I’ve spent the morning reading through @MichelleOuldMMA‘s Twitter timeline (and the Pandora’s box she opened) after she made the statement:
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<div align=”center”><blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p>How offended would ppl be if I wore a sports bra that said 'white pride' during on of my fights – or even a tattoo?</p>— Michelle Ould (@MichelleOuldMMA) <a href=”https://twitter.com/MichelleOuldMMA/statuses/395094980806463489″>October 29, 2013</a></blockquote>
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Since Michelle Ould has been a long-time reader of MiddleEasy and we consider her a friend of the site, I thought I would take the time to explain exactly why this is neither an intriguing or philosophical question.
First off, there is no such thing as ‘reverse racism.’ There is only racism. Prejudice, on the other hand, is widely prevalent and it’s usually a preconceived opinion about a group of people that isn’t based on realism or actual experience. Racism only exists when prejudice is combined with power to discriminate against a group of people by legal, judicial, economic, and societal means.
Now one can not deny that our country was founded on supreme white privilege and power. From the forced diaspora of the Native Americans off their own land with empty promises of land treaties, along with human importation in African slavery and the barbaric living conditions of these individuals to as recent as the civil rights movement and the Tuskegee Study conducted by the United States Public Health Service in which black farmers were infected with syphilis in a non-therapeutic experiment. All of this illustrates the concept of white privilege throughout American history — all of this stuff happened. There is nothing to debate about (unless you’re the chairman of the Oregon State Republican Party).
Our country was built from this social construct. That’s the reason why we see remnants of what happened in slavery in ghettos across America. Despite what you may believe, it’s just a tad difficult for an entire group of people to go from ‘I own you, you’re a slave that will be considered 3/5 of an actual human being’ to ‘OK, you’re free but you can’t enter our restaurants, use the same public bathrooms as us, and you must sit at the back of the bus’ to ultimately ‘Hey, it’s cool! Now stop whining about it!’ You can literally see the trail of the economic hardships in predominately black communities dating back to slavery. It’s still a real thing, and therein lies the need of ‘Black Pride’ (or in your case Michelle, ‘Brown Pride’).
Instead of feeling oppressed, leaders in black communities started to advocate pride in your race, despite the amount of racism that was thrown at you (or sprayed from a fire hose). Guys like James Brown (perhaps the most underrated civil rights activist in history) made songs like ‘Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud)‘ at a time in which it was highly dangerous to promote any hint of racial equality. This was the birth of ‘Black Pride’ (and subsequently Brown Pride) in American history.
Now, looking back at history, the only time ‘White Pride’ has ever been used is in a highly offensive, bigoted and racist manner. I shouldn’t really have to give examples, but I will for absolute clarity. The KKK was formed in the late 1800s as a direct response to slavery being abolished and their need to ‘restore white supremacy’ in a country that was ‘abundant with free negroes.’ In fact in the Klan’s dogma, it stated they were for ‘the reenfranchisement and emancipation of the white men of the South, and the restitution of the Southern people to all their rights.’
I think you see where I’m going with this.
The Klan believed that because blacks ‘roamed free’ in their once ‘pure’ country, all white people were going to lose their own freedom, thus they needed to instil a since of ‘pride’ in their ‘brothers and sisters.’ This was the birth of White Pride.
Now let’s look at the historical evidence of ‘White Pride’ in social constructs throughout the country. Sure I could dig up examples in the past, but I think this photo is enough.
I could go on with this, Michelle. I’ve actually spent my entire morning writing this when I could have been doing other things like playing Grand Theft Auto Online and catching up on the new season of America’s Next Top Model. However, I hope this helps answer your question as to ‘How offended would ppl be if I wore a sports bra that said ‘white pride’ during on of my fights – or even a tattoo?’
