Does every group think they’re the best?
I’ve meant to start compiling this list for a while. People often equate racism with white supremacy. Even if they say they aren’t the same, many people consider all white people as privileged, whether they want to be or not, and all people of color as being oppressed, at least to some degree. They consider that white people may face challenges, but not because of their skin color, whereas people with skin that isn’t white face headwinds and start behind the starting line.
My book explores how these beliefs and the practices that prompted them, as well as the conditions that prompted the practices in more depth. In particular, I explore beyond what historians and anthropologists who just look at the past few centuries or even millennia, so I won’t go into it here, but I wanted to share some factors.
In particular, if there is no scientific basis for race, to attribute traits to some people based on differences that we know can’t account for those differences will lead us astray. People with the views in the first paragraph above have difficulty distinguishing racism from white supremacy. They may say the two things differ, but in practice, many treat all white people as racist, or nearly so, and all others as victims of racism, which amounts to white supremacy. They might allow that whites that try to fight racism aren’t as bad, but they still say they benefit from the system so are still complicit. They call them allies, implying white people can’t be original sources of opposition to racism.
By contrast, many groups outside mainstream culture call themselves the best, or something similar in some way. I’ve meant to compile examples. I keep waiting to start since I want enough examples, but I find one or two here or there, then by the time I find another, I forgot the first. I’m just going to start the list and hope people who see it soon don’t mind the small number of examples. I’ll keep updating it. If you know examples I could add, please let me know.
The Iroquois called themselves Ongwe Hongwe, meaning “the men surpassing all others.”
The Kogi are the “Elder Brothers”, the outside civilization is the “Younger Brothers” who were sent away from The Heart of the World long ago.
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