Recently I posted a FB story about Michelle Obama’s name being tossed around as a potential presidential candidate in 2024. A FB friend posted that she would vote for her, to which a FB acquaintance, to whom this column is directed, asked: “Why would Michelle Obama make a good president? Long before Trump, she claimed America was systemic racist. Barack revived the racism of the 50s and 60s giving birth to BLM.”
To which I would reply that racism never went away, it was always there and while appearing more subtle in various instances, nothing has changed.
A follow-up from this person said: “When someone cut in front of Michelle Obama in line, she called it racism. Racism was when Michelle couldn't go to the same school, or use the same drinking fountain, bathroom, or restaurant as a white person. I was in Mississippi in the early 60s. What I saw was racism. What we see today is petty in comparison.”
Petty, you say? After 9/11, a Sikh here in Phoenix was killed by someone who assumed all people who looked “Arab” were responsible.
This week, a Black man was released after serving 19 years for a crime he did not commit as he had been set up. A young Muslim boy was killed two months ago in what has been called a hate crime. Three students were shot in Vermont by a former serviceman because they were Palestinian. A Jewish man was killed during a protest in California last month during an “altercation” at a demonstration. A Texas man pled guilty to 90 federal hate crimes for the August 2019 Mass Shooting at Walmart in El Paso, Texas. Today, 33% of Asians have changed their daily routine for fear of threats and attacks in America. This happened in the 2000s, not the 50s and 60s.
The largest credit union in the US, Naval Federal Credit Union has the widest disparity in mortgage approval rates between White and Black borrowers of any major lender. NFCU which lends to military servicemembers and veterans, approved more than 75% of the White borrowers but less than 50% of Black borrowers who applied for the same type of loan were approved.
Matthew Shepherd was killed in the 80's for being gay.
The only people not under regular attack? White men who scream they are being marginalized by other races.
Racism, discrimination, hate? It's alive and well nearly 60 years after Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney were killed in Mississippi. Just because you can sit next to a Black man at a diner counter doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It used to be subtle. it was called blockbusting, redlining, and white flight. Now we see it daily on social media and it’s rampant. It may not be a bomb, a shooter, or a lynching but it’s racism and hate just the same.
But let’s look at the definition of racism. Racism as my acquaintance defines it is “nothing like it was.” Here is the Oxford definition of racism: "prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism by an individual, community, or institution against a person or people based on their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized."
Petty racism? Private clubs are still restricted. Exempt from civil rights law, to preserve their right to privacy and freedom of association, private (members and their guests only) a club is under no obligation to accept members based on race, color, nationality, etc.
The new leader of the Republican party basically says to me that as a Jew, this is not the country for me. It is basically “a battle of the faithful versus the infidels.” Speaker Johnson sees me as an infidel. LINK https://www.npr.org/2023/12/05/1217452058/speaker-mike-johnson-draws-scrutiny-for-ties-to-far-right-christian-movements
Have you forgotten signs in hotels in the 40-60's that said "No Jews or dogs allowed?" I guess the new leadership has marginalized me.
This country has always looked for people to blame for their lot in life.
To my acquaintance, I would say: It’s not petty. It is real. While there is a difference between a wound and a ‘flesh wound,’ it’s still a wound. The level of severity varies but it is what it is.
So don’t tell me what is and isn’t your brand of real racism. I’m smarter than that.
To quote my late grandmother Nettie Kluger: “tut nisht pis arop meyn rukn aun zogn mir es regn aroys,” which translates to: “Don’t pee down my back and tell me it’s raining outside.”
"Silence encourages the tormentor,
never the tormented."
Yes, yes discrimination does still exist. And you are wrong to state Caucasian people are not discriminated against. If you don’t see it you are not looking to quote someone on this response.
How about writing something positive? Something fresh instead of the constant beat of the discrimination drum. It is used so often and so inappropriately many times people forget what it actually means.