The term “racism” (and its cognates) is an unfortunate piece of Orwellian Newspeak. It conflates two or three concepts that ought to be distinguished.
Firstly, there is what, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, used to be called “racialism.” Historically, this is simply the acknowledgment that there are different races.[1]
Secondly, there is merely having an (economic) interest in one’s own race. To put it another way, we could ask any given person whether he or she cares what happens to other persons of his or her own race. If they do care, then we can say that they are interested in the thriving of their race.
Thirdly, there is what we might call “chauvinism” about one’s own (or possibly a different) race. Let’s say that this amounts to (economic) interest run amok. We’ll say that to be “chauvinistic” about one’s own race is to simply lay it down that you and your kind are “better” (period) than other people.
Notice that even if one admits chauvinist-”racism” to be “bad,” this doesn’t mean that “racialism” is unjustified or that simple (economic) interest in one’s own race is ill-advised.
The contemporary conflation of these three distinct senses invites two things.
Number one, it invites a state of affairs wherein organizations such as the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) or the clothing line FUBU (“For Us, By Us”) ought to count as “racist” because they fit senses one and two. However, these institutions are seldom – if ever – saddled with the label “racist.” Such is seemingly reserved for whites.
So, number two, given the simplistic catch-all “racist” label, non-chauvinistic whites are unable to express mere (economic) interest in their own race without being called chauvinistic-“racists.”
For consistency’s sake, either we should allow that whites can express healthy interest in their own race, or we should conclude that FUBU or UNCF are “racist” groups. Since the latter option would do violence to three genuinely differentiable concepts, it would surely be preferably to disambiguate the term “racist,” along the lines sketched above.
However, in doing so, what we discover is that whites are the only group who are not presently permitted to express (economic) interest in their own racial group.[2] “Racist” has been converted into a piece of anti-white weaponry.
[1] Against those, like “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” who straight-facedly assert that blacks are merely whites with suntans, are those like Jared Taylor, who acknowledge “The Reality of Race.”
[2] For when are blacks labeled “racist” for sporting FUBU shirts? Or when are Jews labeled “racist” for giving money to the ADL, AIPAC or the Israeli state? Hispanics do not even seem to be subjected to the label many support a militant organization that is called “The Race” (La Raza) and is, among other things, bent on “reclaiming” the American South-West for Mexico?
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