#and yes; you can be racist to white people ( as the def is prejudice and judgement against anyone BASED ON THEIR SKIN COLOR )

[celestialvexation-arch]

[sokumotanaka]

Nah realistically this is how it'd go.

---

I got alot to say about this so let's go down the line.

First and foremost;

The specific lyrics don't correlate on a comparison front. RWBY never showed Adam the light of day, they killed him, could of easily jailed him, fixed the racism in the world no need for it to be like our own. But the white writers were lazy and then tried to blame it on them being white! When they hired expensive voice actors and yes men all the time!

Second; My hero failed really hard in terms of addressing the prejudice they set at the start of the series. Apparently this was better adressed in the manga but I looked at it and it seems exactly the same there. It's very late that they talk about mutant prejudice and it's in the lense of a back flash where all the characters say it sucks but then never talk about it again. I don't know about you but when me and my friends talk about prejudice and anti POC racism, it's never just one time, we discuss it often.

It was weird to think that certain stores wouldn't let Froppy and Ojiro in cause they're mutated. (Despite a quirk being a mutation for everyone but SURE) You'd think the heroes would have opinions on this. And Izuku has the worst opinion on prejudice. In the later arcs people start not letting mutants into places, not even shelters while villains are roaming around! Deku comes across this giant fox girl that's being attacked by random dudes who claim that because she's walking around looking like that it scared them...scared them into attacking with lethal weapons on an unarmed woman.

Now if this were well written you'd have some form of social commentary, but Horikoshi sucks as a writer and Deku tells the woman who was attacked "I'm sure those guys were scared too." Which is horrible to tell a person attacked based on her appearance but SUUURE! That's def what I want to hear from the HERO PROTAGONIST! Then during the great ninja war they have a bunch of mutants turn towards the only black character in MHA and repeat things like "Don't shoot, we aren't looters, you'll never understand!" like black people don't face racism and prejudices....ever!

Quirks are still relatively new to the world, they didn't exist forever, it's not uncommon for your grandparents to be quirkless so it's not like mutants have faced decades of racial segregation (And that's not me brushing aside their suffering but having them turn to a black person and say 'you won't understand' is ...tone deaf.) And not to mention the only villain Spinner fighting for mutant equality by trying to take down the system, gets stopped by Shoji, a character who didn't get to BE one until he had to step in to fight another mutant- then him telling spinner "You're gonna set us back 40 years!" Is so silly and funny coming from a character the narrative didn't want to give and growth to till he had to fight his own people so they can stay marginalized I guess.

MHA has the same issue as RWBY where the narrative and writers think that second class citizens should sit on their hands and just *Wait* till racist and republicans want to give us equality, then, we'll earn in.

Series like these embarrass me, especially when people compare them too X-men cause neither of these shows have a dark skinned poc even in the main roster- Ororo, STOMPS on your all pale skinned cast of fictional races and people with tails who don't get to do crap. That series at least addresses the sigma, the prejudice, the unfairness and people get to be angry and tell off racist.

MHA and RWBY? They'd so much as FAINT if they had to talk about racial and societal issues.

[praphit]

CRASH - I promise no race talk

First, let me say that this particular post will be a safe space. No race talk here. Today, we're going to talk a lil "Crash".

This movie came out in 2005; I hadn’t watched it since then. I remembered really liking it. I remembered Ludacris and Larenz Tate stealing the movie as a comedy duo. 

I remembered these two ladies:

(Jennifer Esposito - not the best picture of her, and perhaps that’s partly my fault. She is pissed in this scene... probably because the person whom she is talking to is not me :)

and Bahar Soomekh

(Wait, that’s “Saw 3... hmm... she was in “Saw 3″ btw.)

Let me try again - 

(Nope. Dammit. Still “Saw”)

You get the idea. These two ladies! Yes!

I remembered watching this movie with my then girlfriend, and thinking to myself "As soon as this movie is over, I'm breaking up with her and seeking these two out, to propose to the both of them - this is my destiny."

I remembered something about Saint Christopher, who is apparently the patron saint of travelers. 

He was kinda like an Uber driver (I guess... and by the looks of this depiction, a grumpy Uber driver). He will get you safely to where you'd like to be, as long as you listen to his smooth jazz, questionable philosophies on life, and of course allow him to flirt a lil with you.

Oh, and I remembered Luda getting his ass beat by the dude from "Empire"

- no, not that dude.

This dude - (Terrence Howard).

I believe that anyone who tries to explain what this movie is about will end up sounding like they've had one too many to drink:

"It's about a bunch of people of different races/ethnicities who... have racist stuff happen to them. And they don't know each other, but they're kinda connected... and there's a crash... although it doesn't have much to do with the story... but it kinda does... maybe? Ludacris is in it. He gets his ass beat by that guy from "Empire", but not that guy...  the other guy. Racism sucks, bro."

