Growing up, I was impressed upon from an early age that I should feel guilty about all the racism, sexism, and other social ills inflicted upon the poor and the minorities in the United States because I was a white male. And it wasn’t my parents who did this (thank God). It was the government skools that I grew up in that did this.
So I was stuck with this bizarre notion that I had done something wrong to someone somewhere. I was told that it was my fault that blacks were slaves then segregated, then under-employed. But I always had the sneaking suspicion that it was utter crap. But I just couldn’t formulate the correct ideas to combat this nonsense.
Then I grew older and with age came a greater understanding of the world I live in. I also gained a greater understanding of myself and who I am. It turns out, that despite the fact that slavery happened, that segregation happened, that racism still does exist to a degree, I am only responsible for my own actions.
And as far as I can tell, I’m not racist. You know, it’s funny but nobody in government skool ever accurately defined the term for me. Racism is the belief that one race is superior to another by virtue of being a member of that race. It doesn’t matter if you are in the “superior” or “inferior” category when it comes to race. You are still racist if you believe that a certain race is superior to others based on race alone. That is why when a black person talks about the white man keeping him down, he is making a racist statement about whites and blacks by saying that whites are superior to blacks. We’re not by any stretch of the imagination.
Of course, exonerating myself from the terrors of black racism was easy. For American Indians, it was much more difficult, but the conclusion was still reached. I had nothing to do with the broken treaties and the outright property theft. I also dropped all notions of moral superiority that other white people apply to American Indians. They were (and still are) just people like you and me which means they had their share of sin like the rest of us.
I do believe that the United States Government should look into any treaties that were signed and subsequently broken with the various American Indian tribes. On a side note, the UN should take note of this because we may decide to do the same to you later. Anyway, there is no honor in upholding broken treaties and this is an injustice that needs to be remedied, if there is any injustice to be found.
So after reading all those books where minorities were depicted as victims while whites were depicted as horrible monsters, I finally realized that it’s not the color of your skin but your actions and your words that define you. Every individual rises and falls by his or her own merit and we all face injustices from time to time. To feel guilty for the offenses of others simply because they happen to be of the same race as yourself is incredibly stupid.