Race/Ethnicity
Questions 651-660
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THE
QUESTION:
R653: In a society that portrays the black male as the epitome
of serious violence and criminal activity, why isn't anyone publicly
questioning the psyche of the white male? In light of the Columbine
incident, does anyone dare ask what's going on with the white male?
I'm looking at a pattern of violence here: The mass murder in the
McDonald's in California, the Royal Oak post office shooting in
Michigan, the Oklahoma City bombing and the string of school mass
shootings. Tell me, how frequently has a black man been in the news
for shooting up a restuarant, post office or school? Caveat: I am not
indicting all white men.
POSTED APRIL 22, 1999
Zawadi, black female, 34
<aquarius9@hotmail.com>,
Detoit, MI
ANSWER 1:
There is not the questioning of the white male psyche
probably for two reasons. First, questions could lead to exposing the
Big Lie about crime in America and the tyranny of parading blacks as
the nation's only criminals while deflecting attention from the
almost pathological criminality of whites. Magnifying black crime and
de-emphasizing or apologizing for white crime leads many whites,
young and old, to believe they are above the law and everyone else -
that they can do no wrong, and that laws are intended to keep
everybody else in check while exempting whites from such constraints.
This, coupled with the white American male's almost demonic worship
of the gun as his missing appendage, his great equalizer and his
great enabler, are likely to ensure a continuing train of tragedies
like that at Columbine.
Second, men tend to exhaust all stupid alternatives before doing
what should have been done to begin with. Black crime and gun usage,
mostly plaguing blacks, are largely associated with low-end drug
activity. White crime and gun usage are ubiquitous and reflect a much
deeper and more broadly damaging problem. This truth white America
seems unwilling to face, so it continues to dissemble and pursue the
stupid alternatives. Listening carefully to the NRA and other
apologists sadly reflects how slow progress through these
alternatives really is.
POSTED APRIL 23, 1999
Floyd L., 59, African-American male
<lastchild@worldnet.att.net>,
Memphis, TN
FURTHER NOTICE:
I tend to disagree with Zawadi's assessment that "society"
portrays the black male as the epitome of violence and criminal
activity. Perhaps that's the way black males are portrayed in rap
music, and in some movies, but most people know enough to realize
that isn't real life.
It is also no more logical to assert there is a problem with the
collective psyche of the white male than it would be to say that
there is a problem with the collective psyche of the black male.
Individuals commit crimes, not demographic groups. But if you want to
talk about demographic statistics, black males are more than 16 times
more likely statistically to commit crimes, and nearly 21 times more
likely to commit violent crimes, than white males. Those figures are
drawn from crime report statistics published by the FBI for calendar
year 1997. Still, an individual has the power to choose what he or
she does with his or her life. Face it - some people choose badly.
I don't think there's any benefit to trying to lay the blame on
any demographic group when some nut-job decides to do something crazy
like shooting up a school. Contrary to popular opinion, there is no
vast conspiracy to blame blacks (or whites) for anything. There will
always be idiots and psychos in the world. It's one of the prices we
all pay for being in a country of many different kinds of people.
And, for the record, last night's lead story on the 11 o'clock news
here in Columbia was a shooting in a bowling alley, in which a black
man gunned down three patrons. Nut-jobs come in all sizes, shapes and
colors.
POSTED APRIL 23, 1999
Roger, white male, 36
<HighCommander@iname.com>,
Columbia , SC
To respond
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THE QUESTION:
R652: This week's events at Columbine High School in
Littleton, Co., are a tragedy of the most horrid dimensions. My heart
goes out to all the victims, their families, friends and their
community. I can't help but wonder, however, given how race-focused
we still are in this country, if the national shock, horror and
outrage would be any different - more intense, perhaps? - if the
shooters of the victims were non-white. What do you think?
POSTED APRIL 22, 1999
Wondering American, Washington, DC
ANSWER 1:
If the attackers were non-white, I think this would bring
up a lot of racist fears among white people, but for the most part it
would go unspoken, especially on the news. To do otherwise would
upset the myth that we're all "equal" and that we judge others only
on character and not by race. To me, an even more disturbing question
is: If the shooting had taken place in a poor urban minority school,
how would white Americans and the media react? Would white parents
identify with the grieving parents as much? Would the media cover it
the same way, as a national crisis, or would they dismiss it as an
example of urban violence? I'm afraid many whites would fail to
grieve for dead minority children as they grieve for dead white
children, and would fail to see the incident as particularly relevent
to their lives (except as further evidence that they should flee
inner cities and move to nice suburbs, like Columbine).
POSTED APRIL 23, 1999
Rhiannon, 28, white female
<rock0048@tc.umn.edu>
Minneapolis , MN
FURTHER NOTICE:
Of course it would be different. If the shooters were
non-white (especially if they were black), it would be taken as
evidence of the truth of the "violent black youth" myth that we hear
about every day. But even more, imagine if this had not happened at a
middle-class suburban school, but in an all-black and Hispanic
inner-city school in Chicago or New York. There is no way the media
would be treating it with the same level of attention they are now -
and certainly not with anything approaching the sympathy. It would
just be a bunch of "welfare parasites" killing each other off,
anyway. If you don't believe me, just imagine how different things
would be if JonBenet Ramsey had been a poor black girl instead of a
rich white girl.