Trying to explain it is similar to how we'll (years from now) try to explain 2020... or Trump being president.

Let's me try to break it down:

Don Cheadle is Detective Graham Waters (what a name). 

He deals with a lot of race stuff on the job and in cases. Race stuff that I'm sparing you from today (you're welcome:) Annnnd he's banging one of the women whom I thought would be my future wife. 

The first time that we meet HER (another detective), we learn that she's pretty racist.

Side note: Can one be both pretty AND racist? Does the racism overwhelm the pretty face? or vice versa? Would some of us see Trump as being racist, if he looked like Chris Hemsworth?

(and always gave press conferences shirtless)

Sorry, I promised no race talk.

What if Trump looked like this? 

Are presidents allowed to get sex changes?

So, Terrence Howard and Thandie Newton have a racist and perverted encounter with the cops. 

The more I think about it, the more I blame most of the horrible events that take place in this movie on these two cops (and their superiors). Had they worked by better standards, a lot of the bad things that end up happening in this movie wouldn't have happened. Terrence and Thandie have some race stuff going on within their relationship as well (which I won't be talking about :) Brown people also have race fights; whitey doesn't always have to be involved.

I talked about Luda and Tate already. They're kinda like hipsters in a sense (in spirit). They have a racial commentary/banter throughout the whole movie. They're right about the things that they say (which I'm still not talking about). The prob is that they're also criminals.

Sandra Bullock (who's prob the most racist character in the movie) and Brendan Fraser are also doing their thing in this movie.

They're your stereotypical wealthy white couple. Fraser's character is in politics. There's some juicy race stuff there as well. We'll just ignore all of that.

Tony Danza is surprisingly in this just to be racist. Now, TD is before my time, but I remember him being loveable - no?? That's what makes it weird. Kinda like if Stephen Colbert swung through a movie briefly just to drop an N-bomb or something.

Michael Pena is here, because... he's on the short list of Latinos that Hollywood knows. 

I think this movie was his big shot (which he killed). Look him, he’s acting his ass off. His mouth opened so wide... that’s acting! He's also the only character in this movie who's NOT an asshole. He's actually a good guy. Even in the midst of people being very openly racist towards him, he remains calm and collected. He has a daughter who is scared, and so he gives her an invisible cloak that has a supernatural, imaginary ability to make her invulnerable. She then puts it on and immediately runs into traffic... and you know... BOOM!

I'm joking. But, that could have happened. Parents, don't lie to your children.

There's a scene where she does face some danger as a result of this lie. Spoiler alert, she makes it. Maybe it was the power of Saint Chris. Though she appears to be the only one that he saves in this flick. Seems like every time the good ol saint Christopher appears, someone pulls out a gun. Patron Saint of Gun Violence.

Fun fact: Michael Pena is also a scientologist. See, they're not all like T.Cruise - don't be so prejudice:)

Watch, there's going to be a story about some awful scientology weirdness on Pena’s part, the second I post this.

That's uh... not a great summary of the plot. It's an awful summary, actually. If you look up the summary on wikipedia, it pretty much does the same thing I did - just talk through the people involved in this picture.

This movie is like a game of 52 pickup - only the game is played with a deck of race cards.

If you're a person who doesn't think much about race issues, but is open to hearing about them, then this movie will possibly be enlightening for you.

If you're the type of person who has been actively avoiding race talk (and who typically avoids deep talks like that) Then, this def isn't the movie for you.

If you are racist, and somehow keep reading my posts... Imma pray for you, cuz this movie beating you over the head with race is only going to fuel you're... "special, hateful beliefs".

As for me... this time around I was indifferent towards this movie. I can see why I adored this movie back in the day. I enjoy deep talks about this kind of stuff, and we (me and my circle of peeps) prob weren't talking much about these kind of topics, openly, in the early/mid 2000's. But, as a movie... meh.

There is a touching moment when there is a literal crash

wait... 

My finding pics game has been way off today.

CRASH!

There's real humanity. Two characters come face to face with mortality, and all of the bullshit is pushed aside in efforts to secure rescue. But, then, after that moment, we go right back to the bullshit. Nothing really changes. The movie notices that they missed a few race cards, and continue on with their game.

I remember tearing up the first time that I watched this movie. I don't know whether my girlfriend and I were fighting that may have caused those tears. Or maybe her breath was stanky with onions (while trying to make-out with me in the theatre) that brought me to fight some tears. Or maybe 15 years later, I've become a heartless SOB, but outside of that crash scene, the only time I was moved was when Sandra Bullock fell down some stairs.

- moved to laughter.

It still makes me laugh. That's my fav part of the movie for sure. I wish that they had ended the movie there.

She's spread out at the bottom of the steps. And then a silent roll of the credits. It would have made just as much sense as the actual ending. She DOES  however end up being ok, and less racist, as a result... somehow.

So, if any of you know someone who's super racist ("coughtrump") and notice that they're near some steps... do your part. We'll end racism one flight of stairs at a time.

