General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: "Let's work to end racial discrimination" is a better approach than "whites are so privileged". [View all]El_Johns
(1,805 posts)phrasing.
So now we have whites with none or varying degrees of racist behaviors and the whites on one end should shun those on the other end. OK, I think this already happens to a great degree in the realm of personal associations; less so in relationships such as family or work associates.
But is racism just a matter of bigoted individuals?
You mentioned profiling. Profiling is a policy that's handed down to the rank & file cop to enact in practice, and some of them are black, profiling other blacks, in the same way that black cops as well as white cops in NYC have to enact stop & frisk -- because it's policy and if they challenge it, they probably lose their jobs.
Who formulates & dictates such policies, and why? I really don't know. Do blacks and whites that carry out the policies do it differently? I don't know that either.
But the reason I bring it up is; in my work life I've had to carry out or represent policies and ideas I found somewhat heinous, and in some cases I've quit over it. That is easier for me than many, because I don't have children. I quit what was a well-paying (and incidentally non-demanding) job because the main business of the company was a military contractor, for example. And of course the military is used all over the world to enforce racist structures of dominance. If everyone quit, that couldn't go on -- but they never have and never will that I can see. So my quitting was really a fart in the wind, and I was the only person harmed by it, because it's taken as an isolated individual. What was the point? I should have gone for the money.
This dimension of enforcing the structure of racism seems to me not to be addressed via the "white privilege" meme, yet it seems a very important one. Even when people are not particularly bigoted, they support and perpetuate the architecture of racism and power simply by trying to make a living and live a life. The "good german" if you will.
It's past my bedtime so I'm going to have to leave this now but I'll look forward to your reply.