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Wednesday, May 28, 2014

SHIRLEY CHISHOLM: ON RACISM - A STATE OF EMERGENCY




A STATE OF EMERGENCY:

African Americans (and others) don't understand that RACISM is about power, wealth (money) and privilege ... and who has it and who doesn't. Black people are not racist because they don't have the prerequisites - (that being) "power, wealth and privilege". African Americans can be prejudiced, but again, not racist.  African Americans MUST strive for and ACHIEVE political and economic empowerment if they want to stop institutional racism. 


Any predominantly African American city where whites control the legislative (city council), judicial, and legal (law department/law enforcement) process is a hornet's nest of/for institutional racism. In addition, if your fire department is all white, the police department is all white except for maybe 2 black police officers, institutional racism is solidly entrenched in your city and you must take the necessary lawful steps to destroy it such as legal remedies (along with finding candidates who are committed to rooting out institutional racism, and then making sure they get in office). The leadership (especially the top leadership) must be voted out of office and removed from their position as soon as possible because they make it possible for institutional racism to continue to exist.

 
Furthermore, any gov't in a city like the above that uses code words such as looking for "qualified people" or "the best people" to fill jobs, and "we are an equal opportunity employer", and has no written affirmative action plan, is not committed to diversity in hiring. Even the state of Ohio has affirmative action plans in place. Why doesn't your local gov't?


[Do me a favor.  Maple Heights has received (?) or will receive grants (that's your tax dollars) for construction.  Make sure (even if some things may be outsourced) that African Americans have a significant presence in hires, and or trainees (if they don't, please get busy getting the leadership out of Maple Heights gov't).]

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EXCERPT:
"The privilege that prejudice rationally defends is a product of racism. Racism, however, is more than just prejudice and discrimination combined. Racism is a socially constructed reality at the heart of society¹s structures. Racism is the deliberate structuring of privilege by means of an objective, differential and unequal treatment of people, for the purpose of social advantage over scarce reso...urces, resulting in an ideology of supremacy which justifies power of position by placing a negative meaning on perceived or actual biological/cultural differences. Racism and prejudice are not mental illnesses or psychological problems people have. Neither are they the product of "psychological abnormalities." Both are rational, cultural and structural phenomena to defend power. Racism goes beyond prejudice (an attitude) to structure this power advantage politically, economically, culturally and religiously within a social system, whether it be simple (as in personal bias) or complex (as in the role apartheid played in South Africa), which gives social advantage to some at the expense of others perceived to be inferior and undeserving.
 
In its essence, racism is culturally sanctioned strategies that defend the advantages of power, privilege and prestige which "Whites have because of the subordinated position of racial minorities." This deliberate political, economical, religious and sociocultural structuring of privilege, does not take place in some moral vacuum. It has behind it the moral force of an ideology of supremacy, an ill-will that claims racial superiority and pride of position. By ideology I mean a system of ideas and beliefs about the universe, to which a people adhere in order to justify their attitudes and actions. This ideology can have a religious or a scientific basis, depending on which one shapes our worldview. Nevertheless the outcome is the same, where one group benefits and the other does not."

http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/papers/caleb/racism.html



 
 
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The leadership is going to point to I Crowell as proof they are diversifying the leadership, but isn't she window dressing with no real power to decide where and to whom the money goes? Plus we know the history that follows her from East Cleveland.

We all know that pretty soon, this gov't may be in fiscal emergency where none of these people in gov't will have the last word.

For now, the people who decide how much, and to where and to whom the money flows is for the most part city council.

Anonymous said...

The only ones with any spine (sorry to say) are the two Republicans.

Shows you how dumb those Democrats are. When will those 2 African Americans on the city council wake up?