Culture Wars: You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

[from 9/23/09]

Last March that I noted that racism no longer exists in America because we have a black president. I got one angry letter about that, which made me laugh, so I'm writing it again. I'm not saying racism is gone forever, just that to find it you have to go outside our borders to countries that don't have black presidents.

It might help clear up this issue if we were all on the same base when it came to knowing what racism is. Racism is the belief that having race makes you inferior. People who are white skinned, excluding albinos, have no race. Albinos are annoying, as they must be dealt with on a case by case basis. Anyway, all others have races. Racism is gone from America because our president is half race-burdened. In the place of racism we now have racial bigotry.

Racial bigotry is different from racism because it doesn't have anything to do with what you believe. You can believe that all people are equally likely to be good and capable, but still go ahead and make up lies about them.

In fact, let's be clear. The more capable a race-afflicted person in power is, and the more likely he/she could be effective in carrying out his/her agenda, the more racial bigotry will be directed at him/her by the un-raced, and hence more lies and character attacks will be directed at that person. Because it's all about the power, and he who has had it wants it back.

White formerly-racist America is saying, "OK, OK! UNCLE! We GET it! You people are capable of doing anything! Alright, now, celebration's over; run along."

Racial bigotry isn't about what you believe, it's about who you tear down. It's about using unfair tactics, including lies, to undermine legitimate gains, not because you think they're illegitimate (though you might say so in specific cases as part of your tactics) but because you know they are legitimate, and that just plain pisses you off.

I also want to talk about other kinds. I mean, other kinds of bigotry. Obviously "other kinds of bigotries" is a huge subject and I can only scratch the surface of it in my remaining 290 words. So I will confine myself to a big one, cultural bigotry.

The thing that I want you all to know about cultural bigotry is, LOOK OUT! I mean, really, this is not sufficiently talked about.

I'll illustrate with examples from my own life. In 1972, a white friend took me to overnight at the house of a mutual black friend, whom I will call Wilbur. I pick that name because you never met a less Black black man than Wilbur. He was so not Black he was studying Tagalog at the U and planning to join the diplomatic service. I was sure that I would be safe sleeping overnight in his house, even though he had race, and he shared his house with 7 siblings of all ages, who also all had race.

Yet, within half an hour after we white guys arrived at Wilbur's house, one of his sisters put on a record of Sammy Davis Jr. singing Candy Man, and all 8 of them leaped out of their chairs singing and dancing around the living room like the revolution was starting. I was, of course, terrified.

Not many years later I was taken by some other friends to overnight in Upstate New York with a white family about the same size. Believe it or not, no one put on any Sammy Davis Jr., and when the Dad in the family played guitar no one danced. Instead, all his whiter than white kids sat around like adoring cherubs. I was sickened, even though there was no race anywhere.

I'm over those experiences. I have learned since to live with these and many other alien American cultures. But it has taken me over 35 years! Can America take that long to accept Michelle?