Social Justice Warriors

J-Dub Breaks Down Racism on Turtle Boy…Yet Again

By J-Dub

Obviously, this isn’t the first time I’ve done this, and now it appears it won’t be the last.

Insert “facepalm” here.

black facepalm

Apparently, getting people to understand what racism in America is really all about is going to be a much larger job than I anticipated. I’ve already covered the easy parts. I’ve already exposed the Joyce McNickles of the world for their self-serving use of racism, which is why I was mentioned in Turtle Boy’s recent piece on North High teacher Janice Harvey. There’s a key point in that article which needs to be addressed.

“Dear white people, just because a business/school/organization is not being racist to you does not give you the knowledge to say there is no racism there.”

“It (the article) just helps you feel better about yourself so you can go on denying that racism is a real an experience of students and faculty of color in your school and for that matter school systems everywhere.”

Oh look, another person speaking for ALL people of color. Don’t tell J-Dub!!! Clearly EVERY person of color feels they are being oppressed at North High school because of their race. Because there’s nothing racist at all by assuming that the color of your skins determines your world view. Get with the program Janice Harvey. How dare you suggest that you’re not racist!! How dare you suggest that you care about all your students!! Don’t you know that people on the Internet who have never stepped foot in North High School know more about it than you do?

Talking about racism only creates a racial divide when people aren’t willing to talk about it.

AKA, let’s NEVER stop playing the race card. Ever.

There’s a theme linking the the Janice Harvey’s of the world with  the Joyce McNickels’.  Racism in America has been grown from a cultural scourge into a cottage industry. One of those two is actively exposing it, and the other is actively propagating it. Let me walk you through who is who.

My explanation starts in the statement “Oh look, another person speaking for ALL people of color. Don’t tell J-Dub!!!”  Why would the people who are concerned about racism be concerned about an educated person of color with a voice and the ability to use it?

Because my existence destroys the entire narrative of the people like Joyce McNickels and those who are screaming racism at Janice Harvey. Racism is the fuel which those people use to power their hate-engine, and if that engine stops running, they will have no ability to achieve their political goals, most of which revolve around the destruction and punishment of “white America.” An important part of doing that is to pretend that black people in America do not have an opportunity to better themselves, that there is no black middle class in America, that to be black in America is to be uneducated and impoverished, and that white people are responsible for that.

This is where I need to correct Turtle Boy on a point. There is a “White America;” and there is a “Black America.” There’s also a “Chinese America,” a “Mexican America,” and a “Native American America.” There’s a “Rich America” and there’s a “Poor America.” There’s an “America” for which ever socioeconomic group you would like to choose.  There’s two simple reasons for that.

The first is that people by nature are homogenous.  Look at any reasonably-sized gathering of people, and you will notice that people tend to congregate in familiar batches.

Marshawn Lynch and I both love Skittles.  Beyond that, there aren’t many similarities between us. We both played football at one point in our lives.  We both lived in southern California at one point in our lives. After that, it gets easier to start naming the differences.  How many of you reading this right now are waiting for me to say we are both black? Hold on to that thought, I’ll come back to that in a minute.

The second seems rather obvious…people are not Skittles.  I’m the kind of guy who has to separate his Skittles into the different flavors, partially because I’m a bit anal-retentive, but also because I like to eat them in a particular order based on flavor ranked from least-favorite to most-favorite.  Right now, you are wondering what in the hell my weird candy habits have to do with anything?

Go back to comparing me to Marshawn Lynch.  Since we are people, we have so many different ways of comparing us, but you know damn good and well at some point, you made us both Skittles and grouped us by color.  We all do it; it’s in our nature.

But is that in and of itself racism? Not at all, but that is not what the Joyce McNickles’ of the world want you to believe, and it also what Janice Harvey is really talking about.  It is exceptionally dumb not to understand differences amongst people, especially when it comes to educating them.  To do that effectively, you need to start at the top with the most general, and drill down to the most minutely individual. That’s how you create a generation of individual thinkers, and we are headed in exactly the opposite direction.

