Honorary Whites
In this thread we find
one of P6's common references to "honorary whites", or "honorary whiteness".
We all know that there's more to humanity than whites and blacks.
And we know that blacks fail with a higher likelihood than whites.
A spurious explanation to that is that whites, leveraging their historical status as slaveholders, manage to suppress blacks to this day.
The success of other races might seem to contradict that, but ever quick on the draw, we'll declare them "honorary whites".
And successful blacks too, at least those who succeed conventionally by going out and joining the existing economic and power structure. Let's declare them "honorary whites" as well. Condoleezza Rice. Colin Powell. Throw in all successful, working blacks. Honorary whites. We'll keep as blacks the ones who have made money while retaining their alienation from real white people, the rest of them are "honorary whites". Oprah, well, we'll rule her off the chart entirely.
Once in this state, check out what you can demonstrate. God damn few black people succeed. A few rappers. Some professional ballplayers. Some college professors. Spike Lee. That's about it. On the other hand, half of all whites are honorary, and all of that half succeed. Adding in all those winners to the calculation, we observe that nearly all white people succeed.
What seems utterly bizzarre about this place where we've landed is how in hell do we convince anyone to join us.
Well, it turns out there's a way. Youth of all description are looking for a way to avoid the hard work and discipline required to achieve success in the ordinary way, as, you know, an honorary white.
So all we have to do to recruit them is to show a plausible case as to why they don't actually need to work. We convince them that those old people with all the money are the enemy, and we convince them that with enough votes we can win the battle. For credibility, we point to a few locally powerful politicians saying the same thing. We point out what black people want out of politicians, and we point out that sometimes we get it. All we need is more like that. We claim that the enemy is white people, including the honoraries.
The young man bites.
And when he ends up in prison, we blame whites, all of honorary etc.
one of P6's common references to "honorary whites", or "honorary whiteness".
We all know that there's more to humanity than whites and blacks.
And we know that blacks fail with a higher likelihood than whites.
A spurious explanation to that is that whites, leveraging their historical status as slaveholders, manage to suppress blacks to this day.
The success of other races might seem to contradict that, but ever quick on the draw, we'll declare them "honorary whites".
And successful blacks too, at least those who succeed conventionally by going out and joining the existing economic and power structure. Let's declare them "honorary whites" as well. Condoleezza Rice. Colin Powell. Throw in all successful, working blacks. Honorary whites. We'll keep as blacks the ones who have made money while retaining their alienation from real white people, the rest of them are "honorary whites". Oprah, well, we'll rule her off the chart entirely.
Once in this state, check out what you can demonstrate. God damn few black people succeed. A few rappers. Some professional ballplayers. Some college professors. Spike Lee. That's about it. On the other hand, half of all whites are honorary, and all of that half succeed. Adding in all those winners to the calculation, we observe that nearly all white people succeed.
What seems utterly bizzarre about this place where we've landed is how in hell do we convince anyone to join us.
Well, it turns out there's a way. Youth of all description are looking for a way to avoid the hard work and discipline required to achieve success in the ordinary way, as, you know, an honorary white.
So all we have to do to recruit them is to show a plausible case as to why they don't actually need to work. We convince them that those old people with all the money are the enemy, and we convince them that with enough votes we can win the battle. For credibility, we point to a few locally powerful politicians saying the same thing. We point out what black people want out of politicians, and we point out that sometimes we get it. All we need is more like that. We claim that the enemy is white people, including the honoraries.
The young man bites.
And when he ends up in prison, we blame whites, all of honorary etc.
posted by dwshelf at 9:25 PM
2 Comments:
I intend to suggest that the very concept of "honorary whites" is negative in its effect on young blacks, many who daily face a decision as to whether today will be the day they get a job, or whether today will be another day contemplating how hard it is to get a job.
I don't suggest that black youth are any different in this regard to white youth, and in fact I draw my conclusion from more experience with the behavior of white youth than the behavior of black youth. Youth in general are resentful of the apparent easy wealth held by older people. They see in front of them a requirement to work hard for relatively little pay. It doesn't take much to convince them to not take the first step, and an adult presenting them with the idea that they face a particularly uphill battle can't help.
On p6 (in the linked thread) I posted:
The reality of California is that racial issues are not black and white. There's the three "successful" races (mongoloid, Indian, and caucasian). You can find many upscale neighborhoods and professionally oriented companies formed with no majority among these three. They mix almost effortlessly. This collection is one side of the racial divide, and includes some Mexicans. However, most Mexicans and African Americans are on the other side of the divide.
To which P6 replied:
That's beause they're honorary whites.
There are two pernicious aspects of this though.
1. the notion that white privilege is basically "anybody not black" privilege"
2. the denying of e.g Condoleezza Rice as a role model for a young black person.
cnulan for example is willing to post:
I believe her skills at ahem, serving under Bush have proven decisive here.
As if, you know, she's mo more successful than a black street whore, despite an implication that she's somehow given up something by joining successful people.
P6, when discussing Rice as a potential president, joins in:
There's a couple of porn stars I can suggest. They might actually vote for one of them.
In short, a deliberate willingness to disuade any 16 year old black girl from following the steps of Condoleezza Rice into being among the top ten powerful people in America. Not because Rice did it, but because Rice did it as someone who joined with white people. An honorary white.
To be clear, I don't suggest that Condoleezza's politics are correct simply because she gained power, or that black people should "follow" her in any such sense. I do strongly suggest that Condoleezza Rice exists as a powerful demonstration of what is possible for many 16 year old black girls, and that they should be encouraged to believe that their limits are way out there, and not defined by some lack of privilege.
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