What is ‘real’ racism?
So just what is this alleged real racism that people are talking about? They speak of real racism as though it’s so much better than fake racism. Fake racism could be white people who dress up as Native Americans aka Injuns, for Halloween. And then Native Americans complain about it and they’re told to rather focus on ‘real racism’, which is so much more offensive. And so much more ‘real’.
Same thing with ‘real sexism’. Could it be that people who wish we could rather focus on ‘real’ instances of sexism or racism are unaware of how these bigotries actually work? Because there are too many people who claim that a remark is OK as long as it is not horrifically sexist/racist. And that we should not be offended by such ‘benign’ statements. I always wonder how they distinguish between ‘horrific’ and ‘so-so’ examples of bigotry. And this one guy claims that anecdotal evidence aint evidence. Pity he doesn’t realise that sexism is the sum of many small injustices. It becomes a pattern, as does racism. One sexist lyric/video/blog post/internet forum comment/book could still be ignored; many sexist lyrics/videos/blog posts/internet forum comments/books means it’s a state of emergency. Something’s wrong and we need to fix the system.
Sometimes, though, a member of the privileged group will acknowledge that they might not be the best ones to determine what or who is sexist or racist — for the very reason that they belong to the group with the most power. But this doesn’t happen nearly as often as should.
You see, sexism and racism are both overt and covert. Overt sexism would be job ads that specify ‘men only’. And covert sexism could be someone being idiotic — though sincere! — who claims that women are the ‘nicer’ sex. It sounds like a compliment, no? But it reveals as much about the speaker or writer as that exclusionary job ad. It’s similar to hearing that you’re so ‘pretty for a black girl‘. On the surface it sounds like a compliment. But dig a bit deeper and you’ll find that it isn’t a compliment at all — it’s racist. It’s racist because the writer or speaker is surprised to encounter such a good looking black person. So they’re experiencing some cognitive dissonance — “Hold on! How can this black person be this pretty? Aren’t blacks ugly?” And then comes the compliment: “Wow, you’re so pretty for a black girl!”
Real racism is at play even when you, liberal white man, refuses to see it. Real sexim is at play even when you, liberal woman, laughs along with the sexist jokes.
Sure, you do not think it’s racist or sexist. But it doesn’t mean that it isn’t. Real racism doesn’t just have to be a burning cross on someone’s front yard. Real sexism isn’t just sex-specific job ads. Think about it.
And let’s hope you’ll be less inclined to tell the aggrieved party that the ‘offender didn’t mean to offend’, is a ‘nice person’, and ‘couldn’t possibly be racist/sexist’. ‘Cause guess what? Their actions hurt someone else. Surely that’s bad enough?
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Do you believe that allegations of racism and sexism are sometimes levelled in error? Could you give an example?
neil
26 Dec 09 at 10:01 AM
this is well written and on point. even those of us who oppose racism/sexism fiercely need to face the challenge which it is to point out racist/sexist gestures as they occur before our eyes.
missmays
1 Feb 10 at 4:05 PM
Well said. People don’t get that subtle racism/sexism is “real”.
It’s similar to the broken windows theory (in my opinion), but, obviously, in a less physical sense.
pattilain
10 Feb 10 at 2:57 PM
good post
sammy
26 Feb 10 at 7:42 PM
Allow me to correct some points and add to your post.
People will always have issues with each other, even within the same ethnic groups. A black person will insult another black person, and the same between whites, purple and green and visa versa. Unfortunately when another white person mocks my ugly pale skin I cannot shout racism – I have to deal with it.
Anyway, please explain to me is Affirmative action and BEE programs like you say ‘Fake’ or ‘Real’ racism.
When it comes to sexism, have you ever looked at Black and Muslim men in particular – in these cultures and mindsets a woman has almost no rights and is seen by these men as a worker and child bearer – if these woman dare step out of bounds they will be dealt with severely.
Unfortunately I cannot say white men are perfect, but at least most of us treats woman with respect and understand that a woman’s position today is both in the corporate world and home and that she is not beneath the man.
