Anti-Racism Revisited: The Rage of Minorities

In part one, "What About 'Reverse' Racism?" I mentioned the way racial minorities create hierarchies among themselves. because of this hierarchy--I don’t believe this following statement is true of most Asians and as true for as many Latinos—for many blacks, if we could physically hurt white people and get away with it the way whites have historically physically hurt every racial group, many ethnic groups, several religious groups, women, queers and so forth without criminally paying for it…we would. and this is why I believe black men commit so many crimes, but commit the bulk of them against blacks and some of them against other minorities with relatively few committed against whites—they know that if they directed their anger and violence at the people they really wanted to direct it towards, they would be punished much more harshly.

but the truth is black men know blacks are the least valuable people in society and, thus, the best to victimize, with other minority queers and Latinos being next, then Asians. and indeed, much of the time when blacks victimize queer minorities, Asians or Latinos, nobody hears about it but people from those respective groups, just as when those people victimize blacks you don’t hear a lot about it. and if blacks didn’t have the few very visible activists we have like the aforementioned groups don’t—activists who seem to only see in terms of black and white—you would rarely hear about white injustice towards blacks just like you don’t hear about injustice towards the aforementioned groups. The fact that black leaders only focus on whites is also one of the reasons crimes Asians and Latinos commit against blacks go unnoticed.

but let something happen to a white queer or a white heterosexual at the hands of any of these groups—trust me, you’ll know about it…with white queers because they are in activist mode right now…and the perpetrators will pay dearly. otherwise, long before I was born, white americans might very well have been eliminated and this would be a predominantly black, Asian and Latino nation. and many white fear exactly this threat from blacks, which is precisely one of the reasons for systemic racial oppression that is disproportionately targeted towards blacks in the first place—a system that, if it didn’t informally legally/criminally value whites above all others while socio-econ-politically disempowering blacks, would possibly result in more black-on-white crime and, in the past, might have resulted in white extermination.

so many blacks really are that angry, even many of the ones you perceive as “good blacks” who smile and laugh in your face, shoot the breeze with you, date/marry interracially and rarely ever mention race to you. I know, because almost all blacks like this whom I have ever met say really vile things about whites when they are among blacks and other people they perceive as allies, sometimes including whites. one piece linked to by Carmen from Racialicious basically confirms something like this as a fear of many whites, i.e. if blacks were empowered would they treat whites the way whites have treated them throughout history. I think this is less and less true as more blacks—and other minorities—become, as I describe it, more and more “naïve” about the existence/severity of racism…but I am very tempted to believe the answer is still yes, from listening to my colleagues, thinking about my own feelings/thoughts sometimes and looking at the amount of crime/anger black men commit/possess.

in fact, in the post in which I describe some of my concerns about immigration, I state my belief that once Asians and Latinos gain more power in the US they will take up the task of white supremacy towards blacks—and, honestly, even towards immigrants of their backgrounds, whom they’ve worked so hard to distance themselves from--along with whites because so many of them are more concerned with, and more able to obtain, acceptance by whites. basically, after everything that whites have done, anyone (i.e. a group of people, not necessarily every individual in the racial group that obtains power) with the power to systemically oppress and discriminate will do so, though for different reasons/towards different groups depending on the group in power.

would the angrier, less "white-washed" Asians and Latinos want to hurt whites if they could? Judging from Kim’s writings, I can’t be sure but I would guess yes--though, with Asians, perhaps not physical hurt. my guess is also that the more naïve minorities of all backgrounds, i.e. the ones who don’t experience as much discrimination as many blacks or who don’t experience that much discrimination period, do not feel like this is true or have this level of anger. after all, if you don’t experience that much discrimination, what do you have to be so angry about (even though there are definitely minorities who don’t experience much who are angry, i.e. many of the blacks at my law school)?

The funny thing is I don't think any of us would feel this way if whites hadn't done the awful things they've done throughout history. Whites try to justify their actions by pointing to blacks as dangerous/violent, but blacks do what they do in response to whites and always have. We're generally "dangerous" to whites only if we get power, and whites know it.

Next--Is Racism "Hatred"?