🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <11620@sun13.scri.fsu.edu>, nayak@dirac.scri.fsu.edu (Krishna Nayak) writes:
>
>the way I have always understood it, is that Racism is not simply about
>making an attempt to oppress/subordinate a particular group.  

    What is the difference between an attempt and actually doing it?
Whether it succeeds or not?

>
>I can "attempt" to subordinate someone by attempting to beat them up.
>But if I don't have the POWER to win the fight, I do not really constitute
>racism, because I have not subordinated the enemy in any way at all...

    I have read where blacks have said that they were followed in stores
or watched to see if they were going to steal something.   Depending on
how racism is defined,  this may or may not be considered an act of
racism.   If it is, then making fun of the way some whites dance might
also be construed as racism.

>Similarly, (taking a more commonly talked about situation), I would need
>executive power, if I wanted to restrict a particular ethnic group from
>being hired by my company.  without power, I am doing nothing.

    So if Spike Lee hires an all-black crew, is that racist?  I'm not
saying one way or the other, but one could say he has power.  If it isn't,
then a Latino or white or American Indian director who hires all Latinos, or whites, 
or American Indians can be considered racist.   In addition, one can
also look at members of the company preferentially treating one race
over another without there ever being an official policy.  For example,
if taxi cab drivers prefer picking up women or whites, then one might
say that there is no executive power, but the effect is the same as if
there had been.

>I always thought that having the subordinating ideas in your mind
>was one thing (racialism), and that to actually constitute RACISM
>you would need the Power to implement your views.  

   I think the distinction ought to be made.  Nevertheless, people
have a hard time separating the two.   If I call you an ABCD, then that
may not be a racist act, though it may be a racialist act.  Not knowing
the definition of racialism, I would have to defer the definition
to someone like you who knows more about the topic.

--
Charles Lin
clin@eng.umd.edu