POSTED APRIL 23, 1999
Randy S., white male Atheist, Atlanta, GA
FURTHER NOTICE 2:
I think the question is hard to answer because nothing
like that has ever happened. That teenagers caused such chaos is in
itself shocking. I do believe, however, that the response would be
different in the sense that hatred and outrage would be the prevalent
feeling among the majority instead of the horror that's felt over the
tragedy. Had the shooters been black, I'm sure many would say the
massacre was done because those boys were seeking revenge for all
those questionable police shootings of black males in the last month.
The music and lifestyle of those boys would be questioned, and the
fear that this may start a pattern among black high school teens
would bring great fear into the American people. That this could
happen in our town would be in most people's minds, instead of the
mentality that "we never thought it would happen in this quiet,
peaceful town." Again, because this has never happened before, it's
really hard to say if the reaction would have been much
different.
POSTED APRIL 23, 1999
Orleanas, 18, black
<orleanas1@yahoo.com>,
Boston, MA
To respond
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THE QUESTION:
R651: It seems like every year there is an award-winning,
major motion picture depicting the Holocaust. Why does this historic
event get so much more exposure than other atrocities against various
ethnic and racial groups in history, namely enslaved African
Americans?
POSTED APRIL 21, 1999
J. Stewart, 34, African-American female, Houston, TX
ANSWER 1:
I guess the same question could be asked about why movies
have not been made about the attempted genocide of Native Americans
at the hands of Europeans. I think currently more emphasis is placed
on the Holocaust because this event happened within living memory and
there are people still alive today who were directly involved with
this tragedy. We have massive archives of pictures, documents and
films available which detail the atrocities of this time. In the
cases of both African-Americans and Native Americans, very few
pictures and no films survive of the atrocities visited upon them.
The main archival material that we have of this time is the
testimonials that were taken from survivors in the early parts of
this century. And these are extremely rare.
POSTED APRIL 23, 1999
M. Kemper, 30, Irish-American female of Native American
descent,<kemper1@gte.net>,
Tampa , FL
FURTHER NOTICE:
Consider the following titles: "The Color Purple,"
"Amistad," "Beloved" "Roots" - and its sequels - "Rosewood," "Ghosts
of the Mississippi," "X," "Mississippi Burning," etc. All of these
films were critically acclaimed and several won prestigious awards.
There are more, but my memory has run dry. I would tend to believe
the list of films depicting Afrocentric struggles far outnumbers the
list of films depicting atrocities to other ethnicities, individually
and/or possibly even combined.
POSTED APRIL 23, 1999
David, white male, 29
<dash@netside.com>,
Columbia , SC
FURTHER NOTICE 2:
Well, if you think about it, the Holocaust occurred in
another part of the world. One person is held primarily responsible:
Adolf Hitler. It's probably an easier money maker for movie producers
to make a German out to be a bad guy than a whole population of white
Americans. It's uncomfortable for Americans to think of their
ancestors to be as viscious as Germans were during the Holocaust.
Movies are a representation of the culture in which they are
produced. They can tell a lot about what the population is ready to
accept and what the population fears. For instance, we have become
much more accepting of Vietnam movies since the late 80's. Before
this time, the American population was not ready to see on the big
screen what really happened in Vietnam.
POSTED APRIL 23, 1999
Lissa, 26, white female
<blahcool@aol.com>,
TX
FURTHER NOTICE 3:
The Jewish people have refused to forget the persecution
they have endured, from enslavement in Egypt to genocide in Europe.
They have used their shared memory, always kept fresh (not only
through mass media, but also through annual observances like the
Passover seder), to give them a measure of security, a security they
are ever vigilant to preserve. African-Americans, it seems, have
developed a shared amnesia. If our parents and grandparents suffered
the violence and indignity of the Jim Crow era, then why aren't we
all well-versed in first-hand knowledge of the goings-on of those
times? I recently saw several wonderful portrayals of the black
struggle in America. How many blacks spent money and time to see
films like "Beloved, or "Amistad?" How many tuned in to see recent
PBS documentaries about Paul Robeson, or the slave trade (6-hour epic
documentary "Africans in America")? Some of us grumble about the lack
of portrayals of our struggles in this country, but how many of us
actually support the fine films and documentaries that are produced,
simply by taking the time to watch? Perhaps if we spent more time
watching the aforementioned types of shows, instead of vegetating in
front of hip-hop videos and black exploitation films (i.e. "Playa's
Club," "I Got the Hookup"), we might see more constructive
productions in the future.
POSTED APRIL 23, 1999
Sam; 31; male; brown American
<SamAlex67@aol.com>,
Chicago, Il
FURTHER NOTICE 4:
I can think of two award winning holocaust films:
Schindler's List ( 1993, I think), and Life is Beautiful (1998). So,
the 'every year' comment seems ill-considered, unless I am
overlooking several more. Next, let's see: Roots, Amistad, Rosewood,
Beloved, even Gone with the Wind come to mind with no great effort.
Also, Dances with Wolves was a moving tribute to Native Americans and
their mistreatment at white settlers' hands. All of the films
mentioned above are powerful, some moreso than others. I am positive
I am overlooking several more, too, and hope someone else can fill in
the gaps. I'm sorry, but I don't buy what seems a short-sighted
argument on your part.
POSTED APRIL 23, 1999
Kathryne, white southern girl, 28, Birmingham AL
To respond
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