“Tensions boiled the day an ex-neo Nazi came to share his experience with my 11th grade class. The students sat, riveted by the man’s booming voice, as he told stories of his life as a white supremacist. Long sleeves covered his swastikas and other racist tattoos.
Growing up in the San Bernardino area, he spent his days drinking beer, listening to racist punk music and beating up non-whites, or anyone who challenged him and his skinhead friends. They used to go to junior high schools and recruit the kids who were socially on the fringe and get them to start racist fights. While a U.S. Marine, he recruited other marines for the white power movement and also got them to pick race-related fights. He then turned to the class and told us we were capable of doing the exact same things he did.
Students sat baffled, not quite sure how to react. One Jewish girl cried, and her friends comforted her. My teacher was angry—she said she could never forgive this guy. Other students were shocked that someone could do such evil things. Some felt superior—they would never do anything like what he had done, they said.
I felt angry too—not at the speaker, but at the other students. How could they be so close-minded? I felt we were not that different from our speaker. We are all human. Every one of us is capable, to some extent, of doing what he did.
Can minorities be racist?
In school, we had spent a couple of months studying how minority people have suffered in our society. I was taught that whites perpetrate racism and non-whites are victims of it. One of my teachers said he believes minorities can’t be racist because they are a part of a system which oppresses them. In other words, these black, Latino and Asian peoples don’t have the power to discriminate against others because they are discriminated against.
I do not agree. I believe everyone is or can be racist. Being racist is not the problem of a select few. As ground-breaking psychologist Carl Jung said, “Every Jew has a Nazi inside of him.”
When I told my grandmother I was writing an article about this Jung quote, she was offended. How could I even think that a Jew could be as evil as the Nazis were? She thought others would take offense, as she had. I listened closely and then said that young German men were forced to join Hitler’s movement or they too faced severe consequences.
This, though, isn’t the point Jung was trying to make. He was in no way justifying the Nazis. He was saying that just as good and evil exist in the world, good and evil exist in each of us. The Nazi represents extreme evil. This potential for evil is part of the human dark side. As I explained this, she listened and thought it was an interesting idea, but she warned me that I needed to make myself really clear so others wouldn’t get the wrong idea.
Race is a taboo subject
You might think I’m racist and I feel I should explain. When I signed up for the “Focus on Unity through Diversity” project, I wasn’t going to write yet another piece saying, “let’s feel good about ourselves, hold hands and live in peace.” See, race is this taboo subject in society. When discussion about race arises, there is this pressure to use the right terms, say the right things so you don’t look like a racist. This attitude gets us nowhere. We need to confront the real issue head on without the sugar coating. We all have racist thoughts that we’re afraid to admit.
Have you ever felt hate towards someone or something? What about jealousy? If you honestly say you’ve never felt hate, envy, jealousy, fear or even discrimination, I’d tell you you’re a liar.
I have felt strange about someone because of their race. I’m not proud of this but I have. This doesn’t make me a neo-Nazi or skinhead. Rather, the fact that I recognize my own judgmental thoughts is what keeps me from being racist.
I came in contact with my dark side not long ago. It was during the rains that hit earlier this year, one of the worst days of rain I’ve ever experienced. My car mysteriously stalled in the middle of an intersection. Terrified and feeling very responsible since I had a friend in the car with me, I called another friend to come pick us up. As I was on the phone, my car suddenly started moving. A figure emerged from the rain and knocked on my window. I jumped and said to my friend on the phone, “There is some Mexican trying to move my car!”
As soon as I said it, I felt awful. Here I was in the pouring rain, and this nice man who lived across the street wanted to help. I wasn’t killing Jews, or recruiting little kids to be racists—what I said is minor in comparison—yet it revealed certain thoughts and assumptions I never thought I would have. Why had I called him a Mexican instead of some man? I felt terrible, but it made me more aware of myself and my thoughts, making me better able to control what I say.
That’s the key: self-awareness. No one can tell you what to think. I can’t control your thoughts, just as I couldn’t control the thoughts of the ex-neo Nazi who visited my class. He decided on his own to leave the white power movement, and you also have to make the decision to change.
The only way to fight racism is to find the racist within.”