White or Black Racism is Racism

Growing up, it was always drilled into my head the concept of racism and how the white people are racist versus the blacks. But what seems to have been lacking is the reverse, the hatred of white people by blacks due to the color of their skin. For some reason this was never discussed and it seems that blacks would always get a pass when they would do or say something racist. I suppose the logic was since they historically have been the victim of racism (slavery) then they had the right to harbor hatred towards white people. I even heard that it is not possible for a black person to be racist towards whites because of their historical victimization. Or perhaps we feel so guilty regarding our anti-black racism we tolerate anti-white racism by blacks.

Whatever the case is or reason for this disparity white culture has come a long way in dealing with their racism. Years and years of education and media attention to promote tolerance by white people has worked. Blacks are given an equal opportunity to whites and some may even say they are given a leg up versus white people to compensate for their history. But what have the blacks done to temper their racist attitudes toward white people. The answer is very little and in fact the leaders stoke this hatred of white people as a way to maintain their leadership and it acts as a scapegoat for their own troubles.

Black leaders have recently changed the subject when it comes to racism. Although, individual racist activity exists and will always exist against blacks (and whites, and Hispanics, and Asians, etc.) the number of incidences are few and far between and certainly have been decreasing. Instead of being able to produce examples of individual racism they now talk about institutional racism. A convenient method to prolong the racist claim.

So what is institutional racism and how do you prove it? The suggested proof lies in the fact that since blacks have not attained the same level of success as whites or other groups it must be due to racial preferences. The flaw in that proof is it assumes the lower social standing of blacks can only be due to racial oppression and not other factors. It completely absolves blacks of any responsibility for their own social level and places the blame on "institutional racism" which is a nebulous phenomenon that cannot be proved or disproved.

Ultimately, racism is a human phenomenon that exist in all races and victimizes all races. Racism is not inherently a white problem and blacks are not the only victims. We all must fight that natural tendency to group people based on their race, sex, religion, etc. The black community for too long has been given a pass for their racist activity and speech and it is time for this to be addressed and given the same attention as white racism. BO needs to step up.