The Protection of Projection: A Reader’s Lesson in Bigotry Vs. Racism

frustrated-black-woman, afro

Here we go again.

Shortly after my Dr. Frances Cress Welsing interview showed up in today’s Briefing, a reader wrote in doing 2 things: admitting to being ignorant about racism, yet displaying the arrogance and entitlement to make it EVERYONE ELSE’S issue rather than applying introspection or actually placing blame where blame belongs. Captain Oblivious asked the same perpetual questions that the clueless tend to, such as special interest groups named for ‘minorities,’ why is there such a big deal about color (implying, of course, he has none) and how, in his estimation, ANYone who opts for separating themselves or who couldn’t look at character rather than skin tones was a racist not just whites.

Um….NO. Class is in session, get the notepad ready y’all……

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I guess I just don’t understand the true nature of racism. I’m just old man with very little education and have never given much thought to skin color. I have often wondered though how do we eliminate the color barrier when we keep building new walls.

Why do tolerate having the Chamber of Commerce, the Black Chamber of Commerce, and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Why is it acceptable for colleges to have Student Unions, Hispanic Student Unions and Black Student Unions.

If we tolerate and accept these self mandated differences, how will we ever learn to get along based on our acceptance of others because of their character and not their ethnicity or color?

Racism exists because those who choose to remain separate for their own purposes allow it to, whether White, Black, or Hispanic.

Please forgive my lack of understanding.
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Hello [name omitted to protect the clueless],

thanks for reading my column this morning and taking the time to write. Your questions are commonly asked and I have no problem answering them for you, so here it goes:

The proper definition of racism, per Dr. Welsing, is this: ‘Racism and white supremacy is the local and global power system and dynamic, structured and maintained by people who classify themselves as white—whether consciously or subconsciously determined, which consists of patterns of perception, logic, symbol formation, thoughts, speech actions and emotional response, as conducted simultaneously in all areas of people activity, including economics, education, entertainment, labor, law, politics, religion, sex and war—for the ultimate purpose of white genetic survival and to prevent white genetic annihilation on planet Earth, the planet which upon the vast and overwhelming majority of people are classified as non-white (black brown red and yellow), by white-skinned people and all of the non-white people are genetically dominant in terms of skin coloration compared to the genetic recessive white-skinned people,’ end quote.

In other words, whites are the ones who set up the system of separation, exclusion and domination over others who happened to do nothing but be non-white. Given those facts, people of color aren’t ‘putting up walls,’ whites do (those interested in maintaining the system).

As for the ‘Black’ this and ‘Black’ that, did it ever occur to you that groups dominated by whites didn’t want to include the input or interests of other groups? If there were no bans excluding people of color or disdain for their concerns, these groups would’ve never had reason to form. THAT’s the intolerance you’re speaking of.

Finally, to answer your last question, racism still exists for 2 reasons: one, it serves the people that are perpetuating the inequity of the power base and two, others would rather believe that it doesn’t exist. When one is part of a system that affords them levels of privilege and access by birthright that they may or may not have earned, simply because of the skin color they have, it can be hard to see or anticipate the feelings of the other side. However, the solution is to open minds, accept the truths about the inequities and strive to change them, not to deny that they ever existed in the first place.

Again, thank you for writing and for taking the time to read my work. I hope I answered your questions sufficiently and that you have a great weekend.

*Knowledge dispersed, mic dropped.*

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4 Comments

  • Reply zbawienie

    Some genuinely select posts on this web site , saved to favorites .

    June 12, 2014 at 5:00 pm
    • Reply Lorrie Irby Jackson

      Keep reading and sharing, thanks!

      June 14, 2014 at 9:52 am
  • Reply mhook

    Sigh. It gets old, doesn’t it, when you have to continually educate those who are privileged enough to “not get it” and go on their merry way. You were probably a lot nicer than I would have been.

    Dr. Welsing’s definition of racism is phenomenal! My only complaint is that it may be too complex for many to fully process. I wonder if she can offer a shortened version. Or perhaps people can just look to Florida and their ridiculous “Stand Your Ground” laws which seem to be a shining example of the racism in our legal and justice systems.

    February 16, 2014 at 1:55 pm
    • Reply Lorrie Irby Jackson

      Our editor says I’m patient too Misty, thanks! Until lines are crossed and names are called, I try my best.

      I also get you on the definition Ms. Misty, that’s why I tried to ‘dilute’ it somewhat in the text of the story (re the power angle). I also found a meme I can use to make it easier to understand as well (for later posts).

      As for the SYG laws, I can post stats, examples and everything else, and some will STILL argue that the disproportionate #s are coincidences, etc., and never admit the obvious. Guess the status quo works for them, which is tragic and worthy of an entire post all by itself.

      February 17, 2014 at 6:41 am

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