I, like Justice, wanted to add my two cents to this post -  “Proud to be White.” In it, the author argues that white people, like any other racial group, has the desire and right to be proud of their heritage and fight for their special interests.  I agree with the premise in theory but there’s a reason why the right to proclaim “White Pride” has been stripped and should be viewed with scorn now and well into the future.

You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you’re not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists.

Answer: Because historically, when people of European descent have shouted “White Pride,” it has resulted in the death, subjugation and humiliation of millions.

Let’s begin with the Atlantic slave trade.  The argument by many Whites has always been, “But Africans sold other Africans to the Europeans.”  This is true.  The reality is, slavery or indentured servitude began with the Greeks and since that time, the notion that one has the rite to own a human being has infected the entire world.

But it takes an asshole of enormous proportions to take a practice that on its face is detestable, but was accepted by people around the world, and elevate it to the level that Europeans did with respect to the African slave trade.  Before we get into the actual treatment, consider one of the major laws which was proposed by the jerk who is the namesake of my university and one of this country’s beloved “founders.”

The Three-Fifths Compromise was an agreement between Southern and Northern states reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787.  Under this compromise, slaves were to be counted as THREE-FIFTHS OF A HUMAN BEING for the purpose of taxation and representation in Congress.

So if I’m only 60% human, what makes up the other 40%? But I digress…

White pride with respect to Blacks Pre…and technically post Emancipation has meant this…

Post Emancipation, post the Dred Scott Decision, Post Brown v. the Board of Education, Whites and Blacks were supposed to be equals.  White folks finally acknowledged that people like me are 100% human…well, at least the did on paper…sorta…

The sad thing is, white folks historical tendency to fear those of a darker skin to the point of trying to kill or enslave them isn’t limited to Black folk.  We should all know what this country has done to Native Americans but what about Japanese Americans post-Pearl Harbor?

See, when white folks get scared, when they feel threatened, they tend to want to protect themselves.  There’s a cry that if you let the “other” get out of control, it will result in the “Others” rising up and killing whitey.  This was the primary rational for the continued enslavement of black folk.  So it should be no surprise that even in the face of what was occurring in Germany to Jewish people (another instance of White pride gone amuck), that America had its own version of concentration camps (although we call them “internment camps” cause America doesn’t torture…HA!)

Japanese internment camps in the United States

So have we learned anything yet?  Maybe we need another example before it becomes clear?

I’m trying to figure out what would be a good example.  I mean  I could discuss British colonialism and how they pretty much screwed the entire world over.  Or I could talk about the French and the Algerians.  Hmm…oh I know…

That’s right, South African Apartheid. Yeah, I know, that was like so long ago? That’s ancient history right? I know I’m not a spring chicken but I hadn’t even graduated High School and Apartheid was still going strong. Apartheid wasn’t officially abolished until 1994 so uhm…yeah.

One last point, the author of the email stated…

We have a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber of Commerce, and then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce. Wonder who pays for that??

Do white folks live in an alternate reality? There’s a National Organization for Women (NOW), you gonna question their existence? Oh I know, it’s different when it’s gender based right? Well then, what about the United Daughters of the Confederacy? They’re not White and separate enough for ya?

Ok, I’m going off on a tangent. The point is, white folks, as a whole, you can’t be trusted with pride initiatives. In fact, just as it’s America’s duty to make sure that nuclear weapons don’t fall into the hands of terrorists, it is our duty to make sure that you never, ever again are allowed to rally under a “White” banner.

With that said, Irish pride, Italian pride, British pride, French pride…if you want to have pride in the cultural roots that comprise your ethnicity, I don’t think you will get a complaint from most other ethnic groups. After all, there is a St. Patrick’s Day (ironically, the Irish, like southern Italians, were treated like shit too when they heavily immigrated to this country so maybe “white pride” is sick no matter what color the people being screwed over are?)

The difference between African-American Pride, Latino Pride, Jewish Pride and White Pride is that, White Pride is usually based solely on skin color. When it’s your color and not your culture that unites you, that’s what makes you racist.

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