Thursday, December 6, 2007
Racial Double Standard
I consider myself to be a very open laid-back, non-judgmental person, or at least I really try be—Most people “sum-up” or judge a person they meet for the first time within a ten seconds; I try to save passing judgment on people until I know them better.
That being said, I could care less what color, religion, sex, or political views are…If you want to dye your skin blue and worship a grape, go ahead! I am not going to try to convert you into believing what I believe and I would hope that you would respect my beliefs and not try to impress upon me your beliefs. However, this mutual respect is not always the case, as I have personally found out, probably due to the preponderance of extreme-conservative Christians that live in the South. I grew-up in a unique and diverse background, so I was subsequently exposed to each aspect of my heritage and encouraged to find what “spoke to me.”
However, it is not so much the complete disrespect for personal choice in believing in whatever, whomever, or nothing at all, that really agitates me; it is the racial double standard in this country that truly frustrates me. Perhaps, I just do not fully understand the African American culture…
For example, I never understood how or why it is okay for fellow blacks to call each other the “N-word,” which by all accounts carries a negative connotation, yet it is implausible for anyone of another race to use that word. Or how blacks can call whites, “crackers,” which also seems to carry a negative connotation, but no one raises an eyebrow? Furthermore, after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin, who was then running for re-election was quoted as saying that he wanted to return New Orleans to a “chocolate city,” and again no one really objected to this racially divisive comment. Why?
Why does it seem as though only whites can be racist? No matter the color of our skin, we’re ALL human, so can’t EVERYONE be susceptible to racial prejudice….? ¶ posted by CiCi at 10:43 AM •
That being said, I could care less what color, religion, sex, or political views are…If you want to dye your skin blue and worship a grape, go ahead! I am not going to try to convert you into believing what I believe and I would hope that you would respect my beliefs and not try to impress upon me your beliefs. However, this mutual respect is not always the case, as I have personally found out, probably due to the preponderance of extreme-conservative Christians that live in the South. I grew-up in a unique and diverse background, so I was subsequently exposed to each aspect of my heritage and encouraged to find what “spoke to me.”
However, it is not so much the complete disrespect for personal choice in believing in whatever, whomever, or nothing at all, that really agitates me; it is the racial double standard in this country that truly frustrates me. Perhaps, I just do not fully understand the African American culture…
For example, I never understood how or why it is okay for fellow blacks to call each other the “N-word,” which by all accounts carries a negative connotation, yet it is implausible for anyone of another race to use that word. Or how blacks can call whites, “crackers,” which also seems to carry a negative connotation, but no one raises an eyebrow? Furthermore, after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin, who was then running for re-election was quoted as saying that he wanted to return New Orleans to a “chocolate city,” and again no one really objected to this racially divisive comment. Why?
Why does it seem as though only whites can be racist? No matter the color of our skin, we’re ALL human, so can’t EVERYONE be susceptible to racial prejudice….? ¶ posted by CiCi at 10:43 AM •