Prometheus 6

So I got off my last comments at Blogcritics yesterday and OSP today. I got comments and feedback and support, but you know I could just stay on the topic (don't worry, I won't). I read all the trackbacks and such and I have to say that S-Train is to be congratulated in running his place such that he can post something titled I'm A Black Partisan! and have a couple of white folks come back like this:

Why? Why is it wrong to be proud of your racial identity?

In our PC world, it's not wrong for you but it is wrong for me. Racial pride I mean, not ethnic pride like Big Swain. I'm proud of my Polish heritage and I celebrate that.

I cannot walk around and proclaim the awesomeness that is my whiteness - because I'd look like a flipping racist. I'd be called a racist and I'd feel like one.

It doesn't matter one bit that my family historically had NOTHING to do with slavery or the suppression of civil rights felt by blacks in America. My whiteness makes me guilty - on sight.

I've been beat down a few times because of my whiteness and nobody gave a good goddamn that I was the first "American born" person in my entire family. My whiteness alone was proof of my guilt.

It's just different for black folks. Just like it's different for Mexicans or Asians. Your physical appearance is a part of your ethnicity. And you know what? That's okay. I wish it could be different but it's not. We will never erase the sin of slavery in this country nor should we. White skin is a symbol of that evil.

That's Rosemary, The Queen of All Evil by the way.

See? No screams, no hysterics…no lack of indication of her opinion of the situation.

At this point, the absolute worst thing to do is compare atrocities. The trick is to remember that we've all inherited this fucking mess. And we're all trying to figure out how to get through it without getting damaged.

All this race shit has always been about who did what, and when, and if the sins of the father are REALLY passed on to the son, and I am at the point that I look no further than what can practically be achieved in the process of doing what I'm doing right now. That's why my anger at Joseph will eventually fade. I know I can't raise him, I can only pimp-slap him when necessary.

And I can't even say it's his fault that he doesn't know.

Over at Blogcritics, I asked

What problems does racism cause you, a reasonably well-educated white male from a fairly upper middle class background?

What problems does racism cause me, a 6'2" 185 lb Black male, self-educated, no degree, had to work up from messenger to Assistant VP at a bank, father a farmer, mother a laborer that eventually got a nice safe civil service job?

Mere inspection shows we're going to be talking about two sets of issues…but consider what it means that we're going to call those two separate sets of issues by the same name.

It means confusion. It means error. And it means it will probably be a while before folks are up on it enough to sort out words from events.