# It Appears That Understanding Racism Is An Intellectual Milestone. It Really Isn’t.

- Link: https://www.andreidraganescu.info/2017/04/04/it-appears-that-understanding-racism-is-an-intellectual-milestone-it-really-isnt/
- Published: 2017-04-04T15:16:17+03:00
- Author: Andrei Draganescu

![](https://draganescu.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/e33f9-1bvhpb9gimhr3yhfwznxdtq.
jpeg)

#### It is just painful to see you’re not special.

> I listen to Iggy and to Azealia I don’t care. I am sheltered in my white skin.
> My kids don't depend on black culture surviving appropriation
> — Andrei Draganescu (@andraganescu) [April 4, 2017](https://twitter.com/andraganescu/status/849247080749162498?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

White culture can’t be appropriated because it is currently being shoved down every
other race’s throat. All over the fucking world. White culture can only be rejected.
We whites can complain about that.

Inside what we call the “Western Civilisation” the only race that can be racist 
is the white race because we have consistently acted on and, worse, enacted racism
as a foundational cultural ingredient. We, the whites who own and have created and
so carefully groomed the western civilisation devised racism as a way of insuring
a sort of fraternity between peoples who have so little in common other than the
shade of the brown of our so called white skin.

When you as a white person understand that “black people cannot be racist” it means
you have transcended a cultural brainwashing for which you are not to be blamed 
ever, but it is an achievement nevertheless. The key here is to grasp the cultural
background of racism.

White people are not racist because they’re white. They are racist only when they
oppress other races while inside the cultures which give privilege to the white 
race.

Do not confuse racism with xenophobia or ethnocentrism. Racism is different than
segregating from outsiders or segregating from other kin. Both xenophobia and ethnocentrism
are defensive actions, while racism is attack action.

For example, I am a bit xenophobic in my belief that the influx of refugees in western
Europe will alter, for the worse, the culture of western Europe. I am also one who
opinionates that many folks are ethnocentric by default: some hebrew folk, some 
gypsy folk (rroma), some nordic folk, some Japanese folk, because they have a cultural
grooming based on their ethnicity first. Some folks are xenophobic by default, like
some greek folk or some Nordic folk, because they have axiomatic belief that their
culture is pristine. Ethnocentricity is visible, for example, in business where 
many people choose banks, suppliers, contractors and even clients, based on ethnicity.
Xenophobia is less visible by default, it usually pops up when there is a nationalist
or patriotic political movement to fuel it.

Some ethnocentricity is a solution. If the ethnic group is an oppressed minority
business is only possible inside the group. Then it becomes custom, then obligation.
Some xenophobia is natural because it takes hundreds of generations to build a well
defined culture.

Racism is not a synonym for oppressed minority. You can be an oppressed majority,
racism doesn’t go away with numbers.

Racism is only authentic if it is based on some kind of exclusionary cultural support
network.

Politics is the management of life which empowers our survival. Economy is the management
of survival which empowers our society. Civilization is the management of society
which empowers our progress.

Racism is intersectional when it permeates politics and thus affects survival. Racism
is institutional when it permeates economy and it affects society. Racism is structural
when it permeates civilization and it affects progress.

The rules above apply to all the matters of the intersectional theory as all true
systems of “[oppression](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppression), [domination](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominance_hierarchy),
or [discrimination](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrimination)” start initially
at political level.

Which is what makes racists so hilarious, especially poor, uneducated, sick, no 
infrastructure, wealth depleted, natality capped people. They play a politics game
devised for the survival of the few exploiting groups at the top of the social pyramid.

Anyway, racism is complex but it really isn’t complicated: if you are the one who
has to work to remove the weight some society’s culture placed on you _because of
your race or ethnicity_, you cannot be racist when you express your experience carrying
that weight.

Anger may be racial but only oppression is racist. Labelling may be racial but only
social classification is racist. There are many people who cry racism when it is
mere anger. There are also many, many people who cry free speech when in fact they
help the oppression.