Most Americans ARE NOT racists, and they understand the positive impact of diversity, and are appalled by the overt and increased racism by some very vocal bigots.
I’ve warned about this repeatedly
After the Trump rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, this past Sunday – it seems everybody else is raisin the alarm about how racist and bigoted the speakers were during that event. Meanwhile, I’ve been warning about that for months to anybody who would listen. Thank goodness, several thousands of my readers have read these words. But for every thousand readers I get, millions are fed misinformation elsewhere. Hence, to me this seem like a reactive response to what has been telegraphed for a long-long time.
It is disappointing that this is one of several articles I’ve written on this topic, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. In fact, I mention as much in my last article about this subject. Spoiler alert, it has been systematic, and there are many reasons why this racist and bigotry trend continues to be emboldened. Therefore, I want to focus on how to defeat the growing bigotry in America.
Bigotry is about low self-esteem. Yes, bigots tend to be insecure people who want to feel superior to others, but in-fact feel inferior to the very people they discriminate upon, even if they don’t realize it. And no, it is not just about money or privilege, it’s about their insecurity against the collective resilience these minority groups are able to prevail against unspeakable adversity. For the bigots, this will seem counterintuitive, because they are used to dehumanize the targets of their hate.
For greater context, I’m linking to my previous article about this topic. And as I go through this article, I will link to another article pertaining to this pivotal topic. In case it was not obvious enough, this election does have a very strong race-baiting and bigoted tenor that is intended to have people vote based on misinformation about their fellow Americans with a different complexion or group.
Racism – my predictions occurring as I dreaded
A spike in racism and fearmongering against minorities, especially immigrants is ramping up exponentially. It’s exactly what I predicted and deeply dreaded.
In that article I spoke about how history repeats itself, gave an exploration to the hate mindset, describe how racism is malicious ignorance, and even spoke about the US Immigration process. On today’s article I’ll be focusing on the catalyst that becomes the muscle to enact the racism and bigotry that continues to increase around the USA, and by extension the world.
Racism around the world
If you don’t think racism exists in the 21st century in the USA and around the world, then you my friend are exceedingly naïve. The difference is that racism comes in several levels. For the purposes of this article and for brevity, I’ll divide it in two broad categories: overt and covert racism.
- Overt Racism. These are spewed by the folks who have no qualms about overtly expressing their hate against anybody who is outside their group. And spoiler alert, it is not just about “the color of their skin” – it is about misperception of who is “superior” or “inferior” in their eyes. In other words, for the USA framing it as skin color just makes it more obvious for us to see this situation unfold when it divides ethnicities. However, bigotry is a lot deeper than complexion, as I said it is rooted in a false sense of superiority. I’ll say it again, when a person thinks they feel “superior” to others, that is their insecurity making then feel as though they are indeed “inferior” to them.
Yes, I know for a bigoted person this will sound counterintuitive. But the fact is that people tend to subjugate others because they fear being “subordinate” to that group. It is even more traumatic for them when they realize that this group, they are so much dislike is in fact more humane and altruistic than what they (the bigots) were led to believe. This part is then the biggest mind-f**k that causes those with a feeble self-esteem to direct increased anger against those they decimated upon. Why? Because they proved to themselves that the individuals that the bigoted group perceived as inferior are not inferior at all… but in many ways are a lot more mature and self-assured than the bigoted person will ever be.
But just so we are clear, racism is actually illegal since the mid 60’s in the USA. And there are many statutes about discrimination spanning every jurisdiction. So just to be clear Federal law prohibit discrimination based on a person’s national origin, race, color, religion, disability, sex, and familial status. Laws prohibiting national origin discrimination make it illegal to discriminate because of a person's birthplace, ancestry, culture, or language.
- Covert Racism. To understand, every Overt Racist started as a covert racist at some point. Racism is not something a person is born with; it is a learned behavior. If this behavior is normalized in the environment a person resides, then it becomes in-their-minds a “fact of life” – which is extremely dangerous because then rationality and humanity flies off the window.
I have met countless of covert racists who feel offended if you point to them that what they are doing is indeed racist. For example, if they deny a person to use the same bathroom facility, same cutlery, or cups. Yes, I’ve seen that. In fact, growing up in South America, there was a very stark social class demarcation. And even folks in the middle class were acting as “superior” to the folks who were just a bit lower in that same echelon.
For them, their bigotry was commonplace, and since they were “not going out of their way” to “put others down” as the overt type. But they do engage in racists, bigoted, or prejudicial jokes, conversations and other discriminative practices when talking to their “circle of trust” – of those they deemed insiders. No such courtesy is given to those they are outside their bubble. And many covert bigots might even look caring and gracious to their perceived “inferior person’s” faces, but the story tends to be different behind their backs. In private, they will go all in on their bigotry against the person they were just a moment ago smiling upon. I’ve seen that too.
