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Race/Ethnicity Questions 651-660

THE QUESTION:
R653: In a society that portrays the black male as the epitome of serious violence and criminal activity, why isn’t anyone publicly questioning the psyche of the white male? In light of the Columbine incident, does anyone dare ask what’s going on with the white male? I’m looking at a pattern of violence here: The mass murder in the McDonald’s in California, the Royal Oak post office shooting in Michigan, the Oklahoma City bombing and the string of school mass shootings. Tell me, how frequently has a black man been in the news for shooting up a restuarant, post office or school? Caveat: I am not indicting all white men.
POSTED APRIL 22, 1999
Zawadi, black female, 34 <aquarius9@hotmail.com>, Detoit, MI

ANSWER 1:
There is not the questioning of the white male psyche probably for two reasons. First, questions could lead to exposing the Big Lie about crime in America and the tyranny of parading blacks as the nation’s only criminals while deflecting attention from the almost pathological criminality of whites. Magnifying black crime and de-emphasizing or apologizing for white crime leads many whites, young and old, to believe they are above the law and everyone else – that they can do no wrong, and that laws are intended to keep everybody else in check while exempting whites from such constraints. This, coupled with the white American male’s almost demonic worship of the gun as his missing appendage, his great equalizer and his great enabler, are likely to ensure a continuing train of tragedies like that at Columbine.

Second, men tend to exhaust all stupid alternatives before doing what should have been done to begin with. Black crime and gun usage, mostly plaguing blacks, are largely associated with low-end drug activity. White crime and gun usage are ubiquitous and reflect a much deeper and more broadly damaging problem. This truth white America seems unwilling to face, so it continues to dissemble and pursue the stupid alternatives. Listening carefully to the NRA and other apologists sadly reflects how slow progress through these alternatives really is.
POSTED APRIL 23, 1999
Floyd L., 59, African-American male <lastchild@worldnet.att.net>, Memphis, TN

FURTHER NOTICE:
I tend to disagree with Zawadi’s assessment that “society” portrays the black male as the epitome of violence and criminal activity. Perhaps that’s the way black males are portrayed in rap music, and in some movies, but most people know enough to realize that isn’t real life.

It is also no more logical to assert there is a problem with the collective psyche of the white male than it would be to say that there is a problem with the collective psyche of the black male. Individuals commit crimes, not demographic groups. But if you want to talk about demographic statistics, black males are more than 16 times more likely statistically to commit crimes, and nearly 21 times more likely to commit violent crimes, than white males. Those figures are drawn from crime report statistics published by the FBI for calendar year 1997. Still, an individual has the power to choose what he or she does with his or her life. Face it – some people choose badly.

I don’t think there’s any benefit to trying to lay the blame on any demographic group when some nut-job decides to do something crazy like shooting up a school. Contrary to popular opinion, there is no vast conspiracy to blame blacks (or whites) for anything. There will always be idiots and psychos in the world. It’s one of the prices we all pay for being in a country of many different kinds of people. And, for the record, last night’s lead story on the 11 o’clock news here in Columbia was a shooting in a bowling alley, in which a black man gunned down three patrons. Nut-jobs come in all sizes, shapes and colors.
POSTED APRIL 23, 1999
Roger, white male, 36 <HighCommander@iname.com>, Columbia , SC
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THE QUESTION:
R652: This week’s events at Columbine High School in Littleton, Co., are a tragedy of the most horrid dimensions. My heart goes out to all the victims, their families, friends and their community. I can’t help but wonder, however, given how race-focused we still are in this country, if the national shock, horror and outrage would be any different – more intense, perhaps? – if the shooters of the victims were non-white. What do you think?
POSTED APRIL 22, 1999
Wondering American, Washington, DC

ANSWER 1:
If the attackers were non-white, I think this would bring up a lot of racist fears among white people, but for the most part it would go unspoken, especially on the news. To do otherwise would upset the myth that we’re all “equal” and that we judge others only on character and not by race. To me, an even more disturbing question is: If the shooting had taken place in a poor urban minority school, how would white Americans and the media react? Would white parents identify with the grieving parents as much? Would the media cover it the same way, as a national crisis, or would they dismiss it as an example of urban violence? I’m afraid many whites would fail to grieve for dead minority children as they grieve for dead white children, and would fail to see the incident as particularly relevent to their lives (except as further evidence that they should flee inner cities and move to nice suburbs, like Columbine).
POSTED APRIL 23, 1999
Rhiannon, 28, white female <rock0048@tc.umn.edu>
Minneapolis , MN

FURTHER NOTICE:
Of course it would be different. If the shooters were non-white (especially if they were black), it would be taken as evidence of the truth of the “violent black youth” myth that we hear about every day. But even more, imagine if this had not happened at a middle-class suburban school, but in an all-black and Hispanic inner-city school in Chicago or New York. There is no way the media would be treating it with the same level of attention they are now – and certainly not with anything approaching the sympathy. It would just be a bunch of “welfare parasites” killing each other off, anyway. If you don’t believe me, just imagine how different things would be if JonBenet Ramsey had been a poor black girl instead of a rich white girl.
POSTED APRIL 23, 1999
Randy S., white male Atheist, Atlanta, GA

