<
https://theconversation.com/what-is-reverse-racism-and-whats-wrong-with-the-term-208009>
"“Reverse racism” is sometimes used to describe situations where white people
believe they are negatively stereotyped or discriminated against because of
their whiteness – or treated less favourably than people of colour.
“Reverse racism” claims have surfaced in the current debate around the Voice to
Parliament referendum. “The concept looks racist to me,” wrote
Sky News
commentator Kel Richards last August.
Such views misrepresent the Voice as preferential treatment of First Nations
peoples, falsely suggesting it would somehow weaken the political say of
non-Indigenous Australians.
Complaints of reverse racism can be found in the community more generally, too.
“I think average, working-class, white Australian males have it the hardest out
of anyone in society,” said one 23-year-old man in a 2023 study of Australian
men, “we are the victims of reverse racism”.
“Reverse racism” is an idea that focuses on prejudiced attitudes towards a
certain (racialised) group, or unequal personal treatment – namely,
discrimination. But it ignores one of racism’s central markers: power.
“Prejudice plus (institutional) power” is the widely accepted basic definition
of racism. Or, as two researchers defined it in 1988: “Racism equals power plus
prejudice.”
In a famous 2013 sketch, comedian Ahmer Rahman said, yes, reverse racism is
possible … if you go back in a time machine and convince the leaders of Africa,
Asia and the Middle East to invade and dominate Europe hundreds of years ago,
leading to systemic inequality across every facet of social and economic life,
“so all their descendants would want to migrate [to] where black and brown
people come from”.
Put simply, the concept of “reverse racism” – or “anti-white racism” – just
doesn’t work, because racism is more than just prejudice."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
