Now Replace the Word “Black” With “White”
I don’t mean to pick on Gerald, but his recent post at The Cafeteria is Closed regarding the racial identity of Barack Obama’s church furnishes me with an example of a rhetorical tactic I often find problematic. In the post, Gerald presents quotes from the church’s website about how it is “Unashamedly Black,” has deep roots in “the Black religious experience,” etc., and then, as an argument for the church’s racism, asks us to imagine what we would think if the church had used the word “white” instead of “black.”
This “what if things were reversed” trope isn’t unique to Gerald, by any means. It pops up fairly regularly not only with regard to race, but also with gender, religion, political views, and so on. I’ve even used some form of the argument myself on occasion. Sometimes the analogy is helpful, but I think that it just as often obscures as it enlightens, because the truth is that we very often have good reason for treating statements by or about blacks differently from similarly worded statements by or about whites.
Perhaps an example will make my meaning clear. While there are some people who prefer “African-American” to “black,” generally you aren’t going to be thought a bigot because you refer to African-Americans as blacks, and if someone said he thought it offensive to call European-Americans white he would be met with incredulity. Yet if someone were to call Asian Americans “yellows” we would find this offensive. Why? After all, there’s nothing intrinsic to the word ‘yellow” that should make it more offensive that “black” or “white,” so why should our reaction to the two parallel terms be so different?
The answer, I think, is that “yellow” is offensive when use to refer to a racial group not because of anything inherent in the word, but because it was historically used as a derogatory term by people who held bigoted racial beliefs. The words “white” and “black” don’t have such histories, and thus don’t conger the same associations that “yellow” does is this context. Similarly, if talk about “White Pride” seems more disturbing and dubious than talk of “Black Pride,” it might have something to do with the fact that talk of “White Pride,” “the White race,” and so forth have been historically associated with racial chauvinism and oppression of non-white groups in a way that’s just not true of talk of “Black Pride.”
If one wants to judge whether Obama’s church’s Afrocentrism has gone “over the line” as it were from a legitimate affection to one’s own group to something more troubling, a better test would be to replace the word “black” not with the word “white,” but with “Irish” or “Polish” or some other ethnic term that lacks the negative connotations that we would associated with things like a Congressional White Caucus or a NAAWP. And if I saw a church that advertised itself as “Unashamedly Greek and Unapologetically Christian” I probably wouldn’t think the church was racist. I’d think it was Greek Orthodox.
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Blackadder – Thank you for putting into words something that’s bothered me for awhile.
This is a very good, very needed post. Gerald seems to evaluate things in a vacuum without regard to the concrete and historical facets of connotation, parlance and culture. His post forwards a concept without feet. Yet, in his defense, his perspective is learned. It is indicative of how a whole host of individuals think on the topic of race and ethnicity form a purely abstract, ahistorical manner. It neglects to remind itself that racial, ethnic and cultural reality is experienced concretely, historically, which cannot be left out of consideration on account of the difference across racial, ethnic and cultural lines. One of the things that I have admired both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI for is their manner of including the historical and experiential identity of peoples in the pastoral activities and statements.
Blackadder,
Great post. Thank you!!!
It’s not the particular slogan, but this Reverend and church’s general slant, the hagiography of the “honorable” Farrakhan and so forth. One cannot equivocate “white power” with “black power” on every occasion, it just seemed warranted in this particular case. Obviously, there was no need to call something “white” when that was the “race” in charge anyway. It is because I found that particular institution highly dubious that I suggested imagining it the other way round. After all, everyone can be racist.
So, in actuality, I do agree with you and Michael (*marks day in the calendar*)
Once more, obviously, a 19th century “black college” came into being because of necessity rather than racism. It’s simply impossible to turn every blog post into an essay, looking to pre-empt every possible misunderstanding. Much is “short hand” that assumes a degree of bona fides on the part of the readers – in dubio pro Augustino, if you will. Maybe I should archive caveats and disclaimers and link to them where appropriate :oP
Obama’s tortured approach to race was set in interesting contrast to his more “relaxed” brother’s by the articles provided by Jonathan Jones.
