Comments on: The Modern Racist Paradigm

By: Brian Eubanks

Brian Eubanks — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 01:06:00 +0000

In my cultural ethics class we ran the test with the Black Good first and the results were different. We were thrown off by the reversal of which button was Good and we scored more towards black preference.

By: usernamesareimposible

usernamesareimposible — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 08:30:00 +0000

That’s not a good answer. I don’t deny that white people tend to be born into more privileged situations, nor do I deny that this is inherently unfair, but there is still no reason for this white person to feel guilty about the privilege they were born into. No one has control over the colour of their skin or their degree of privilege when they are born, not even white people. If you want all whites to feel guilty for the heinous acts of racial discrimination committed by other whites past and present, regardless of whether they themselves are racists, then you are simply putting the same type of racial burden that Malcolm X was condemning at the beginning of this film onto whites. You can’t fix racism with more racism, friend.

By: frenchfotografi

frenchfotografi — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 18:49:00 +0000

obviously it’s different Shawnie…. The African Americans didnt have the Caucasians as slaves forever nor did they mistreat them, beat them, and treat them like dog crap. For the most part, I don’t think Caucasians ever had to feel a type of prejudice based on the color of their skin. Wearing a tshirt that says black pride is them just trying to express that “we over came this and now im black and proud” after all those years where they couldnt. If you were to put your foot in the other shoe maybe you would understand. And FYI being Caucasian isnt a heritage – if you are Irish then it would be or if you were Italian or whatever. You just have to understand the history and yes it is in THE PAST but that still hurts and it still happens to day (segregation, prejudice, racism)… Because of the history alone, you will never be able to wear a tshirt proclaiming WHITE PRIDE. These are just facts of life at this point. Go ahead and wear Irish Pride or Italian Stallion tshirt but WHITE PRIDE = NAZI, KKK etc. And you claim “it’s not fair”…. I think you should really think twice before saying what is and what is not fair. The facts that happened in this country “freedom for all, etc” to all black people during that time isnt FAIR. Let them wear a stupid tshirt expressing themselves and stop crying about it isnt fair.

P.S. I’m a white hispanic… not black at all…

By: Marnie Watson O Brien

Marnie Watson O Brien — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 09:02:00 +0000

*asian girls, not asian curls. Whoops.

By: Marnie Watson O Brien

Marnie Watson O Brien — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 08:56:00 +0000

I don’t think it’s racism= in the definition we use. But neither is ii a result of multiculturalism, because multiculturalism implies equality in everything, absolutely everything and that simply doesn’t exist. I mean, everything is completely homogenised now, everyone wants to look the same. I’m white coming from ireland where the vast majority of people are white, but I’ve noticed it, in magazines and the radio and television. Ok, maybe in ireland, there just isn’t a culture of multiculturalism, but I’m also factoring in american and british media. white people are always the main actors in films, or the main models or whatever, and there’s a condescending attitude when someone who’s black or asian or whatever in as an actor or whatever , it’s self congratulatory and most of them fit stereotypical roles. And were black girls straightening their hair , or asian curls curling their hair be a result of multiculturalism, then white girls would be twisting their hair into afro’s and wishing they had dark asian eyes; no rather it is a reslt of homogeny, a homogeny where white is the chosen uniform. Race is outdated, it was scentifically disproved in the seventies, and I don’t like using the term black or white or whatever, it’s an us and them. We are all just differing shades of human, I mean, we all vary on one colour. I’m “white”, and I’m very very pale, other “white” people are freckled etc. how do you define someone from black to white? and more importantly, why do we have to define people? “British asian, Irish woman, afro american etc?” why can’t we just accept people without asking them to renounce their history, their culture? Multiculturalism is more than homogeny. I’m sorry this is very rambling.

By: Guest

Guest — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 05:57:00 +0000

“, why should i as a white person feel forever guilty for crimes that happened hundreds of years ago, i myself am not a racist so what do i have to be guilty about ”

Hmmm, I don’t know, how about benefiting and flourishing from a system of racism that has systematically elevated your race and provided them with privileges and benefits that it has denied other races of color so that there now is a great big discrepancy between the opportunities that you have access to and enjoy as opposed to a person of color. In other words I am speaking of your privilege.

By: Brutalisk

Brutalisk — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:34:00 +0000

This is not a result of racism. This is a result of diversity and multi-culturalism. Plain and simple.

