Return-Path: <nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id e930p6927340; Mon, 2 Oct 2000 20:51:06 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 20:51:06 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <001d01c02cd4$3790cfa0$3aeeffd1@cbking> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Catherine King" <cbking@flash.net> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-POVRACELIT:95] Re: Defining Our Own Racism--Individual X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; Status: O Content-Length: 5923 Lines: 153 To Kate Gladstone: Who questions my comment that . . . whites in the U.S. are "probably racist," and says, "To me, this sounds like 'if your skin is pink/beige, you're probably racist unless you can prove that your birth-family included no racists' - a combination of 'guilty till proven innocent' and 'guilt by association.'" This is not a finger-pointing exercise. Rather, it's a call for self-reflection in a culture that has very recently come out of a time when black people had to use different bathrooms, sit at the backs of busses, avoid public swimming pools, go into doctor's offices through backdoor entrances, etc., etc., --not to mention whatever individual attitudes were in one's home environment--can you imagine what it is like in a family of KKK members for the children there?--where it is still rather rare that people question and break such ingrained social patterns. Everything social and public was white, not to mention male, including on television. In this kind of atmosphere, it is difficult to understand how anyone could **not** have to deal with unraveling an ingrained racism in one's own inherited assumptions. Though institutions and laws are changing, attitudes, I have found, take much longer. It's not an accusation, but a general historical reality. Things are changing, of course; and I think there is great hope for continued "washing out" of racist attitudes in the U.S. as generations move forward. (Many of my black students say they have no hope of it ever changing.) Read any headlines, however, and you will find that what is called generally "group bias" is a complex and continually recurring problem--in and against all kinds of groups, including the recent note regarding Jewishness. Bias is a problem of modern consciousness and has been since we left tribal existence, and it is why education for civility is so important. In the U.S. white racism against black people is the particular historical "group bias" of the day, or more like the past several centuries, that has been even institutionalized not only in Jim Crow laws, but in many different and particular local laws, e.g., water fountain usage. Ms. Gladstone continues: "So let's turn the question around: what on Earth does someone (especially a so-called "white" person) have to be/do/know/feel in order to NOT count as biased/racist/ etc.?" Frankly, I'm not interested in what you do with what I have said. In a complex culture as we have, however, I can say that self-reflection is never a bad thing. But I'm not setting laws here or "counting you" racist. I'm doing cultural analysis. I have been studying human attitudes (including all forms of group bias) for over 20 years and thought from your question you wanted to possibly benefit from my studies and from my student observations, as I do from yours. Unfortunately, it seems for many that raising questions in a remote forum like this is read as making accusations. If true, this would be an incorrect assumption. Best to all, Catherine King ----- Original Message ----- From: Kate Gladstone & Andrew S. Haber <kate@global2000.net> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov> Sent: Monday, October 02, 2000 3:01 PM Subject: [NIFL-POVRACELIT:93] Re: Defining Our Own Racism--Individual > To my question: > > > "What, actually, does a person have to do in > > order to *not* be a racist?" > > Catherine writes: > > > (1) In the United States, if we are white, and unless we > > were born into a family of extremely open and aware > > people who spoke openly about "in the air" attitudes in > > the general culture, we are probably harboring some > > sort of bias--in this country, most especially against > > black people. > > To me, this sounds like "if your skin is pink/beige, you're probably racist > unless you can prove that your birth-family included no racists" - a > combination of "guilty till proven innocent" and "guilt by association." > > > (2) We can be and often are biased without knowing it. > > That is, it is like wearing "colored" glasses and not knowing > > that we are looking out of them but thinking everything really > > is that color. Racism, gender bias, age bias, etc. are > > a part of the intellectual and emotional air we breath. > > (This applies to all people generally.) Racism and all > > forms of bias come (1) as a combination of a child's view > > of things who equates surface realities (gender, color, > > handicaps, etc.) with a total reality, and (2) passed-down > > subtleties from the people around us who unwittingly or not > > "give" them to us and make them a part of the mental > > makeup we, in turn, interpret reality with before we even > > become able to self-reflect and become critical of this > > inheritance. It is insidious in this regard. > > This part sounds, to me, like "if you're alive, you're probably racist." > > > (3) The first "door" to self-understanding our own > > bias-inheritance is the insight that many **never** get: > > That is, that "I may be biased and don't know it." > > So let's turn the question around: > what on Earth does someone (especially a so-called "white" person) have > to be/do/know/feel in order to NOT count as biased/racist/etc.? > > > (4) In reading allot > > What? > > > Yours for better letters, > Kate Gladstone - Handwriting Repair > kate@global2000.net, kate@WriteMe.com > http://www.global2000.net/handwritingrepair > 325 South Manning Boulevard > Albany, NY 12208-1731 > 518/482-6763 *or* (for toll-free dialing in the USA/Canada) > ENTER ACCESS CODE 04 at my new 800 number, 800/394-9482 (800/EX-HW-ITAlic), > access code 04 > (remember: > EX for EXcellent, HW for HandWriting, ITA for ITAlic ... then, access > code 04) > AND REMEMBER ... you can order books through my site! (Amazon.com link - I > get a 5% - 15% commission on each book sold) > > > > > > > > >
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