The Etymology of Reverse
This is my first time doing a post for International Blogging against Racism Week, and Lord if these last weeks haven't given me more to talk about than normal!
When I was a sophomore in college I took a class called Race, Ethnicity, and Politics in the United States. The core question of the class was whether the racial/ethnic hierarchy was built into the foundation of the nation or merely a flaw in an otherwise essentially fair society that somehow came about during the nation’s formative years. For those who know me and are familiar with my journal, I’m fairly sure you know where I (and, honestly, the majority of the PoC in this class) came down on this question. I remember having a section with a white guy from Florida who just adamant the racial hierarchy was a flaw and that if only people worked hard and followed the rules then we will all be equal.
Eventually.
That was a fun section because my two friends and I (a Mexican woman and a half-black, half-white Jewish woman) shot holes in his argument (chief of which he was a vehement opposer to Affirmative Action) as the section was long and then mocked him after section was done, and it was in this class I finally gained some of the vocabulary for things I’d been noticing all my life but didn’t have the words with which to express myself.
I mention this class because it’s sort of a fast forward seven years with the Sonia Sotomayor confirmation hearings and the entire situation with Professor Gates, including the charges that Obama is racist against white people aside, there is this very strong presence of “how dare the colored people step out of line!” followed closely by charges-explicitly and implicitly made-about reverse racism/discrimination. And I find it very curious that I’m supposed to care more about this perceived “reverse racism” than I am about “regular” racism, especially when there is a huge investment by white people and nonwhites alike trying to convince people that “regular” racism “ doesn’t exist anymore” in this “ post-racial” society. And I am not the first person to insist “reverse discrimination/racism” is a ridiculous term because discrimination is discrimination and racism is racism, but after breaking down the etymology of the term, I’ve stopped being naïve about why it’s called what it’s called.
1 a : opposite or contrary to a previous or normal condition
3 : acting, operating, or arranged in a manner contrary to the usual
I wished I’d come to this realization earlier, like back when I was taking that class for a grade, because I would’ve written a kickass response paper on it. Nevertheless, the term “reverse racism/discrimination” further proves to me, anyway, that the hierarchy is no flaw and was intentional and part of the blueprints for this nation’s building from the jump. From Ben Franklin telling Jefferson to take out the mentions of slavery in the Declaration of Independence; to the complete disregard for the Native peoples already here; to the mistreatment of the Chinese and other Asians who came to build railroads and do other “unsavory” jobs for the melanin-deficient population. And even when white ethnics came to the shores, there was still a hierarchy in that they were above groups of people here long before them…or eventually became to be. I’m almost certain they didn’t work any harder than the Natives or people of African descent, but they had the right skin tone to make it easy to bring them into the fold. And so when these people, especially those of Italian or Irish ethnicity, talk about “we were discriminated too!”, I’d like to point out the key word in that sentence: were. Because sentence as applied to PoC is “we are discriminated (still).” No “were” and no “too”, implying additionally, as it not part of the core group.
Just like the word “reverse”.
I think the “reverse racism” is as accurate as it gets when applied to Western society especially. It is reverse, opposite of the norm, of the regular, of the usual. Racism and discrimination against PoC is business as usual, after all. That it’s so entrenched in our society nobody stops to listen to it unless someone is in a position to be heard louder than usual. That’s why people pay attention more when it’s Professor Gates or Barack Obama, but lil’ ole me saying I got stopped by a cop for no reason (I haven’t…yet…) or Mr. Shem Walker whose fate was far worse, nobody, comparatively speaking, would give a crap. It’s why Sotomayor’s “wise Latina” comment obviously shows she cannot be an impartial judge while all the white male justices on the bench so obviously can. It’s why folks could actually say George Bush isn’t a racist after a history of ignoring the NAACP and his gross mishandling of Katrina but Barack Obama is accused of being one because he said a white policeman acted stupidly during the Gates incident proves his “deep-seated hatred” against white people and demanding Obama apologize.
As if PoC wouldn’t have a reason for less-than-friendly feelings for white folk.
Letter from Birmingham Jail is my favorite writing from Martin Luther King, Jr. In many ways, there are similarities between Gates’s arrest and King’s arrest; and controversial as that may seem to say, King writes “Letter” because he was told he didn’t “behave appropriately” and he didn’t “ mind his manners”. And I’m fairly sure King didn’t cuss out the officers who came to arrest him or asked if they “knew who they were messing with.” I’m sure he did everything right and King is during the Modern Civil Rights movement; Gates is during the “post-racial” society.
Because even if a PoC “does what she’s supposed to do” she’s still held back.
But PoC are making this stuff up. We keep finding excuse after excuse to shirk our personal responsibilities. Which, you know, may be an interesting consideration since it seems from the moment white folk got here they used PoC to handle their responsibilities instead-whether it is the taking of Native land or the taking of African bodies to work that Native land and to suckle and raise those white babies and to clean and build those White houses. And you don’t think PoC didn’t know what was up? Think we’re too stupid to know what racism is when it happens to us, or want sympathy from us when it happens to you? When you don’t recognize our plight and our cries but want us to march in the streets for yours? That it doesn’t count until someone white says it or finding other PoC to cosign a white person’s charge of no racism/reverse racism. Which…is really rather insulting, because, obviously, who else knows how to point recognize racism than those who live with it from the moment our parents conceive us until we die.
Then again, as long as the reverse, the “contrary to a previous or normal condition” doesn’t happen, why should anyone give a care?
