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Why you don't know you're racist [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-03-31

You Think You’re Not Racist… But

You have Black friends, colleagues, you are married to one, you never say the N-word, you don't think you are superior to us... and yet somehow, you'll do or say something you find innocent and people will call you racist...

Why Does That Happen?

Because there is overt racism and inbred racism.

Believe it or not the second one is way more dangerous than the first one.

Overt racism is easy to spot and easy to point out...

But the other kind? Not so much.

Even Black people don't always spot it.

When Even We Don’t Know

You heard that right, sometimes we Black people do not know someone is being racist just as that person doesn't know they are being racist. We often wonder Why did they ask me that? Why did they think that? Why did they assume this? We know it's wrong, we just don't know why. But we feel something is off.

That’s why it’s called systemic racism, because it’s embedded into the very fabric of society, including rules, regulations, tradition, culture, the arts, and laws. And that’s why we don’t notice it because it’s in our subconscious. It becomes a reflex, we say or do things without thinking about them because we’ve learned early on that Black men were gangsters, Black women loud and bossy even though we’ve never met any or many that fit that description it’s still the first that comes to mind because that’s how they’re always depicted in our culture.

Let’s Talk About Hair

Most white people find it ridiculous that a law about natural hair had to be passed in Congress. It's just hair, schools can just not discriminate... but what if the schools and workplaces don’t realize they are discriminating?

I'm 58 (was 56 when I wrote this) ... never lived in a time where a Black woman’s hair wasn't viewed as a problem in school, workplaces and even movie theaters.

Black mothers have had to do truly traumatizing things to "tame" their children's hair... hot irons anyone? Chemicals that burn our scalps, our children’s scalps. Braids so tight we walk around with headaches, children have died from braids that were too tight.

Those places have dress codes based on how people's hair looks. Sure, you can't do anything you wish to your hair, in school, but no one has ever suggested you actually change the texture of your hair to be allowed in school or get a job or promotion or sit for a movie. Think about it, afros were deemed to high, but at the same time white women were sporting a look called “beehive” and that was higher than any afro I’ve ever seen.

The Invisible Systems

Laws, rules, and attitudes do not change as much as you think and while there have been laws that have changed a major thing (voting rights act) the little things that make up that big thing... are still around. See all those state laws, school rules, workplace etiquette etc... were made based on the habits of white people. Much of culture books/movies/art were from a white person's point of view... thus it's everywhere and baked into everything.

Everything was built around whiteness—your heroes, your fairytales, your beauty products, your clothes, your health care treatments, your diet, absolutely everything you can think of was built to fit you.

And that’s why such things as AA, DEI, Black History month had to be created. That’s why Black folks started their own books, arts, products.

What Woke Really Means

Today the people you call woke are just calling attention to that fact. Representation isn't only about being in the government, it's about the destruction of those stereotypes that are so innate, that cops shoot black people on sight because all Blacks are dangerous.

It’s about having toys that reflect your culture, about clothing that fits your frame and shape, make up that matches your skin tone, movies and art about your way or life your culture.

Final Thoughts

That kind of racism isn't something you chose to be, it is something that was added to your point of view, via stereotypes and culture.

But getting angry when it's pointed out to you, is all on you... because this has been explained multiple times and refusing to adjust… to change course, now that makes you overtly racist.

#TheAmericanHaitianPoet ©AllRightsReserved

Paypal.me/murielvieux

Muriel Vieux - written in 2022 / edited on march 31st 2025

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/3/31/2313731/-Why-you-don-t-know-you-re-racist?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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