People like McNickels need a world which views people in simple terms so they can be easily labeled. Janice Harvey is actually trying to get us to the place where Martin Luther King, Jr’s “Dream;” where people are judged not on the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

That’s the last thing in the world the Joyce McNickles of the world want. Their biggest weapon is the easy-to-apply, instantly discrediting label; the one they use the most is “racist.” With no racism, there can be no racists, and therefore there can be no Joyce McNickels.  That can’t be allowed in their world, because as I’ve said before, these are people who who only care about maintaining their own elitist status.

It may seem counter-intuitive that the people who claim to be fighting racism actually need it’s existence, but it’s the only reason which explains why people who claim to be anti-racism would get so upset at the suggestion that race relations in this country are not as bad as some would have us believing. Its’ an old and reliable recipe, and Harvey masterfully exposes . I’ll use examples from Harvey’s original article to prove my point.

First, there’s the use of the “Skittle Theory” so as to lump all the “bad people” into an easily-demonized group.

The Collective and Clive seem to think that our entire staff is made up 60-year-old white schoolmarms, a laughable fallacy if only it weren’t being said to denigrate our abilities as educators.

Check. Now that we have our targets labeled, it’s time to invoke the “you wouldn’t understand, it’s a black thing” nonsense.

McFarlane has ignored an invitation from one of our union representatives to visit the school and get to know North kids and their teachers, yet he boldly suggests that North’s teachers cannot connect with children of color unless they too are non- white.

Check. Now that we have established the idea there’s a white “power structure,” and a black “underclass,” it’s time for the full-on racism invoked in the name of fighting racism.

He really should take us up on it. He’d see that our staff, which is not even close to being lily-white, is color-blind, and thankfully so are our students.

Read that last one carefully.  By labeling the teaching staff as “lily-white,” the finger-pointers like McFarlane have no problem disenfranchising any minority member of that staff, so long as it furthers their cause.  Take that to the next step.  By creating this level of chaos in this and many other schools just like North, just how many students of color are having their chances of becoming productive members of society diminished because the actions of people like McNickles and McFarlane ensure those schools don’t function as they should?

That’s why they break out the long knives for somebody like Janice Harvey.  If enough people start listening to the Janice Harvey’s of the world, then people are going to start asking the same sort of questions I have. If enough of those people ask enough of those questions, then these schools are not going to be as dysfunctional as they are.  Once those schools functional properly, then all of a sudden people like Joyce McNickles aren’t going to be getting questioned by the Janice Harvey’s of the world.  They are going to be questioned by educated young blacks coming into their world of academia.

That’s the worst-case scenario for people like Joyce McNickles. That’s why I’m  the “M&M” in her bowl of Skittles. Turtle Boy tells me he gets people telling him I don’t really exist, Joyce McNickels needs me to be an imaginary character. I hate to disappoint you, Joyce, but I’m very real. Nobody’s spent five years writing my own blog to provide that kind of cover.

I’m very real, Joyce…and you can’t silence me. You can’t stand being questioned by people like me, and I’m going to continue to tell people why you will never allow an education system which would fill your classroom with 20-year-old versions of me.

5 Comment(s)
  • TMNT DK
    April 1, 2015 at 5:21 pm

    Hit the nail on the head! Great article.

    Problem is, not much will change. She will continue to twist and misconstru words to fit her agenda, and anyone that disagrees with her view fits in 1 of 2 categories: 1. Racists 2. Uninformed and out of touch Whiteys.

    Deny, deny, deny.

  • RSoxGuy
    March 30, 2015 at 11:00 pm

    Great post but i gotta ask, how do you rank your skittles???? CLIFF HANGER!!!!

    • March 31, 2015 at 9:50 am

      You know that if i released that information, somebody will call me a Skittles racist.

      • RSoxGuy
        April 1, 2015 at 5:29 pm

        Ok lemme do it with you then,
        First – Red
        Last – Green
        You fill in the rest. We can be skittles haters together. Hell, maybe even start a community group!

  • Maggie the Cat
    March 30, 2015 at 6:27 pm

    Great blog post.

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