Comment on History never repeats itself but it rhymes
Glide@lemmy.ca 1 week agoAnd yet we benefit from it every single day all the same, while throwing out hands up and screaming “that isn’t on me!”
We’re not responsible for what happened to them then, but we are responsible in what we do about it now. Turning away that responsibility while continuing to reap the benefits is racism.
funkajunk@lemm.ee 1 week ago
I don’t inherit the sins of my father solely because of my skin color. Again, that is straight up racism. I don’t call anybody a slave just because their skin is dark. I just showed up here - I didn’t have any say in it, and to suggest that I absorb the wrongdoings of other people just because I have a similar skin color to them is fucked up
I am willing to judge anybody on their actions and the content of their character, and I hope to GOD that I find some genuine people. It’s lonely out here, we don’t need any further division from you or anyone else.
sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz 1 week ago
I feel like so much of the disagreement about racism in the US in social media, is a difference between society at large and individuals. Most people aren’t racist (over the top so. However, I alsothink everyone probably has some sliver, however slim, of racism in them). If you travel around this globe of ours, some countries do suck more than others, but people are, for the most part, pretty friendly and welcoming.
That said, I think it’s insincere to believe that the historical trauma of the history of the US has not had lasting generational/racial negative effects.
If I think someone is saying I’m racist because I’m white, I dig in my heals a bit and think, if not say, what the fuck? If I think they are talking about systemic inequality in general, the history, the current data, etc., then I’ve been getting better and better at not having that blood pressure rise in defense and starting from a point that we probably agree on a lot, and just may have differences in how to address the problem.
queermunist@lemmy.ml 1 week ago
A lot of people literally inherited it because of the generational wealth built by whiteness, slavery, and genocide.
Glide@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
Correct. We inherit the responsibility to do what we can to make those wrongs right because of the advantages we are afforded by our historical background.
Because of the family I was born into, I was afforded easy access to food, shelter, and education, and easily able to find success and prosperity. This allows my children the same, and that’s, in large part, a result of history. Those coming from less advantaged socio-economic backgrounds do so because, again at least in part, my distant relatives stole from them to my benefit.
When these issues are divided by skin color, then yes, it is racist to ignore them in their entirety over the argument that we had no direct control over the actions of our forefathers, as we continue to benefit from them today. It’s really some trolley problem stuff: we are advantaged by being the ones hanging out around the lever, not tied to the tracks. When we are asked to switch the tracks, or heaven forbid stop the trolley, we should not respond, “it’s racist to tell me I should be doing something about this! I didn’t build the tracks! I don’t own the trolley!” Okay, cool. But they’re down there, on the tracks, and we’re up here, next to the lever. Call it luck, but by the nature of our birth, we have an advantage that minorities do not. It is not racist to identify that.
You want genuine people, friend, taking the time to try and discuss these perspectives to someone is about as genuine as it gets. It’s not easy to accept that, despite massive personal struggles and relative low wealth and prosperity in a world owned by billionaires, I’ve been at an advantage just because I was born European descendant Caucasian. Don’t mistake disagreement for a lack of authenticity, or being poor of character.