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Bigotry, Communication, Culture, Equality, Logic, OneGentlemansPerspective, Opinion, Philosophy, Race, Racism, Relationships, Social Media, Society
Is it never about race, or is it always about race? These two concepts are absolute positions, and from personal observation, I would not have a difficult time finding people forming an allegiance to one side or the other.
Which side do I believe has more evidence supporting their position? In my humble opinion, I have to say neither.
The topics of sex, race and religion will always have a bit of controversy involved. I know it and you know it. If I want to rile up a political argument on American soil, I can say the following…
President Barack Obama is the best president since Franklin D. Roosevelt because…
or
President Barack Obama is the worst president since Herbert Hoover because…
Regardless which position I post, there will be droves of individuals brandishing their pitchforks and Molotov cocktails.
I fail to discover sound reasoning on either side, where it is never about race or it is always about race. Once again, these perspectives represent absolute positions.
If race never plays a factor, even in instances when it does take on the leading role, we simply chalk it up as misleading. Remember, it is never about race.
Example: After requesting information about signing up his son for the team, a league administrator says, You people do not like water sports. Why would you want your son playing water polo, as opposed to joining the math league or something science related?
It’s never about race Response: You people refers to individuals lacking an interest for water sports. The administrator was not specifically referring to the disinterest of Asians and/or Pacific Islanders, in non-math or science related areas.
For people who believe it is never about race, even if a member of the KKK specifically sent me a package with a noose inside, a doctored photo of my body hanging from a tree and a stamp with an alligator eating a Black infant, there is always another explanation somehow void of race.
I know of incidents where the issue of race is rather evident, regardless of the racial makeup, yet there is always a nonsensical explanation to clarify that race did not play a factor.
This side is no better or worse, from those believing that the incident is always race related.
Example: While attending his son’s little league football game, Bob turns to another father, points to his son and says, Wow. That boy is unbelievably fast. He seems incredibly gifted in this game.
It’s always about race Response: This father is clearly a racist. Why would he label your son a boy? This language is condescending, and plays to the belief that Black men in the eyes of other people, are still boys regardless of age.
For people who believe it is always about race, the fact that the entire football team is made up of 10-year-old boys, becomes lost in the angle that everything is an act of racism. Should he refer to this 10-year-old boy as a man?
Though I believe race is not always a factor, please take off the blinders and try to understand when race is at play.
Though I believe that race can play a factor at times, please remove your programming and apply a rational perspective, where you are able to deduce other variables besides race. In short, it really depends on the situation.
This is my perspective. I am more interested in yours. What is your position on this idea that race never plays a factor, versus the one that says race always a plays a factor?
One Gentleman's Perspective 
Ah, racism. Always an interesting topic. I don’t buy into extremes at either end in life, so I’m inclined to think that it’s no more accurate to say it’s “always” about race then it is to say it’s never about race.
I think race often plays a factor in peoples thinking, but something being impacted/influenced by race doesn’t mean it’s racist.
My wife is of a different ethnic background than me, and my dad will periodically use the “your people” line. When he does, it tends to be around stereotypes and his comments may at times be somewhat ignorant. But they are never malicious. He loves her, and he is never looking down at her or others of her ethnic background.
To me racism isn’t just about stereotypes and generalizations. Racism is when someone looks down on others or elevates themselves above those others due to ethnic differences.
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The more difficult the discussion, the greater my desire to write about the subject. I can tell from various factors, which of my posts will come across uncomfortable to some. When that happens, I like to focus my energy addressing the subject. Why? Comfortability is damaging. If Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, Warren Buffet or George Soros remained comfortable, we would not experience the things that arrived outside of their comfort zone. I am not comparing myself to them, but when approached correctly, unconformable topics make for the most interesting dialogue–in my opinion.
With that said, race will often insight the “I don’t want to talk about that” response from people, offline or online. That is completely fine. However, the more we refuse to address something, the wider the disconnect becomes between people.
My wife and I discuss different factors involving race, whenever we see a story taking over the headlines. We don’t convey this idea that, “I don’t see color,” because it’s usually those with this belief who have the most warped perception about race.
Should the worth of an individual come down to his or her racial identity? Of course not. However, “I don’t see race,” is akin to saying, “I don’t see height,” “I don’t see hair color,” etc. Height and hair color do not determine your worth, but it is a part of your identity. They’re quite visible.
I don’t promote this nonsensical idea, that whenever a disagreement occurs between two different racial groups, race is at the core of the problem. I refuse to believe this. I also refuse to believe that in instances, the racial makeup will never play a factor.
People treat one another differently because one is more beautiful, has more assets, higher education, dresses better…yet people want me to believe race is not an angle, which people use to treat one another differently. Racism happens, racial differences insight disagreement and inferiority/superiority positions, etc.
However, I will never be part of the camp, where I think all issues are somehow due to racial differences. I don’t believe in the Boogie Man, and I surely don’t believe in that either.
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Absolutely ready -witted … I was just catching up with the Indiana Laws yesterday and Just find it hard to believe… We have gone so far and yet certain things remain the same…
Thanks for a clever and accurate post. I will spread it on Twitter right away! All my best wishes Aquileana 😀
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I was actually familiarizing myself with this particular subject (Indiana) as well. As a people, and I’m referring to the entire human population as a whole, though we have become technologically and medically advanced, aspects remain as primitive as ever. In fact, I’m working on a post, addressing my take on a video I recently discovered. I had to share the video with my friends and family, because though gruesome, it was necessary.
Thank you sincerely for the tweeting my post. I’m still quite unaware on how best to use Twitter. It’s why I am incredibly inactive.
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Like my blog says, I try to do everything for a reason that is more sophisticated than simply having been told to do it by someone else.
Here’s an example of my race relations. I have a few black female acquaintances in customer service positions, people with whom I am friendly, but I would NEVER date nor kiss a black woman. I’m not sure I like the idea of black friends either, although I don’t mind black co-workers.
I guess I’m racist, but I make exceptions in public because otherwise it would be difficult to survive.
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