Racism and Racial Pride
I've been thinking about the racial pride argument that circles of racists-in-denial like to make.
If a black person has "black pride," they are commendable.
If a white person has "white pride," they are a bigot.
Why? Because being black in a country like the US puts you at a disadvantage due to systemic (and sometimes blatant) racism. Being proud of being black is being proud of your ability to overcome that which white folks are granted by default.
*mic drop*
Racism and Racial Pride
@sydneyfalk @mawr That's how I've always understood it: the reason why it's Black Pride and not Ghanaian Pride or Xhosa pride is because the forcible homogenization of Black culture under slavery.
Racism and Racial Pride
@mawr The other part of this is that Whiteness is an identity specifically constructed from and defined by what it excludes, not from any internal positive traits. That's what folks mean when saying "white people have no culture".
Racism and Racial Pride
@starkatt Absolutely. There are many distinct cultures comprised primarily of white people, but white people as a whole are a group without cultural definition outside of the exclusion of others.
On that note, I hate the term "caucasian" as a catch-all. It strips white folks of their cultural definition and groups them together as one mass based only on the color of their skin. It seems to me like that kind of thing would condition folks to categorize others similarly.
Racism and Racial Pride
@mawr
The further explanation I've heard is that 'white' as a race is not actually a thing and never was.
Like, if you want to talk about how your grandma's Italian, or your great-grandparents fled Poland ahead of the Reich, feel free.
The explanation went on that 'black pride' is valid BECAUSE slavery effectively obscured specific lineages, and it's in cognizance of that fact.
(It made sense to me -- but I'm not a PoC, so I could be very wrong.)