Originally posted by nathan summers
Nighthawk is hateful, intolerant and a bigot, perhaps. But he's incapable of being racist. Racism refers to beliefs, practices, and institutions that discriminate against people based on their race. "Racism" as a term is applied only to the dominant group in a society, because it is that group which has the means to oppress others. And yes, he hates whites because it was a HATE crime that initiated the death of his parents. It was a racially motivated crime. Not just some one picking another out by chance.
Nighthawk would hold his own.
Wrong.
Racism is basically bias and prejudice due to race.
End of story.
It doesn't have to be attributed to a 'dominant' or 'subversive' group in a society, and for the matter it doesn't even have to be oppressive, suppressive or even repressive. All racism requires is prejudice based on race.
In the past this went hand in hand with oppression (for example overt forms like lynching and cross burnings in the US, and 'sjambok' whippings in South Africa) to repression (for example the Jim Crow laws in the US, and the whole 'equal but separate' nonsense).
But racism doesn't need that ......for example in 2006 there are still some people out there who are racists, but Jim Crow laws are relegated to history, there are no 'colored' bathrooms separate from 'white' bathrooms, cross burnings are mostly to be found in old films, and I doubt most of the population even knows what a lynching is.
Anyways, racism doesn't require dominance or subservience in society. Now, position in the social stratum can definitely enhance it, but it is not a requirement. All that is needed is prejudice based on race.
Take Louis Farrakhan for example ......he is both a racist and an anti-semite, and apparently has no apologies for either stance. He has even gone to great lengths to promote rather ludicrous notions ....for example his assertions that the 'white race' descended from a 'mad god' called 'Yacub,' and that while black people all over the world were born 'righteous and turned to righteousness' the white people of the world were 'made unrighteous by the god who made them.'
If a white or asian person said the same words, in the inverse, it would be straight racist. Why shouldn't it be the same for Mr Farrakhan then?
Anyways, from personal experience (as an immigrant from Africa to the USA), the only racism I have PERSONALLY experienced came from a group of African-Americans.
Long and short of it is this ......racism only pertains to race. Other factors like the facets and aspects of class structure can enhance it, but the beast itself is only pertinent to race and prejudice due to race. Whites, asians, blacks ...whatever .....can all be racist.
Anyways, you said:
Nighthawk is hateful, intolerant and a bigot, perhaps. But he's incapable of being racist. Racism refers to beliefs, practices, and institutions that discriminate against people based on their race. "Racism" as a term is applied only to the dominant group in a society, because it is that group which has the means to oppress others.
Well, the thing is that NHawk (who I like BTW) is hateful, intolerant and a bigot.
That doesn't make one a racist .....for example I am highly intolerant of people who waste my time in business, and I am a high bigot against them .....but that doesn't make me racist.
HOWEVER, if someone is hateful, intolerant, and a bigot, AND IT IS DUE TO THE OTHER PERSON'S RACE, then that person is a racist.
Pure and simple.
As I tried to explain before it has nothing to do with dominance within the social stratum, and it also has nothing to do with the power to oppress (for example most racists today do not have the power to oppress those that they look down upon, unlike the olden days when looking at a white woman in the street could, and did, have people get hanged on the spot! Nowadays the ability to 'oppress' is largely absent ......unless you have the bad luck to have a racist as your boss or teacher or bus driver. LOL. But that is rare. Nowadays you can only be 'oppressed' or offended if you allow yourself to be, meaning if you take to heart what some silly bigot is saying to you. Otherwise there is no real power today, while in the olden days there was significant power that extended even to the legal spectrum. Nowadays the most you have to deal is a weird look and some silly words).
Anyways ....NightHawk is a racist.
And yes, he hates whites because it was a HATE crime that initiated the death of his parents. It was a racially motivated crime. Not just some one picking another out by chance.
True, it is a hate crime that made him hate whites. But that doesn't take away from him being a racist.
If someone robs you, and then you turn and rob the next person who comes down the path, you are in fact a robber.
If a woman shoots your dog, and you take your Sig and go shoot dogs owned by women (because they are dogs and they are owned by women), that doesn't make you innocent. You are as bad as the person who blasted your dog.
A bad thing happening to a person doesn't give them carte blanche to go and extend it to other people.