When White People Behave Badly Everyone Suffers

I have recently become aware of how we whites have been unfair to the blacks. Yes, your heard me right. We are unfair when we don’t stand up to them and call a “spade a spade”. Hear what I said: No more. No less. My choice of words will make some readers nervous. I chose them for that reason and to illustrate a point: to ‘call a “spade a spade” means the same as not “beating around the bush”. Sensitive white people will fear using this term wanting to avoid a racial slur. The word “spade” has had a racial connotation. The saying, calling a spade a spade has been around far longer (1500s) than the racial epithet. Sensitivity is a wonderful thing. Hypersensitivity is a disorder. Read on.

With regard to race relations, we whites often find ourselves in situations where voicing our opinion or speaking up for ourselves would likely cause a “scene” or so we imagine. We don’t know for sure but we fear it. We are all aware of that particularly loud and aggressive person, the one we wish to avoid. As a result we often “enable” bad and even racist behavior. Our inaction actually encourages bad behavior. Please read on. This problem did not come quickly and cannot be easily explained.

There is a saying that I often use, “The pain I feel is preferred to the pain I fear”. Being in a situation where a black person for example says “If I wasn’t black, you wouldn’t treat me that way” is unpleasant at best , particularly if untrue. Yet, using my phrase you may choose the anger inside (the pain you feel) over the fear of their escalated wrath (the pain you fear) when deciding whether to speak up for yourself. This dynamic is true in all of life and not just in race relations. Sometimes it is easier to accept the Status Quo rather than change it.

Of late there has been a tremendous amount of press on race relations in America. Even Mr. Obama inserted himself into racial matters. Generally it has been handled as a black and white issue with a Latino thrown in here or there for good measure. Few if any mention Chinese, Vietnamese, Philippine, or east Indians. So much of race talk in America is a black white thing.

Let me pause here and say that I am not a racist and don’t believe racism should exist. I, like many of you, have been accused of being a racist. It most often occurred at those times when I spoke against certain issues. While my eyes see color my heart does not.

Yet it is time for White Americans to stand up and say “Having a Congressional Black Caucus is in itself and act of racism”. The formation of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus was equally wrong. Division never leads to unity. It just can’t happen. There are “The Black Yellow Pages”, Black Newspapers, the United Negro College Fund, and on and on and on. These groups were created using the guilt that Whites feel for the suffering Blacks have endured. And while these groups may have aided some blacks to prosper they have done nothing to unify our country. In name alone they separate themselves into Black vs. White instead of us: We the People. These are racist groups.

Many will argue that there was and is a need for these groups. These same people will become quite upset if you disagree with them and surely will call you a racist. I am certain that they will say the same of me but in their hearts they will sense the truth of my words. Some will argue about past events and wrongs as justification for such things. I say, “When will 2 Wrongs ever make Right?” Never. "Continuing to try and get new results by the same efforts is by definition: Insanity."

So how can we Whites improve our relationships with African Americans? By treating them as equals. No More. No Less. Do not enable them by cowering to their charges of racism. If they accuse you of treating them badly because they are black, tell them they are only “speaking like that to you because you are white”. Do it in kindness and firmness. This action shows that you are not a racist and have no guilt. Cowering leaves the impression that you might be a racist and certainly shows you as weak to their attacks. I am not proposing war, but peace; not weakness, but strength; not division, but unity.

If you think that what we have done for the past 50 years has worked, keep on doing it. But, if like me, you think it is time for results, Change. Do not pickup that racial guilt and you will not have to live with it. I write these things to White America and those needing to hear this. In the words of the Scholarly Professor and Author Walter E. Williams to White America:

Therefore, from this day forward Americans of European ancestry can stand straight and proud knowing they are without guilt and thus obliged not to act like damn fools in their relationships with Americans of African ancestry.

And in closing I leave you with these words from Jesse Lee Peterson, Author, Pastor, and Radio Talk Show Host. Oh yeah. Mr. Peterson is black.

Years of scapegoating and charges of racism have intimidated whites to the point that they no longer speak out on issues concerning race and morality.