What the hell is 'reverse racism'?

So it's spring break this week and i'm in Athens. That combination is not the most popular, but that's why they call me ham. Anyways, with my work-week not starting until thursday, i've had plenty of time to waste. For instance, I tried to coordinate a simulcast showing of "lost" with one of my 'mediocre' friends who's on the other side of the world. It didn't work out, not because of the difference in location but rather because my local video rental store didn't have any copies of the popular tv show. So instead, I watched whatever was on tv.

One such program is the new FX 'reality' show (it's just like real life, without the cameras!) called "black.white". The premise of this show is to find out if people are treated any differently based on the color of their skin. To do this, they got two middle-class families of the opposite race (is there even such a thing?) and made them over to look like they were of another race (the white family was made black and vice versa). So the first episode aired last week, with five more to go. I thought it was a pretty interesting concept, but I kind of figured that there'd be plenty of predictable moments. The most predictable of which being the whole "us black folk can't be racist, for we don't have the power to impose our racist ways" spiel you always hear from one of them overly african types (you know who im talking about, them types!).


Anyways, the black family is from Atlanta, and the father is a light-skinned black guy who resents everybody because he was mistreated by both races when he was a young chap. He apparently was too black for the whites and too white for the blacks (he looks mixed, and has green eyes). Needless to say, there's alot of pent up anger inside this guy. Then comes the white family, whose father is this "why can't we all get along" deuchebags that is a bit too naive for his age. He apparently doesn't feel as if there is any racial strifes in America, and that the root cause of it being a misunderstanding between the two races. This guy is kind of funny, because he seems to love saying the word "nigger" any opportunity he gets. His main argument is that the word is only effective if the person who is on the receiving end of it reacts to it. So basically, his solution is to brush it off, that way people wouldn't use it anymore. It seems as though these two will be the focal point of the remaining five episodes.

The other family members are a little better, especially the two kids. On one hand, you have the quiet son who is made to look white, and on the other, you have the young girl who looks much better black than white (this is not a racial comment; she just looks better with the darker skin tone). But the most predictable aspect of this show (which is the crust of my whole post, really) is this whole notion that black people can't be racist. Even worse than that, is the tendency for people to label a racist act by a non-white (ie black) as "reverse racism". This is as stupid as having a "hate crime" factor to punishing criminals. If somebody does something, it should be labeled the same across the board and should be treated with the same disdain or the same admiration as any other such act. I mean, there are many things about life that aren't fair, and the number of white racists is likely higher than the number of black racists (mainly because there are more white people in america). But the labeling of acts is something that people can easily control, and there's no reason to prefix something just because of the person doing the act.

But then again, they do the same thing with murder. If it's any john doe who gets killed, it's just a murder. But if someone important dies, even if they die the same way, it's all of a sudden an assissination. go figure!