“The answer to the problems of the black people is in the hands of white society because white institutions hold the power. Blacks are powerless. Period.” – Charles H. King Jr.
Accordingly, the question “can black people be racist?” is non-debatable. The term “racism” is broad and comes in many forms, some apparent and some integrated into society. In relation to this, racism is not an idea that should ever be strictly identified with it’s textbook definition. Overall, racism, being one’s belief that their race is consistently superior to others, supports how black people can not be racist as blacks have been proven to be at the bottom of society. In other words, an inferior race can not be impact-fully racist, whereas when a superior race (whites) perpetuates racism, they strengthen the structures that already exist in society. Many of which are the driving forces behind the systematic oppression of blacks.
If one interprets racism as an hyperbolic expression of one’s own race, shouldn’t one supply the justification that there is such thing as an acceptable amount of racism. To elaborate, anyone secure with their ethnic background naturally honors their race, partaking in expressions of egoism. Furthermore, if I say black people dominate sports, influence music and entertainment, dictate fashion, control trends and style, black women are the most educated group in America; generally speaking, black people govern popular culture and can easily be considered unconquerable, all of these statements don’t make me racist, but at most prideful (not to mention, truthful). Either way, the power to entertain and influence is non-congruent to the power to control.
The racial epidemic we face is caused by the psychological bombardment of white supremacy, the ideals in which this country’s foundation was built on. We must realize that we live in a society where individuals posses a “white is right” mentality which generates room for justifications of black pride. There’s vindication that supports campaigns such as “Black is Beautiful” since young people of color are handed race in a superficial manner, being the targets of white racist manifest destiny.
Racism is prejudice plus power. Individually, blacks do not control the structural dynamics that leave them at the bottom of society because they do not come in direct contact with the distribution of oppression. Until blacks as a whole gain power, it’s still a matter of where they are psychologically. In relation, hate and resentment are basic emotions; human nature will encourage any person to either project hate onto others or hate themselves when they are constantly degraded. Blacks have been conditioned to consider themselves devalued; therefore, self hate lingers within the black community, making it impossible for blacks to be racist. In other words, black people are undeniably under present conditions that keep them powerless, subjected to the decisions and standards abiding white political, economical and social apparatus. Slightly shifting, poverty and racism are related since money equals power. Blacks are on the lowermost of the financial scale, typically excluded from economical platforms; thus, the cruel cycle of poverty within the black community keeps blacks institutionally inferior. Whites tend to deal with finances, investments, and private institutions, meanwhile the political disfranchisement blacks face leave them at the bottom in terms of dictatorship.
Not to mention, the foundation of this country was black sub-humanism. Slaves, reduced to property, endured over 400 years of exclusion from humanity. And so, race is an idea that was introduced as a mandate that whites could regulate the lives of darker skinned people however they desired. Proven, white people are beneficiaries of racism; white people receive privileges under the notion that their “white” skin makes them entitled. For this reason reverse racism is idiocy. Racism translates into efficiently oppressing another race. Blacks don’t bear that advantage, whites do.
