There's context missing here. I'm not going to even pretend to know about New Zealand culture or it's history in relation to racism.
But in the US, institutional racism is very much a thing. It does not mean "only white people can be racist". It means, in simple terms, that the historical treatment of people of color - particularly black people - in the US has led to a structural imbalance when it comes to white people in power in comparison to black people in power (wealth, careers, politics, even media). Same with men in comparison to women.
Again, that does not mean black people can't be racist or women can't be sexist. They're two different things.
Thought experiement: By definition, if you can institutionalize your racism... you have de facto out-competed your competitors. If you can tilt the playing field you've outdone your competitors since everyone is trying to tilt the field to their advantage. If its about competition, which you say it is, then controlling the game is a competitive advantage. But if it's about equality, then what you are clearly saying is that you want to "level" things in a way that actually disenfranchises some... no different that what you rail against. You want by definition a field that also favors some over others.
Saying that you think some can't compete on that field, though, if there was equal opportunity, goes against the evidence of history... some have indeed competed better than others and here we are today. After all, since antiquity everyone has had the right to create the game and set its rules-- that's human nature and inalienable. So stop making excuses and play the game to win. If you can't win, you're just a sore loser.
After all, do the laws of the Constitution etc explicitly promote race based inequality of rights? No. Quite the opposite. Hence, while the law and people's behavior on a case by case basis may undermine those ideals (which is up to us all to remedy by applying the law more persuasively) the idea is already that the field is level and the law exists to promote that idea.
Hence, the "fight" is already between all against all with an Enlightenment framework of equal opportunity, but some don't play the game well. Prove me wrong.
The people that try to dismiss institutionalized racism are the people that benefit from it.
I don't think that was the original argument though. I may be reading it wrong, but in the original thread it would appear that OP might be of the opinion that the only form of racism is institutional and there can not be personal or individual racism.
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u/Clarice_Ferguson Dec 11 '19
There's context missing here. I'm not going to even pretend to know about New Zealand culture or it's history in relation to racism.
But in the US, institutional racism is very much a thing. It does not mean "only white people can be racist". It means, in simple terms, that the historical treatment of people of color - particularly black people - in the US has led to a structural imbalance when it comes to white people in power in comparison to black people in power (wealth, careers, politics, even media). Same with men in comparison to women.
Again, that does not mean black people can't be racist or women can't be sexist. They're two different things.