Something has been bugging me lately and I have to get it off my mind. It revolves around racism, sexism, and perhaps bigotry in general. It seems that everywhere I turn someone or someone’s action is being labeled a “racist”. Imus brought huge headlines a few months ago by calling the Rutgers’ women’s basketball team “a bunch of nappy headed hos.” The Revrends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson lead a thousand person march against the little town of Jena, TX to rally against what they claim is racism in the treatment of 6 African American boys charged with assault against a Caucasian boy.
And then there is this article that again puts Rutgers in the racism spotlight as a professor is under fire for saying that it would be better to give a scholarship to a minority that is willing to use his or her mental faculties rather than a “functional illiterate.” His words were branded by the president as a “blatantly racist statement.” This professor is of course the same guy who was arrested in the South in the 1960s for work in the civil rights movements. He also retaliated by calling the president a racist for exploiting minorities through the athletic programs.
Now here is my problem – “racism” has emerged as the latest buzzword in media and political circles. Basically, if you do something of which someone else disapproves, especially if different races are involved, you will be labeled a racist, sexist, or bigot. I don’t deny that such things happen, even if unconsciously. But the labeling and over reactive responses have gone too far.
Let’s face some facts – men and women are different. White, black Asian, Indian, whatever – races and nationalities are different. We do not just look different – at times we do different things better and worse. Sure, some may be cultural, but they are still different. I don’t deny that many of these differences tend to be stereotypes, but as my brother used to say, “They are stereotypes for a reason.” And it is not racist or sexist to observe these differences.
The bigotry comes in when we use these differences as a basis for denigrating others and removing their God given value and worth to society. When it goes from observations to ridicule then we do live up to the labels. But for a person to “call a spade a spade” should not brand them something that they are not. If we are truly going to live in a united world – an “equal” world – then we need to embrace our differences and realize that equality does not lie in what we can or cannot do, but in who God made us to be. Our equality stems from our worth in God’s eyes – not each others’.
Am I wrong here? Am I too steeped in racism to see the issue clearly?
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3 comments:
The stereotypes may be stereotypes for a reason, but often it is a really dumb reason. For instance, Polish people are stereotyped as stupid primarily because of a strategy the government of Poland used in WWII. To draw conclusions about a whole ethnicity based on one bad decision by a small handful of stupid. I can point to others.
Sometimes they have a more reasonable basis. But even then, they are not very useful. Black people are stereotyped to be more athletic. Scientific tests have shown some validity to this. However, stating this can put undo expectations on non-athletic black people. It can cause them to feel deficient. It can also discourage white athletes from competing. And of course it can by bias pay the giving of scholarships and salary based on said stereotype rather than performance.
Some stereotypes may be based in reality, but they are almost always more harmful than helpful in the long run.
And now let me say something about cultural stereotypes. We have a responisibility to transform culture for the good. If blatant acts of racist persecution helped develop a culture of poverty and defeatism, we have an obligation to try to right that wrong.
Do you see what you have invited, Sam? Way to go.
My bad. I guess I was wrong and the spam comments are the proof.
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