By: Winston Smith

Winston Smith — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:23:00 +0000

This is silliness and whomever made this is focused way too much on race.
There is no question we all want to fit in but this is because we are such social animals and yes this affects people. I also agree with the traditional images shown by the media but this is changing. It wont be long before Caucasians are a minority in America but they have historically been the majority (one in 10 people in America is African-American -that is the same amount of people as are over age 65 and both groups are increasing).
What the maker of this doc needs to learn is that there is No such thing as race. Not the way u’r using it anyway/ What we call the different races has to do with how the human body responds to different environments after thousands of generations. We all came out of Africa 150k & 60k years ago…and we are ALL very closely related. In fact no two of us are farther apart than 50th cousins and the greatest genetic diversity is found in Africa. If a meteor hit the planet tomorrow and killed everyone but a small tribe living in the jungles of New guinea this small close knit group would still preserve 80% of all human genetic variability.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 01:53:00 +0000

All praises due to the God, Gods, or Godesses of your understanding. This is absolutely the thing I have been saying for years and never thought there was a white person in America that could understand it. I will save this, print it, frame it and keep it on my desk at work. I will also send it to every one of my black friends and colleuges…I have hoped for years to hear this from a white person. How is it that you absolutely “get it” and someone like shawnie is clueless that there are whites that believe they are entitled to better treatment, better opportunities, and more, based on their skin color. I had given up until I read this…I started to believe that white people would never understand this…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 03:04:00 +0000

The test on part four was incredibly stupid.

By: Tylzz

Tylzz — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 23:42:00 +0000

i wish nobody cared about race! Racism and discrimination ruins so many things…why is it so hard for us humans to get past that…you don’t see dogs judging eachother by the colour of their fur now do you? This documentary was very informative however…its good to bring things to the surface so that it may be dealth with instead of keeping things unresolved and taboo but remember there are also other important things to worry about like disease, famine, death…etc (we all bleed red! if colour is so important in a society…)
PEACE AND LOVE TO EVERYONE NO MATTER WHAT CREED, RACE OR RELIGION :)

By: touli touli

touli touli — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 19:22:00 +0000

Now… this is just being silly. I dont see how making 5 year old remarks will get any kind of point across. It is a good thing for your race that there are some very eloquent and reasonable representatives among the above and below comments. You should try and read them yourself.
Peace.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:44:00 +0000

I’m really glad that you posted your comment because I know many people think exactly like you.
But there is a problem in your thinking and a fatal flaw in your logic. First of all, you have to know that race is a social construct used to put people into a social caste system for the purpose of oppression. Black is used to denote inferiority and white is used to denote the status of superiority. When a category has been historically used to justify discrimination, prejudice, racism, bigotry, violence, hate, unequal opportunity, unfair disadvantage, negative stereotypes, etc., then, in order to fight that oppression there has to be away to give power back to those who have been classified as inferior based on the color of their skin and other physical features. Whites are not oppressed on the basis of being white. It’s the same reason why gay pride is accepted why heterosexual pride is not. Heterosexuals are not oppressed based on their sexuality. That is why Black pride makes sense and White pride is illogical unless you choose to represent racial hatred. That is the difference; and, that is the ignorance that many people, especially white people, do not want to understand.
I suggest that instead of saying ‘white pride’ and being proud of your whiteness and all its associated violence, maybe you should be proud of your ethnicity and culture: Irish pride, Italian pride, German pride, Nordic pride, etc. There’s nothing wrong with being proud of your roots & culture.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:13:00 +0000

The difference, I think, relies in history and context.

White/caucasian people have, for the most part, lived without being made to feel like the color of their skin is something to be ashamed of, or a physical trait that makes them inferior. Black (and brown for that matter) people have.

So, when a black person wears a t-shirt saying “black pride” he/she is trying to counter the centuries-old discrimination and marginalization that their people have suffered: they are trying to reclaim their identity by stating that the color of their skin is as worthy of pride as yours or mine. However, if a white person were to wear a t-shirt that said “white pride” it could be connected to that same history but from the other side, i.e. those who were so “proud” of the color of their skin that they felt like a superior race and thought it was necessary to marginalize, enslave and colonize those who were beneath them.

See the difference now?

These hypothetical t-shirts don’t exist in a cultural vacuum, rather, they’re connected to specific struggles and legacies. Like it or not, white people (myself included) have, in the histories of their ancestors, more to be ashamed of than black people do. That said, I don’t feel ashamed of being white or, particularly proud of it either. , It’s just something that’s there, just a matter of what you get in the genetic lottery.

It’s not about fairness, really, it’s about cultural awareness and a sensitivity to what different identities have had to go through to be considered equal.

By: Shawnie

Shawnie — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 21:12:00 +0000

In my experience, black people are far more prejudiced than white people now. But it seems to be accepted and tolerated, which is NOT fair. If a black person were to walk down the street with a t-shirt that said, “Black Pride” no one would think twice about it really. But turn that around to a white person with a “white pride” t-shirt on and OMG…they’re just a terrible racist! Hmmm…How is that fair? I’m sorry…but I have every right to be just as proud of my white Caucasian heritage as they do their black African heritage. I don’t feel one bit bad about it either!!!