I was taken aback to read a report about a movement encouraging Black consumers to buy from Black-owned enterprises. It's appeared in various news media, either without editorial comment, or with open approval.
I have a question.
What if someone were to start a movement to encourage White consumers to buy from White-owned enterprises?
Just how long would it take before:
- Screams of "RAAAAA-cist!" resounded from every civil rights organization in the nation;
- A picket line led by Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton arrived in a convoy and ensconced themselves in front of the organizers' premises;
- The Justice Department announced an investigation into 'alleged violations of civil rights' by the project; and
- Editorial articles began blathering about the 'worrying resurgence of racism in America'?
Yep. You guessed it. It'd take about five seconds.
Yet it's quite all right for a Black consumer movement to do precisely and exactly the same thing?
What happened to logic and reason in this once-great nation?
If it's 'racist' for one group to do this, surely it's racist for any group to do it?
Apparently not . . .
*Sigh*
Peter
8 comments:
My thoughts exactly.
Of course, I try real hard to NOT by gasoline from stations owned/run by persons of Middle-Eastern descent for fear the money will go to fund terrorists. Especially in my home town, where it seems ALL the gas stations are run by those sorts of folks. They also all seem to have two prices, one for cash, and a slightly higher price for credit. For one, I'm not going to carry around huge wads of cash to pay for gas, and second, I'll bet they want the cash so as to better enable them to support their terrorist buddies without being traced.
chicopanther
I was informed (by a person who was utterly serious) that only members of the hegemonic (dominant) class/race can be racist. So only whites are racists. All others are demonstrating appropriate ethnic pride and support for fellow members of oppressed subaltern groups. And even where whites are a minority of the population, they are still culturally dominant.
I wasn't certain if I should laugh, cry or just walk away shaking my head.
LittleRed1
Peter, you should probably delete this comment. All I can really say is they can kiss my wore out old hippie ass.
Old Fart
No surprise in it, the attitude has been around for a long time. It's the basic tenet behind Kwanzaa - think black, act black, talk black, buy black. And f*ck whitey.
Anonymous number one can rest easier. Most places that offer a discount on cash is because there's typically a 3% charge to run a credit transaction. That's also why most card machines are set up for debit for the default--the vendor doesn't have to pay for the transaction. There's laws limiting how much and how you can describe the discounts, but that's probably why they offer it. I doubt it has much to do with funding terrorism.
I asked them about using my debit card at those gas stations. They consider a debit card the same as a credit card and want to nick me for the additional charge. I told them they can stick that policy where the sun doesn't shine.
Those extra charges to the business is part of the cost of doing business. I wish other folks would also boycott them to get them to change their policy.
--chicopanther
PS I'm not anonymous as I sign my name to my comments. I just am not going to sign up for yet another account on the internet!
It's nothing new. When I started college at the University of Georgia in 1980, there was a Black Student Union on campus, and there was a Miss Black UGA pageant. Nobody even raised an eyebrow. Imagine the uproar if someone had tried to start a White Student Union, or tried to stage a Miss White UGA pageant.
It's pretty standard when studying this subject in academic circles that the previously stated sentiment is true: the only -ism that matters is that exercised by the privileged against the not-privileged. Yes, they are dead serious about that, and yes, you will be dismissed as an ignorant, under-educated and over-privileged yobbo if you disagree.
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