This is one of the most intelligent articles I have read - not just on Psychology Today, bot on the web as a whole.
Thank you for taking the time to write it.
Dreams have been described as dress rehearsals for real life, opportunities to gratify wishes, and a form of nocturnal therapy. A new theory aims to make sense of it all.
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Everyone in the USA is born with a race card.
As infants turn into children and children into teenagers, some people acquire other racial accroutrements like a race filter through which all their experiences are seen or various sizes of race chips that sit on shoulders burdened by a life of slights, insults, discrimination and outright hostility.
The problem with the race card is that noone is allowed to use it. When a white person suggests that a black person is using it, the white person is accused of being 'in denial' about race, racism, discrimination and history. When a non-white person uses it, they are accused of defaulting to race as an 'excuse' for whatever it is that transpired. Noone can win with the 'race card' and yet there it is: Ready to be 'played' and everyone in fear of what will happen when it does get played. A stand-off much colder and more volatile than the Cold War. Though like the slow dissipation of the Cold War, race is getting to be less and less of an issue. The glacial pace of change in this area means that the Harvard Business Review just released a case study on the use of incentives for the promotion of minorities when only white men are being promoted. Yes... race is still very relevant in America.
Obama and Race
In the US elections of 2008, race hung in the air like the humidity of a summer afternoon in Miami, and yet it seemed the only conversations that were being had about race was that we were beyond race. So beyond it in fact that all we seemed to do was talk about how beyond it we were. 'Post-racial' became a term debated and discussed in academe and in the media. Were we beyond race because noone was talking about it? Or were we simply not willing to talk about it and thus it was really all about race? In 2012, there was no mention of it at all. It's not that noone was thinking about it but it seemed that noone knew what to say.
Obama's colour supposedly did not matter to Americans in 2008; they were "past that". Except that it did. A lot. Especially to black people. That was reason enough to vote for him as 96% of black voters did (and 43% of white voters). Not that the McCain/Palin ticket was any competition. And Obama's wife's color mattered. There are pictures of them all over the interweb as an example of 'black love'. Because 'black love' matters. (Black) people want images of black couples loving each other. Because love is not just love. Black love is different from 'interracial' love, or the never spoken 'white love'.
Race Outside America
For more open discussions of race in popular media one needs to turn to outlets outside of the USA. In the UK, for example, reading about race in the newspaper almost seems brave and shocking if one is used to the walking on eggshells approach taken by the US press.
Recently I was reading the Economist and in a November 15 article called, 'Room at the Top' in The Cabinet section, there was a paragraph that read,
"The selection of Ms Rice as secretary of state would also spark a row. In the immediate aftermath of the Libyan attack, she was the main voice in the administration describing it, mistakenly, as an act of mob violence, rather than terrorism. Republicans have railed against this version of events as inexcusable incompetence if not wilful deceit. But after a poor showing in the elections with women and minorities, they may not want to pillory an otherwise well-qualified black woman. Mr Obama this week defiantly declared their criticism of Ms Rice “outrageous”."
The mention of her race as a reason NOT to use Ms Rice's mistake against her is an explicit statement about what her race means as a 'symbol' and not just as a 'descriptor' of who who she is. Race as 'protection' against political derision is a play of the race card. And we will have to see how that plays out.
My Race Card
I should qualify my position in this discussion of the race card. I was born in the UK but left too young to know the abuses of which my parents suffered because of their race. (Though I was later told and it was the reason my father moved us back to Jamaica so we could grow up in a black majority). I grew up in Jamaica during a time when being black was not a liability and we were proudly post-colonial. I learned of Africa in my classroom. From Egypt to Timbuktu, from the Sahara to the Kalahari. I didn't have a race card because almost everyone I knew was black.
I didn't know I had anything to prove because no one thought there was anything I could not do. I didn't know my dark skin was a liability because people told me how pretty my skin was and how pretty I was. Being smart wasn't 'white' because there were few 'white' people and everyone wanted their name at the top of the class. I came from a family who on both sides traced their lineage back to achievers of different shades of brown. Even the slave ancestor whose story I was told about over and over was a man of whom we were all proud. I wasn't raised with an inferiority complex but with a superiority one. My immediate family did not have money but we had privilege and status.
