I kind of like Matt Walsh, producer of the film, Am I Racist?, and I thought I might enjoy that film. The topic is interesting and current. Since the delightful summer of riots, murder and arson in 2020, we’ve been told that to be white is to be racist. Yes indeed, all white people are “privileged” and are active oppressors of all black and brown people.
Dean Karayanis, who apparently earned the “creds” to critique Matt Walsh’s film working for Rush Limbaugh and Fox News, wrote a rambling, confusing review of Am I Racist? for The New York Sun. I still don’t know what his bottom line is, but he did say just enough to make me think that I’d rather answer the question for myself. [Read Karayanis’ entire review.]
Like anything else, my answer will depend on definition and context. Can I look at most people and recognize whether they may be East Indian, Black, Hispanic, White, Asian, etc.? Of course I can. Some years ago, someone decided that even noticing the color of one’s skin is racist. Nonsense. That doesn’t fit any reasonable definition of racism.
Recognizing that not everyone looks and sounds like me is not racism!
Can I research some neighborhoods and recognize where I, a white woman, am going to be the most welcomed, by the most people? I think so, especially since the summer of 2020 when I watched clips on TV of young white women being ordered to kneel and declare their “privilege.” That did make me a tad wary and didn’t seem reasonable at all.
Recognizing that I might stick out like a sore thumb in Watts is not racism!
Would I disqualify a qualified job applicant because he was Black or not move into a house because the neighbor is Hispanic? I most certainly would not. But would I look at someone, of any skin color, and make assumptions, good or bad, about the person based on certain physical attributes? I probably would.
On appearance alone, I might note that young women are more likely to need maternity leave. Older Black men are more likely to be very stable employees, but older, generally, may be harder to re-train. Hispanic-looking may also check the Spanish-speaking box. (‘Very handy in my part of the country!) Obvious and heavy tattooing, regardless of skin color, may turn off my older clients. Etc., etc.
Noticing that different people bring different things to the table is not racism!
Maintaining law and order at our borders isn’t racism. That the people most desperate to seek opportunity in our country are black or brown and from the poorest parts of the world isn’t a result of our racism. Poverty is a result of leaders, of the same race, in those countries, who are vicious and greedy; or a result of lack of resources; or a result of natural disasters; or a result of many other possibilities. But not of my racism!
Having to protect our own people from the problems of another people is not racism!
There are differences that we can see or hear or feel, and assuming that all a White person sees or hears or feels about a person who has black or brown skin is negative most certainly is racism. And it’s racism of the most self-destructive kind. Assuming the worst about any group can destroy a person or his/her family or his/her business, and it can destroy a nation.
All human beings have biases. Are some human beings biased on the basis of skin color? Yes, they are. And those people are probably racist? But are they White? No. Some are White . . . and some are Black or Brown or Asian. In fact – if we are defining racism correctly – in this country, fewer and fewer are White. Instead, more Black people are behaving with racial animus.
We can argue forever about why that is, but the one thing that no person with any intelligence can argue is that reacting to a waning legacy of racism by building one’s own brand new legacy of racism is self-destructive and exceedingly stupid. Were the BLM riots in 2020 racist? You bet your boots they were! Were they justified in any way? Not for the reasons given, although a few sincere folks thought they were.
I don’t believe that the people living in the throes of circumstance are the best people to assess the impact. History does appear to be the fairest judge. But what I will observe from my perch smack dab in the middle of this moment in history is that when a person, or a nation, is on the road to Damascus, you don’t stop them dead in their tracks! And American Whites were well down that road to Damascus before the summer of 2020.
The most racist persons I’ve known in my long life aren’t the in-your-face southern conservatives, not even the ones with Confederate flags on their T-shirts. Some of the most racist people I’ve known are those White northern liberals who will swoop in to save all the Black and Brown people, from themselves. Now, those are people you should probably invite right off your front porch!
Who can forget the charming welcome that the 50 asylum-seekers from Venezuela got on Martha’s Vineyard?
The mouthy redneck might make you work for a handout, but if you do a good job, he’ll most likely offer you a real job, starting tomorrow. The wussy White liberal may hand you something for “free,” but then she’ll head for the cocktail party where she’ll tell all her friends how sad that Brown homeless guy made her feel and go on to describe her “charitable” act, ad nauseum.
Beware the silly stranger whose life is paved with good intentions! Like the government, they are mostly there “to help” themselves.
