Accidentally Racist

Philip E. Repko
Aug 22, 2017 · 2 min read

White Privilege, and Cultural Appropriation, and probably more than a few other fabricated and deployed tactics have been fermenting in our culture for a few years, and so I have stumbled upon a thought that is far from fully developed, but interesting nonetheless.

What if those topics are the natural outcome of efforts to polarize and divide the nation? What if the propaganda tactics that are being employed absolutely require a focus on the racist actions of those who have no intentions of being discriminatory?

That’s not to say that white privilege isn’t real, or that people are never guilty of systemic racism that is not overt and purposeful.

Rather, I am suggesting that the best way to perpetuate a belief that ‘all of us’ are racist, and that all of us are discriminatory is to focus on a dyamic by which we can all be racist unintentionally.

Simple thing: Relationships between black and white people, in general, is a thousand times better now than they were when I was growing up. I am sure that I am conscious, and reactive to, racial and cultural differences, even though I don’t consciously harbor an ill feelings, and even though I try hard to avoid offending anyone.

So, how is it that racism has taken center stage again in the 2010’s, after the cultural dynamic through the 90’s and 00’s seemed to be to pretend that we had risen above that hurdle?

The best strategic ploy would be to convince people that they are guilty by ‘being.” I don’t have to do, say, or think anything. All I have to be is an old, white man who goes to church.

Guilt washes over me.

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Philip E. Repko

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Lifelong writer, storyteller, and wordsmith. Hope there is some wisdom creeping to the surface on occastion.