'to Be White Is To Be Racist'

A high school teacher in Norman, OK, is under fire for telling his students "to be white is to be racist, period." He made the comment during a discussion in a philosophy class that was "intended to heal racial divides."

-James Coursey, Norman North High School

The article doesn't mention anything about the man's upbringing, but I would ask him how he was raised. It's true that parents pass their values on to their children but that doesn't equate with all white people being racist. My own parents, college students during the 60s, had very strong feelings regarding any type of prejudice. I was repeatedly taught not to judge people based on race or religion, two issues that were prevalent when and where I grew up. I cringe when I read some of the comments in the threads on HF. So how the hell am I a racist? And more importantly, how is lumping all whites together as 'racist' not in itself a racist statement? Why is it so hard for us, all of us, to leave our racial baggage in the past where it belongs?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2016/10/19/to-be-white-is-to-be-racist-period-a-high-school-teacher-told-his-class/

 

Cool how the article doesn't fail to mention incidents in Florida and Montana.

 

Racism is not a matter of Colour - It is a matter of Choice

 

He's right, I am a racist!
Although I am white, my wife and children are brown, all my lovers are brown, I live in an entirely brown area of a brown country, my best mate is black and I only listen to Latino music.
I really don't have much time for white people (or their culture).

 

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Nevermind

I didnt really understand the teacher's intentions. At first i interpretated it how I see it a lot on this forum, how people get defensive because they think as a white person, minorities are automatically going to assume you're racist

But then I reread it and I think he actually believes all whites are racist?

 

If all white people are Racist Then by the same token all black people are The same
What about Yellow red ................ Fill in the Blank !
That teacher is a prick Does that Make me an Ist

 

all white people are racist
all black people are criminals

 

Some people get so concerned about racism that they lose it.

 

That's the way I read the article. I don't understand how lumping all whites together as racist isn't racist as well. I wonder if he suffers from 'white guilt' and this is his way of dealing with it.

 

If everyone just does things 'because that's the way they were raised' we'll never see any progress on racism or any other issue.

 

In a recent thread, we had the absurdly dumb and myopic alternative discussion suggesting that black people can't be racist.


For some unknown troubling reason, it seems recently that people have forgot how to contextualize subjects and apparently when describing a specific phenomena such as institutional racism, some people just forsake the predicate and apply it to the concept at large.

 

Nuanced opinions are gay after all.

 

I've heard this theory before. Implicit racism.

Anyone ever taken/heard of Harvard's implicit associations tests/study?

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/selectatest.html

You can take it here. Measure the sort of thing we're referencing. Try the "race" IAT, it's towards the bottom of the list.


Don't necessarily espouse these beliefs, just interesting.

 

I got "no automatic preference".
To me it seemed more like a hand eye coordination test. Like rubbing your head and patting your belly. Or a QuickTime event.

 

I thought so too

And also the way it was presented seemed it would be more likely to give people a preference of white over black, because good = white is presented first, so one's brain must make an adjustment when asked to switch to good = black later

 

What sex were you assigned at birth, on your original birth certificate?

How very politically correct.

Sounds like someone assigned it at birth, like it's a thing of decision at birth.

 

I am not white. Not totally anyway; and though I am technically half white, I've never really been considered white, try as I might, neither by my peers nor by my family. My take on the issue:

Racism is wrong. Some people realize this. Other people choose to talk like it, dress like it, wear their tattoos like it. You name it! Anyway, that's what I think. If you subscribe to that school of thought, you do so knowingly. It is much easier to wear the racism costume when other people around you are doing things that make it seem okay.

I think I'm getting to something... My point is that while your parents may espouse racism, you aren't automatically racist. You maybe feel torn between knowing what's right and what will please your parents though.

As far as being automatically racist, I don't think that's true. People are inherently good-natured, and racism is a learned behavior. Blah. I feel like I wasn't clear enough but I'm too lazy to rewrite this whole thing.

This all actually became a central/pivotal crisis in my life. At one time some of my friends started being racist. They aren't my friends anymore, and although I miss them I seldom forget the way things were for that time. Anyway.

 

I got


Your data suggest a strong automatic preference for European Americans over African Americans.

I wonder if it would be the same if it was different - first white/bad and black/good, and then the opposite.

 

Something I found funny about souls first comment.
Did you ever notice that when someone is half black they are always referred to as black but never whatever the other half is.
Obama is the first black president. (He is part white).
Tiger is a black golfer. (Part white part asian)
Keenan and peele are black comedians (both are part white)
It seems like the only time I ever heard someone called (part white) is by other blacks as an insult.