- Scan the internet and you're bound to see
racial pride hashtags and movements,
but there's still one pride movement
that's considered a serious faux pas.
Can you guess which one?
(upbeat music)
Hashtags like #reclaimthebindi, #blackgirlmagic,
#asiangirlsunite, #nativeawesome, and #latinatuesdays
are movements created for and by people of color
to promote representation, self love and solidarity,
but it seems that whenever marginalized people
create spaces to celebrate themselves,
majority groups get a little uncomfortable.
(grunts)
"But I can't have white pride.
Isn't that just taking pride in my culture?"
Well, not exactly.
Here's why white pride is very different
from other kinds of pride.
Number one, whiteness and white culture
are already everywhere.
Whether it's Congress, CEOs, beauty magazines,
children's books or the Oscars,
whiteness is already everywhere.
This is despite the fact that people of color,
including Latinos, make up 38 percent of the U.S. population
and European history is already a huge part of our
educational system and culture.
When people ask, "Why do we need a Black History month
or Native pride or Puerto Rican day parade?"
It's because almost every aspect of our schooling
and upbringing in America,
centers around whiteness.
People of color in history are regularly
whitewashed or erased all together,
like Elizabeth Taylor playing Cleopatra
or Ben Affleck playing Tony Mendez,
a Latino man in Argo
heck almost any movie set in Egypt,
and even when fictional characters are written
as people of color, like Emma Stone
playing a part Chinese woman,
it's not uncommon for white actors
to be cast to play those roles.
From movies, TV shows, advertisements, and
magazines, historically, being white or looking white
has been prioritized as the standard.
Which leads me to my next point,
number two, for communities of color
pride is about visibility.
For a large part of American history,
it was perfectly legal for people of color
to be treated as second class citizens.
Remember not too long ago,
black people couldn't legally live
in certain neighborhoods or go to certain schools
and as recently as the 1940s,
it wasn't uncommon to see armed police officers
dragging Native American children
to European style boarding schools
and while white pride has always been the standard,
black pride, native pride, and other racial pride movements
are an act of defiance in an oppressive culture
that says being different
or not white is wrong.
And let me be clear,
proudly celebrating the achievements
and lives of people of color,
is not saying that white people haven't achieved.
It's a way to prevent marginalized people
from being forgotten or misrepresented
by a white system that has historically
overlooked and oppressed them.
Number three, white pride has almost always
been synonymous with white supremacy.
Before you go too far down the road
thinking white pride is just like any other racial pride,
you might want to see who built that road
and who likes to hang out there
cause it's mostly white supremacists.
Here are a few examples.
In 2014 in Harrison, Arkansas,
a billboard from White Pride Radio
went up that said,
"It's not racist to love your people,"
and that station's website redirected
to kkkradio.com.
You know, the KKK the people who lynched,
bombed, and terrorized black people
in the name of white pride for over 150 years.
Or there's the message board Stormfront
who used white pride in their logo.
They have ties to neo-Nazis,
were named the internet's first major hate site,
and are actually run by former KKK leaders
and in the last year,
several white pride Facebook groups
have sprung up at American and international colleges.
Some were done by trolls
and a handful actually wanted to talk about
European ancestry,
but others like the Illini White Student Union
just wanted to confront black lives matter protestors
and even called on students to report
suspicious black activity on campus.
Basically white pride has a long history
of violence and trying to silence people of color.
"But I'm not a white supremacist.
I just want to celebrate my white heritage."
Well, I hate to break it to you,
but number four,
whiteness itself is a moving target
that's main purpose has been to exclude.
Look it's wonderful to be proud of where you're from
and no one's saying there shouldn't be a St. Patrick's Day
or a San Gennaro Festival,
but here's a fun fact about the history of whiteness
in the U.S.
At one time being Finnish, Polish, Ukrainian,
Russian, Italian, Spanish, Greek, German,
and especially Irish or Jewish,
was seen as being lower than white people
and many of those groups
weren't considered white at all.
Heck in the early 1900s,
people from Finland, yes Finland,
were considered Asian.
In fact, in the United States,
the Irish were able to shed their minority status
and become white largely by joining
in the oppression of black people.
Look, everyone should be allowed to have pride
in who they are,
but it's important to understand the term white pride
comes with a lot of baggage.
White pride specifically has resulted
in the oppression and erasure of people of color
and when people experience oppression for who they are,
loving yourself, and taking pride in who you are,
is a revolutionary act.
So what are some ways that you celebrate
your heritage?
Tell us in the comments below
and we'll see you in two weeks,
right here on Decoded.
Black people are murdering each other
in record numbers.
MLK hate mail.
- Or Beyonce comments.
- Oh that is so tough.
- These are tough, guys,
these are tough.
- She's like it's so relevant in both cases,
what do I do?
- Beyonce video.
- Yes, it was Beyonce.
(upbeat music)