So when I moved to Canada as a teenager and then to the USA as an adult, I was always reading race 'wrong'. What to me seemed like someone's innocent mistake was 'racism'. It is not that I did not see obvious, blatant racism..... that was easy. But the stuff of which white people get nervous because they do not want to be called the 'R' word and the stuff of which black people said it was so obviously the R word. The word against which there is no defense because denial simply means that "you dont get it" and makes one even more of a racist than when the word was first lobbied at them. And so this fear silences people - both black and white.
Playing the Race Card
Race is a topic as volatile as an IED in an urban war zone. People may want to learn and understand but their questions can rarely be asked in emotional safety. It also silences non-white people who may want to question the 'party line' when it comes to race but fear being also told that "you don't get it" because they are also in denial, or that they have been 'coopted'.
In this country built on the most ugly forms of racism, specifically the genocide of indigenous peoples, and the enslavement of imported ones, race is a word spoken very gently and quietly - though with passion and intensity - among friends, if at all. Polls show that white people rarely think about race and non-white people spend a lot of time thinking about it and they think about it in different ways. This imbalance creates a hostile environment that leave non-white people raging and white people either scared or indifferent. Because in their eyes, for non-white people it's 'always' about race. And perhaps it is.
In a recent incident (early November), CNN anchor Don Lemon accused (actor,writer, producer) Jonah Hill of treating him like 'the help' because he didn't respond appropriately to his offer of a handshake and hello. Using his media platform, he went after Jonah Hill who responded in kind in the twittersphere. There was a bit of a cyberfight and the apology Don Lemon wanted was not forthcoming from Jonah Hill. The possibility that Jonah Hill was really just in a hurry was not an option for Don Lemon. It was about race. And he cannot undo that feeling anymore than Jonah Hill can understand why a limp handshake has a racial implication.
Being on the West Coast (or 'best coast' or 'left coast) I live among 'liberals'/progressives' who are well trained in the politically correct language of race. In Seattle and San Francisco powerful white men speak of their privilege and their desire to use that privilege to change the world.
In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, called "The Actors", Denzel Washington spoke of how his daughter being black and dark skinned had to work that much harder than other people to overcome the disadvantage of her complexion, her race, and also her parentage; though the latter was a bit of an afterthought.
As privileged immigrant from a black majority country, have never seen my color, my hair, or my race as a disadvantage. In fact, I dont see it as much of anything with regard to who I am. I was born such, and live such, and thus unless someone calls attention to it, I spend much more time thinking about my next cup of coffee than my color.
I am lucky. I do not have a race card and I don't want one, though many people have tried to give me one. I refuse it. It feels like a weapon in which I have no training so I'd rather not shoot my foot with it.
Changing the Game
That said, I wrote this blog entry while giving a test to students in my Race and Ethnicity class at Seattle University - a course I have taught for more than a decade in Canada and in the USA, including McGill in Montreal, Seneca College in Toronto and San Francisco State. Teaching race teaches me a lot about how we all think and live race. Each semester I find something surprising, despite having taught hundreds of students at the undergraduate and graduate level on this topic. These are classes in which I spend little time talking about theory or unpacking race knapsacks, but instead lead students to critically think about race in America and in their own lives; providing a 'safe' place to ask questions and say 'dumb stuff', and at least feel a little less scared of crossing 'racial borders'.
Because as one student noted when asked what happened when one crosses racial borders, "you realize that there was no border there at all".
This is one of the most intelligent articles I have read - not just on Psychology Today, bot on the web as a whole.
Thank you for taking the time to write it.
This is one of the most intelligent articles I have read - not just on Psychology Today, but on the web as a whole.
Thank you for taking the time to write it.
after a poor showing in the elections with women and minorities,{Republicans] may not want to pillory an otherwise well-qualified black woman. Mr Obama this week defiantly declared their criticism of Ms Rice “outrageous”."
In case everyone has forgotten, the REPUBLICANS gave us the very FIRST black female Secretary of State, who coincidentally also bore the name Rice -- Dr. Condoleeza Rice. Everyone forgotten her already?
Indeed the Bush cabinet was far more "racially diverse" than the Obama cabinet. But of course the Republicans get no credit for this at all, due to the toxic mindset that anyone who isn't a socialist, must be "raciss".... sigh...
That's a very good point, I think ppl pick and chose what they want to remember bc of how they think others will perceive them. I'm not really sure if that makes sense but I liked your comment !
