Reverse Racism

Overview

The concept of reverse racism focuses around the idea of discrimination against races traditionally thought of as being more powerful or dominant in comparison to others. This is a concept that has come into play in more recent years, where historically dominant races are discriminated against by minorities, whether intended to be harmful or not. Despite not being as 100% equal as we wish it would be, our modern day society has evolved a far way from what it once was. Because of this, another explanation of the term is the prejudice against an ethnic group that was once, in history, the dominant race. This term may be one of the racial world's’ most controversial, as the majority of people don’t believe it exists. Since the beginning of time major races (ie. Whites in America) have always had the most significant power, and have been known to oppress others. Now that times are evolving and minorities are gaining more freedom and opportunity through movements such as affirmative action (1), a power struggle has emerged.

Critiques

As controversial of a conversation as it is, reverse racism is broadly debated over, and there are a lot of mixed opinions as to whether or not it exists. One critique is people admitting that yes, it exists, but it just doesn’t matter. In comparison to other horrible and traumatic things that are going on the world, racism against a superior race is just not important. Technically speaking, any comment made to another person involving anything to do with the way they look, mannerisms, or skin color, etc. is technically racist, but the debate (2) is that towards whites, it is simply not important because it doesn’t affect them in a negative way. It is not necessarily fair, but you are not suffering in other critical dramatic ways, so your outcome will be ok. This is what most people mean by reverse racism not mattering, because often time for people of color, the outcome of the racist acts against them is much more crucial than for a white person.

Daily Life

Most people are very quick to make the assumption that reverse racism is a myth, and many laugh that a concept so absurd could even be considered to be legitimate. However, the principle of the concept lies in discrimination against another race. It is racist for a white person to make a comment about a person of color, whether it be the way they look, act, dress, or anything to do with their culture. It is offensive and looked down on to behave this way, and in 2017 we know it is not acceptable to behave this way. That being said, how does it work in reverse? White people have received a lot of criticism recently for cultural appropriation in situations like hair braids and face gemstones, just to name a few examples. For others it seems it is not a problem, but for white people to be banned from taking part in something that they are just considering fashionable, in itself is racist. Preventing anyone of any race to do something because of their race, is an example of reverse racism.

South Africa

One country that has a number of issues with the black/white power imbalance is South Africa, where both parties are very prevalent. For years there has been a national struggle for rights and power between these two different races sharing the same space. The apartheid (3) existed between the years of 1948-1991, and was a time of separation between the two dominant races in South Africa. Segregation and discrimination were at an ultimate high at this point in time, and there was much separation between citizens. The segregation included just about everything, from public facilities such as toilets and transportation, as well as larger impacts such as housing districts, schools, parliament, job opportunities, and living standards. Reverse racism is not a new concept. Prior to the official apartheid, the White South Africans were the minority race. In this time prior to 1940, minority rule by this race was already starting to begin, and they were implementing forced separation of the majority race (Black South Africans) to other minority races such as White South Africans. This example is often looked past because people fail to recognise any white race as being inferior, however in this circumstance the white minority wanting separation from the black majority is an example of reverse racism.

One of the major issues in this country is due to the issues with the government, and with Nelson Mandela himself. Before being charged in 1997, he was accused of supporting racism in reverse. Many citizens of the country were very unhappy with the way he was running the government and the laws he was allowing to be passed, in order to avoid being labelled as a reverse racist. People were constantly arguing against him and complaining that the decisions he made were mainly to satisfy himself and popularise him, and this resulted in a slow change of any important decisions. Since this change of government officer, people once felt like they weren’t white enough, and now they aren’t black enough. Citizens claim that they are not racist, but the way the government has pushed them through so many challenging times has made them despise their own legal systems, as it seems equality will never be reached in their country. The people are disappointed, especially those of black descent, as they were promised a better life with a new black leader, and then realised they had a better life (lower crime rates, increased education, more job opportunities, etc.) under white rule.

References

1. https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-affirmative-action-2834562

2. http://rabble.ca/babble/news-rest-us/fine-racism-against-white-people-exists…it-just-doesn’t-matter

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid

4. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/canadas-war-against-merit-marches-on/article35261591/

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_racism

6. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/27/world/for-mixed-race-south-africans-equity-is-elusive.html

7. http://www.news24.com/MyNews24/why-is-reverse-racism-acceptable-in-south-africa-20160712

8. https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-reverse-discrimination-like-in-South-Africa

9. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-01/white-south-africans-complain-of-a-reverse-apartheid/7676764

10. https://mg.co.za/article/2016-05-16-00-the-rise-of-a-new-black-racism-in-south-africa

11. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/reverse_racism

12. https://www.thoughtco.com/does-reverse-racism-exist-2834942

13. http://www.raceandhistory.com/selfnews/viewnews.cgi?newsid1024893033,80611,.shtml

14. https://thoughtcatalog.com/codi-bott/2014/07/racism-against-white-people-exists/

15. http://everydayfeminism.com/2013/08/racist-against-white-people/