The Good, Racist People - By TA-NEHISI COATES

[kpete]

OP-ED GUEST COLUMNIST
The Good, Racist People
By TA-NEHISI COATES

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In modern America we believe racism to be the property of the uniquely villainous and morally deformed, the ideology of trolls, gorgons and orcs. We believe this even when we are actually being racist. In 1957, neighbors in Levittown, Pa., uniting under the flag of segregation, wrote:

“As moral, religious and law-abiding citizens, we feel that we are unprejudiced and undiscriminating in our wish to keep our community a closed community.”

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I am trying to imagine a white president forced to show his papers at a national news conference, and coming up blank. I am trying to a imagine a prominent white Harvard professor arrested for breaking into his own home, and coming up with nothing. I am trying to see Sean Penn or Nicolas Cage being frisked at an upscale deli, and I find myself laughing in the dark. It is worth considering the messaging here. It says to black kids: “Don’t leave home. They don’t want you around.” It is messaging propagated by moral people.

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more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/07/opinion/coates-the-good-racist-people.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&ref=opinion&adxnnlx=1362667085-SImAmWiFcZfIKamMH1tsXQ

[The Magistrate]

1. She Is Quite Right, Ma'am

[RZM]

2. It's a he

I thought the same for a long time until I finally saw his picture. It's at the link.

[The Magistrate]

3. So He is, Sir

[Recursion]

4. I love TNC

Maybe growing up in Mississippi helped me see that. It's not like my grandparents were horribly immoral people in the 1950s and gradually became more moral over time. They were normal people in a very sick system that has gradually gotten somewhat less sick.

And the fact that people mistakenly consider racism to be a personal moral failing makes it difficult to talk about ("you're being racist." "HOW DARE YOU! I'm a good person", etc.)

[Arcanetrance]

5. Very well written piece

It definitely makes one think about the so called post racial society that we are supposed to be living in. It also pointed out when it comes to relating actors names to faces I am terrible.

[alcibiades_mystery]

6. Duped your thread...self deleted

Sorry!