Chances are if you have to start a sentence with “I’m not racist, but…” what you are about to say is racist, or in the very least prejudice. I’m going to assume that most of us have had someone tell us “no offense, but…” then the person proceeds to say something offensive, but because they said “no offense” you are not allowed to be upset versus them saying the exact same phrase just without the “no offense.”
I find it quite entertaining how some white people feel as though they can give their input as to how much racism and prejudice I personally experience. Or dare go as far to say that racism “no longer exists.” The previous statement is one I may have believed prior to high school. One small instance of racism was a kid in my English II Honors class sophomore year, who took it upon himself to celebrate white supremacy every time he didn’t screw something up. He continued to do this and no one said anything until I had enough. Or when another white male in my gym class declared that another local school “didn’t have a lot of minorities and was a good school” only to ask “why do you people always bring up race?” when I called him out on it. I would like to point out that he had brought up race, and I had only responded to it, and he did it again when he said “you people” very clearly referring to black people.
One of my personal favorites is an anonymous conversation I had with an Eastern Asian male my age, let’s call him Simon. There was this boy at school who I thought was HOT, it so happened that the boy I liked was also Eastern Asian. Simon decided to give his opinion on the situation, a screenshot of the conversation is at the beginning of the article.
The thing that bothered me most about the situation was that he wasn’t a white person who grew up being spoon-fed racist ideals. This was another minority, my peer, telling me who I was, based on no other information but my heritage. What was interesting was although he carried racist ideals, he would not define himself as a racist. Although, by the text above he clearly is. Simon also made statements like “I wouldn’t date a black girl, but I would fuck one. Ya know, to see if its any good.” Meaning: 1) a black girl isn’t good enough to date but is good enough to fuck, 2) that one black girl is somehow a representative of the sexual abilities and desires of millions of females, 3) the notorious sexualization of black women.
Essentially, I get chunks of racism thrown at me, only for someone to tell me that I am delusional. I live in a reality where I am very explicitly told that I am not beautiful, I am not smart, I am not worthy of respect, because I am black, and I cannot be black and also be pretty, intelligent, or respectable. It is the same people who deny that we, black females, experience things that get angry when we do things to reclaim our blackness and our worthiness, because we have been explicitly told otherwise.
If you have to make a statement that begins with “I’m not racist, but…” maybe you should think long and hard about what you are really trying to say before you open your mouth. Because, if what you have to justify what you’re about to say before you say it, chances are, it’s racist.
-Chi
