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Author Topic: What is the race card?
Shenanigans
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posted 17 January 2004 02:16 PM      Profile for Shenanigans   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
It was brought up in another forum, so I brought it up for discussion with my partner. His opinion matched mine, however more eloquently worded, and certainly with his understanding of anti-oppression being a bias.

It's also stirring a lot of new ideals for a new article from me. But I am curious as to what other babblers who may or may not have had the opportunity to really partake in anti-oppression and anti-racism work, think about "playing the race card"?


From: Toronto | Registered: Aug 2002  |  IP: Logged
arborman
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posted 17 January 2004 02:18 PM      Profile for arborman     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I see it as a right wing perception, largely. As if racism is something that a person will pull out of their briefcase if they aren't making any headway based on their own merits.

Utter bumpf, but hey, that's why I'm a lefty.


From: I'm a solipsist - isn't everyone? | Registered: Aug 2003  |  IP: Logged
jeff house
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posted 17 January 2004 02:37 PM      Profile for jeff house     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
"Playing the race card" is a conservative method of mixing two separate things:

1) Using race when thinking about, and acting upon, things where race is relevant;

2) Using race where it is irrelevant and obfuscatory.


Example of #1: black people were legally disentitled from entering law school in Texas until 1955; yet today most Texas law schools give extra credit to "children of alumni".

It would be utterly fair to take race into account here, as "race" was the reason for the original exclusion.

Example of #2: Using the statistical profile of a race when deciding the case of an individual member of that race, as in police racial profiling. The usual calculation there is:
"blacks commit statistically more crime, so I will stop that individual for the purpose of investigation."

"Playing the race card" often refers to the use of race in rhetoric; but the rhetoric simply asserts that, in this case, race is relevant.
-----------------------
In the OJ Simpson case, the defence supposedly "played the race card" when they showed a largely-black jury that the main police investigator on the case was a racist and a liar.

They asked the jury to conclude that racism was part of the prosecution case, and further that that fact fatally poisoned the prosecution as a whole.

I think it is also quite possible that the main investigator was a racist, and that nonetheless Simpson was guilty. The jury decided otherwise, probably because they have had experience with racism which I have not.

But if there had never been a racist incident involving Los Angeles Police, I think it would not have been possible to "play the race card".


From: toronto | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Shenanigans
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posted 18 January 2004 11:48 PM      Profile for Shenanigans   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I brought the term race card up on another forum. Many people brought up the O.J. Simpson case.

I'm trying to remember if that term had stemmed from that case, because I can't recall if ever being used before O.J. Mind you I was in high school when O.J. was in trial.

Can anyone with a better memory recall that term being used, pre-White Bronco era?


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Gir Draxon
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posted 19 January 2004 12:04 AM      Profile for Gir Draxon     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The race card is when the words "racism" or "racist" are misused in order to try and discredit the other side of an argument.

Example one:

Two people apply for a job. One has lots of education and experience, and one can barely string together a sentence and handed in a resume written in crayon.

If the second person happened to be a visible minority (black, Asian, First Nations, etc.) and the first person was WASP, the second person would be "playing the race card" if they complained that the first person was chosen because the employer was being racist. Obviously it was because of qualifications, but the second person is being a jerk and trying to make the employer look bad.

Another example: someone criticizes the policies of the state of Israel, and then is accused of being antisemitic. The accuser has played the race card to try and discredit the person making the criticism, even though it may be a valid point and of course the critic is not necisarily antisemitic for criticizing the state of Israel.


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Polunatic
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posted 19 January 2004 02:30 AM      Profile for Polunatic   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
First comment. Who's race card? White privilege is the exercise of the race card daily but without it ever being named because being white is being part of the dominant group. Not only is that race card not named, but it's not even recognized as a "race card".

Without understanding that, it's difficult to answer the initial question. Look at the responses which imply that the race card is only played by people of colour. Layered onto that assumption is the view that the race card is a trick of sorts, a form of whining or browbeating used to get things people don't rightly deserve (e.g.their freedom, a job). In other words, the race card is a no-no used by people of colour. To me, that's a very problematic analysis and shallow conclusion.

In a racist society like Canada, the race card is played out day in and day out in a myriad of ways. The white race card gets you a lot further ahead for job interviews and housing opportunities a lot more effectively than the minority race card described above.


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Michelle
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posted 19 January 2004 09:16 AM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Shenanigans:
I'm trying to remember if that term had stemmed from that case, because I can't recall if ever being used before O.J. Mind you I was in high school when O.J. was in trial.

Yeah, that's the first time I ever heard it, too.

I think OJ did it. But I also can't blame the jury for not accepting Fuhrman's testimony. The mostly black jury probably lived with police overscrutiny, brutality, and racial profiling every day. I couldn't possibly relate. I remember being royally pissed off at the time that OJ got away with murder (and I still think he did), but I can understand why the jury came to the decision it did.


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Shenanigans
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posted 19 January 2004 10:48 AM      Profile for Shenanigans   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
First comment. Who's race card? White privilege is the exercise of the race card daily but without it ever being named because being white is being part of the dominant group. Not only is that race card not named, but it's not even recognized as a "race card".

