A recent poll has shown that 2/3 of Americans who trust FOX news believe that whites face the same level of discrimination as other minorities. This is a pretty heavy claim. Discrimination against whites has also garnered the misnomer "reverse racism," a term which suggests that racism originated with one group initially (whites) and is now being used against said group by those whom it initially affected (nonwhites). Any white person who uses this term should think carefully about its meaning, because they are essentially admiting to the fact that reverse racism is a direct result of their own white racism.
For many minorities, the idea of discrimination against whites is a ridiculous one, but the argument must extend beyond this initial superficial reaction. Why is this idea so ridiculous, especially in the minds of black people?
The obvious reason is that because of white racism, blacks have been supressed socially, economically, and politically for hundreds of years. White racism has stained the history of the United States with the blood of the African slaves, not to mention the blood of the indigenous peoples that white Europeans so mercilessly slaughtered. True, de jure racism no longer exists, at least not explicitly, bu the fact is, the legacy of white supremacy cannot be erased from American society. How can discrimination against whites be "as big" as discrimination against minorities when whites still effectively run the infastructure of a country that was built for whites to enjoy?
Black people have only recently had access to jobs more prestigious than sharecropper or shoe shine boy. Only a small number of American businesses are black owned, and they are black businesses with the purpose of empowering blacks. Few blacks are corporate CEOs, Wall Street executives, or federal politicians. Barack Obama is the only really visible black man in "charge" of a white system, and they even tried to lynch him. But the president goes out of his way to avoid the race issue.
Poor whites are most likely to be resentful because they face similar economic discrimination as poor minorities, but that is where the line ends. Take a white person considered white trash by a bourgeoisie white man, then take a black nigger, a Mexican spic, an A-rab, or a Chinese chink, the white trash will become a white brother. Usually discrimination felt by whites exists in social interactions between whites and minorities, not in government. Whites will often decry black magazines, television shows, or universities on the basis that the existence similar organizations and institutions for whites would be considered racism, thereby implying reverse racism. Most, if not all American institutions are or were built for whites only. The existence of black organizations is a direct result of white discrimination. Blacks were not allowed in white schools. They weren't allowed to perform unless they were in blackface. That is why black organizations sprung into being and attempted to provide blacks with things whites were not going to provide for them. Even with the early existence of black organizations, whites terrorized blacks brave enough to take their own stand. Nowadays, this terrorism has been replaced with the cry of "reverse racism." Anything that excluded whites was and is considered dangerous, militant, racist, etc., etc. Whites barred us from their institutions, and when we try to make our own they get upset? C'mon son. There would be no need for affirmative action and black universities if they had allowed us to get into their institutions in the first place.
Discrimination against whites does exist, but it is only because of white discrimination against nonwhites. Furthermore, there is no way that discrimination against whites is "as big" as discrimination against nonwhites. After all, white supremacy has been part of American policy since the first landing of the European colonizers. It would take a long time for this policy to be eradicated, and its enablers will not give up that easily. They run the country.
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