My approach to “race” is very much along the line of “existence precedes essence”, “l’home se fait” and so forth. I find the self-questioning along the lines of what it means to be black/white/female etc. to be a succumbing to other people’s pre-conceived notions. (a different question would be to explore the situation of whites, women etc. in society) No one should feel he or she has to act – within reason – or be a certain way because of race, sex, age etc. Although I don’t care much for her, Simone de Beauvoir was right when she said that no one is born a woman. Of course one can have a pre-conceived notion on the “progressive” end of the spectrum as well – eg, traditionally a woman was supposed to stay home, then it became almost “sinful” if one wanted to stay home. It is perfectly fine to be typical or atypical. I am an Austrian who doesn’t ski, and I welcome black opera singers, white Jazz musicians and Asians in lederhosen.
My particular outrage at part of “black culture” is based on these views – the ghetto ideals CONFIRM old stereotypes. To value being un-educated is to be what racists always said you were. To live a “thug life” also does. It is the ultimate victory of the KKK to have blacks self-destruct. 50% of murder victims are black, killed almost entirely by other blacks. 7 out of 10 black children are illegitimate. This all happened after the actual oppression was over.
It is the cruel irony of history that many blacks still define themselves by how those who hated and owned them defined them. To remain in the angry victim role is to continue to give power to the evils of old. The Buddha said, “”He abused me, he struck me, he overpowered me, he robbed me.” Those who harbor such thoughts do not still their hatred.”
It happens that blacks who work and study hard are ridiculed, even loathed by others, for “acting white” and are called “Oreos”, and worse. Such attitude – explicable by the evils of the past – is self-defeating. No black man has to become a drug dealer, addict, pimp, gang banger. Admittedly, it is easier for them. It is a shame that what they do is playing to stereotypes – and thereby validating and perpetuating them. There is no government program that can change this – if anything, welfar policies have made things worse – show me one person who speaks lovingly about living in the “projects”. Poverty facilitates these conditions, but they do not necessitate them. When black neighborhoods were segregated and poorer, families were still cohesive and crime much, much lower. The root (cause) of all evil is the present approach to life by so many. No one is forced to denigrate women, glorify crimes and so on. Past wrongs may explain current evils but they do not exculpate.
Being constantly aggrieved means paralysis and results in looking for ever new, albeit much slighter, insults. Laying the blame on others, the past, racism and so forth solves nothing.
Once more, I quote the Buddha
“Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought. If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts happiness follows him like his never-departing shadow.” Or, in a nutshell, as you think, so shall you be.
I meant, black colleges weren’t founded because of black racism.
And of course it’s l’homme se fait
‘This all happened after the actual oppression was over.’
Uh…when precisely did it end? Major social changes don’t occur overnight. We’re still working on this one.
Gerald,
As I said in my post, I wasn’t trying to single you out so much as to use your comments as a jumping off point for something that’s been bothering me for a while now.
As for your other points, I don’t really want to get into it right now. Topic for another day.
This is probably completely unrelated but there was a fascinating documentary I saw a while back — “From Swastika to Jim Crow” — about how Jewish academics fleeing the Holocaust typically ended up teaching, due to America’s own racial/ethnic prejudices, at black colleges. These days, thanks to likes of Louis Farrakhan there is a great deal more antagonism, but the film was a reminder that it wasn’t always so. Anyway, it’s worth catching on PBS or renting if you can find it.
Gerald,
I’m not familiar with you or your site, but you have been criticized here and so I hope you stick around some in the future for dialogue.
And you are right to point to the 70 percent illegitimacy rate and the rate of violent criminality far out of proportion to the share of population as the largest impediments to black social and economic progress, which I hope ends in the near future. These problems did not exist on near this scale before the late 1960s.
Sensitive topics. May we become less sensitive and more willing to dialogue.
Yes, Jonathan. If only the darkies weren’t such a sentimental bunch of libertine criminals, this would all be so much easier.
Matt,
Please don’t use that word again.
