“Lt, you make it seem like only Black people face racism. However, Black people can be racist against white people too. White people face racism. I’m disappointed you don’t mention that ever, especially as a person of the law.”
Dear xxxx,
I appreciate your question. Ok, that’s a lie, I don’t appreciate your question because it exists. However, I am going to assume that you have personally experienced racism against you, and anyone who is mistreated based on a basis of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, profession, cultural background or ethnicity is unfortunate and I wish it didn’t exist in societies.
Now, if you have not experienced racism personally, and you merely read about White people on the receiving end of racism, I think now is an excellent time to share with you that earlier today I saw an article on Facebook that said, “Secret CIA Document Confirms Some People Have the Super Powers.” The article was accompanied by a picture of a man floating in midair. I found this to be incredible. Not just that people could have special abilities like flight. Rather, that the CIA evidently has a whole squad of superheroes, yet it cannot contain its own secret information from leaking out. Meh… Maybe, “Super-Secure-File-Man” isn’t part of the team.
Anywho, I need to be honest with you right now, I have some concerns over your preexisting beliefs on this subject matter. A casual check of your Facebook page, showing you had shared an article from the “Patriot Journal” entitled, “DISGUSTING: Look What Hordes of THUGS Did To South Beach- Should They Be BANNED?”
Being the gluten for punishment I am, I couldn’t resist checking out the article. For informational purposes, I believe this “Hordes of Thugs,” are actually called Black People. Apparently, their disgusting behavior was drinking and partying on the beach. If you are so inclined to research the topic, you might note that White People engage in this same behavior as well. In fact, just YouTube: “Spring Break South Beach.” You might note that hordes of White savages engage in this disgusting behavior as well.
Ok, now to the actually topic you brought up. First of all, we must get this out in the open. At no time have I ever intended to make it seem like only Black People face racism. I actually have tried to convey that Black People, Hispanics, Arabs, Asians, and Native Americans face racism as well. With that in mind, I’m going to assume that what you really mean, is I don’t talk about how tough White people really have it. Well, without any further ado, let’s see what we can clear up on this subject.
So just how unequal is the playing field for minorities? Well, the following data is hopefully going to shock and disgust some you. A two-year research study by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago that was published in 2013, found that 57% of non-African American research subjects rated African Americans as less intelligent than whites. 62% of the same sample group rated African Americans as lazier than whites. Lastly, 75% of the same sample group stated that African Americans are more inclined to prefer welfare over work, than whites. The ratings for Latinos were only slightly ahead of African Americans based on the responses to the same three questions.
Alarming and troubling, cannot even begin to cover the results of the NORC’s study.
So with all of this in mind lets break down your statement, “Well Black people can be racist against White people too.”
Let’s dramatically reduce the results of the NORC study by half, and take the lowest of the three percentages, that non-African Americans think African Americans are less intelligent than whites, resulting in 28.5% of White America is overtly racist. Based on U.S. Census data, that would mean that 56,093,002 non-Hispanic, White Americans are racist.
Ok, now let’s say that 100% of Black Americans are racist against White people. According to U.S. Census data, the entire Black population in America is 42,424,800 persons. Basically, even if all of Black America is racist against White America, there are still, roughly 14 million more White racists than Black racist.
Ok, so provided 100% of Black America is racist, and 28.5% of White America is racist, what is the likelihood of someone from either racial group encountering racism from the other?
Well, luckily we have something called the Petrie Multiplier formula, which operates under Lanchester’s laws, which is a set of mathematical formulae that calculates the relative strengths of a predator-prey pair. The Petrie Multiplier formula is specifically designed to measure social interactions of people and the likelihood of one being disproportionately treated based on the ratio of individuals in a particular good and their specific views.
By using the Petrie Multiplier formula, and the hypothetical numbers in this example, the result is that African Americans would be treated disproportionately at a rate of 1.7 times more than White Americans. Basically, for every one White American who was on the receiving end of racial mistreatment, there would be two Black Americans.
What does this all mean? It means that if 28% of White America was racist, again half of the actual results of the NORC study, and 100% of Black America were racist, Black Americans would STILL face twice as much racism as White Americans.
Now, I can see you shaking your head as you read this. The University of Chicago study is clearly fake news, right? Well, let’s do a little research closer to home. Thankfully, Facebook provides everyone’s data so they can resale it to organizations or persons for targeted advertising. This provides a wealth of information for research on my own Facebook page.
So, in order to make sure I provided the most accurate information possible, I examined my own page’s data.
Specifically, I examined the type of responses or comments made on a story I posted and the differences amongst racial lines. For example, is there a difference in the type of comments received if the story is about Colin Kaepernick’s protest of the National Anthem, compared to the type of responses for the White NYFD Fire Fighter who posted racist things on his own Facebook page. Guess what? There was a difference!
Ok, so using my own page and those who comment as an observational study, I noted that if an article or topic was related to someone standing up for mistreatment or disparaging treatment towards individuals in the minority community (for example Colin Kaepernick’s protest) the mean average is that 76% of White Non-Hispanic respondents will support the minority community’s right to not be mistreated. In comparison, 99% of non-White respondents will support the minority community’s right to not be mistreated.
Now, 24% of White Non-Hispanic responses will fall into the category of defending, disbelieving, negating, or speaking negatively towards the specific topic of mistreatment of the minority community. By comparison, 0% of non-White respondents will defend something that results in the minority community being mistreated.
Now, if an article or topic is specific to someone in the White community engaging in hate crimes, hate speech or generally negative attitudes towards minority communities, for example, Richard Spencer, the KKK, Neo-Nazis, etc., 77% of White Non-Hispanic respondents will condemn racist hate speech. Conversely, 99% of non-White respondents will condemn racist hate speech.
The result of White Non-Hispanic responses is that 23% will defend of racist hate speech. This may not be overt, rather in the form of saying, “First Amendment Free Speech rights.” By comparison, 0% of non-White respondents will defend racist hate speech.
By identical examples of comparison, 24% of White Non-Hispanic respondents will condemn Colin Kaepernick and suggest he shouldn’t play in the NFL (some even suggesting he should be kicked out of America). Then 23% of White Non-Hispanic respondents will defend the NYFD Fire Fighter saying that he shouldn’t be fired for anti-Semitic, and racist views towards African Americans and Asians, based on “Free Speech rights.”
Now, it should be important to mention, that I didn’t examine specific people’s comments. Therefore, I cannot say that one person would condemn Kaepernick and then support the racist NYFD Fire Fighter. However, what the results do demonstrate is that they almost directly line up with that low-end figure of White American racist, I used in my initial example. Bear in mind, that is on my page that promotes equality. It can be assumed that individuals who consider themselves overtly racist, probably aren’t card carrying members of my fan club.
At the end of the day, the bottom line is that minorities in America face more racism than White Americans to a much larger degree. That’s just a fact. Does this condone racism against White Americans? Absolutely not! However, it means that the incidents of White Americans facing daily, explicit or implicit racism is statistically, and proportionally extremely low. Therefore, when it comes to what I speak out in support for, I choose to stand up for the individuals who face the biggest cost when it comes to racism. Look at it this way, just because a person can sue a bank, doesn’t mean that the bank should be allowed to charge bogus fees.
Now, in closing the best advice I can give to you is, log off the “Patriot Journal.” Instead, go out to the beach, enjoy one or two frozen daiquiris and maybe even dance a little. Go out into the world with eyes and arms wide open and experience life for yourself. Go out into the world with the expectation that you will treat no one unfairly because of who they are, and no one will treat you unfairly for who you are. Try that and see what happens. I bet you might find out you enjoy life a little more than you do now.