In the end, this movie is about diverse groups of one dimensional assholes, who complain about everything (even the rich, white people... cuz we all know how hard their lives are), and through sappy music and a lack of learning from some contrived moments, make little progress towards peace.

Totally unrealistic. In real life, we get shit done!

Grade: A/D/A

A for the race talk (which hopefully I was successful in not talking about:)

D for... just about everything else...

...  and another A for Sandra Bullock’s tumble down the stairs.

[akria23]

Okay let’s talk about it:

Some people might not understand why others are stepping back from David after recent events. I cannot speak for anyone else but there is a general weariness when tilts comes to black men and romantic dynamics (interracial and none interracial) because of the history of antics that’s been established when it comes to such things. I do have that fear that David is such men - some of because of how I look at the world and in part because of some of his own behaviors (saying Ana’s racial identity is his weakness, the fact that kemi was really the only person he didn’t talk game with other than to tell her to make herself easier to be around [like him and Ovi doing], his playing the butler mentality - But he hasn’t said anything to disrespect the black woman in the house (as far as I know) so I’m not gonna judge him on that or pretend like he’s this type of guy when he hasn’t shown that hand yet.

I personally don’t have a problem with interracial interest/dating but I do think that most blacks who date interracially aren’t vetting their counterparts enoughs - often times because they themselves have inner issues when it comes to anti blackness. So I don’t have an issue with David being interested in a white woman - I have a problem with it being this kind of white woman.

I feel like I’m the only one in the tag that does not rock with Kat or fall under her dizzy/savage girl routine. She’s one step below (if not above) Jack and Jackson for me. She’s not only say around and listened to the things they’ve said, enabled them by saying what they’ve said/done wasn’t that bad but (and this is the important part for me) she has said her own things about Kemi that presents her as being the type I’d never cap for. Do I think she’s do a showmance with David? Yes. She’d probably sleep with him, date him, have kids with him, marry him and all that Jazz. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have her own prejudice. Often times some white women (and other nonblack women) will get with black men (say they love black men) and yet with spew shit at and on black women. Prime example of this are the Kardashians. Kat has no valid reason to dislike, down talk, or even want Kemi out (just like the jacks) but there is this apparent dislike all the same.

So no I’m not about to bad talk him because he’s interested in a white woman but he does not seem like the type to vet the counterpart. People think because someone is not a Jack, or the type to stand on your lawn with a lit cross then there’s no real problem and that a falsehood. I keep pushing for black people to stop looking at others as individuals and instead look at them with the reality that racism is a system that is interwoven into every aspect of life (from the schools we went to, the media we watch, the people we interact with, the policing and prison system...everything) and thus people (including blacks) have to unlearn these teachings and if the person you’re laying in bed with is not unlearning those things - def if they’re actively denying the existence- then they’re a part of the problem. If your black and you’re dating someone out your race you need to realize you then have the job of educating them, checking them when they’re out of pocket, and being held accountable for what they pass onto your children.

And it’s not just black men that comes to black women as well - when Kemi says dumb shit like she loves Paul and he’s so great that’s a slap in Dom’s face. When she says Jackson is attractive it’s like she’s drinking dumb bitch juice because Jackson not only looks like a racist he radiates racism 😪. While she’s over here saying that David is two short, to weird, to this/that - he’s been the most respectable in the house and hasn’t sprinkled her in hate in some way (yet) but this concept of putting others above no matter if your attracted or not attracted is crazy’s it was the same with Bay, and Dom and Z. I had to learn my lesson with Z because I stupidly shipped them and then was like 😰 when them colors started to show but still wanted him to be the good guy. That’s bullshit yo. Learn from the past season. After the Zaulie thing and then Dom not even getting friendship from Mark - and Tyler being a fake fuck while trying to back stab and play games...these people should be looking at these others like 😒 I need to know your history and test you before I even put in any work. Even with Dem Ika takes the role of educating him, explaining things to him in the moment, and it works because he admits that he is naive to our world, he did have the privilege to be blissfully ignorant to our world because it didn’t effect him, and then apologize for any missteps he does make. If your partner isn’t one that level then you’re already in trouble.

Like I said - I’m not sure David is that guy and last night some of the things he was doing like the running around to find something to cook for the house really made me go 😬 he’s not cleaning cause he likes a clean area - he’s really out here thinking servitude will win these people over. He really thinks that he can get the jacks to let him in. It was just very...delusional black to me. Until that moment I thought like Kemi he felt the racist undertones of the house, that when he said cliques he didn’t mean grouped up but again like Kemi interpreted that as “racist” but his behavior say he thinks he can get in and that they just have him on the outs because he was the first to leave. He looked like a more observed Ovi in that moment and it was a real disappointment I ain’t even gonna lie. And then the thing with Kat happened (him getting mad)...He just went back on my “be weary” list.

