it's a terrible thing that black people and all minorities accuse white people of when black people and all minorities and their guilty white liberal enablers don't get their way.
the accusation of it is far, far worse than the actual thing itself, but the worst thing of all is reverse racism.
*sigh* That didn't take long.
That's your contribution?
Anyway...
I remember a lecture from my sociology professor- a self-professed liberal, for what it's worth- from freshman year. He gave us this hypothetical scenario on race, and I found it quite interesting. He said something roughly like this:
"Let's say I show you a group of 5 African-American males on one side of the room. Then I show you a group of 5 Caucasian males on the other side of the room. Then I tell you that one of these 10 people has been convicted of homicide, and I'll give you five bucks if you correctly guess which group he is in. Which group do you guess?"
I would, likely with little hesitation, pick the group of African-Americans. Now, is that being
racist, or is that making a racial observation and estimate based on statistics? I'd pick them not because I believe most African-Americans are criminals or because I hate black people, but because the statistics tell me to pick them. And I bet there would be people who still call me racist for picking the group of African-American males, and if so I'd certainly like to know why.
Another hypothetical. Let's say it's a year ago. You're driving down the street and the car in front of you has a McCain/Palin sticker on it. You change lanes and pull up beside it, and prepare to glance over at the driver. Now, what race do you expect to see when you look in the driver's seat? If you think "Hmm, there's probably an equal chance that I'll see a white person or a black person in the car," then bravo, good for you. But tell me that you wouldn't be 99.9% sure that there would be a white person in the car. Now, I
could say that you would be racist for assuming that. But I wouldn't, because that's not being
racist, but rather making a racial observation and estimate based on statistics.
I was walking on the quad last year wearing my McCain shirt and an African-American stopped me and starting questioning me. His first question? "Why don't you like Obama?" His second question? Something like "Is it because he's black?" or "Are you a racist?" Are we really at that point in America in 2009? I sure hope not.
Also, one morning last winter I stepped outside of my apartment building to head to my car. I noticed that overnight half of my McCain/Palin bumper sticker had been ripped off and faintly written in dust on the back of my car was "racist." Again, is this the world we live in?
I don't know if I answered the original question, and I don't really care. Point is, I don't care who you are, we need to stop throwing "racist!" around so damn easily. 95% of the people who use it probably use it incorrectly, and that is unbelievably aggravating.