At 17:07 04-03-01 -0500, Gary L. Nunn wrote:
>This is something that I have been kicking around in my head for about a
>week, but I waited to post to the list because I wanted to pose it as a
>question rather than as a rant.
>
>At work, there is a program that has apparently been around for a few years
>called "BIG" - Blacks In Government.
>
>Jokingly, all of us in our area said we wanted to join (because you get out
>of work for a few hours) and another person in the area, that is apparently
>a member of BIG, not realizing that we were joking, commented "but you
>can't join, you aren't black".
>
>Well, the question here is this: if there was a comparable program called
>"WIG" - Whites In Government, would that be considered racist? I and others
>are betting that it would.
Do you and your friends ever bet on anything that is not a sure thing? ;-)
>Also, there is something going on at McDonald's called Black History Month.
>What if there was a White History Month? I am betting that would be
>considered racist.
This is a national program, not just at McDonalds. And some people
actually take offense that "Black History Month" is _February_, the
_shortest_ month in the calendar, figuring that this must have been a
deliberate slight.
>What if there was a comparable TV channel to "BET" - Black Entertainment
>Television? It could be called "WET" - White Entertainment Television. I
>would bet an entire paycheck that it would immediately be labeled racist.
How about a "Congressional White Caucus"? Or a "White Students' Union" on
campus?
>My point here is, that it seems to be socially acceptable to include the
>word "black" in an ethnic name or label, but including the word "white" (or
>Caucasian) seems to automatically make it racist.
Yup.
>Is it because we are paying for the sins of our fathers?
>
>How do programs like these help solve the problem of racism or prejudice? I
>don't think that they do.
I and many others agree with you. Does that make us racist?
>An only slightly less annoying issue, that is somewhat related, is the
>renewed drive to pay for slave reparations. But we have covered that one
>here before.
And so I will refrain from commenting, too.
-- Ronn! :)