I am aware of the prestige of Psychology Today, and the illusory credibility that a Ph.D. provides.. but a professional article like this should have references.. you have none.. that is not professional..
That said.. it was well written, one of the best, and I do appreciate it very much...
But, I need references to convince certain people of the validity, and it would also provide details that you did not include here, for someone who wishes to further the research..
Great article. Yet, I just do not "get" why anyone who grew up in such a society where racism did not exist would move to countries where the "race card" exists? If Jamaica is such a great place, why leave? I am calling BS on both the premise of this article and the faulty conclusions. Your article should be called "racism is irrelevant".
I was born in London, UK (where my Jamaican parents met and married) and moved to Jamaica with my parents at 4 after living in Toronto for a short while and left with them for Ottawa, Canada at 14.
People move for all sorts of reasons and there was political instability in Jamaica during the 80's that made my mother want to leave Jamaica. Interestingly my father returned the family to Jamaica when I was 5 or 6 because of racism in Toronto and did not want to return because he did not want his children to be raised in that environment.
That said, all post-colonial nations have a system of racial hierarchy that is a remnant of white supremacy that was part of colonization.
Racism is only irrelevant to those who have never experienced it.
"Racism is only irrelevant to those who have never experienced it". Great point. As a "white" Brazilian, I am frequently guilty of the indifference that you described so well in your article. Even though our society might be more "mixed" than yours, racism is definitely not a lesser issue here.
By the way, I put "white" between parenthesis because this is how I would be socially classified. Actually nobody is really white here in Brazil, though many people just won't admit it.
I get confused when people talk about black or white or even yellow etc, I am a white Anglo, just to put things in the open, and I have to admit when I meet people, colour is not the first thing I see, it is the person themselves, they are either nice and worth knowing or not worth knowing, to me colour does not come in to it, I have friends of all colours, races and religions, none of these things sway me, the only thing I want to know is, is this person worth knowing, are they nice etc, for all I care they could be green or purple, my friends and other people are measured by themselves and their actions not by colour, so why go on about it, If I were an employer I would pick the best person for the job, it would have nothing to do with their race, religion, sex, just are they the best person for the job, for my friends I choose the same way, there is a lot of white people who I would not like to know or befriend and that goes for all people.
I get where you're coming from and it's nice you think that way but that's not everyone. As someone who is biracial I've been dis tomatoes against from all races equally. And, while there are individuals like you who are neutral, I don't think someone of color should feel shamed about saying they were discriminated against at the risk of someone telling them they are merely "playing the race card". I was called the "n" word as a grade schooler when attending a prodominately white church with a friend. Keep in mind, I was born in the 80's and raised in the 80's-90's and another child said this to me. I think saying someone is "using the race card" can be hurtful and can be seen as discrediting the particular individuals experience if something truly happened so I'm not a fan of its usage.
I couldn't agree more with you. Telling black folks that they're "playing the race card," is coming from the right wing from places and people like Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Bill O'Reilly, and Fox News, to name just a few. What really takes the cake, is that Fox, among others, have started calling Al Sharpton the biggest "racist" this country has!
A couple of months ago, I had a Black woman walk up to my desk, and accused me of being rude towards her sister. Worse of all, she had the NERVE to play the race cards. I couldn't apologize for something that I didn't do, so I called her out on her actions. I explained to the woman that her behavior was so comical to me, and there was no need to pull the race card stunt. She wanted my name, and I refused to give it to her. I threatened to call security if she doesn't keep walking. What goes on that woman's life shouldn't concern me, and I'm okay with NOT crossing paths again.
I'm so sick and TIRED of Black people pulling the race card stunt; especially when they're doing things that they have no business doing. Stop playing the role of a victim, and take full responsibility for your actions!!!!
LaTrice, your name is even more black than my name is. And I am really ok with being named after a beautiful black woman, even though I'm white. She IS hard to live up to at times though.
What are you really angry about, LaTrice? It's better to talk about your feeling rather than just sitting around and letting them fester, like a boil about to burst.
Please look at the bottom of the page, seach for the "Find a Therapist" button, and click on it. And make an appointment with a black woman.
Explain to your new therapist how angry and upset you are at your mother for giving you a black name. She'll just say, "Girl get over it! My mother name me ShaNeequa LaShondra!"
You don't have to thank me. It's what I do.