White dude
26 Feb 10 at 8:19 PM
Why would BEE/AA fall into the ‘racist’ category?
There are also many white men who treat women as though they are mere possessions/wombs. This is not endemic to blacks. As you rightly say, it’s because of their specific culture that they treat women the way they do, not because they are black. But how is this relevant to my post?
Joy-Mari Cloete
28 Feb 10 at 12:30 AM
This is relevant because you speak about “fake” and “real” racism in this post.
I thought you could explain to me how you see BEE and Affirmative action in South Africa. Black people does not see this as racism and call it, “correcting the injustices of apartheid”
I also do believe there must be some system to correct these injustices, but unfortunately BEE/AA in S.A. does not have a good track record – S.A. has a total collapse of its health system, Education, Service delivery, Crime and the list goes on and on.
Because of BEE/AA, skilled, well educated “people” has either left the country or has been retrenched to be replaced corrupt and incompetent “people” who now try and run these systems and is making an absolute mockery out of it.
So perhaps one can call BEE/AA “fake” racism, but the effect of this is much greater and will eventually mean the total collapse of South Africa.
We’ve seen this happen in Zimbabwe, although not by a BEE system, but the idea is the same – remove the skilled, competent from the system and see what happens.
White dude
9 Mar 10 at 8:43 PM
Why do ‘we’ always think that BEE/AA candidates do not have the same skill set as that of other applicants?
Joy-Mari Cloete
10 Mar 10 at 4:59 PM
First of all, I’m not referring to “other applicants”, I’m referring to all races except for Africans (Blacks) who lost their positions or has immigrated because of BEE/AA.
And yes most BEE/AA candidates do not have what it takes, they are either appointed for “window dressing” purposes or to fill the quota – it is not a matter of best man/woman for the job, irrespective of their colour.
Once again – if you go look at government departments, local government, schools, hospitals etc. you will see end experience for yourself the absolute disgrace in service delivery, not to mention corruption where millions of rands are unaccounted for each year – hard working, tax payer’s money.Once again, because competent people with skill, and most important of all integrity, where removed from these systems.
You can honestly not say that you don’t share in my opinions and experiences – When I watched Barack Obama’s inauguration speech I got goose bumps and felt so ashamed about our corrupt government, our spineless president and not to mention figures like Julius malema. After Barack was elected everyone was quick to shout, “the first black president!” – Barack is not black, he is coloured – don’t claim credit where its not due.
White dude
10 Mar 10 at 10:13 PM
Don’t blame ‘window dressing’ on BEE/AA; this just shows that there’s something wrong with the implementation of BEE/AA. We need to ask why companies engage in’window dressing’.
Corruption has always existed, even before BEE/AA so while it’s good to point it out it doesn’t mean that BEE/AA candidates cause corruption.
Did you do a study of all BEE/AA candidates so that you know we don’t have what it takes?
Obama isn’t coloured — that’s a concept that’s unique to South Africa; Obama is biracial. And not all Americans acknowledge that Obama is biracial. Obama identifies as black, as do many people whom we in South Africa would call coloured. Being coloured is about more than just “I have a white mother and a black father”. It really means identifying with the South African coloured community.
So to answer your original question, no, I do not see an inherent problem with BEE/AA. The concept may need refining and we need to talk about the implementation of it so that people like Renate Barnard do not get left behind just because companies can’t find a proper black candidate.
Joy-Mari Cloete
10 Mar 10 at 10:34 PM
You obviously don’t want to read the facts I’m stating or you are ignorant towards it.
Just answer these 3 simple questions to the point:
1. Why did most of SA’s systems collapse after BEE/AA where implemented?
2. Why did Zimbabwe’s economy fell to the lowest in the world 2 years ago after they evicted the skilled, competent framers?
3. To me a coloured person is someone that is neither black or white and neither any other race, the same as Barack – why do you side with the Africans and call yourself black?
White dude
10 Mar 10 at 11:20 PM
And you’re also ignoring what I am saying.
Most of South Africa’s systems have been collapsing for years before BEE/AA were implemented.
There are many reasons for Zim’s fall: the eviction of the farmers isn’t the only reason.