[agameforgoodchristians]

Miriam Cursed for Being Racist (Numbers 12): On Racism, Prejudice, and Other Things that make you Uncomfortable at Church]

One day Miriam and Aaron, Moses' older siblings, blindside him about his wife:

While they were at Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had indeed married a Cushite woman) (Numbers 12:1).

Seems pretty racist, right?

Why does everything have to be about race?

Excuse me?

Why does everything have to be about race?

Everything isn’t about race.

Well, why does this have to be about race?

You’d have to ask Miriam and Aaron.

Gah. Why is this story really about race?

Keep reading.

The Argument Against A Racist Interpretation

(Even though it's mostly wrong)

Our interrupting friend's last question has been the source of biblical debate for centuries. This is because, despite what seems to be a racially-charged beginning to the story, Miriam and Aaron do go on to say:

“Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” (Numbers 12:2)

It seems that there is a case to be made that this story is more about sibling rivalry than racial animus. This argument is made more compelling when the events of the previous chapter are taken into account. 

 Numbers 11 records the repeated complaints of the Hebrew people as they traveled from slavery in Egypt to freedom and prosperity in the Promised Land. Complaints that almost got them all killed by the God who was making provision for them the whole time. In the midst of this chapter, Moses wants to walk away from his role as desert tour guide for a cranky classroom of kindergartens (Numbers 11:10-15). To help Moses keep his sanity, God orders Moses to appoint 70 elders to help him bear the burden of leadership.

It is with this backdrop that we begin chapter 12: Moses’ own siblings, his own family, leaders who know and care for him the most, are apparently trying to usurp his authority. There is a power struggle over who speaks for God. And since Moses is too “humble” to fight for himself (vs 4) [which is an odd choice of words, since the narrator has already told us that Mo don’t want this job no mo’], God gets involved.

God calls Miriam, Moses, and Aaron before The Tent of Meeting, appears as a pillar of smoke, and tells Aaron and Miriam to shut the sheol up. God explains that He has a special relationship with Moses, different from their own. God doesn’t communicate using dreams and visions with Moses. No: Mo gets the face to face treatment (vs 5-8).

And because a stern talking to is not enough, God cursed Miriam with a skin aliment, turning her white as snow. Aaron, after screwing up in a major way, once again, receives no punishment whatsoever (#WTF #SmashThePatriarchy). Perhaps seeing that this is completely unfair, or perhaps being a good little brother trying to protect his sister (#OkPatriachyHasSomeUses), Aaron turns to Moses, humbles himself, calls Moses “my lord,” and asks Moses to ask God to spare their sister (vs 10-12).

Moses advocates on Miriam's behalf and God, after using a parable about a father shaming his daughter by spitting in her face (#BackToPatriarchySmashing), decrees that Miriam's aliment will clear up after seven days. However, she must remain outside the Hebrew camp alone, returning only after she is healed. Thankfully the people decided to wait for her instead of continuing their nomadic trek to the Promised Land (vs 13-16).

So there you have it: this was not about race.

Yes. Yes it was.

But you just said…

Have you seen how long this Card Talk is? Clearly we’re not done yet.

But...

We're not done yet. Also, there is an obvious question you should have asked by now...

Who Was This Woman?

Did you forget that this passage starts with Miriam and Aaron throwing disrespect at Moses' wife? What happened to her part in this story? For that matter, who the heck is she? This is a question that anyone who survived some form of Sunday or Saturday school (or watched The Prince of Egypt), should be wondering. 

The Bible says that Moses had a wife named Zipporah, and she was pretty badass. She threw her son's freshly circumcised foreskin at her husband's penis to win an argument with God. Is this the woman Miriam and Aaron are talking about? We don't think so because there are multiple problems with this interpretation.

First, why would Miriam and Aaron suddenly have a problem with Zipporah? She's been with Moses for a long time. She's even been in the biblical narrative longer than Aaron has (Zipp shows up in Exodus 2. We don't even know Aaron exists until Exodus 4). Second, and more important, Zipporah is not a Cushite. She was a Midianite (Exodus 2:15-22). We're to believe that Miriam and Aaron are throwing racial invective, but suddenly forgot what country/tribe their sister-in-law is from?

Over the centuries, some Jewish and Christian scholars have attempted to square this round peg by simply saying that the wife mentioned in Numbers 12 was Zipporah. Why? Because the Bible only records Moses having one wife. Other scholars point to this very passage as emphatically saying the opposite: Moses did have more than one wife, hence the narrative's emphasis at the end of vs 1:

While they were at Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had indeed married a Cushite woman)

So if this is wife #2, where did she come from? When, in the midst of his nomad lifestyle, did Mo have time to court another wife? The top two scholarly contending answers are:

1. Moses married an African woman in his younger days, specifically between fleeing Egypt and arriving in Midian (sometime during the second chapter of The Book of Exodus). This makes Zipporah his second wife, as Moses would have met the Cushite woman before arriving to Jethro’s house in Midian.

and

2. Moses met this woman in Egypt while trying to convince Pharaoh to let God's people go. Exodus 18:2 tells us that Moses had sent Zipporah and their children away during the whole Egypt escapade. The family was reunited once the Hebrews were on their way to The Promised Land.  