When I was a sophomore in college I took a class called Race, Ethnicity, and Politics in the United States. The core question of the class was whether the racial/ethnic hierarchy was built into the foundation of the nation or merely a flaw in an otherwise essentially fair society that somehow came about during the nation’s formative years. For those who know me and are familiar with my journal, I’m fairly sure you know where I (and, honestly, the majority of the PoC in this class) came down on this question. I remember having a section with a white guy from Florida who just adamant the racial hierarchy was a flaw and that if only people worked hard and followed the rules then we will all be equal.
Eventually.
That was a fun section because my two friends and I (a Mexican woman and a half-black, half-white Jewish woman) shot holes in his argument (chief of which he was a vehement opposer to Affirmative Action) as the section was long and then mocked him after section was done, and it was in this class I finally gained some of the vocabulary for things I’d been noticing all my life but didn’t have the words with which to express myself.
I mention this class because it’s sort of a fast forward seven years with the Sonia Sotomayor confirmation hearings and the entire situation with Professor Gates, including the charges that Obama is racist against white people aside, there is this very strong presence of “how dare the colored people step out of line!” followed closely by charges-explicitly and implicitly made-about reverse racism/discrimination. And I find it very curious that I’m supposed to care more about this perceived “reverse racism” than I am about “regular” racism, especially when there is a huge investment by white people and nonwhites alike trying to convince people that “regular” racism “ doesn’t exist anymore” in this “ post-racial” society. And I am not the first person to insist “reverse discrimination/racism” is a ridiculous term because discrimination is discrimination and racism is racism, but after breaking down the etymology of the term, I’ve stopped being naïve about why it’s called what it’s called.
- Main Entry: 1re·verse
- Pronunciation: \ri-ˈvərs\
- Function: adjective
- Etymology: Middle English revers, from Anglo-French, from Latin reversus, past participle of revertere to turn back - more at revert
- Date: 14th century
1 a : opposite or contrary to a previous or normal condition
3 : acting, operating, or arranged in a manner contrary to the usual
I wished I’d come to this realization earlier, like back when I was taking that class for a grade, because I would’ve written a kickass response paper on it. Nevertheless, the term “reverse racism/discrimination” further proves to me, anyway, that the hierarchy is no flaw and was intentional and part of the blueprints for this nation’s building from the jump. From Ben Franklin telling Jefferson to take out the mentions of slavery in the Declaration of Independence; to the complete disregard for the Native peoples already here; to the mistreatment of the Chinese and other Asians who came to build railroads and do other “unsavory” jobs for the melanin-deficient population. And even when white ethnics came to the shores, there was still a hierarchy in that they were above groups of people here long before them…or eventually became to be. I’m almost certain they didn’t work any harder than the Natives or people of African descent, but they had the right skin tone to make it easy to bring them into the fold. And so when these people, especially those of Italian or Irish ethnicity, talk about “we were discriminated too!”, I’d like to point out the key word in that sentence: were. Because sentence as applied to PoC is “we are discriminated (still).” No “were” and no “too”, implying additionally, as it not part of the core group.
Just like the word “reverse”.
I think the “reverse racism” is as accurate as it gets when applied to Western society especially. It is reverse, opposite of the norm, of the regular, of the usual. Racism and discrimination against PoC is business as usual, after all. That it’s so entrenched in our society nobody stops to listen to it unless someone is in a position to be heard louder than usual. That’s why people pay attention more when it’s Professor Gates or Barack Obama, but lil’ ole me saying I got stopped by a cop for no reason (I haven’t…yet…) or Mr. Shem Walker whose fate was far worse, nobody, comparatively speaking, would give a crap. It’s why Sotomayor’s “wise Latina” comment obviously shows she cannot be an impartial judge while all the white male justices on the bench so obviously can. It’s why folks could actually say George Bush isn’t a racist after a history of ignoring the NAACP and his gross mishandling of Katrina but Barack Obama is accused of being one because he said a white policeman acted stupidly during the Gates incident proves his “deep-seated hatred” against white people and demanding Obama apologize.
As if PoC wouldn’t have a reason for less-than-friendly feelings for white folk.
Letter from Birmingham Jail is my favorite writing from Martin Luther King, Jr. In many ways, there are similarities between Gates’s arrest and King’s arrest; and controversial as that may seem to say, King writes “Letter” because he was told he didn’t “behave appropriately” and he didn’t “ mind his manners”. And I’m fairly sure King didn’t cuss out the officers who came to arrest him or asked if they “knew who they were messing with.” I’m sure he did everything right and King is during the Modern Civil Rights movement; Gates is during the “post-racial” society.
Because even if a PoC “does what she’s supposed to do” she’s still held back.
But PoC are making this stuff up. We keep finding excuse after excuse to shirk our personal responsibilities. Which, you know, may be an interesting consideration since it seems from the moment white folk got here they used PoC to handle their responsibilities instead-whether it is the taking of Native land or the taking of African bodies to work that Native land and to suckle and raise those white babies and to clean and build those White houses. And you don’t think PoC didn’t know what was up? Think we’re too stupid to know what racism is when it happens to us, or want sympathy from us when it happens to you? When you don’t recognize our plight and our cries but want us to march in the streets for yours? That it doesn’t count until someone white says it or finding other PoC to cosign a white person’s charge of no racism/reverse racism. Which…is really rather insulting, because, obviously, who else knows how to point recognize racism than those who live with it from the moment our parents conceive us until we die.
Then again, as long as the reverse, the “contrary to a previous or normal condition” doesn’t happen, why should anyone give a care?