No, you’re talking about biracial or mixed-race. The concept of a coloured person only exists in some of the Sadc countries: South Africa, Namibia, Zambian, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Now. Why do some companies engage in window dressing? And did you do a study of all BEE/AA candidates so that you know we don’t have what it takes?
I can call myself black if I want to. We no longer have the pencil test to tell me that I’m actually coloured. Black in the South African context can mean all those people who were disadvantaged under the apartheid government. That’s the definition that BEE/AA uses. As for ‘siding with the Africans’, well, I am an African.
Joy-Mari Cloete
10 Mar 10 at 11:33 PM
Where do you get your info?
No systems collapsed before BEE/AA or for that matter before 1994 – the only system that collapsed was the apartheid system.
SA was doing great even during the apartheid’s era, even with most of the world having sanctions against us the economy was doing great.
We did not have corruption, we had conspiracies
we did not have brutal violent crimes every hour
we could go to any state hospital and get top care
we could study at top educational institutes and not worry about being stabbed and riots etc. etc. etc.
ask yourself why was this the case….it’s going horrific in the rest of Africa as well, where there was no apartheid – SA has always been the most prosperous country in Africa.
Zim’s fall was solely attributed to the eviction of the white farmers – compare their economy before and after – their collapse happened in literally less than 2 years.
Why do you say “we” when referring to the BEE/AA candidates – wake-up call, you do not fall under this – you honestly think if you and a black girl stand in line for a position that you will get it – I guess not. Did you not know that coloured people are “not black enough”??
White dude
11 Mar 10 at 12:02 AM
Sorry, I only now saw you had a question for me about BEE/AA window-dressing and why companies engage in this.
Simple, they need to comply with the BEE/AA quota spread by law, so this is what they do:
1. Keep Coloureds, Eurpeans and Indians in decision-making positions, typically management positions – hence the latest cry-out from government about this.
2. Appoint blacks in less significant positions, companies normally start with Ops and HR
3. In accountancy firms and the likes is more difficult, they must find black CA’s, which is a daunting task, so they need to hire them at top rate – some of these Black CA’s can earn up to R100k / month – even if this black CA is active or not and contributing his worth or not the company needs to retain him in order to stay BEE complaint – in this situation its an absolute loss to the company for the sake of being BEE compliant, but at least they are BEE complaint and government is happy.
White dude
11 Mar 10 at 12:49 AM
Read this and see what racism is, I dont think your post comes close the facts of how bad it is in South africa.
http://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.com/
and please dont try and defend this with “the whites caused this” these are deeds committed by demons that does not deserve to live.
Markus
14 Mar 10 at 12:30 PM
Demons? No, people like you and me did this. Why would I blame whites for this?
Joy-Mari Cloete
14 Mar 10 at 1:36 PM
Yes, Demons, and with that I’m referring to evil rubbish who does not have a grain of respect for human life or their own.
They murdered this 17 year old white girl in the most gruesome way possible – being 17 means she has not been part of apartheid (so wtf!) – about to finish school and start her life as a young adult, this was stolen from her by these primitive barbaric human trash.
I’m saying you should not blame the whites for this, because you’ve been defending the blacks in most of your posts – its time for us to get off the coloured/white guilt trip and let the blacks answer for their behavior, since they’ve been ruling for 16 years.
Let me give you an eye-opener: the Sharpville massacre, “massacre” (whooo) as the blacks refer to it, only 69 people lost their lives there.(they were in a violent illegal march) Do you know how many Zulu’s lost their lives during the Great Zulu killings, Zulu on Zulu – probably thousands.
Do you know how many white people have been brutally murdered, raped etc. since 1994, also thousands, it’s only a miracle that the white people have not seen this as an attack on their race and raised arms to defend themselves, cause believe me it will be worst than the Checkoslovakian ethnic cleansing civil wars.
Markus
15 Mar 10 at 10:52 PM
But Markus, I’m not blaming the whites for this. I’m also not following your argument. Please clarify.
Joy-Mari Cloete
16 Mar 10 at 11:43 AM