Was Bryant Gumbel wrong? But why are only 9 people of African descent at the 2006 Winter Olympics?
The true meaning of racism has been lost in our culture. One off-color comment from a black man on international TV and people are to quick to call him a racist. However, the terms racist and racism are being twisted to get a point of view across when actually the correct terminology should be prejudice, or pointing out the fact that there are so few people of African descent participating in the winter game.…
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26 - Greasy Guide
While Shani Davis is a rebutal to some extent he also received death threats and was sent e-mails calling him a showboater and a n-gger to his website when he decided to focus on his individual race and not the new team competition. So if race and racism doesn't exist there are a lot of people outside of the Black community who love to bring it back to square one. But unfortunatly until white America decided to open its and see thing from a different perspective we will always have this dicussion. Paul Mooney says it best "Everybody wants to be like a n-gga but no one wants to be a n-gga." And what people outside of the Black community do not have the ability to do it to see the shoes on the other foot or as DuBoius called it "double consciousness." Race is not something the Black community or minotrity communities created its a concept and biological science facts that scientist put down on the books, used to say that Black where only 3/4th of a person, used over 400 years of chattle slavery.
So to deny the fact that racism doesn't exist and even more to the extent that Blacks can not be racist is to be blind. We do not run America, we do not shape public policy, nor do we put laws down on the books. American's are blind to many facts. The only seems to believe what's presented to them in a news paper, show on a TV screen. Cause the truth be told Blacks did not benefit from Affermative Action and White American's are blind to the facts of white privilege....
27 - Natalie Davis
Oh, Mr. Conlin, I could kiss you! Excellent!
Mr. Guide, many scientists consider "race" to be a worthless, fallacious concept. Of course racism exists; it's a horrible societal plague made worse by the fact that what lies behind it is meaningless and superficial.
28 - John Conlin
Thanks Natalie,
Unfortunately racism is far, far, far too prevalent from individuals of all sizes, shapes, and colors. And focusing on the illusion of race will never solve the problem of racism.
The only way to stop racism is to end the classification of individuals based on meaningless physical characteristics. Yes, we all have ancestors and we are more like our more recent ancestors than our more distant ancestors… so freaking what! It only takes on meaning because we give it meaning.
Greasy, I haven’t read in any of these posts where anyone is stating that there isn’t racism. In fact some of them are quite racist. This seems to be your straw man. But I am still waiting for you to define the black and white race.
Below I attempt to explain this in a previous op-ed I wrote for the Houston Chronicle.
Race is Over
The idea of race is an outdated, invalid scientific concept: Isn’t it time we discarded it?
It is time to take the last step, the final step in the journey of Fredrick Douglas, Martin Luther King, Jr. and literally hundreds of thousands of other brave souls. This final step is to at last accept the truth; there is no such thing as race. It is a failed scientific theory from hundreds of years ago. It is a false concept that is only kept alive by our keeping it alive. There is no race gene. There is no White race. No Black race. Asian, Hispanic, all an illusion.
So says the American Anthropological Association (AAA) and the vast majority of experts in the field. To quote the 1998 AAA Statement on “Race”: www.aaanet.org/stmts/racepp.htm
Today scholars in many fields argue that "race" as it is understood in the United States of America was a social mechanism invented during the 18th century…
From its inception, this modern concept of "race" was modeled after an ancient theorem of the Great Chain of Being, which posited natural categories on a hierarchy established by God or nature.
"Race" thus evolved as a worldview, a body of prejudgments that distorts our ideas about human differences and group behavior. Racial beliefs constitute myths about the diversity in the human species and about the abilities and behavior of people homogenized into "racial" categories. The myths fused behavior and physical features together in the public mind,…
A “social mechanism invented”? A “hierarchy established by God or nature”? “Myths”? Why do we continue to pay homage to an idea that is clearly not true in any scientific manner?
If we treat the idea of race like any other scientific concept; old, invalid thinking must be discarded when new discoveries are made. Often this demands a profound shift in thinking. Copernicus’s discovery that the earth is not the center of the universe is an example of a similar realization that demanded this type of profound shift.