While these ideas may be offensive to our modern (and/or Sunday School flannel graph) sensibilities, this was an age of polygamous relationships (for men #UghPatriarchy), so the idea that Moses had multiple wives should not be considered too scandalous. This idea wasn’t a problem over the centuries for such Jewish biblical luminaries as Josephus, Rashbam, and Moses Mendelson whose works all record some variation of the argument that Moses had at least two wives.

Okay fine. Maybe Moses had multiple wives like most of the patriarchs in the Bible. Maybe it’s even weird to think that he didn’t have multiple wives when, like everyone else did. But that doesn’t make this story about racism. I mean, God. You showed how this whole story is obviously about Miriam and Aaron’s attempted power grab-- them trying to usurp power from their younger brother who was God’s chosen. Why do you liberal snowflake progressive millennial tree-hugging Prius driving milksops always find yourselves triggered by everything except hummus and almond milk, and make everything about race? Maybe not everything is about racism. Some people are just jerks or are power hungry and that’s not about race. It just is, like, sin. People sometimes suck. I mean, yeah.

You done?

…

Okay. Let’s unpack the ideas in that word-salad. But that requires the definition of terms.

Racism Defined (Sociologically)

Racism

Racism is the system of privileges and advantages given members of a society based on their race. Members of a society, who are not a part of the preferred race, are disenfranchised from the aforementioned privileges and advantages, either in part or as a whole. Some refer to this a "structural racism," "institutionalized racism," "cultural racism," but they amount to the same thing.

In layman's terms: if you’re in the “good” race, you get a leg up in society. If you’re in the “bad” race, you get screwed.

Keywords: system, privileges, advantages, race.

prejudice

A mental bias or negative outlook a person holds against another person or group, based on perceived status or characteristics of that person or group (e.g. age, gender, ethnicity, nationality, race, sex, sexuality, socioeconomic status, etc.). This bias is not based on reason or empirical evidence: prejudices are beliefs held independently of the actual facts about a person or group. It is an attitude that, when enacted, leads to discrimination. Prejudice is not confined to the culturally dominant groups in a society: anyone can be prejudice. However, when the discrimination born from prejudice is codified into a system, it is often the culturally dominant who receive privileges and advantages (e.g. ageism, classism, racism, sexism). 

In layman's terms: anyone can be a dick, but it's easier for some people than others. And dickitude can become the cultural norm in a society. 

Keywords: in group bias, anyone, dicks

But I don’t like those definitions. That's not what I see when I do a quick Dogpile search online.

Whether you are comfortable with those def… wait. Why the hell are you still using Dogpile to do a search? You also rocking AskJeeves on your T-mobile Sidekick? Anyway, whether you are comfortable with these definitions is irrelevant. The meaning of words don’t change to suit your cultural preference in the midst of an argument, no more than a Bible verse will adapt to the sin you’re trying to justify. The sociologists and linguists who research and write about race and racism are no more swayed or impressed by your discomfort, than Paul or James would be with your Joel Osteen-eque prosperity gospel replacing their argument over salvation by faith or work. The experts are not confused about what words mean, but they are frustrated with the layperson’s determination to be right. Arguing that you didn’t read this in your online dictionary is like arguing with an astrophysicist about the definition of “gravity” you got in middle school. So once again: The experts /who write about this stuff for  a living / don't care / that you don't like /their definitions, but feel free to click on any of those links to read what the experts say (Spoiler: they call "racism" a race-based system of privileges and advantages).

But while we're here, let's drill down on something, because it is important for when we return to Moses and his siblings. 

 If you live in a racist system,

and you are a member of the race that gains privileges and advantages from that system,

you gain privileges and advantages from that system.

No, that wasn't a typo. That's exactly what we meant to say. If you are given privileges and advantages, you are given privileges and advantages.

Stop pretending like you're not. 

 This applies internationally and it's not all about White people. The Japanese have a problem with racism, but it’s not about White people. A White person in Japan can’t be racist because the system is not set up to give them prime advantage. But White people in Japan can be prejudiced. Some argue that post-apartheid South Africa has a problem with racism, that the current system oppresses White people. This claim might be dubious, but we’ll let it stand for now. If this claim is true, a White person in South Africa can’t be racist because the system is no longer not set up to give them prime advantage. But they can be prejudiced. In Brazil, man that is a whole complicated mess, but still adheres to the definitions above. And hopefully you get the idea.

And since we need to say it, in the United States, the only people who can be racist are White. Everyone in the US can be prejudiced, but only White people can be racist. 

So all White people in the US are racist?

