alicewonders wrote above:
[[ The taint of racism........it's quite an effective tool - STILL. Isn't it? ]]
It will remain a tool only so long as whites allow others to USE IT "as a tool".
The key word here is "allow". Yes, the cry of "racis'!" is used against whites because whites LET it be used against them, and even encourage the same.
The moment a "person of color" hurls the "racist" word at a white, the following usually happens:
- The white responds to the tune of (and yes, it's like he/she were a dancing marionette), "no, I'm NOT a racist"....
- And from that moment, the other side has won.
They have won because from that point on, they have succeeded in changing the conversation. Whatever was being discussed or argued before no longer matters. All that matters NOW is that the white is a "racist", and he must respond to that.
Like George Bush dodging the shoe flying at him, the immediate reflex of someone with an harmful object tossed at him is to duck. Hence, when a verbal javelin is thrown, the white (without thinking things through) tries to dodge from it with the response, "I'm not a racist".
But the only deflection that occurs is the original course of the conversation. The white can no longer present his argument, but -- now having [had his "racism"] become the center of the argument itself, must defend himself, and not the issue.
Usually, the quickest, easiest (but not the best) defense is to respond to wit: "that's not what I meant" -- and then either try to withdraw from the argument or simply shut up altogether.
And by doing this, the other side has won, hands down.
So long as this goes on, the "racial conversation" in America will remain one-sided and it can never change.
As Eric Holder himself said, we have become "a nation of cowards" insofar as race is concerned.
Is it not yet time to stop being cowards, to speak freely?
Is it not time for the "dialogue" (which implies input from both sides) to actually BEGIN?
