There are some potent arguments supporting the idea that I am racist. First, I am not voting for Senator Obama. Second, I am white. Third, I oppose hate crime laws and affirmative action. And, fourth, I oppose "reparations for slavery."
But frankly, I'm getting tired of being accused of racism, by people who clearly and obviously don't understand what racism is, or what the word itself even means.
So, I'm going to talk about these four issues. And afterwards, you can make up your own mind. Am I a racist? Or are the arguments against me simply not what they seem?
The first and second arguments - that I am voting against Senator Obama, and that I am white, go hand in hand. You see, the imputation by the Obama campaign, and many of his supporters, is that the ONLY reason a white person could possibly vote against Senator Obama is because of his skin color.
This argument, of course, is inherently racist, as it is making a judgement about me and my decisions based solely on my skin color. BECAUSE I'M WHITE, my disapproval of Senator Obama MUST be predicated on HIS skin color - because as a white person, I am incapable of seeing any other factor as important.
There are a plethora of reasons to avoid Senator Obama at the general election; his total lack of experience in executive authority, his blatant and obvious communism, his association with terrorists former and current, his participation in the single organization - ACORN - most responsible for today's mortgage market meltdown, and his appallingly communist voting record, are all major reasons to stay away from him. Presuming that it is IMPOSSIBLE for me to have taken any of those factors into account in my decision, BECAUSE I'M WHITE, is openly, shamelessly racist.
The core of the first argument against me is that as a white person, I MUST make all decisions based entirely and exclusively on the basis of race.
I reject that notion utterly.
However, the second argument also acts on its own; I'm white, and therefore purportedly congenitally incapable of understanding oppression, injustice, and insult; especially since, as a white person, I of course have never experienced any of those things, and even if I had, it wouldn't count, because when those things happen to white people "it's just different" than when it happens to a black person.
In fact, this should be evidently racist to anyone; the entire structure is predicated on my skin color as the sole evidence of my "obvious" incapacity of understanding; BECAUSE I'M WHITE, clearly nobody's ever made unfair assumptions about me, or personally insulted me, or held me back from something I deserved; BECAUSE I'M WHITE, if any of those things did happen to me, they would be inherently different than those same events happening to a black person, because they're black.
The word "racism" has a meaning; that meaning is "making judgements based solely on race."
If the premise of your statement is "you are white, and therefore..." that is a racist statement.
The core of the second argument against me is that based strictly on my skin color, I lack the capacity to comprehend injustice and act against it.
I reject that notion utterly.
The third argument, that I am a racist because I oppose "hate crime" laws and "affirmative action," is also fundamentally a racist argument, but to understand this, you must first truly understand the message and intent of "hate crime" laws, and "affirmative action."
There are certain types of things that are illegal. We call those things "crimes." As they are against the law, when one performs those actions, there is a penalty, a punishment, for violating the rights of others. Most of the worst of these - specifically, many of the things deemed ready for "hate crime" status - are crimes against persons, crimes which are inherently more heinous than others, like murder, rape, assault, and arson.
As such, they are afforded higher penalties than other kinds of crimes, because they afford the victims more permanent or serious consequences than such trivialities as vandalism.
However, there is a segment of the American public which wants a certain subset of those crimes to be deemed even MORE heinous; "hate crimes." This is because - so the argument goes - the crime is inherently worse when perpetrated against any other ethnic group, by white people.
This nation is founded on the fundamental principle of equal treatment under the law. Claiming that a crime is worse if someone white commits it against someone black, than it would be if someone white committed it against someone white, is openly claiming that black people need special, extra protection not needed for anyone else; protection specifically not afforded to white people, who obviously don't need it.
What this claims - quite openly - is that the racists are right; black people AREN'T as good as white people. If they were, after all, the normal, already-enforced protection of the law would be sufficient. The fact that people are advocating special protection for a group - based on race - implies that those advocates believe that group is incapable of functioning without that special protection; that they are inherently weaker, lesser, than everyone else protected by the law.
I reject that notion utterly.
Affirmative action uses the identical argument, but in the opposite direction. Affirmative action claims that black people - or really any ethnic group that's not white, but let's not be picky - are inherently incapable of keeping up with white people academically or in job performance, and thus require special treatment to be able to compete "fairly."
Special treatment based on race, is racist.
Affirmative action makes the claim that "ethnic minorities" aren't as good, or as capable, as white people, simply because of their skin color.
I reject that notion utterly.
The fourth argument against me, that I am a racist because I oppose "reparations for slavery," presumes that I must make such opposition because of my skin color, and for no other reason.
In fact, I personally have never owned a slave. I personally have never oppressed anyone. And yet, the supporters of "reparations," would forcibly take from me my own hard-earned money, and give it to someone else, because I share a skin color with people now dead, who committed an offense against other people now dead.
The reality is that no-one now alive has ever been a slave. No-one now alive has ever owned a slave.
It is therefore impossible for me to share any guilt for slavery. Not only was I not alive when slavery existed in this country, no-one remains alive to whom "reparations" might fairly be paid. Had the government apologized for slavery at the end of the Civil War, in 1865, and paid reparations to all former slaves, that notion would not only have had merit, it would have been fully justified, and I would have supported it; it was the government of this nation which allowed that practice to continue, and therefore the government owed an apology, and a debt, to those who suffered from it.
But not only the victims are gone, but the members of our government who owed the apology are gone as well; in fact, everyone involved is gone.
Arguing that "reparations" are justified now, is to argue that people innocent of a crime owe a debt to those against which no crime has been committed, because of skin color; an idea which is inherently racist.
The core of the fourth argument against me is that because I am white, I am responsible for the actions of all other white people.
I reject that notion utterly.
So, you tell me. Am I a racist?
Or is the reality that the people accusing me of it are simply trying to cover their OWN racist issues?
Am I a racist because I assume that a black person is just as capable of doing well in school, or at work, as a white person?
Because it never occurs to me to vote for a communist - because I've been to communist countries and have no urge to see that here?
Because I refuse to pay someone who is not a victim for something I didn't do to them or anyone else?
Am I racist...
...Because I am white?
And if you answered "yes," to that last question...
...What does that make YOU?
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