FURTHER NOTICE 2:
I think the question is hard to answer because nothing like that has ever happened. That teenagers caused such chaos is in itself shocking. I do believe, however, that the response would be different in the sense that hatred and outrage would be the prevalent feeling among the majority instead of the horror that’s felt over the tragedy. Had the shooters been black, I’m sure many would say the massacre was done because those boys were seeking revenge for all those questionable police shootings of black males in the last month. The music and lifestyle of those boys would be questioned, and the fear that this may start a pattern among black high school teens would bring great fear into the American people. That this could happen in our town would be in most people’s minds, instead of the mentality that “we never thought it would happen in this quiet, peaceful town.” Again, because this has never happened before, it’s really hard to say if the reaction would have been much different.
POSTED APRIL 23, 1999
Orleanas, 18, black <orleanas1@yahoo.com>, Boston, MA
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THE QUESTION:
R651: It seems like every year there is an award-winning, major motion picture depicting the Holocaust. Why does this historic event get so much more exposure than other atrocities against various ethnic and racial groups in history, namely enslaved African Americans?
POSTED APRIL 21, 1999
J. Stewart, 34, African-American female, Houston, TX

ANSWER 1:
I guess the same question could be asked about why movies have not been made about the attempted genocide of Native Americans at the hands of Europeans. I think currently more emphasis is placed on the Holocaust because this event happened within living memory and there are people still alive today who were directly involved with this tragedy. We have massive archives of pictures, documents and films available which detail the atrocities of this time. In the cases of both African-Americans and Native Americans, very few pictures and no films survive of the atrocities visited upon them. The main archival material that we have of this time is the testimonials that were taken from survivors in the early parts of this century. And these are extremely rare.
POSTED APRIL 23, 1999
M. Kemper, 30, Irish-American female of Native American descent,<kemper1@gte.net>, Tampa , FL

FURTHER NOTICE:
Consider the following titles: “The Color Purple,” “Amistad,” “Beloved” “Roots” – and its sequels – “Rosewood,” “Ghosts of the Mississippi,” “X,” “Mississippi Burning,” etc. All of these films were critically acclaimed and several won prestigious awards. There are more, but my memory has run dry. I would tend to believe the list of films depicting Afrocentric struggles far outnumbers the list of films depicting atrocities to other ethnicities, individually and/or possibly even combined.
POSTED APRIL 23, 1999
David, white male, 29 <dash@netside.com>, Columbia , SC

FURTHER NOTICE 2:
Well, if you think about it, the Holocaust occurred in another part of the world. One person is held primarily responsible: Adolf Hitler. It’s probably an easier money maker for movie producers to make a German out to be a bad guy than a whole population of white Americans. It’s uncomfortable for Americans to think of their ancestors to be as viscious as Germans were during the Holocaust. Movies are a representation of the culture in which they are produced. They can tell a lot about what the population is ready to accept and what the population fears. For instance, we have become much more accepting of Vietnam movies since the late 80’s. Before this time, the American population was not ready to see on the big screen what really happened in Vietnam.
POSTED APRIL 23, 1999
Lissa, 26, white female <blahcool@aol.com>, TX

FURTHER NOTICE 3:
The Jewish people have refused to forget the persecution they have endured, from enslavement in Egypt to genocide in Europe. They have used their shared memory, always kept fresh (not only through mass media, but also through annual observances like the Passover seder), to give them a measure of security, a security they are ever vigilant to preserve. African-Americans, it seems, have developed a shared amnesia. If our parents and grandparents suffered the violence and indignity of the Jim Crow era, then why aren’t we all well-versed in first-hand knowledge of the goings-on of those times? I recently saw several wonderful portrayals of the black struggle in America. How many blacks spent money and time to see films like “Beloved, or “Amistad?” How many tuned in to see recent PBS documentaries about Paul Robeson, or the slave trade (6-hour epic documentary “Africans in America”)? Some of us grumble about the lack of portrayals of our struggles in this country, but how many of us actually support the fine films and documentaries that are produced, simply by taking the time to watch? Perhaps if we spent more time watching the aforementioned types of shows, instead of vegetating in front of hip-hop videos and black exploitation films (i.e. “Playa’s Club,” “I Got the Hookup”), we might see more constructive productions in the future.
POSTED APRIL 23, 1999
Sam; 31; male; brown American <SamAlex67@aol.com>, Chicago, Il

FURTHER NOTICE 4:
I can think of two award winning holocaust films: Schindler’s List ( 1993, I think), and Life is Beautiful (1998). So, the ‘every year’ comment seems ill-considered, unless I am overlooking several more. Next, let’s see: Roots, Amistad, Rosewood, Beloved, even Gone with the Wind come to mind with no great effort. Also, Dances with Wolves was a moving tribute to Native Americans and their mistreatment at white settlers’ hands. All of the films mentioned above are powerful, some moreso than others. I am positive I am overlooking several more, too, and hope someone else can fill in the gaps. I’m sorry, but I don’t buy what seems a short-sighted argument on your part.
POSTED APRIL 23, 1999
Kathryne, white southern girl, 28, Birmingham AL
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