That mindset rather excludes the people forced to deal with the ramifications of racist society; not all Black people “hate” White people for the past and our present inequality, and there are also Black people severely suffering from internalized hatred.
All of us living in the US are affected by racism and White supremacy; that is without a doubt.
That all White people living in the US do benefit from systemic racism (whether they like it or not) is also true.
But to say that “we are all racist” is an overgeneralization and a lazy ass excuse invented by people who simply don’t want to do the hard work of dismantling racism.
I refuse to let such people dictate the narrative…
That’s the really message of what I’m trying to say. I’ll use the specifics phrase of “everyone is racist” if only to get through to those (usually white, liberal, and ever so well meaning people) that insist they don’t see color. They may not hate anyone, but we all have stereotypes that have been presented to us over and over that we don’t question. (Decades ago, when I was younger and much less aware: “Hey, I met a Black guy that also likes punk. Wow …” It wasn’t ever thinking something was wrong with it, but it did break the template I had been given – and I’m glad it did!)
That was my starting point, albeit with homophobia. Why would you have something about yourself so much? Extension: If only we were more like those other people, then they’d accept us, right?
That’s the other half of it. You’ve got this crap as part of your cultural indoctrination. So what are you going to do about it?
(Edit: That’s you in the generic sense, not you in the specific, of course.)
One thing that I think happens when people are in stressful situations is that they reach for the most hurtful thing to say. So they end up saying horrible things, not so much because they believe them, but because they know they will cause the most distress to the hearer.
I know that my internal conversation has shoved up some incredibly bad ideas of how to respond to a situation. Thus far I have been able to stifle myself and not say them. I don’t even agree with them even as my subconscious is suggesting them.
That’s not what this teacher did, and his firing was the correct response. But I think it’s why many people who have said bigoted things can turn around and say “but I’m not a bigot!” It’s another way the culture of racism infects people.
Or, maybe he fully believes that white people are the “superior race”. Plenty of white people do believe it. It’s not that much of a stretch, because in lived memory, we had a society where our legal system enforced white supremacy and most white people did not even remotely question that structure, because of how it privileged them in our society. We never came to terms with those facts of history, which explains why it’s been so trivially easy for white supremacists to work their way into the GOP and essentially take it over. People DO believe this shit, it’s not just “a horrible thing to say”… it’s for far too many white people, something they consider to be a deep and abiding truth that explains the past 500 years of human history - that white people are naturally “superior” so they managed to take over the whole fuckin’ place. Because the truth is just too hard for some to accept - that Europeans brutally colonized the world and exploited resources found in other places for their own economic benefit, destroying billions of lives in the process. They came up with a ideological reason that it was so (eugenics, social darwinism, etc), and used that as an excuse for the building of that system.
I was trying to point out how insidious the culture can be. Not to be excusing anyone, especially not this ex-teacher. That the ability to control that impulse is important in recognizing the ways racism seeps into your thought patterns when you don’t realize it has. And to give a possible explanation for why people who have just said something bigoted can seem so surprised about being called out.
Noticing how readily I can find myself ready to say something horrible is upsetting, since I do not behave in discriminatory ways as much as possible.
ETA:
I’m not talking about motive here. I’m not giving anyone a pass for saying racist shit. I’m mentioning that, when I’m upset, the worst possible insult to hurl rises up in my mind. That racist shit is what my mind presents me with as that worst possible insult shows me how deeply those ideas are inculcated in our society. So far, I have not actually said any of those things. If I am careful to maintain my awareness of how systemic racism affects me in subtle ways I can manage to never say them, and hopefully someday my mind will shove up some other idea as the worst possible insult.
I think if this guy is out and out saying that whites are superior, it’s not just that shit seeping into his consciousness. He BELIEVES it. This is not him making some off-handed microagression towards a student of color. He “declared” whites to be superior.
This is his own words:
“Deep down in my heart, I’m ethnocentric, which means I believe my race is the superior one.”
That’s intentional language. Dudes been reading some white supremacist literature on purpose and was fired for pushing his beliefs on his students.
I don’t really see what people maybe thinking of a bad insult when angry remotely has to do with this guy dispassionately describing his world view. It’s not the same at all.
This guy is describing his world view, not hurling an insult, though. And yes, racist shit seeps into your thinking in a racist society (same with misogyny, homophobia, etc, etc). But, again, this guy was just describing how he sees the world, not just reacting to others. So, yeah, I’m not seeing the connection at all.
He didn’t seem agitated at all; he was just ‘matter of factly’ stating that he thinks his race is better than everyone else’s, and so “of course” everyone else must think that way too.
Temperament matters even less than ‘rationale’ in this case.
I know we have a real problem with the more insidious forms of racism, that still seeps into our minds and warps our world view… but this guy is a true believer in racialism, from his own mouth. He’s on the active racist side of the fence here… He’s spouting the same shit that besuited racists like Richard Spencer spout.
I do. The dude who keeps it to himself does society a service, as they seethe in rage and hold it in. They come into the ER with a STEMI in their mid-50s and die quickly, at minimal expense.
The demonstrative white supremacist causes other people stress and negative outcomes.
Or perhaps they’ve gotten away with it 100 times before and the existence of consequences never entered their mind. I think it works like a lot of people with speeding tickets when slightly over the limit, people get away with it often enough and long enough and they are actually shocked when they get caught.