You don't listen very well. No. It means that racism exists in the US and that White people benefit from the system. Once more for the cheap seats: You can benefit from racism even if you’re not personally racist.

While socioeconomics, education, gender, sexuality, sexual identity, family/friend connections, and a whole host of other demographic and contextual factors, as well as good/bad luck and divine intervention/meddling, impact every interaction in our lives, race matters too.

In the US, because the system favors it, a White person will get that job, obtain that house, be granted that permit, get out of that speeding ticket, be allowed to walk in and out of a Starbucks with a licensed AR-15 without getting shot by the cops, and be given the benefit of the doubt, more often than others who are not White. If you disagree, ask your non-White friends about it, but then keep your mouth closed while they take a deep-breath, get a far away look, and decide if they have the energy to have this conversation with you while sober.

 And we’re going to cut you off before you start talking about “affirmative action” and “diversity initiatives” because 1) your understanding of those terms is probably woefully inaccurate (get out your Sidekick and do a very slow search for how many White people, esp. White women and White folk in rural areas, benefit from the programs you’re trying to tear down), and 2) the very existence of those ideas proves the point that racism exists. They are attempting to counteract a system of privilege and advantage that is largely based on race.

And we're going to shut you down before you start talking about "Black on Black crime," "White on White Crime," "All lives mattering," "Blue Lives mattering," "Chicago," or anything else that is really off topic. People can be evil to other people no matter their race. Yes. If you've read through at least the first 5 chapters of the Bible, you know that to be true. If you've turned on the news today, you know that to be true. Man's inhumanity to man is rampant. That's (in part) why Christians believe in the sacrificial and salvific work of God through Jesus the Christ. Yes. Everyone can hurt everyone else. Everyone can be prejudiced. Everyone can be a dick to other people and should work hard to stop being one. 

But not everyone can be racist.

To be racist is to not only benefit passively from the system of PRIVILEGES and advantages, but to actively use those PRIVILEGES and advantages to oppress and further DISENFRANCHISE those who do not have them. 

 {deep breath}

 Now, back to Miriam, Aaron, and their racism. 

Why This Story is About Race

(And Why Ignoring the Racial Elements Shows There is Something in your life You Should really Pray About)

To recap, the Bible explicitly begins the story by saying that Moses was confronted by Miriam and Aaron about his wife, whoever she was, because she was a Cushite (or "Ethiopian," or "from the Sudan" depending on your translation), "for he had indeed married a Cushite woman." Serious readers of the text recognize that they cannot merely sidestep this language. In his translation of the text, the renowned Evertt Fox admits that, if this is referring to her as an Ethiopian, this is “clearly a racial slur.”

The mention of this woman's nationality focused on her "otherness," specifically her race, her color: In Biblical literature, Cushites (Ethiopians/Nubians) were knows for their darker skin (see Jeremiah 13:23).

Even if you argue that the text is ultimately an argument about who wields divine authority, just like our comments in "That time Jesus was Racist" we still have to wrestle with the manner in which Miriam and Aaron broached the subject with Moses. We can't ignore the words they used to start the conversation/confrontation. 

 One rabbinical reading is that, for some reason, Moses wasn't sleeping with his second wife (not Zipporah). According to this reading, in confronting him, Miriam was not speaking against the woman's "blackness," she was advocating for her: “If you’re not going to sleep with the woman, making her a full, honest wife, why the hell are you with her?!” To us, this reading stretches credibility. 

A more popular reading (*cough* cop-out *cough*) is to assert that Miriam and Aaron's mentioning of this woman's race/color was a red herring: they were getting Moses off-kilter before diving into the real conversation about authority and power. By this reading, it wasn't that they were saying, "What gives?! You married a [fill in racial/ethnic slur] woman from outside of our race: how can you say that God only speaks through you when you make decisions like that?" Instead, we are supposed to believe, they were merely using racist rhetoric as a ploy, but they really didn't mean it. Those who subscribe to this interpretation/fantasy, also find an interesting explanation for God's initial silence: God knew that they weren't really being racist, so He didn't speak up when they sounded racist. God knew it was really about a power grab. So God waited and responded when they finally got around to issuing challenges to Moses’ power, and thereby God’s authority in choosing His own speaker.

We have three responses to this final argument. 

 1.  Are you Serious right now?

No really? You said that out loud. With all the other options, you're going with that one? 

2. No. Really: Are you Fucking serious right now?

How is saying,"You married a [fill in racial/ethnic slur] woman from outside of our race..."  as a rhetorical tactic, as a way to gain political traction, a good outcome in your mind? How is that a better interpretation?

How is that less racist? 

Okay. Try some of these out:

“No no. Chad's not racist! He just tells racist jokes sometimes. Don't be so over-sensitive.”

“Martha doesn’t have anything against racial minorities, she just doesn’t think they work very hard to get where they are. They're just not as qualified as other people. You know, "Affirmative Action" and all that.”

