this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2023
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As a group black people dont own banks, or big business or weapons factories or any other method that could allow them to put other groups at their mercy to jeopardize their livelihood.
Just because one black person was president once doesnt mean that black people have the power as a group to systematically oppress another group.
The “what about Obama” narrative is a white supremacist tactic used to undermine the reality of systematic racism.
I never said that because there was one black President that black peoples don’t face systemic racism. You are avoiding the original question the commenter posed to you.
Black people as a collective group in the imperial core are still in a more advantageous position of power and privilege compared to people in the third world and periphery countries. Does that mean they face no oppression or systemic racism? No. We never said that. However to act like any oppressed group such as black people cannot be participate or succeed in the imperial machine is disingenuous and removes personal agency for those that do. It either makes them seem like mindless puppets, or “not-black”, which is harmful to the larger conversation.
You said "What was Obama then?" when I mentioned that black people don't have the tools for oppressing others. You literally brought up Obama when I was talking of black people as group not having the tools for oppressing others. You are equating one black president to black people having tools for oppressing other groups, when it is the whole contrary. They are the ones being oppressed, and as I mentioned previously, the "What about Obama?" is a common narrative used by white supremacists to diminish the severity of the situation of systematic racism.
There was not question posed, just a statement posed.
This statement is not totally true. Sure, black people may have a better overall standard of living when it comes to people in the global south, but in terms of power, as I mentioned previously, they don't own the means of oppression or the means of production as a group. Therefore, they do not have a greater power than someone in the global south has.
No, it is not. Black people cannot in fact succeed as group in the imperial machine because the imperial machine is built in a way to avoid them from succeeding. That is part of systematic racism. I am not taking away their agency. The system is. You cannot will away the barriers that are put into place to prevent this.
I have no words for this comment. Systematic racism is put into place because they are not mindless puppets. It is put into place to prevent capable and smart people from climbing to the top such that the dominant group can stay in power.
America is made such that the power and the means of production stays in the hands of the descendants of the Europeans.
Sure in the hypothetical scenario that black people as group could get their hands in the means of production and the means of oppression, and use them to oppress other races, then yes, they would be racists. But in the world that we live in, that is not the case, and it is made such that it never happens. Therefore, black people cannot be racist.
Can black people be Europhobic, Asianphobic, or discriminatory against any other group, yes. But, racism entails a power dynamic that black people lack of as a group, therefore, they cannot be racist.