The good news is that this can be improved through education. Any person can easily become a victim of their environment. In other words, they literally do not know any better – until they can ascend above this veil of normalized bigotry. And no, it is not a “skin color” type thing. There are plenty of people who are racists against their own ethnicity. Yes, that is a thing.
Overcoming bigotry and raising above the tropes
This can be an easy or a very hard process – depending on the person, and their environment. A lot of times, people who are bigoted are conditioned to see themselves as the morally superior bunch. They are divisive because that is “for the common good of their own” – in their minds. They are wrong, divisiveness is always wrong. People are more similar than different, and divisiveness only helps those who want to control a particular group.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Bigots are insecure people, and bigotry can encompass racism, misogyny, patriarchy, matriarchy, tribalism, religion, politics, cultural misappropriations, etc. The more people objectively learn about all these traits, the better suited they will become to break free from the normalized bigotry. I know a lot of people who were bigoted, and broke free from that misperception. Of course, that each person is unique, and the solution is never a one-size-fits-all, but the process is the same.
These are the steps to break free from bigotry.
- Look at yourself in the mirror and learn WHO you really are. Learn to appreciate yourself for the person you are. Understand that the only competition you truly have is with the person you were yesterday. When you are truly self-assured, then you won’t feel inferior nor superior to anybody else.
- Whenever you hear a trope, stop, and truly understand what that means. And emphasize by putting yourself in a position that will make you ask yourself, “what if that type of trope was being directed at me or somebody I love?”
- As you think about this, stop, and think – is this trope normalized in my bubble? How does it resonate with those you admire and appreciate in your community.
- As you think about this some more, think – is this trope something you would feel emboldened to repeat in a public conversation? As in going on the record, and have the rest of the world put all eyes on you for repeating a bigoted trope? Would you feel emboldened to say that to the person’s face? Would you repeat such a trope if YOU were the minority in that case? Think about all these for a moment, especially on this last part before moving on.
- Have you been guilty of celebrating or agreeing with a trope before, even if you “kept it to yourself?” Why did you keep it to yourself, and not said it publicly?
- Have you ever thought about a bigoted trope against a person you were speaking to, even if this was a “polite conversation” – and although you’re jovial in your conversation, you were actually thinking a racist, misogynistic, sexist, etc. type trope related to the person you’re speaking with?
I can go on, but hopefully these help you understand the process. Once you reach the last bullet point, go over this list again. When you come full circle again to this paragraph, now imagine you’ve been the victim of all these tropes. Spoiler alert, a lot of people who are victims of racism, bigotry, or other types of similar covert violence bite their lip. They know they are in front of a bigot, even if the bigot is smiling jovially at their face. Yet they choose to prove that the bigot’s perception of them is indeed skewed.
I cannot begin to tell you how many people I’ve met say something bigoted, but don’t realize it. For example, if talking about a particular group of people, they would say something like “everybody in that group is x, y, z – but YOU are different.” I’ve seen people celebrate “diversity” whilst being condescending to a minority group for achieving what is “expected” of a majority group. Don’t confuse my words with celebrating heritage. But as I’ve said in previous articles, if you know you know. It’s not something you can summarize in an article, or even an encyclopedia. If you know you know what I’m talking about.
But the fact is that EVERYBODY is a minority outside their immediate bubble. But there is a catch, the USA is the premiere nation in the planet because it is a microcosmos of the entire human race. People born all over the world are American citizens, we have more cultural representation in this country that anywhere else on Earth. That is what makes us a superpower.
Understanding racism for dummies
No, the civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King did not eradicate racism in America. What it did was give a STARTING POINT to a leveled plain field.
Diversity is not only a bunch of skin tones; it is about having eyes to shed light on blind spots more homogenous places cannot comprehend – because it is outside their scope. What does that mean? Have you ever traveled abroad to a country that speaks a different language? How was your cultural shock? Yes, we all have experienced that when we travel abroad in one way or the other.
But something amazing happens when people come to America, they adapt to a commonality that makes us uniquely American. I can tell you as an expat myself from a South American country, the differences are stark after you’ve been living in the USA. Any immigrant family will tell you the same. Although we have a lot of our cultural heritage, this does transforms into the unique fabric of the American culture. And the American culture is extremely complex and expansive. That is what is already great about America.
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I’ll be writing an article highlighting about what makes Americans unique. It won’t be necessarily about “American Exceptionalism” – but it will be about what is it that is already great, and what is that adversarial foes want to destroy. If you forget anything I said in this article, remember this… WE are the UNITED States of America. Remember this when you cast your vote. HLC