4 ms·

I just might be oblivious, as a middle eastern immigrant, but how is this not a racist piece ? Am I missing something ?

montecarl 9y ago
It can be hard to understand one's own culture because it may be all you have ever known. So in this case a black man is writing about his experience working in an company where he is the minority. His piece highlights some negative patterns he has seen in his white coworkers that may be common patterns in society. I think that his perspective is helpful. The reason it may feel racist is when you imagine the opposite situation: a white man working at a majority black company and publicly deriding his coworkers' behavior. What is different between these two situations? I think the biggest difference is that if the white business culture is going to change to address the issues he brings up he needs the help of white people to make that change. White people don't need the help of black people because they are a small minority in this industry and a minority overall in the US.
skndr 9y ago
Racism is more than just calling out race in a specific dynamic: ..."racism" is defined not only in terms of individual prejudice, but also in terms of a power structure which protects the interests of the dominant culture and actively discriminates against ethnic minorities.[0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism#Popular_usage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism#Popular_usage
- komali2 9y ago
  My friend and I just had this discussion this morning, because he's having an ongoing argument with his girlfriend, wherein she is arguing that it is impossible to be racist to a white person in America, and he is arguing that that very argument is racist. The gist is she is using the "power structure" definition of racism, and he is using the "prejudice based on race" definition. I feel like this difference in definitions is the root of a lot of arguments in modern discourse.
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  > Racism is more than just calling out race in a specific dynamic This is a very hotly contested point (one on which there is no clear consensus on the Left and utter rejection ofnthe idea on the Right.) The “power structure” concept of racism was, historically, a deliberate invention to invalidate the specific idea that black people (the racial group of interest in the context in which the concept was developed) could be racist; it's deeply problematic because the mere adoption of it as a popular viewpoint alters the power structure, creates (or enhances an existing) context in which people in groups perceived to be disadvantaged in a broader context are privileges for that reason, and thus ends up negating its own basic purpose and making itself irrelevant. It's much more useful to view the specific power dynamics applicable to a particular case as a factor in the significance and impact of racism than to take more generalized power dynamics as an factor in deciding whether there is racism.

It can be hard to understand one's own culture because it may be all you have ever known. So in this case a black man is writing about his experience working in an company where he is the minority. His piece highlights some negative patterns he has seen in his white coworkers that may be common patterns in society. I think that his perspective is helpful. The reason it may feel racist is when you imagine the opposite situation: a white man working at a majority black company and publicly deriding his coworkers' behavior. What is different between these two situations? I think the biggest difference is that if the white business culture is going to change to address the issues he brings up he needs the help of white people to make that change. White people don't need the help of black people because they are a small minority in this industry and a minority overall in the US.

skndr 9y ago

Racism is more than just calling out race in a specific dynamic: ..."racism" is defined not only in terms of individual prejudice, but also in terms of a power structure which protects the interests of the dominant culture and actively discriminates against ethnic minorities.[0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism#Popular_usage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism#Popular_usage

komali2 9y ago
My friend and I just had this discussion this morning, because he's having an ongoing argument with his girlfriend, wherein she is arguing that it is impossible to be racist to a white person in America, and he is arguing that that very argument is racist. The gist is she is using the "power structure" definition of racism, and he is using the "prejudice based on race" definition. I feel like this difference in definitions is the root of a lot of arguments in modern discourse.
dragonwriter 9y ago
> Racism is more than just calling out race in a specific dynamic This is a very hotly contested point (one on which there is no clear consensus on the Left and utter rejection ofnthe idea on the Right.) The “power structure” concept of racism was, historically, a deliberate invention to invalidate the specific idea that black people (the racial group of interest in the context in which the concept was developed) could be racist; it's deeply problematic because the mere adoption of it as a popular viewpoint alters the power structure, creates (or enhances an existing) context in which people in groups perceived to be disadvantaged in a broader context are privileges for that reason, and thus ends up negating its own basic purpose and making itself irrelevant. It's much more useful to view the specific power dynamics applicable to a particular case as a factor in the significance and impact of racism than to take more generalized power dynamics as an factor in deciding whether there is racism.