Thursday, June 01, 2006

Racist Principal

One quick way I use to determine if a statement is racist or not is to substitute another race into the statement and see if it sounds like someone could reasonably get upset by it. After reading about this principal at the EdWonks (see blogroll at left), I thought I'd apply my methodology.

Aguilar simply doesn't want to integrate with white institutions.

"We don't want to drink from a white water fountain, we have our own wells and our natural reservoirs and our way of collecting rain in our aqueducts," he said.

The issue of civil rights, Aguilar continued, "is all within the box of white culture and white supremacy. We should not still be fighting for what they have. We are not interested in what they have because we have so much more and because the world is so much larger."

Ultimately, he said, the "white way, the American way, the neo liberal, capitalist way of life will eventually lead to our own destruction. And so it isn't about an argument of joining neo liberalism, it's about us being able, as human beings, to surpass the barrier."


I leave it as an exercise to the reader to determine which determination I made. Hint: you might be able to tell from the title of this post.

4 comments:

TexSport Publications said...

I know EXACTLY where you are coming from. What actually made me feel good about my blog on this subject it that I had my blog posted before Bill O'Reilly had it on his show. In true teenager fashion, my 18 year old daughter replied, "Dad, he doesn't come on until 7:00pm." Oh well, I know she is right, but it didn't diminish my "pride." At least she is a Republican/Conservative at 18. Perhaps there is hope for the USA in the future! :)

Anonymous said...

...RACIST

Ellen K said...

Since teaching is a genetic flaw in my family tree, my mother taught in the last program to integrate Hispanics into the general population during the Fifties. It was known as the Bracero Program. She taught a classroom of third graders, 35 of them, ranging in age from seven to thirteen. She told me that every day she would get a slew of mothers requesting that certain children not be allowed to associate with other children because they were "Indian" or "Mestizo" or any of a number of other categories. Those castes exist in Mexico today because about 40 families own 60% of the wealth in the country. The system brought over by the Spanish continues to exist in this quixotic desire to reclaim the southwestern United States even though, if you read history at all, those people were predated by native tribes that existed separately here in the North American continent. From every immigrant rally there were speakers that tried to communicate this idea as a point of connection. I think they intend to try to create insurrection here and I think that they are using the schools and barrios to organize. Political organization is one thing, but when you look at the rise of gang activity in states that have been flooded with illegal aliens, you have to stop and wonder what the endgame will be.

Darren said...

If you don't think that not wanting to drink out of water fountains because people of another skin color also drink out of them is racist, we'll just have to disagree on that one.

As for overt racism, well....