On Folkish racism ... (a follow up to the previous post)
Well, if you made it through the long article I just posted, you'll see what I'm referring to in this post. I've encountered a few Folkish racists in my short time of being an Asatruar.
I've had people tell me to go worship my "peoples Gods" under the assumption that I must find African Gods of old to fall in line with if I was not going to follow the Christian path. This is an assumption that just rankled me to no end. Just because I am black, there is no reason to assume I am of African descent. I have several ethnicities in my ethnic background not merely African.
What bothered me more is that some random person, far away from where I am made an assumption about me based solely on my race. Now, without knowing what I look like or what my genealogical background is, this person made the leap of logic that black = African ancestry.
Not 100% true in my case, but thats not the whole point I wanted to make. The point I'm meandering towards is that those who are Folkish and use it as an excuse for their racism are no better than those extremist Christians, Muslims, etc who mistreat all who who do not follow their chosen religions tenets.
There are those I know who are of a Folkish bent who don't take the stance of you have no European ancestry so gtfo! I actually do have European ancestry but thats not the point. The point is that if you were to see me on the street, you'd likely have no idea I have any kind of ethnic background other than African. So anyone who would see me would assume that I'm likely a baptist or Christian of some stripe since most people assume black Americans are xtian.
But if I were to tell someone I am not xtian but Heathen they'd probably flip out or think I was some Satan worshipping wiccan. Or not, who knows? But the long and short of it is there will always be extremist assholes in any religion and those who are of a Folkish bent but are racist as all hell will always ruin it for those of us who have some kind of common sense and can welcome people into the Heathen tradition w/o judgement based on skin color and presumed ancestry.
Hmm, seems like I've lost my point actually now that I stop for a breather. I'll let this post sit for a while and come back later... hopefully I can be more cohesive then.
I've had people tell me to go worship my "peoples Gods" under the assumption that I must find African Gods of old to fall in line with if I was not going to follow the Christian path. This is an assumption that just rankled me to no end. Just because I am black, there is no reason to assume I am of African descent. I have several ethnicities in my ethnic background not merely African.
What bothered me more is that some random person, far away from where I am made an assumption about me based solely on my race. Now, without knowing what I look like or what my genealogical background is, this person made the leap of logic that black = African ancestry.
Not 100% true in my case, but thats not the whole point I wanted to make. The point I'm meandering towards is that those who are Folkish and use it as an excuse for their racism are no better than those extremist Christians, Muslims, etc who mistreat all who who do not follow their chosen religions tenets.
There are those I know who are of a Folkish bent who don't take the stance of you have no European ancestry so gtfo! I actually do have European ancestry but thats not the point. The point is that if you were to see me on the street, you'd likely have no idea I have any kind of ethnic background other than African. So anyone who would see me would assume that I'm likely a baptist or Christian of some stripe since most people assume black Americans are xtian.
But if I were to tell someone I am not xtian but Heathen they'd probably flip out or think I was some Satan worshipping wiccan. Or not, who knows? But the long and short of it is there will always be extremist assholes in any religion and those who are of a Folkish bent but are racist as all hell will always ruin it for those of us who have some kind of common sense and can welcome people into the Heathen tradition w/o judgement based on skin color and presumed ancestry.
Hmm, seems like I've lost my point actually now that I stop for a breather. I'll let this post sit for a while and come back later... hopefully I can be more cohesive then.
posted by CypherOfTyr at 1:22 PM
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