Definitions of Racism (my school district)

Seattle Public Schools ^ | 1/1/2006 | Seattle Public School District

[Macaw]

Racism:
The systematic subordination of members of targeted racial groups who have relatively little social power in the United States (Blacks, Latino/as, Native Americans, and Asians), by the members of the agent racial group who have relatively more social power (Whites). The subordination is supported by the actions of individuals, cultural norms and values, and the institutional structures and practices of society.

Individual Racism:
The beliefs, attitudes, and actions of individuals that support or perpetuate racism. Individual racism can occur at both an unconscious and conscious level, and can be both active and passive. Examples include telling a racist joke, using a racial epithet, or believing in the inherent superiority of whites.

Active Racism:
Actions which have as their stated or explicit goal the maintenance of the system of racism and the oppression of those in the targeted racial groups. People who participate in active racism advocate the continued subjugation of members of the targeted groups and protection of “the rights” of members of the agent group. These goals are often supported by a belief in the inferiority of people of color and the superiority of white people, culture, and values.

Passive Racism:
Beliefs, attitudes, and actions that contribute to the maintenance of racism, without openly advocating violence or oppression. The conscious or unconscious maintenance of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that support the system of racism, racial prejudice and racial dominance.

Cultural Racism:
Those aspects of society that overtly and covertly attribute value and normality to white people and Whiteness, and devalue, stereotype, and label people of color as “other”, different, less than, or render them invisible. Examples of these norms include defining white skin tones as nude or flesh colored, having a future time orientation, emphasizing individualism as opposed to a more collective ideology, defining one form of English as standard, and identifying only Whites as great writers or composers.

[BenLurkin]

I wonder what "complex dilemma" the school board thought it was facing.

[BadAndy]

These people should be fired for teaching white children to be ashamed of their race and culture. So much for multiculturalism.

[mucrospirifer]

That reminds me of an event from a few years ago, where a newspaper issued an apology to its readers because its spell-checking program corrected a "mistake" in a headline, and it was sent to press without anyone noticing it.

The article was about a local budget, and the headline as printed stated

"The budget is in the African-American".

[Zack Nguyen]

What school district is this? Who, specifically, is in charge of writing these policies? To whom can you go to protest? All these are important questions.

[Captain Rhino]

Having attended the UW some years ago, this definition from the Seattle Public School District hardly comes as a surprise.

First, you should know that this set definition is a radical left-wing definition focused entirely on the brown vs white divide. It is a set of definitions that always, under any circumstance, is intended to cast the white person as the aggressor and the brown person as the victim.

For example, under this set of definitions, nothing ever said or done by a brown person (person of color) against a white person could ever be defined as racism. Why? Because this theory hold that whites, as the "agent group," have relatively more "social power" and are constantly using this power (actively, passively, and culturally) to suppress the victim groups. Consequently, any act of aggression by a brown person against a white person, no matter how unprovoked, is nothing more than an example of resistance to an oppressor. And it doesn't matter how disconnected in time, place, and the lack of any real connection between the offense and the retribution. Seen through this lens, every insult, every petty crime, every felony, every anything against a white person is nothing more than payback to the "racist oppressor" by the victims. (BTW, this is exactly the logic that makes 9/11 an example of heroic resistance by oppressed Muslims against the profane West in the eyes of leftist liberals.)

In my opinion, the "future time orientation" is a reference to supposed white desires to "forget about" (e.g.: not unproductively dwell on) the history of racism and slavery in US history (and, of course, racism and slavery were real events in American history) and instead move on to the work of building a common and just future for every Americans. These brown racists don't want that because looking to the future robs them of their status as victims (in the past). I believe the individualism versus collective ideology also ties into this as well. If we analyze history as a set of actions taken by discrete individuals, for discrete reasons, at discrete times and discrete places then the rightness or wrongness of their thoughts, words, actions, etc. are also discrete to those circumstances. But if you accept that reasoning, it means that present whites might not be able to be blamed AS A GROUP for the actions of their forebears. This would deny the brown racists a lever point for their demands for power and compensation. But by defining this as a form of cultural racism, the brown racists make any mention of either a form of racism.

