Are some races MORE EQUAL than others?
To address this, let’s take a real and recent specific example. Averie Bishop, Posts to LinkedIn on 6/2/2022:
History.
I am your 85th anniversary Miss Texas and the very first Asian American woman to represent our Lonestar state.I will spend the next year in hundreds of public schools teaching children the importance of diversity and inclusion, advocating for legislation and writing public policy recommendations for the city of Dallas, expanding my personal international nonprofit, and making appearances across our great state.
I was the first to congratulate her, saying:
Big congratulations to you as an individual! If anyone even cares what RACE Miss Texas is, then you are a racist. If you see your RACE winning, then you are a racist. We need to stop attaching the race to the word “American.” Let’s just be Americans without needing to identify as this or that race. Feel proud of accomplishments as a person, not as a token representative of some RACE. Only racists focus on race. We’re much more interested in you benefiting Texas and bringing, not virtue signalling, but true virtue to your role as our ambassador/representative. We don’t care about the color of your skin; only the color of your heart. Is it without guile?
A few people were triggered by this. One was Eldred Lee, PhD, who said:
It costs about $0 to be discrete about your lack of knowledge regarding Asians and other racial / ethnic minorities facing significant disadvantages and unequal opportunities in various matters and circumstances, including and not limited to competitive events like the Miss Texas competition.
In a white-dominant state like Texas, racial / ethnic minorities will ESPECIALLY be at disadvantages over other regions within our country. Overcoming the challenges that Averie Bishop would’ve faced as an Asian American in an extremely white-dominant state like Texas to be crowned the Miss Texas title is indeed a history to be remembered.
Unfortunately, having the privilege of being white yourselves, you have not experienced the challenges that the said minorities have gone through.
Please do us minorities a favor and go in front of a mirror and look at yourselves. See what you are and try to contemplate on if you have ever been in our shoes. If you’re still set on your original opinions, then please find your closest healthcare provider to check your brain cells.I know for a fact that you, as a white person, have never faced the severe challenges that racial / ethnic minorities have experienced.
Have you ever faced the challenges that Asians and other racial / ethnic minorities have experienced during their lifetime? As a white person, can you confidently and publicly state that you have? If so, please elaborate. We would love to hear about your story on how you went through the exact identical marginalized experience that the said minorities have faced.
To which I replied:
LOL, so arrogant. I’m NOT white; I’m Middle Eastern in a female-dominated industry. I AM the minority. Have you been in MY shoes?
I was the FIRST to congratulate her on LinkedIn and I celebrate her win. But I do question why she (a) never mentions her qualifications for this role, (b) only mentions her RACE. I simply observe, that this racial-lens emphasis/obsession is a hallmark of racism on her part. Minorities can be equal opportunity racists too, you know.
I am simply searching for her qualifications, but cannot find them. Race only matters to racists. Anyone’s race is simply an indication of what point on the globe her ancestors were from, and says nothing about the person themselves. It is irrelevant. If her race makes her somehow MORE or LESS qualified to be Miss Texas, I have yet to see her communicate that, so maybe you can explain how her race makes her either a superior or inferior candidate for the role she won?
Why else would she constantly lead with which race she is? (On LInkedIn and Face as well) With what part of the globe her ancestors came from? She has a substantially pretty Filipino face, but her looks are just ONE aspect of many by which any Miss Texas is judged. What are her actual qualifications? Can ANYONE enumerate them?
To which Eldred retorts:
If you think that this post and all of the comments against your asinine opinions are claiming that her race or ethnicity makes her more “qualified” to be Miss Texas more than others, then I highly suggest for you to re-evaluate your fundamental reading comprehension skills along with your thought process on approaching racial / ethnic inequalities and disparities within the US….
Hope you adapt to the 21st century mindset sooner or later.
To which I replied:
Please work on your listening skills, my friend. The WAY SHE TALKS strongly suggests, because she continually harps on being Asian in conjunction with her Title that, not me, but SHE feels her Asian-ness is something to celebrate. Something she literally did NOTHING to cause. Not something she earned / achieved. I don’t have any evidence to support this notion that being Asian is or is not a reason to celebrate. I think that virtue and qualifications alone, and not skin color, are achievements to celebrate.
I don’t care about her race one way or the other, But given that she constantly leads with race, she seems to care about it a LOT. I think that racists are obsessed with their own and other people’s race.
You, or anyone else, have YET to address this core problem and give salient evidence to the geographic location of your ancestors having anything to do with inherent worthiness to be, or not be, Miss Texas.
I wish her the best in this new role. And as my initial comment said: I’m far more focused on the heart than the skin. Sad for you that you seem to disagree.
