Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 20:03:24
From: George Richardson
Subject: Guilt, Whiteness, Pride, History

Response to Letter (by Rick McLaughlin):
Your reasoning is just a little faulty..."

...and therefore just a little dangerous. It misleads even while trying to sound as if reality and equality is its goal. May I guess from your words that you are also just a little angry about it all? So your motives may not be all that pure, either. We have to watch out for ourselves, Rick. If we don't we'll be very wrong.

You've raised several points, an answer to each of which would take a very long time both to write and to read. Instead of doing that--I can if you insist, but I'd rather not at present--I'd like to address what I think is your main concern: our cultural penchant for minority studies and praise of minority peoples while seeming to ignore or even denigrate White people and achievements.

First, there is a grain of truth in what you say. There are angry minorities who loathe whiteness, just as there are angry feminists who loathe maleness. The response to them should be reasoned and temperate and firm. To do otherwise would be to become as they are. They simply are wrong, at least in their person. Whether they are wrong in their arguments is a separate matter. Often they are because their anger leads them to silly conclusions that have no basis in reality. They might not be in certain of their points, however. As a thinking human being, your job is to point out where they are wrong and explain why you think so. That they are wrong somewhere does not mean that they are wrong everywhere. You have to think well even if they do not.

Ok, so much for the wrong folks. Should there be minority studies on our campuses at all?

Well, if the university's purpose is to expose the student to other forms to thinking, to expand the student's intellect and forensic abilities, and to show the student that there is beauty and truth to be found in other cultures and peoples, and if the university is also to show that there is truth that the student may not yet have seen (even if it is truth about the student's own race) then, yes, there should be minority studies.

That you think that the existence of such studies implies a hatred of Whites is important. It at least means that you forget that virtually all studies in the university are "white" studies, by virtue of the happy (for Europe) accident of Athens and Rome and the legacy that they left of technology, philosophy, and religion. Greece wasn't the country that we think it was through the waves of Minoan and Mycenaean immigration. It waited until about 800 bc before it started thinking in ways that we think of as "Greek." That's actually fairly late in the archeological game--ancient Egypt had been building pyramids and discovering the secrets of the triangle long before then, which was long before Pythagoras and Euclid. But we don't study "Egyptian" geometry. We study "Euclidian" and "noneuclidian" geometry. Perhaps North Africans deserve to know that they had the basis for this first.

Now, about your point a.): Is there NO truth in the accusation? I mean, while it is clear that not all Whites have been exploitative, haven't some of them been? In fact, haven't Whites sometimes been pretty brutal in their conquering and ruling of other peoples? Is most of this human? Sure--I've made that point many times here. It is also true that any dominant person or people will attract more than their share of criticism and blame and even demonization. But it is also true that Whites, having been dominant at various times and for quite a while, have acted as though they owned the peoples they conquered. Nobody that I have ever heard has said that it's better to be under a minority despot than a White one. But I'll bet you could name quite a number of White tyrants, people who do not make you proud to be White.

Now, your statement about "we 'non-existant' white people" is just silly. Even the very fact that studies are named "minority" implies a majority and that Whites are that majority. Come on, use your head. While the Soviet "memory hole" is never a good idea for anyone to use, not even for minorities, Whites have used it quite often. Unless you have stood on Boston Common and have seen the fine bronze memorial there, I'll bet you had never heard of the 54th Massachussetts Regiment until (and unless) you saw the movie "Glory." Don't deny others the recognition that they deserve, the recognition that you take for granted--and can afford to--simply because of the color of your skin. Let others take pleasure in the acheivements of those of their race. You get to do it all the time.

This is not changing anything from good to bad, unless it be in your own mind. You were taught a certain kind of history in your youth, and like all people, you'd like to be able to hang on to that. But a common rule of logic is "Don't fall in love with your first answer." That has to be a rule because it's something that we do all the time. Whatever you were taught in school long ago may be right, but it may not be. That's what your brain and your studies are for. Figure out what really is right in spite of what you've become comfortable with.

"Pernicious would-be holocaust"? There, Rick, you have stepped over the line. There you've just become a proponent of hate. I don't know anyone who wants to wipe out Whites. I certainly don't, and while there are those, here and there, who are intemperate in their speech and sloppy in their angry thinking, they are just that, just here and there. Now compare that to all the Black kids who were lynched for lookin' at a White woman. One of my own great-uncles was tied to a tree and blowtorched to death, and you talk to me of some imagined holocaust? Over Minority Studies? You have got to be kidding. Think about it, Rick. You haven't been doing a very good job of it up to now.

George Richardson
Phoenix, Arizona

I would like to know how you define a white person? I often hear Europeans calling other Europeans Ethnic, i.e. Italians, Greeks, etc. What makes one European White and another an Ethnic Person?

I JUST WAHT TO KNOW WHY EVERYTIME YOU LISTEN TO THE NEW OR PICK UP A NEWSPAPER THAT THE WHITE PEOPLEHAVE DONE SOMETHING ELSE TO THE BLACKS. AT A LOT OF PLACES PEOPLE WORK THEY HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL TO TEACH THEM HOW TO BE NICE TO THE BLACKS. WHY DON'T THEY HAVE TO BE TAUGHT TO BE NICE TO THE WHITES. THE WHITE PEOPLE HAVE TO GIVE UP THE RIGHTS AS A CITIZEN THAT IF THEY SAY OR DO ANYTHING TO UPSET THE BLACK PEOPLE THE WILL EITHER LOSE THEIR JOB OR GET SUED. THANKS

It really does not matter if a person is liberal or conservative. This is just another way to separate people. Having a liberal point of view does not mean you have to be a kiss ass coward. Being conservative does not have to mean that you are a bible pushing gun nut. These are the images created by the anti white media to keep us from ever unifying our people. I have no doubt about this. I really don't understand what your pushing on this site but I will tell you this. The blacks have mega amounts of civil rights leaders fighting for them as do the jews. But there is only one man with the balls to get out there and fight for the civil rights of white people and you don't even support him, in fact you hate him. You know who I mean, David Duke. His book My Awakening is absolute genius. I suggest all of you so called white people get your copy now. Bill Clinton (who in my opinion is one of our greatest Presidents) warned us that within the next 50 years there will be no majority race in America. So I guess that was our "Q" to organize. Why is it that everyone else can have civil rights organizations but us white folk? We need representation for the future of our people.We also need tolerance and understanding for all people. What we don't need is uncontrollable hate and ignorance.

Ralph Senese Sr

Hello,

I invite you to visit the Jim Crow Museum website maintained by Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan. It is a collection of racist images and accompanying text. The museum is both a real place and a virtual site. Here is the address: http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/index.htm

Thanks.

Dr. David Pilgrim
Professor and Curator