Here's another bomb I'm about to drop on those of you who are unfamiliar with this stuff. It's impossible to be racist if you're black.
I'll just wait and see what kind of outrage that little nugget inspires.
Ha, I'll bite too. That statement is logically false.
A "racist" is one who has "a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race," or alternatively "racial prejudice or discrimination."
There is logically nothing that prohibits any particular race from having such beliefs.
:) I'm glad (in some ways) to see people are getting upset. I admit it was a provocative and imperfectly-worded statement, but actually, it is true in a lot of ways.
I think for your statement to hold, black would have to be the lowest rung in all areas of the world.
That is true and it's why I admit it was imperfectly worded. Others have probably stated this concept much better, but the gist of it is this:
A person can't be racist in the direction of power.By which I mean, when you're talking about "isms" you're not talking about individual actions or experiences, you're talking about global trends. When you say so-and-so is "being racist" you're saying that person is upholding a trend seen throughout the world. All of the "isms" have implied victims. In sexism, the victim is always female because men, globally, have more power than women. So no, a female cannot be sexist either.
In racism, the victims are always people of color because globally (not individually), they are the ones who are disrciminated against, not white people.
The reason my statement was provocative and kinda ass-hatty -- despite the fact that it is technically true -- is that it comes down to semantics. A black person can
essentially be racist towards a white person, but because of what the "isms" are all about -- who has the power in the world -- they are not truly being racist but they are being
prejudiced.
This would be just as bad if the power dynamic on a global scale were not tilted the way that it is. But it is, so it's not. Even though prejudice is terrible, it is not as bad as racism, which, as I said before = prejudice + power.
Now I'm going to bow out of this discussion because I feel I've said my piece and some will agree and some will disagree, and that's reality. I've pulled the thread off topic to the extent that I felt compelled. Apologies for that, OP.