"Honey, your mother and I want you to have a diverse set of friends, but we forbid you from dating anyone from another race. We just don't want you to deal with all the intolerant people out there sweetheart. And think about what your children would have to go through being mulatto halfsies..."

“Look: just because he refuses to condemn the actions of the KKK, the alt-right, neo-nazis, think moving confederate statues to museums will result in a change in objective history, calls Mexicans rapists and murders, and refers to Africa and Haiti as "shithole countries" [even though Africa is a continent], does not make him a racist!"

 Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (you brood of vipers).

3. Look at Miriam's Punishment

Look at it. Look at Miriam. Look at her punishment

Look at her skin.

When the cloud went away from over the tent, Miriam had become leprous, as white as snow. And Aaron turned towards Miriam and saw that she was leprous. (Numbers 12:10)

Miriam singled out a woman for her darker skin. God punished her with skin so white and disgusting that Moses compares her to a premature, stillborn baby (Numbers 12:12). But this was only the first part of her punishment.  For when Moses intercedes on her behalf:

...the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp for seven days, and after that she may be brought in again.” So Miriam was shut out of the camp for seven days; and the people did not set out on the march until Miriam had been brought in again. (Numbers 12:14-15)

God, her father, "spits in her face" and sends her outside the camp, outside of her race of people. She is excluded from her own community, just as she would have excluded her darker sister-in-law.  

 And what about the challenge to Moses' authority? What? God can't kill two birds with one stone?  Racism and an attempted coup all caught in one leprous cursing. Doubt this? Spend more time reading the Bible: the writers tend to show God doling out punishments that fit the crime in clever/creative ways. But also, put this in the context of Who we are talking about.

A God of Salvation Has No Time for Racist Bullshit

(And neither should you)

This is the God of the Hebrew Bible, the God of salvation, when “salvation” wasn’t about feel good spirituality, or the soul not spending an eternity in Hell. It was about physical and tangible trouble in the here and now. Hence the metaphors of God in the Bible: a shepherd fighting off actually lions, tigers, and bears (oh my). An ever-present help, pulling people out of pits dug by enemies with too much time on their hands.  A warrior-king fighting alongside His servants, as arrows fly and swords clash. The God who brought His people out of bondage, out of slavery, in Egypt. 

Think about that last one: think about where the people in this story JUST came from. 

They JUST came out a slavery: 

They JUST came out of a system of privilege and oppression, based on schemes of racial superiority and inferiority.

And since they JUST received the Law (Torah), God has JUST told them they will not perpetuate that system. 

The Torah is full of prohibitions against treating those of other cultures, nations, and/or races poorly. We've written about this before, twice.   But staying within our present book, Numbers 15:11-16 goes so far as to say that Jews and foreigners living among them are judged by the same law. That supposed outsiders, like this Cushite wife of Moses, participate in the most sacred rights of the people, standing in equality before God. Leviticus 19:33-34 gives the clearest picture of how God feels about all this. 

When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Notice the two most prevalent reasons God gives for treating all of humanity with equity are

1) "because I am the LORD your God, and I said so!"

and

2) "because you were JUST treated like shit in Egypt!" 

In layman's terms: YOU didn’t like racism, did you?

So don’t be racist.

Idiot.

(That almost sounds like, wait, how does that go? "Do onto others as you would have them" something something...)

Perhaps those social justice warrior snowflakes you sometimes mock are correct when they see the injustice of racism, even in a biblical narrative. 

If you were offended by this post in some way, perhaps you should do some serious soul searching as to why.

Perhaps you need to acknowledge the advantages and privileges you hold based on your race, even if you aren't "rich," "male," "heterosexual," "educated," "upwardly socially mobile," "able-bodied/able-privileged," or any of the other demographic areas where you may feel real prejudice from another group. If you're White, and live in a country that favors White skin, you have a leg up. Acknowledge it. 

Perhaps you should spend more time addressing the ways your actions, and your silence, perpetuate systems of inequity in our world, our country, our region, our cities, our communities.

If you go to a church that never talks about racism, prejudice, or injustice, perhaps you should start asking why: why the pulpit is silent and why you go to that church.

  But what do we know: we made this game and you probably think we're going to Hell.

Linguistic Afterword/sidenote:

Numbers 12:1a reads:

וַתְּדַבֵּר מִרְיָם וְאַהֲרֹן בְּמֹשֶׁה  = "And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses" 

The verb in this sentence is piel imperfect, feminine, second person, singular. For non-Hebrew nerds, this means in a nutshell, that the sentence seems to be signifying that only one speaker, who was female, addressed Moses.

 This is noteworthy because some have used this linguistic oddity to explain why Aaron was not cursed alongside Miriam. Two schools of thought on the matter.

1. Aaron was a later addition to the story. In the original versions of the tale, only Miriam spoke out against Moses. Aaron was later added to the narrative, but the grammar was not changed. 

