It’s not just White people who are racist.

There are a lot of Black activists, scholars, pundits and talking heads who promote the theory that Black people cannoty be racist by virtue of their “blackness”.   They falsely argued that racism ONLY exists when bigotry or hateful acts are perpetrated by people who enjoy the status of societal power over their victims.  

But this is not the definition of racism, it’s the definition of systemic racism.  A system by which people who hold political power enact laws to preserve an imbalance of power.  Have we had this in America?  Without question.   

As we often see these days, these people have deliberately redone the definition of racism to excuse their own behavior.   By changing the definition, they give themselves a pass; they cannot be racist, because they don’t fit within the definition.  This is the new way to vilify one group, while relieving another of responsibility, and in and of itself is racist.

These people argue that it’s not financial power, so this excuses rich Black folks from being racist, even though money is power.  They argue that it’s not physical power, so this excuses large Black criminals who prey on older, smaller non-Black victims. They argue that only the power that every single White person in America has from being a member of the so-called White Power Structure is racism, which is complete, unmitigated crap!  

Racism is normal and natural.  Everyone of us is racist, whether we believe it or not.    Each of us is biologically programmed to believe that we, our family, our neighborhood, our country is superior to others.   Case in point, we hear a story about a large number of people killed in a bus or train accident.  We listen closely; our hearts go out to the victims and we wonder about the circumstances.  Then, we hear the incident occurred in Botswana or Pakistan, and we’re done listening.   We thought this was in America.   If it’s over there, it’s just what happens to “those” people.   We may not do it deliberately or consciously, but it does happen.   

Racism has been part of the human condition since society began.   It is a person’s belief in the superiority of his group over another.    To that end, all groups and all people have been, and are racist.   Racism is only bad when we use this feeling of superiority to someone else’s detriment;  the discrimination or oppression of others based on perceived or real racial differences, in which certain people are diminished, degraded, oppressed, denied equal opportunities, injured or even killed because of their race or ethnicity. 

We all have the ability to think another group of people is just not quite as human as we are.   All militaries do this when they train their soldiers.  Convince a soldier that his enemy is less than human and it becomes much easier to convince that young man to kill without compassion or mercy.  We’re not supposed to kill people, but the enemy is sub-human, so rock on!

So, can Black folks be racist? Of course.   Just look at Africa, where it seems ethnic cleansing and genocide are almost a daily occurrence.  One Black tribe embarks on the wholesale slaughter of another..   In America, there are some Black folks who hate anyone who is not Black, just as there are White people who hate anyone who is not White.   In this respect, All men ARE absolutely created equal.

White people don’t hold a monopoly on hate or racism.  There’s plenty to go around for everyone.