In short, these people are not interested in getting equal, they are interested in getting even. And they presently control the rules (at least in Seattle Public Schools) under which the debate will be argued

You are in a tough spot by having children in that school system. Assuming that you keep them there, there will be constant pressure to conform to the school system's definitions and they will probably have to endure constant hectoring about white group guilt whenever these issues are discussed in the many classes that they will receive during a K-12th grade education. I would get them out if I could.

[Zack Nguyen]

Ah, saw it was Seattle. BTW, what does "having a future time orientation" have to do with racism?

[sergeantdave]

It's hammer & sickle pop culture. Wear a Reagan T-shirt with this emblazoned on the back: "We Start Bombing in 5 Minutes"

[OpusatFR]

The definition of cultural racism is well....racist...

Change schools, states, whatever....

[rattrap]

emphasizing individualism as opposed to a more collective ideology,

Wow... just... wow.

[SauronOfMordor]

What is "future time orientation" and what does it have to do with racism?

It is racist to have an expectation that a member of a protected group will have the planning orientation that would have him realize that "If I'm supposed to be at work by 9:00, and it's 8:00 now, I should get my butt out of bed"

Requirements that people be on time, and that people are aware that present actions have future consequences is racist

[siznartuf]

"Only whites can be racist"

Blacks(and other groups)can be as racist as racist can be.

They all know it.

Honest blacks will admit it.

This is the leftist PC police trying to mau mau guilty whites.

It's perverse.

[rattrap]

Here's the email to contact if you have questions or problems regarding this policy:

almarkishtum@seattleschools.org

Use the Subject: Equity and Race Relations site comments

[Unrepentant VN Vet]

"This is official, taxpayer funded, cirriculum for my three kids."

1. Start attending school board meetings. Bring friends.
2. Identify the board member who represents you and get acquainted. If he/she is a total twit who supports this barfblossum, find someone willing to replace the goober or do so yourself.
3. Continue the same process through the rest of the board.
4. Once you've taken your school district back from the NEA stooges, review and revise the policies.

.....however, if you're hopelessly outnumbered by latte drinking liberal barking moonbats or don't have six or seven years to get past all my points, either put your kids in private school or, as a last resort, update your resume, put the house on the market and get the h*** out of that nuthouse. (If opting for my Final Solution, make a point of checking the new local school board policies BEFORE you accept a job there.)

[SauronOfMordor]

re: "future time orientation": I got curious enough about it to do a google search. It is a psychology term meaning "an individual's degree of general concern, engagement, and involvement in the future". In other words, if you spend your time planning the future.

As distinct from being focused on what happened in the past, as so many "reparations" folk are.

In "white" culture, being future-focused as a sign of mental health, while spending your day engaged in regret/sadness/upset about the past is a sign of mental illness

[VeniVidiVici]

Even if you can't read Russian, you can see that it comes back translated as "My cat just had three kittens, two brown and one African-American."

That is the funniest darn thing I've seen in awhile!

[Zack Nguyen]

Well explained. It is a race racket, pure and simple. I have been reading Steele's A Dream Deferred and it enunciates many similar concepts.

[Polybius]

Here's the email to contact if you have questions or problems regarding this policy: almarkishtum@seattleschools.org Use the Subject: Equity and Race Relations site comments..............rattrap

You may also want to cc:

opinion@seattletimes.com

[Macaw]

Good point. If anything I would love to see the district embarassed by this and parents made aware of the indoctrination going on.

[El Conservador]

This is the worst piece of reverse-racism-justifying $#!+ I've ever read in my life.

[Clemenza]

The irony being that Seattle is probably the whitest big city in America. When I lived there (2004-May 2006), outside of the southern stretches of town, all you saw were douchebag white liberals. ;-)