August 1, 2020
I was recently reminded that Crayola has a box of 40 crayons that apparently reflect the 40 different skin tones of the world\’s inhabitants…
I know quite a few racists who, after the George Floyd incident, have been motivated to verbalize their position on skin color once more — so-much-so (the racists doth protest too much) that I decided that I can lump US racists into three categories:
1) There\’s your hard-core racist — who can watch the torture and murder of a man of color and suggest that the killer (in too many cases a White cop) was out-of-line (while secretly celebrating the act of violence). This type of racist is not affected by the crime at all.
2) The second type of racist still has a bit of conscience left (perhaps influenced by Jesus\’ alleged words of: \’Love one another as you would love yourself\’) — but this second type still tries to justify White superiority with comments like: \”Look at how these people trash the place when they are given what they want\”; and,
3) Those of US who don\’t want to be racist — but display knee-jerk racist tendencies as a consequence of our upbringing in White-privileged circles…
The 2nd group of racists is the most complicated of the Three — as they still have vestiges of a conscience while the 1st Group will go to their graves hating non-Whites and welcoming the suffering of a non-White wherever it occurs: usually with a \”serves \’em right\” cuz they must have done something to deserve it (this group would make George Floyd a felon). The second group, however, desperately attempts to justify their feelings of superiority.
So let\’s look at that second type of racist more closely — the group that still has those vestiges of a conscience…
These folks are sufficiently uncomfortable with their hate that they try to rationalize their hate every-which-way-they-can — to legitimate the anger that roils around inside them when non-Whites are accorded equality (after all, a non-White is supposed to be sub human) — which is to say, that somewhere in god\’s communications with earth, s/he has suggested that only the White Man does it the way god wants it done!
This second type of racists will look at protests in Seattle and Portland (where there is a degree of lawlessness present [but isn\’t it also lawless to murder someone who is unarmed and/or defenseless?]) — and use the violence to \”write-off\” the entire Black Lives Matter movement as an exercise in anarchy!
I remain curious as to why I\’ve never seen the police (or federal thugs) get their hands on a masked Antifa type. There always seems to be six undercovers and/or cops dragging off an unarmed co-ed — but never video footage of a masked Antifa getting arrested…
And then we come to the Third type of racist which I\’m hoping describes most-of-US White Folk (I know you are reading this Malcom) — who strive not to be racist — but because of our indoctrination in American schools — replete with a lily-white-focused-history — we have been brainwashed to a certain degree.
I know that there are White Folk who have completely shaken off the racist mantle — and are truly color blind — but for most-of-US — we are left cursing our human education — like D.H. Lawrence and his Snake.
I probably vacillate between a 1-3 on a scale of 1-to-10 — with \”1\” experiencing NO racist thoughts or feelings and a \”10\” taking One\’s racism to-the-grave.
If I\’m watching African Americans being dehumanized; or, if I am simply discussing racism (as I am in this \’attempt\’) — I log in at a \”1.\” If I see a person of color, or am dialoging with a person of color who is getting loud and angry — my racist barometer can slide up to a \”3\” — before that part of my human education (the one I prefer) takes over. I would like to think that I could never be a \”Karen.\” Unlike a Karen, I can quickly ease back to a \”1\” as I remind myself that skin color has nothing to do with how we should value each other.
P.S.
A coloring question:
If you are coloring a picture — isn\’t the white crayon the least useful color for defining the subject of the drawing…?