2. The grammar was changed to screw over Miriam. In the original version of the story, both Miriam and Aaron were present in the confrontation of Moses. However, scribes changed the grammar to insinuate that the whole episode was Miriam's idea, so Aaron is really not to blame for going along with his big sister, and/or Aaron stood there silently, as Miriam was racist and power hungry.

#BiblicalFeminism #FoodForThought

P.S. And if you have to have a conversation with someone who is acting racist as hell, this is a useful resource

[goldnpoc]

do you think individuals can be racist not like just white people but every individual? im asking bc i read a def. of racism online and it said all it takes is the belief that ones race is superior to others. so what if for instance hispanics believed they were superior to all other races does that make them racist? im not talking about systemic racism bc only white people can be systematically racist im talking like def. wise

Well, according to the definition, societal wise and not system wise, yes I believe all individuals are able to have superior complexes that are highly prejudice and highly discriminatory and racist. However, it’s rare to me to find a person of color just saying they are the ideal race. Maybe be super proud, but never to the extent like white people, wishing everyone extinct from earth and that they are peasants. I never seen that mentality in people of color. That’s really rare. However, can people of color be very prejudice and such, yes. So, I can’t really say it’s racist, but it is very much prejudice and discriminatory of another person of color. Even, white people can get discriminated and prejudiced against, if you mean that as well. 

[akria23]

Let me clarify

Because some of y'all seem confused when I talk about racism and the such. No I don't think everyone is racist because we're not all capable of being racist. I do however believe everyone has prejudices/is prejudice. Why? Cause we grow up in a world where we're taught hate and separation (def in America). In a world where we're exposed to these concepts every day, all day. We read it, we watch it, we hear and talk about in our homes experience it in our schools and jobs. No I don't think blacks can be racist to whites. Why? Again because racism is a system of power that we don't benefit from. No matter how much hate we have for white people we as a whole do not affect them as a whole like they do us. I do believe that blacks have prejudice against white...or feelings that ain't at all positive. Why? Because we are an oppressed people and we grow up in a society that tells us even if we're better in skill, talent, or work that doesn't mean we'll beat them in any position and that's solely because our skin. We live in a reality where we live with the constant knowledge that we can die for any little thing and that will be excused away...we can go to jail for any little thing. While those who set those precedents can be the ones killing us and getting away with it. They brand you a monster and proclaim themselves the judge jury and prosecutor. You don't reside in that life and NOT feel some type of way. Most black people don't hate white people cause they're white - but because most of the white people they encounter are white AND satisfied with living with their racist traits and privilege. When black people say white people - a lot of people think they're only talking about white people. A lot of blacks speak on non-blacks while using white blanket terms from habit. Lots of blacks know other non-blacks aren't for them. Hell lots of blacks know all blacks aren't for them because we've been taught to also hate ourself/our own. Do not ask me about the 'it okay to be white' trends...imma sum it up by saying Its okay to be white but I don't remember anyone saying/claiming there was anything wrong with being white. I feel like a whole portion of that sentence would be missing with that claim. Yes I do think it's white peoples responsibility to deprogram, unlearn their racist traits. No I don't think it's black peoples jobs to be their educator. I think it's every individuals jobs to unlearn their bad traits - just like you would with any other bad habit/ trait. No it's not white people jobs to build up black people - I honestly hope ain't not black people waiting on that...that's black peoples responsibility for their own people - through their own kids to pass down and so on and so forth. Yes hearing shit like reverse racism annoys the shit out of me - cause it sound stupid as hell for one. And for another the concept of racism and how it effects black life is something white people could never understand - something the majority refuses to even accept as real...as current. Racism is not as simple as name calling or stereotyping. It's not laughing that whites can't cook, or saying white people while rolling your eyes. Racism should be seen as the system it is because it's only then that you understand the mass damage it holds for an entire people! From their own self identity to how other races see them. From how safe they are from their own to how safe they are around other races. How successful they can be / cannot be. You break the spirit, you hold a true captive. Black people had to start to unteach their own self prejudice/hate. And they're really just getting started. Black people are taught they speak for all of their race not just themselves. White people aren't taught to even hold their own accountable much less that one stands for all. To claim you know what that system feels like is a falsehood unless you're actually in it. I do not debate on racism. I will never change my views on this topic. People are quick to say 'where is racism described that way in the dictionary' and honestly as a person whose people were erased from history and from books, from media itself in mega ways that's such a funny thing to hear. For someone to want you to point out any media created by this system or for it as a reference. Not only that but to remember that there was a time where records probably said the world was flat 🤷🏾‍♀️. I'll make it simple, book smarts/ education is a must - no matter what side you stand on just for the simple fact that you cannot fight what you don't know is out there. But I also don't prescribe - or at the very least hold weight to the lessons of those/ a world that STILL seeks to oppress my people. Just because it's in a book don't make it so, just because they'll say it in a class don't make it true.