Hello Diane Carol:
Thank you for taking the time to reply to my comment. I wasn't talking about having a Black sounding name. I was talking about not having a pleasant experience with someone who's constantly pulling the race card stunt, just because she wants to continue to play the role of a victim. I find this woman's behavior completely unacceptable, and I shouldn't have to tolerate it. Whatever happened in that woman's life isn't my fault, nor is it my problem.
I don't have issues with Black women. I have issues with those that constantly play the race card every time things don't go their way.
I understand your good intentions, but I'm NOT interested in seeking counseling right now. I will use the resources that are available to me. Thanks!!
I'm just wondering why you were the one who brought race into it, even if the woman did have a stinky attitude?
I'm sure black folks can tell you don't like them. I think you are the one trying to play the victim here.
Oh, and LaTrice, please lay off watching FOX news because your mind is vulnerable to their propaganda. Thanks!
First off. I'm NOT playing the victim here! This woman was the one who brought up race first when she accused me of being rude towards her sister, since she's a dark-skinned woman!
You're entitled to your opinion, and I'm entitled to mine. There's no need for you to attack me for telling my story about the race cards!! You don't know anything about me, so who are to say that I'm playing the victim?!
I want to thank you for disrespecting me, and your advice isn't helping me at all!!
LaTrice, I had a black girl in high school question me about that when we were kind of fussing at each other. I said, "Look, if we decide we don't like each other that's ok. But it's not going to be about race."
That ended it and she came up to me later like I was her long lost best friend when I ran into her years later.
I could have gotten mad at her and thrown a hissy fit, but there WERE bigots all around us and I sure as heck didn't want her thinking I was one!
Sometimes you need to put yourself into another person's shoes.
Hope this helps.
Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but it seems that you don't get it. I was talking about my personal experience on dealing with an ignorant Black woman who was being extremely disrespectful and rude. You weren't physically there, so who are you to judge?
You don't know anything about me, just like I don't know anything about you. Again, I'm entitled to my opinion, and I shouldn't have to be the subject of your so-called ridicule. Your advice wasn't for nor was it needed.
Your name is just as Black and as ghetto compared to my name.
LaTrice, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. You need to let this go now. My name is just as black as your name is, but I've never heard anyone describe Diahann Carroll as ghetto.
Anonymous wrote:A couple of months ago, I had a Black woman walk up to my desk, and accused me of being rude towards her sister. Worse of all, she had the NERVE to play the race cards. I couldn't apologize for something that I didn't do, so I called her out on her actions. I explained to the woman that her behavior was so comical to me, and there was no need to pull the race card stunt. She wanted my name, and I refused to give it to her. I threatened to call security if she doesn't keep walking. What goes on that woman's life shouldn't concern me, and I'm okay with NOT crossing paths again.
I'm so sick and TIRED of Black people pulling the race card stunt; especially when they're doing things that they have no business doing. Stop playing the role of a victim, and take full responsibility for your actions!!!!
Agreed. Despite what some people think, being accountable for your behaviors and choices in life isn't just something for Asians and Whites.
It's for everyone. :P
Oh, and Diane Carol, I don't watch Fox News, since it's nothing but a bunch of sanctimonious garbage!!
Well that last quote hit home, "you realize that there was no border there at all". And this fact in many cases lends to open season mentality for all insensitive to pure racist interactions.
My bf (white) often mentions a person's ethnicity when relaying a story to me. I just got a text asking me for advice about a "black guy at work that's sending me soft porn texts and I don't know how to tell him to stop with out offending him." If the person was Hispanic he would have said Hispanic instead of black. I don't understand the relevance and find it a little offensive (I am white too). If a white guy at work was sending the texts I am sure he would not mention the person's ethnicity.
I don't know the content of the soft porn texts. TO me, it seems that no matter what the content is, the sender's ethnicity is irrelevant.
Am I right? My plan is to listen to his concern and give him the advice he is seeking. Then I will say that his mention of the person's ethnicity has been bugging me and that I have been trying to understand the connection but am not getting it. And then listen. Does this sound good?
Cynthia,
I think it is a great idea to ask why he mentions the person's ethnicity. Sometimes people do things without thinking about why. And as a friend I hope that if you ask the question with respect and openness then there is a door open for a conversation about race/ethnicity that increases understanding. Sounds like a good idea to me that you will listen to what they have to say. If more people would listen, a lot of the problems we have with discrimination would be closer to being solved.
Ruth
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