In the 18th century Goethe captured this reality when discussing the profound impact of Copernicus’s discoveries:
"Of all discoveries and opinions, none may have exerted a greater effect on the human spirit than the doctrine of Copernicus. The world had scarcely become known as round and complete in itself when it was asked to waive the tremendous privilege of being the center of the universe. Never, perhaps, was a greater demand made on mankind - for by this admission so many things vanished in mist and smoke! What became of our Eden, our world of innocence, piety and poetry; the testimony of the senses; the conviction of a poetic - religious faith? No wonder his contemporaries did not wish to let all this go and offered every possible resistance to a doctrine which in its converts authorized and demanded a freedom of view and greatness of thought so far unknown, indeed not even dreamed of."
The false concept of race is treated much the same. Ridding ourselves of this cruel fantasy is fought by those on all sides. Ridding ourselves of this failed theory strikes at the heart of many deeply held beliefs. Ridding ourselves of this obscenity opens us all to knowledge “which in its converts authorized and demanded a freedom of view and greatness of thought so far unknown, indeed not even dreamed of.” Free your mind to the truth. There are only individuals and they are not defined by their skin color.
I don’t minimize the incredible and deep re-framing I am asking from all individuals, but especially those who have been classified by this fiction since their birth. I am asking for a profound change that many will not be able or willing to do. For many this racist thinking is in their minds as a defining part of who they are. It is completely understandable. How could you not think in racist terms if since your birth you’ve been classified by this falsehood? How could these thoughts not be seared into your being by rampant racism? And an oppressed group of individuals will of course band together and form their own special ways of being, it must be done. But instead of freeing oneself this only chains the individual to this falsehood. Worse yet, this has the perverse result of only spreading racism. This is a door that swings both ways.
The past is the past. It cannot be changed. Often the only way to address the future is to cut the past loose. Let us all forever put the obscenity called race behind us. It can start today and it can start with each and every one of us.
For those who refuse I ask how is focusing on the fiction of race supposed to fix the problem of racism? It is insane. Under this crazed form of thinking, the absolute best that can be hoped for is that at some point in the future we can all say that “they” are not so different from “us”. This is at best only benignly racist. This is the goal? The finish line?
The only way to end racism is to not take the first step; the classification of individuals based on certain physical traits. This is within our power to do. We only need to begin to do it.
Let us cast aside the old beliefs and accept the truth; physical traits have no relationship to the individual. Let us begin to see individuals as just that, individuals. This requires a significant paradigm shift. Often accepting the truth does. Let us do it. It is time to take the final step.
Conlin is CEO and founder of E.I.C. Enterprises, Inc. (www.eicenterprises.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing a science and fact-based education to the poor and disadvantaged here and throughout the world.
29 - Maurice
My father always emphasized that I was a person first. A black person second. Having lived with that attitude and expectation of acceptance I have never suffered as a victim of racism (or blackism).
One other thing. Technology is the great equalizer. Your skin color, gender, sexual preference are irrelevant if you are in engineering or one of the hard sciences.
30 - Purple Tigress
I think if Mr. Gumbel were really concerned about the lack of black athletes in Winter sports, he'd establish a fund to help support and train black athletes in those sports.
He certain has more money than Joey Cheek. Wouldn't it be ironic if Joey Cheek is responsible for more black athletes (from any nation) at the next Olympics than Mr. Gumbel?
31 - John Conlin
Hi Tigress,
If he were really concerned he wouldn't focus on black athletes but rather on the failures of the public education system which dooms far too many “blacks” to a life of diminished opportunities and a tragic loss of human potential.
32 - Scott Butki
Well, it IS a sports show we're talking about not Bryant Gumbal's How to Fix America show
I think some perspective is needed.
33 - Scott Butki
You agree?
34 - tank rollins
but thats still not the definition of racist or racisim...99% of you donthave a clue what that WORD means...the other 1% (thats me) do!!!
35 - Glenn Contrarian
tank -
Dude, you're about seven years late.