holiday), I appreciate some of the underlying analysis.
But, while I understand his frustration, I have to disagree with writer generally. I myself am NOT proud to be white. I'm not ashamed of it either. When I think of myself, I think of myself as a man, an American, a member of my family, even a child of God. But I do not identify myself with my race. I feel it's a pointless distinction. It's a fact, to be sure, that I have white skin, but I feel some of the greatest problems our society have come from people who identify themselves with their race. I choose not to, and hope other people can see just one race in our country- American.
What the writer of this email seems to want to do is perpetuate the animosity by promoting "whiteness" as if it has any inherent value. As with any other race, I don't think it does. While I agree totally that those of any race are widening the gaps amongst us by promoting "black (yellow, red) heritage month" etc., I think it only compounds the problem when whites do the same, or follow some "us-against-them" mentality that this email seems to perpetuate.
Anyway, that's my thought on it. It's a shame we use the excuses of past generations to perpetuate problems by reversing the discrimination. But we're only going to get along when race just doesn't matter any more.
