Poor White Racism (a reply
Poor White Racism (a reply to A Question of Privilege)
In order to put and end to poor white racism, you have to understand the situation of poor whites. You do not learn how a gun works by inspecting bullet holes, you inspect the gun. The gun metaphor is very appropriate for poor white racism, because poor white racism is a mindless weapon. Someone else is pulling the trigger. (...)Be sure to read the enlightening discussion that follows the article.
This kind of racism is unique from the garden variety racism that is typical of, say, the middle class or upper classes (i.e. the kind of racism that has at least the potential to be remedied by the kind of therapy group work that people like Chris Crass devote all their time to). Garden variety racism comes from a presumed, mostly unconscious sense of superiority, which is reenforced by the dominant culture, of course. Even certain kinds of "anti-racism" are really just manifestations of this garden variety racism (i.e. "I'm such a big- hearted white boy for 'helping' those poor people of color"). (...)
Just as avoiding the issue of racism is a cop out, making semi-mystical claims that racism is an uncurable disease that we may never be rid of, is also a cop out, it allows people to relinquish their responisbility for stoping it, it also allows people in the white left to shirk the hard, ugly, unpleasant, and often unrewarding work of *really* trying to put an end to racism amongst white people in general. Racism, like rape, is fundamentally about power. Poor white racism is both a conscious and an unconscious false expression of power by a powerless group over an even more powerless group. (...)
Because the white left is largely middle class we end up with the spectacle of white suburban ARA youth fighting white working class skinheads. We have the oddity of having white activists dealing with thier own racism, or insisting that "everyone is oppressed", but refusing to organize in poor white communities because those communities are racist and sexist.
Comments
Bah. This anarchist stuff gets so tiresome; privilege is *not* simply a matter of relative inequality 'before the law' (pornography is one obvious exception that ought to be obvious with a moment's reflection); but even if it were (and, again, it is *not*), we live, all of us, always *in* the short term, where so-called reformist gains matter, often very much.
Unless or until historical circumstances are such that revolution is a *real* historical possibility, to be grasped, this tired anarchist dichotomy between 'reformism' and 'revolution' is just really stupid. And no one who spouts it ever offers the slightest argument to show (what cannot, as far as I'm concerned, be shown) that reformist gains in the short term are inimical to creating revolutionary situations. There's rather a lot of assertion and handwaving about 'supporting the system' but that's not nearly enough.
You'd think that all the so-called anarchists would have figured these simple points out since Uncle Noam is *forever* making these points. Pick up his Powers and Prospects and give it a read. Don't take my word for it. Don't even take Chomsky's. But his point is still true.
Pretending that white people, that men, do not have privilege to slough off and refuse is just reactionary politics in black bloc drag.
Posted by: kendall | December 28, 2001 2:22 PM
And what does this mean, in practice? If you, Hypothetical White Male, walk into a job interview and there's a black person or a woman waiting to be interviewed, should you walk out immediately? Should you take no jobs other than fast-food grease cleaners? Should you give 10% of your income to your black neighbors? 50%? Should you ask them how you should vote in the next election? Or do you just go around self-righteously parading your 'refusal' of white privilege?
Posted by: Anonymous | December 28, 2001 10:30 PM
There are lots of concrete things to do, if you're so inclined, to attempt to refuse privilege; that you can never completely refuse it is 1) a sign that it's a result of systematic social structures and 2) no sign that you're warranted in not trying. (Generally, it isn't *hard* moral and political obligations that we are exempt from, it's *impossible* ones. That difference makes all the difference in the world.)
If it sounded like you were *really* interested in hearing about concrete things you can do, as a white person, I'd give you a list of books to read, sites to browse, and the like.
But it sounds to me like you want to find reasons *not* to try, and you don't need my help with that.
Posted by: kendall | December 29, 2001 12:07 PM