Without understanding that, it's difficult to answer the initial question. Look at the responses which imply that the race card is only played by people of colour. Layered onto that assumption is the view that the race card is a trick of sorts, a form of whining or browbeating used to get things people don't rightly deserve (e.g.their freedom, a job). In other words, the race card is a no-no used by people of colour. To me, that's a very problematic analysis and shallow conclusion.

In a racist society like Canada, the race card is played out day in and day out in a myriad of ways. The white race card gets you a lot further ahead for job interviews and housing opportunities a lot more effectively than the minority race card described above.


Deja vu, I just had this part, of our now three day discussion on the race card yesterday on the DVP with my partner. He (white male) shocked me in bringing up this analysis, seconds before I was about to go on that very tangeant. I was impressed, they did their homework. Obviously you have too!


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Polunatic
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posted 19 January 2004 11:17 AM      Profile for Polunatic   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
An interesting piece for people looking for homework
From: middle of nowhere | Registered: Oct 2002  |  IP: Logged
Gir Draxon
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posted 19 January 2004 12:46 PM      Profile for Gir Draxon     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
The white race card gets you a lot further ahead for job interviews and housing opportunities a lot more effectively than the minority race card described above.

All those unemployed white people without houses must choose to live like that.

I'm getting really quite annoyed by all this "white priviledge" stuff. Why? Because I've obviously been missing out. I'm not tripping over job offers, and I can't seem to find the lineup for the free money.

But that is a topic for another thread.

quote:
form of whining or browbeating used to get things people don't rightly deserve (e.g.their freedom, a job).

Well that is kind of what it is. Keep in mind that many people abuse the phrase as well. Take my "getting a job" example, and swap the two people. If the second person claims that the race card was played, they would be an idiot who is abusing the phrase.

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Hinterland
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posted 19 January 2004 12:51 PM      Profile for Hinterland        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
I'm getting really quite annoyed by all this "white priviledge" stuff. Why? Because I've obviously been missing out. I'm not tripping over job offers, and I can't seem to find the lineup for the free money.

What a surprise...this is the rich heartland of FreeDominion thinking. That whatever hardship you face has got to have some external cause (...instead of just acknowledging that life is not fair). Dismissing white privilege (...really, do you have to look that far to see how race and privilege are intertwined?) is just the latest fad of ignorant, angry people.


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Polunatic
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posted 19 January 2004 12:53 PM      Profile for Polunatic   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
I'm getting really quite annoyed by all this "white priviledge" stuff.
Rather than shoot from the hip on this issue, you might want to do some reading on the topic and try to see this issue from all perspectives, not just your own.

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DrConway
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posted 19 January 2004 03:29 PM      Profile for DrConway     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
White skin still gets you gentility of treatment not usually accorded blacks or browns, especially in the United States of America.

A criminal record does not look good on you, sweetheart.

Sarcasm aside, it's simple to do a thought experiment about an 18-year-old white kid and an 18-year-old black kid both getting busted for something lame like a joyride.

Betcha dollars to donuts white boy gets comm service and probation, with the likelihood of getting the record completely expunged, while black boy gets winged into jail for a year, and gets a permanent record.

Wave bye-bye to black guy's job prospects.


From: You shall not side with the great against the powerless. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
jeff house
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posted 19 January 2004 04:30 PM      Profile for jeff house     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I am prepared to believe that "white privilege" has a lesser content in some cases, although it is hard to believe that ANYONE in Canada who is white has had zero extra due to his skin colour.

The fact is that almost every black person has been denied something, maybe something small like the right to browse in an upscale store without suspicion, or maybe something big, like a job.

But the odd thing about the usual claim from white guys like GD is this: those white people who do not have white skin privilege, or hardly so, are in that situation because of their class.
They are discriminated against due to their class.

But usually, such folk are so deeply tied to the status quo that they can't see the reality in front of their noses.


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Michelle
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posted 19 January 2004 05:01 PM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Well, now you're waging class warfare.

I seriously doubt, Gir, that you've never experienced white privilege, even privilege you didn't know about.

In fact, just being treated normally by your white peers in school, by your teachers, and by cops who don't stop you on a regular basis is a function of white privilege that black people certainly can't take for granted the way we do.


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Shenanigans
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posted 19 January 2004 07:53 PM      Profile for Shenanigans   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
A criminal record does not look good on you, sweetheart.

Not even for civil disobedience??? Dammit!

Well actually, it's interesting, when I was taking Feminist Political Action in school, the prof ran down a list of things women were willing to do as part of activism. So ie. Carry a placard, join a march, mail letters, sign petitions etc. Getting more radical as the list went on.

Racially everyone was pretty dead even, until it came to get arrested, and every black woman and a few women of colour practically sat on their hands. We laughed about it in class as someone (not I!!!) made a joke about it, but it's pretty telling.

I have been a part of many protests and political actions, but I have always made it a point not to get arrested. Not only because of my record, but rather a good dose of fear for the police.


From: Toronto | Registered: Aug 2002  |  IP: Logged

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