Friday, October 05, 2007
I may be wrong, but apparently I am racist, sexist, and classist for using the phrase "well-to-do white men." This was a surprise to me.
Last time I checked, "well-to-do white men" were still running most of the country. I'll use an outdated CNN story from 2003 to point out that at that time 40 of the 100 US senators were millionaires, somewhere between 35 to 37 of whom were white males. Times are changing, thankfully. Today, in 2007, there are 16 women, 2 Asian-American males, 2 Hispanic males, and 1 African-American male in the Senate. And 79 white men.
There are also currently 8 women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. And 492 men. In 2006, four of those men were African-American. I didn't bother to check the number of other minority males, but I assume that many if not most of those 488 men are white.
The top echelon of political and business leaders in our country are mostly rich, white men. I admit not knowing the financial status of certain political commentators, and perhaps it was in poor taste to deem them "well-to-do." I am deeply flawed in this regard.
Last time I checked poor and middle-class people had very little power in this country. Less power in recent days because a certain unnamed political party, the leading politicians of which repeatedly refuse to attend minority-sponsored debates or meetings, have also developed elaborate methods for kicking poor and/or minority voters off of voter rolls in places like Florida and Ohio. This, of course, has influenced elections and helped maintain the status quo for certain people, mostly rich white men.
Am I racist? I was taught by my mother to view people as individuals. I have never discriminated against anyone based on their skin color, as least as far as I can tell. Pointing out that white people have more decision-making power than people-of-color is not a racist notion.
Am I sexist? Pointing out the unfortunate, that men have more political power than women is not a sexist action.
Am I classist? Yes, I will admit to a suspicion of wealthy individuals. I grew up in a relatively poor household. We were never hungry, but there was no money for luxuries, you know, those little things like visits to the doctor or the dentist.
I knew we were poor but I didn't know how poor until I went away to college with my one pair of shoes and a single suitcase. What an eye-opener to meet other students and learn about their lifestyles, so different from my own! I remember being told by someone (a well-to-do white male) that I didn't deserve to be attending the University of Michigan because I was there on financial aid. A few other, similar incidents tainted my impressions of rich people. I know I should just get over this and not judge people based upon their wealth. But wealthy people do have a lot of power in this country, and they have often used that power to make life more difficult to those who don't meet their criteria of what a good person is. Currently, that criteria excludes gays/lesbians/bisexuals and especially those darned transgenders.
This is, of course, a generalization. There are many fine wealthy people who would not dream of discriminating against others. It's too bad that there are also a lot of wealthy people who dream of discriminating against others.
What an endless ramble of thoughts! But I guess being called anything-ist disturbs me, because I try to be a good person, as much as I can. I try to do everything I can to make sure that everyone has the chance to live a good life.
I'll state this again, excluding transgender people from civil rights legislation that includes other sexual minorities is wrong. Nothing I have read, including the "tiny steps for now" and "transvestites were there at Stonewall, not transgender!" arguments have changed my mind.
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Last time I checked, "well-to-do white men" were still running most of the country. I'll use an outdated CNN story from 2003 to point out that at that time 40 of the 100 US senators were millionaires, somewhere between 35 to 37 of whom were white males. Times are changing, thankfully. Today, in 2007, there are 16 women, 2 Asian-American males, 2 Hispanic males, and 1 African-American male in the Senate. And 79 white men.
There are also currently 8 women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. And 492 men. In 2006, four of those men were African-American. I didn't bother to check the number of other minority males, but I assume that many if not most of those 488 men are white.
The top echelon of political and business leaders in our country are mostly rich, white men. I admit not knowing the financial status of certain political commentators, and perhaps it was in poor taste to deem them "well-to-do." I am deeply flawed in this regard.
Last time I checked poor and middle-class people had very little power in this country. Less power in recent days because a certain unnamed political party, the leading politicians of which repeatedly refuse to attend minority-sponsored debates or meetings, have also developed elaborate methods for kicking poor and/or minority voters off of voter rolls in places like Florida and Ohio. This, of course, has influenced elections and helped maintain the status quo for certain people, mostly rich white men.
Am I racist? I was taught by my mother to view people as individuals. I have never discriminated against anyone based on their skin color, as least as far as I can tell. Pointing out that white people have more decision-making power than people-of-color is not a racist notion.
Am I sexist? Pointing out the unfortunate, that men have more political power than women is not a sexist action.
Am I classist? Yes, I will admit to a suspicion of wealthy individuals. I grew up in a relatively poor household. We were never hungry, but there was no money for luxuries, you know, those little things like visits to the doctor or the dentist.
I knew we were poor but I didn't know how poor until I went away to college with my one pair of shoes and a single suitcase. What an eye-opener to meet other students and learn about their lifestyles, so different from my own! I remember being told by someone (a well-to-do white male) that I didn't deserve to be attending the University of Michigan because I was there on financial aid. A few other, similar incidents tainted my impressions of rich people. I know I should just get over this and not judge people based upon their wealth. But wealthy people do have a lot of power in this country, and they have often used that power to make life more difficult to those who don't meet their criteria of what a good person is. Currently, that criteria excludes gays/lesbians/bisexuals and especially those darned transgenders.
This is, of course, a generalization. There are many fine wealthy people who would not dream of discriminating against others. It's too bad that there are also a lot of wealthy people who dream of discriminating against others.
What an endless ramble of thoughts! But I guess being called anything-ist disturbs me, because I try to be a good person, as much as I can. I try to do everything I can to make sure that everyone has the chance to live a good life.
I'll state this again, excluding transgender people from civil rights legislation that includes other sexual minorities is wrong. Nothing I have read, including the "tiny steps for now" and "transvestites were there at Stonewall, not transgender!" arguments have changed my mind.