Just because the confused are the loudest & the noise of the mob is substantial is in no way, shape, or form indicative of truth or rightness.
Back to my thesis: let’s focus on qualifications, not skin colors like racists do. If you disagree and feel that geographic location of ancestors outweighs a person’s individual character, then please give compelling evidence for your beliefs. For, as yet, you’ve presented none and consistently succeeded in missing the point.
So, you are against a person wining a position based on actual qualifications? I don’t suggest that everyone is “color-blind” and you won’t find me saying that anywhere. So don’t put fake words in my mouth. But I do take a stand for people celebrating their qualifications and achievements, not focusing on the geographic location of their ancestors, AS IF that actually applies to being or not being Miss Texas.
Before not answering any questions and fleeing the discourse, he said this:
Before I stop wasting my precious time consistently replying to your despise towards the accomplishments that were most probably achieved by overcoming challenges in regards to racial / ethnic disparities and unequal opportunities, especially since you seem extremely hardheaded, let me tell you one thing:
It appears that people like you are the reason why there is still a giant lack of inclusiveness and equality in this country. Mindsets like yours halt the progressiveness that our society needs to move forward with and will result in continuous exacerbation of segregations of racial / ethnic and socioeconomic groups that already exist in our country today.
I had to correct him by saying:
LOL. You are such an expert at jumping to conclusions. None are so blind as those who refuse to see. So somehow you imagine that I am the problem because I look for and desire to celebrate actual qualifications in people?
I believe that ALL people are equal. I am the one Pro-equality; whereas you are not. Let me demonstrate: we ALL have challenges, cultures, etc.. We, in our various equal races, ALL have things to overcome. That is called being human and I am pro HUMAN RACE as equals. We ALL as human beings can bring out the best in ourselves, or can gravitate towards the worst in ourselves.
You are demonstrating the evil, double-think mindset of Orwell whose book showed us the sure path to ruin when they believe that (paraphrasing Animal Farm): “All people are equal; but some people are MORE EQUAL than others.”
You are being a spokesperson for “some races are MORE equal than others, and thus MORE deserving to be celebrated.” That is the essence of what you are advocating, if you dare admit it.
Moreover, I continued…
I believe we are ALL created equal. I am the one being inclusive here; not divisive like yourself. Some humans make more of themselves than other through choices, discipline, and overcoming challenges of various sizes. I am pro-equality. You are Orwellian. I believe the ONLY race that matters is the Human Race. One person’s race does not automatically entitle them to be “more equal” or “more celebrated” than another race. YOU are the racist.
I am the one advocating for a focus on personal achievement WITHOUT regard to race because all races are equal. You seem to have issue after issue with this, label after divisive label to react to regarding this.
What is up with your “more equal”, “inclusive but not inclusive” mindset? WHY focus on race, as you are, when we can embrace being equal, inclusive… and that meaning that no race gets MORE celebration apart from MORE accomplishment/achievement/virtue demonstrated in the individual.
At least Glen Vickers seems to understand that, while everyone comes into this world with their ethnicity based on where their ancestors were geographically located, that race is not some badge of entitlement that makes an individual worthy to be celebrated more than their fellow human. He commented on LinkedIn:
Your race doesn’t make you original. Your heritage doesn’t either. Your accomplishments, your contributions, and your accolades do.
If you value race in any way, you’re racist. Race has no value. It doesn’t tell me how you think. It doesn’t tell me what you believe. It doesn’t tell me anything except what you might look like. It’s superficial, callous, and above all else…. pointless.
When you realize that race is a superficial and callous view to hold you’ll realize that is holds no value. You know nothing about a person by looking at what skin color they have. Start there maybe you’ll gain some knowledge as to why valuing race, and celebrating it, has caused nothing but pain and suffering throughout history.
Glen continued:
Race has no value. Starting from there if you decide to add your race before your nationality all you’re doing is making a value statement that you value your race before the place you were born.
You know who else valued race above nationality? I’ll give you a few guesses (ie Hitler) but all of those that did…. aren’t very good people. So I find it unethical to embody the ideal that your skin tone speaks more about you, or your ethnic heritage, than your actions and accolades. Anything else is unethical.
Not sure how everyone in this thread thinks it’s o.k. to celebrate your race. You denigrate everyone else that isn’t that race simultaneously and you’re fine with that. Last I checked, segregation was a bad idea and yet here you are, doing it linguistically through a hyphen in your nationality.
So, only to a racist does their race make them MORE EQUAL and give them more status, more entitlements and… more to virtue signal about or whine about, LOL!