Yes, Matt, if only people could leave the condensation, status game, infantile projection nonsense behind when it came to race and/or ethnicity, our public conversations would indeed be significantly better, more interesting, and more honest.
But hey – we all have to feel good about ourselves right? At least you aren’t some closet racist!
BA – I was using it tongue in cheek -but you’re right. I apologize.
Matt,
No problem.
Jonathan – the claims you’ve made here concerning blacks are laughable nonsense, and (to the point of Blackadder’s post) take the problems of the black community out of the context of history and the legacy of racism. You’ve even defended the notion that blacks are less intelligent than whites, recommending that they be given vocational training rather than help with college, for pete’s sake.
Matt,
“You’ve even defended the notion that blacks are less intelligent than whites”
False. Link to the post or the comment.
“recommending that they be given vocational training rather than help with college, for pete’s sake.”
A completely dishonest misrepresentation.
The “claims” I have made in this thread are extremely easy to support with a very wide variety of statistics over three decades.
Your comments and misrepresentations in this thread are a good example of why most people quite understandably avoid discussing race and/or ethnicity – because it’s much easier to just leave it alone given the ease with which dishonest and cheap rhetoric is thrown about. But perhaps you have found some comfort in demonstrating that you and your opinions on this matter are clearly morally superior – quite unlike those who view themselves better than other people, those people, the minorities! – and so best wishes.
In a way, it’s rather condescending to deny people responsibility for their own actions. It’s a denial of human freedom to paint blacks as inevitable victims and failures. It certainly doesn’t help anyone to dwell on past grievances and thus become paralyzed.
Let me quote Frederick Douglass, who as you probably know, had been a slave for part of his life.
“All I ask is, give him (the Negro) a chance to stand on his own legs! Let him alone . … If you see him going into a workshop, just let him alone — your interference is doing him a positive injury.”
Everybody has asked the question, … ‘What shall we do with the Negro?’ I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us. Do nothing with us!”
“If the apples will not remain on the tree of their own strength, … let them fall! I am not for tying or fastening them on the tree in any way, except by nature’s plan, and if they will not stay there, let them fall. And if the Negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall also.”
Gerald –
Straw man: No one here is claiming that blacks aren’t responsible for their own actions.
Are you claiming, on the other hand, that a long history of slavery, racism and employment discrimination has no bearing on the current situation of, say, South-Central Los Angeles?
Matt, it certainly does! But, the fact of slavery or racism cannot be changed retroactively. The only thing that can change is the community of today. Unfortunately, the civil rights movement has thoroughly degenerated, there’s nothing to be expected from a Sharpton. I didn’t say they weren’t victims, I am saying it’s fatal to keep dwelling on it.
My point in my first, long post in this thread argued that one proves the KKK right by living and validating the stereotype of uneducated, criminal blacks, that one considers “authentically black” what racists had always accused blacks of. That’s what I called the cruel irony. The internalization of the old stereotype is one of the more absurd twists in history. Hip hop culture (at least a vast part of it) is basically an embodiment of what racists had always thought blacks to be. Another irony is that they have made reality correspond to the stereotype than it did during slavery or segregation. This is what I meant by slavery/segregation still having a grip on part of black culture, only this time not by force. Some may feel so rejected or foreign to mainstream culture that living the stereotype becomes an act of defiance. Most criminals however are simply bastards who have an easy life bullying others in their neighborhoods. The -not without reason- distrust of police makes life much easier for criminals. It would be necessary for these victimized people to realize that it’s not white people (anymore) who are keeping them down and harming them but rather people from their own neighborhood. There are such voices among blacks, notably Bill Cosby. You can’t keep shooting yourself in the foot and claim someone made you do it.
Of course this “urban” culture is not restricted to blacks, nor is it a “racial” necessity. It’s entirely cultural. The “thug life” encompasses other ethnicities as well, too. Media companies make billions from glorifying depraved lives. True leaders aren’t really around who’d give them “tough love”. Hucksters like Jackson make matters worse, not better.
