|
I come from racist stock-- from farmers, in Michigan. I made it a life goal to get my mother to stop saying "jew him down" the way that she made it her life goal to get her mother to stop saying "n gger." She and I were both successful... and boy am I glad, because racial slurs make my skin crawl.
That said, I'm sure there are ways that I am racist. I have never been particularly into the hip-hop culture in terms of music, or fashion. Is that racist? Or is that preferencial? Are the two mutually exclusive?
I'm the minority on the metro, but it doesn't stop me from smiling at the other people or talking to them. But if someone is loud or aggressive or rude, it doesn't matter if they're white or black or purple polka-dotted, I'm going to shy away.
When it comes to alternative action, I really think our time and energy and money ought to be concentrated on where the problem starts. Why aren't we putting more money into the poorest school districts? If they grow up and remain in the same district, chances are they won't have a lot of money to fund those districts, and if they do they'll probably be moving out of them. You can't help these things retroactively nearly as much as you could have pre-emptively.
|