This Patronizing Attitude that We Can't Help Ourselves Read On

Well, this isn't the first time this has come up on babble, and it's a thread running through the anti-racisit movement in the western world.  I grew up in a family that I guess could be called Kennedy liberals, and yeah there was a pretty patronizing flavour to our "liberalness" I suppose.  Better than what was going on a generation before that though. 

History is written by the colonizers, and the western educational system is designed around my race, who grew up reading the likes of Rudyard Kipling. 

Ingrained attitudes are a hard thing to let go of. 

Some individuals do aspire to be white.  You just reminded me of a clip I saw of a black American Dr. named Ben Carson.  As doctors go, he's pretty important and he's done well for himeself, but he does the rounds of Christian republican talk shows talking about how he made it out of his really rough poor neighbourhood by faith and his bootstraps, and that means anyone can.  He never mentions racism or systemic poverty issues.  I mean good for him for doing well, but he made it through a combination of good luck and being born with an IQ of about a gazillion.  He's the whitest sounding guy I've ever listened to, but this is what he's had to do to get by.  The white establishment can listen to him and feel great comfort.  He can be allowed into country clubs. (temporary guest speaker of course)

Other's, maybe some a bit like yourself R_P, don't make any great effort to aspire to be white, but strongly go their own route.  This rankles and irritates, and is devalued by the dominant culture.  Except of course until the record company weasles and clothing marketers figure out how to make a buck out of it, but the margins are still the margins.

By putting quotes around the phrase '"sound" white', in such a manner that it expresses a clear stanpoint positioning that assumes that the written articulation of english possessed by white people is the "norm". A norm that is free of culturally inherited traits that reveal its cultural background.

Well, for starters, I do a bit.  I guess you' have to listen to him in the context of the show I saw a clip from.  He's probably a nice enough guy, and he can operate on my brain any day, but I wouldn't want him coming near social policy planning at least in my country.

He sounds white by the assumptions he makes about overcoming race and class obstacles.  He sounds white by the things he leaves out when discussing gaps in public health services in third world countries which should be rich, except all the wealth goes to foriegn oil companies.  Oh yeah, I think he mentioned something about golf.

What makes you think that Rex doesnt sound white? Because he sounds "youth internet" to me. Why did you assume that something other than "proper" english sounds black?

Did you read my post? I was criticizing oldgoat for assuming that black people who speak proper English are "sounding white" - and the inevitible flip side that people who speak less than perfect english "sound black".

Personally I think of everyone as individuals and there are about a gazillion ways and accents used in English, let alone other languages.

Well I think it is offensive to accuse a person of colour of sounding white because you disagree with what they are saying. 

Yes, I got that you were referring to content. You accused a black doctor of "aspiring to be white" because of his religious and right-wing political beliefs.

he is listen u wont understand this topic u can try and try and itll just come to this answer it doesnt affect u ur not gonna get it. this our issue have a nice day

RP, to be honest with your first example if both were men i wouldn't be worried about my purse, I would be worrying about sexually assault and walking more quickly.  I will abmit to biases against men when walking alone at night - men who are white or POC. We all know that they both continue to assault women at disgustingly huge rates.

In your second example I would like to believe that I would not hold any biases, as I expect most white people here would answer. I try my hardest to live that way. However, due to the racist messaging in the media etc. and ingrained attitudes I cannot say for certain.

Yeah, messaging in the media is powerful. Sometimes when I'm approaching a building or a store, and there's a crowd of young black people talking like our friend R_P and sort of jostling, I guess I sort of have a moment of hyperawareness.  It ends short of feeling threatened, I guess just because it happens too often in my world, I process it a bit menatally, give myself a shake and move on.  So does that make me racist?  Hell yes!  Look at the assumptions that must lie behind that fleeting feeling. It' what I have to think about and work with.  It's something i can grow beyond.  but I have to challenge myself, and be open to listening to others.

White guys don't get a pass on the word "nigga" or any of its other forms.

Hey, it's like tag teaming here, as I was in meeting all day and I'm now back on. Thanks oldgoat for your reflections and what you've shared. And for Rexdale_Punjabi for starting this thread.

Getting back to the original thread topic, history is not only written by the victors, it's written by those who kept learning and reading/writing to themselves. Moving into the present, does anyone imagine it's a coincidence that education in general isn't prioritized, and that schools in known "poor" areas, or areas with lots of immigrants (in the big cities) get far fewer resources, etc. It may not be conscious, and like Rexdale_Punjbi says, "we can't help ourselves" but it affects how kids grow up and what potential they can have. It's like, money can be put into policing and building more jails, but not into schools and other youth programs (run by and for youth, not by "bleeding heart" outsiders. )

Never mind that Canadian history is taught through a complete white-washed colonizer lens, and I chose that word deliberately since it describes what happens when a multiplicity of marginal histories are written out of the "canadian history" narrative. As Cueball and NRKissed said above re "speaking white" the same goes for "Canadian history". "Do you want the real history or the history we're taught?" is what I ask people.

Slightly tangential, but education is a big issue for me, you know, being an educator and all, and I just learned about a group called Pathways To Education, that began in Regent Park as a supplement to the public schools in the area, doing tutoring and other work with kids in grade 7 and 8 and high school. The model was so successful that it's been exported and duplicated at a national level. The staff are from the communities they work with and it's simply marvelous the stuff they've accomplished. Pathways to Education website here. 

Not here maybe, but everywhere else on the internet, the term has become pretty generic in the popular culture, as is "Home-boy", "Gangsta" and "Homies". I don't know if white people should therefore just start using it here, but it definitely means something different from Nigger, which is an outright slur. The only reason I think I, or anyone else might find it offensive here, is because it is explicitly not part of the Middle Class white bread nature of this web site, and could easily construed as mockery, as opposed to a natural use of street slang.

What's the issue here Heywood, you feel like your cultural heritage is being subverted or something, and you hesitate over the keyboard all the time because you were naturally going to write something about "your Niggas" in the conservative party, or that "Harper and his home-boys" are not the sad sack bunch of ruthless political "gangbangers" that everyone thinks they are?

What I find interesting is that this objection to the appearance of the word "Nigga", derived from the word Nigger, seems very much to be a way of repressing the use of the derivative form "Nigga", which originally came into use as a form of appropriating the language of opression in order to undermine that empowerment. In summary, and attempt to invert cultural sensitvities and use them to repress black empowerment.

Right. Because it would look as if you were mocking black urban street slang, not because there is anything particularly offensive about "Nigga". Look! Its even spelt differently: Get it?