I saw this posted on Mothering.com and I thought I'd post it here as well. There is some question as to who originally wrote this, but the ideas are already out there. Thought provoking...
How Racism Works
What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review? What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class? What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said "I do" to? What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?
What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization? What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard? What if Obama were a member of the "Keating 5"? What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?
If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?
This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.
permission from darrell taylor to reprint for discussion purposes.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
it's all about perspective - thanks for posting this.
Yeah, when you switch it all around it is so obvious. It's surprising that there is not much more praise for the Obamas and condemnation for the McCains.
Thanks for posting that-it really makes you think, doesn't it?
BTW, I'm Melissa, and I'm a green girl in Dairyland. I'm liking what I've read here so far. :)
I think a lot of us live comfortably under a soft blanket of white privilege and don't really have any sense of anything else. It does shape how we see things and I think it's healthy to try and get conscious and aware of it.
Thanks for visiting Melissa, I'm glad you like it here!
Post a Comment