“Good Racism”
I am coining a new term: “good racism”. (Actually, The Mighty Barrister coined it in a comment box on Kevin Miller’s blog on Al Sharpton). But I am going to start to use it.
What is “good racism” you ask? I am not very good at putting ideas to paper as some of my other fellow parishioners at St. Blog’s, so I will give you examples.
An example of good racism is when you have an inner city, predominately black parish. Not the fact that it serves a mostly black area or has mostly black parishioners is the problem, but when they become so afrocentric, that this becomes the main focus over the Eucharist. That liturgical abuses are allowed and overlooked in abundance simply because they are “cultural” in nature.
Good racism is the notion that black people have to have things translated into ebonics so they may understand them better.
Good racism is when we receive advertisements in the mail for Huggies diapers in Spanish because they know that since our last name is Spanish, we must not speak English.
Good racism is lowering academic standards in inner city schools because, um, I don’t even know why…I guess because the work is too hard for minorities?
The problem is not seeing a person as a person but identifying them and their needs by their race or ethnicity. A Hispanic immigrant, let’s say, who comes to this country and has language barriers should always be helped with compassion. But while the old fashioned Archie Bunker styled racist would say they do not need special attention, the “good racist”(Meathead) would send those children off to a public school with other Hispanic children and substitute teaching times tables with videos of Happily Ever After:Fairy Tales for Every Child.