A Look at the Myth of Reverse Racism

We talked extensively on Wednesday about racism and the idea of reverse racism. We eventually concluded that other forms of supposed racism do not have the same effect as racism against African Americans. Tim Wise, and anti-racist essayist, wrote an essay titled: A Look at the Myth of Reverse Racism. He starts by saying that he had a high school student ask him why he only seemed to be concerned about white racism towards people of color, and a number of students wondered why Wise did not get upset about the slurs that people use to describe whites. 

Wise points out that the words used to describe whites are silly and juvenile and “so utterly pathetic that they hardly qualify as racial slurs at all, let alone on a par with those that have been historically deployed against people of color.” Wise states that “people of color are limited in the repertoire of slurs they can use against white” and that those they can use sound more comical than hateful.

Slurs against blacks were created to dehumanize them, prove their inferiority. When a group of people hold all the power, they gain the ability to limit opportunities and define the terms of your existence. “Power is like body armor.” Wise uses this to claim that, while whites do not all have the same degree of power, as a whole they have more than they need when compared to the amount than people of color.

Within class systems, people compete for things against others of their same status: rich competes against rich, and poor against poor. Poor whites are significantly less “typified as pathological, dangerous, lazy” the way poor blacks are. Nor are they treated the same was as poor Hispanics.

Wise makes a point that when politicians want to “scapegoat welfare recipients” they don’t use “Bubba and Crystal from some Appalachian trailer park; they choose Shawonda Jefferson from the Robert Taylor Homes, with her seven children.” Reports show that white welfare recipients are treated far better by caseworkers and are given more help in finding new jobs than their other racial counterparts. 

There are plenty of ways that the more powerful groups can use racism against less powerful groups of people without having to break the law. One could discriminate in employment and not be subjected to penalty; as long as they can claim that the applicant of color was “less qualified”.

Wise makes the claim that “when white churches start getting burned down by militant blacks who spray paint ‘kill the honkies’ on the sidewalks outside, then maybe I’ll take seriously these concerns over ‘reverse racism’.”

What do you guys think about reverse racism? Do you agree with Wise’s argument about the differences between white racism against blacks and black racism against whites?