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14-05-07, 11:29 AM
Trying to make sence out of why many white people still feel superior
by Michael G. McFadden
mailto:McFad3@aol.com
From the author of "Disappearing Acts", a modern day examination of white supremecy from the perspective of white people!
"About 12 years ago, I decided that I couldn’t be critical of the practice of segregation if I also consciously practiced it. I always had white friends in school, and in various work places, but those relationships were more the product of proximity then of choice. I had never actually sought out a real friendship with a white person where some institution or employer wasn’t responsible for our knowing and interacting with each other. I didn’t like, or dare I say I hated white folks (men) for a plethora of reasons, all of which emanate not form their belief (and the belief of their ancestors) that they are superior to blacks, but because their treatment of blacks was consistent with that retarded belief. I call that belief retarded because no facts, when accompanied by the looking glass of context, support that belief. I didn’t really care so much about what they think, hell I think I’m superior to them, but it’s that they treat black people like their inferior that really burns me! While this is mostly a subconscious belief that they never espouse, its’ pretty clear from the way that they have always structured our society that they have always felt this way. In a rare moment of clarity, one not weighted down by the albatross of anger and resentment, I reasoned that if I were white I would likely feel the same way. In a world where God, Jesus, Superman, Batman, Santa, John Wayne, all Presidents (I’d probably argue that Bush must be Hispanic) and everybody on “Friends� is white (you get the point), white people must be superior to everybody else. I don’t find it remarkable to also think that, because blacks are never portrayed as super heroes, never get elected President, don’t look like God or his son Jesus, and only star on “Cops� and in the NBA, that they (having done nothing significant throughout history) must be inferior! So having rationalized the reasons for this belief, and having forced myself to confront the reality that if I were white I would likely share this belief, I could no longer justify my hatred for white folks (men). So I stopped hating them, and I came to understand that why is always life’s most important and compelling question. Everything in our society strongly suggests, or is manipulated to strongly suggest that white folks (men) are superior to everybody else. Who can blame them for feeling this way, particularly where said belief dwells unexamined in the subconscious of the entire culture! Again, where Sam Jackson’s character in Spike Lee’s “Jungle Fever� said “I swear before God and 4 white people�, this is a manifestation of the cross-cultural reach and somewhat self loathing application of that belief. Makes perfect sense when you think about it, but of course, we never do!"
Michael G. McFadden
mailto:McFad3@aol.com
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