The Origins Of Racism

Welcome to the Hamitic Myth.

I went to Tulsa this past weekend and went to Greenwood (site of the Tulsa Race Riots) and the Greenwood Rising museum, which covers race and black entrepreneurship in Tulsa, and has this quote on the side of the building:

That was cool. Applies to addiction too, as a side note.

While in the museum, which I am sure a lot of MAGA types would say “is designed to make you feel bad about being white,” I did think a lot about racism and race relations and whatnot. I didn’t “think” about it in the “I will do better” or “I shall examine my own biases” set, because most of that stuff and those sayings seem pretty performative. Instead, I was thinking a bit about the roots of racism.

At this point, I think a lot of people who remain staunchly or subtly racist are doing so because:

1. That’s how their family is, so it’s what they know.

2. They want to belong to a tribe of sorts, and racism feels like an easy way in.

3. A minority did something bad to them, i.e. robbed them on the street.

I don’t think people just wake up racist one day, although I’m sure that also does happen and I’m just not aware of it.

So, standing in the museum in Tulsa, I went back to this idea of “The Hamitic Myth.”