But, the fact of slavery or racism cannot be changed retroactively. The only thing that can change is the community of today.
The fact cannot be changed. But don’t confuse the fact (cause) with the effect. We are still reeling from the effects. And we need to mitigate and, eventually, stop the effects.
Excellent post.
I had been a frequent commentator in the comment boxes on Gerald’s blog. Having been deeply involved in my younger days with such organizations as the National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice, the Association of Catholic Trade Unionists, the Christian Family Movement and The Liturgical Movement, I certainly can’t deny that I am what most people consider a liberal Catholic. I have no problems with claiming that title. Nevertheless, I found much of Gerald’s commentary stimulating and a bit better intellectually than some of the rubbish that passes for social observation in the world today.
I believe I only became aware of this website when a Gerald mentioned in his blog that a negative comment was made here about him. I thought the comment against him was unwarranted and unfair and I said so.
But his recent writings on racial concerns have proven to be a tremendous disappointment. Even making allowances for not being raised in this country and maybe unaware of the continuing struggle for interracial justice in America, he has certainly gone beyond the pale of what I find to be helpful and sound commentary.
I have been concerned about this topic for quite some time, going back to when a number of us were quietly and patiently working to desegregate Catholic parishes, schools and hospitals as well as encouraging Catholic organizations like the Knights of Columbus to drop the color bar. There is little that Gerald has written that is substantially different from what our critics at the time of desegregation said and wrote.
I believe Gerald has shown a fundamental lack of understanding of this topic.
From my decades of experience on this issue, I have found that often the inordinate fear of “Black Pride” by people who endure March 17th without pontificating on the evils of the “Irish Pride” banners or help themselves to ample portions of the baklava at the parish Greek Festival is due to a very real fear of and opposition to African American social and political empowerment. I don’t know if this is the nature of Gerald’s problem or not. Perhaps he is perfectly Christian towards African-Americans he meets in his daily life (presuming he has daily interaction with African-Americans) but it was just a chance to take a political shot against a candidate he does not care for.
I celebrate Cinquo de Mayo more than St. Patrick’s Day-its easier-not during lent!!!
And the cuisine is certainly better!!!
Mexican Power! (oh wait that gets candidates in trouble with the National Review…)
Katherine – I agree. Thanks for the comment!
“I celebrate Cinquo de Mayo more than St. Patrick’s Day-its easier-not during lent!!!”
We get dispensations in the NY Archdiocese for the feast day of our patron saint. Only problem is that I now live in Brooklyn so I have to take the subway to Manhattan to take advantage of it.
Are you claiming, on the other hand, that a long history of slavery, racism and employment discrimination has no bearing on the current situation of, say, South-Central Los Angeles?
Matt, unless you have a time machine and can go back in the past and change it, there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. The 70% illegitimacy rate in the black community is well documented. Also the fact that the leading cause of death among young black males is being killed by another young black male.
My take on this church of Obama’s (putting aside for a moment, the issue of Louis FarraKKKhan) is the idea that black folks need to start taking responsibility for their own problems. If this problem were in the Italian community (like Blackadder alluded to as a comparison) and someone said: “The majority of crime in the inner city is caused by young Italian men turning to organized crime”, I, as an Italian American would be the first to step up and claim that the Italian American community needs to step up and help themselves. Being proud of your culture, admitting your problems, and taking care of business is a good thing in my opinion.
But white people cannot discuss problems in the black community without coming off as racist.
If the whites can’t, and the black leaders won’t, who is going to help address the problems?
I will make a political observation, nothing to do with the merits of anyone’s opinions. Mainstream conservative opinion on race, without necessarily being racist, is very much alienating to moderate swing voters. And, with the internet and the blogs, it is no longer possible to keep it out of the wider public discussion. If a discussion of race becomes part of the general election debate, the Republican nominee is going to have to publicly reject conservative opinion or risk losing significant numbers of moderate swing voters. The GOP hierarchs would prefer this issue simply stay in the background. With modern technology and the insistence by conservative bloggers to speak their mind, this is simply not possible.