@arcanephoenix
Wow, no, if that's what you took from what I said then I fear I did not adequately communicate what I was trying to say. For that I apologize. For a broader context, I recommend looking into Critical Race Theory. If you're not familiar with it, it will likely rub you the wrong way at first but it does offer ideas worth consideration. One of the key points from what I've gathered is that race relations, even in terms of civil rights, are still primarily defined by white narratives and that this does not serve minority interests in the long run.
I think all people from every background can and should live together and that such is ultimately beneficial to the greater society. I also think, however, that for this to be possible it is necessary for minority groups to receive special considerations in light of the fact that they exist in societies where their ethnic identities are constantly encroached upon by a dominant identity. It's easy, as white people, to forget that we live in a society defined by our values, ethnic preferences, and narratives. White people do not need to assert our identities and narratives because our identities and narratives already define everything around us. Coexistence requires that we assert ourselves less to make way for others. For minorities, on the other hand, it is different -- if they assert their identities less, the result isn't that "everyone gets along", but rather that white preferences dominate by default. "Color blind", for all intents and purposes, means "everyone is white." If other races want to be "white", that's fine... but, so often, that seems to be a preference pushed on them by white people rather than what they have chosen for themselves. To state that such is how it should be is to imply that white values and preferences are somehow inherently better.
Back to this post, though. The OP wasn't saying, "We need to separate because we're better than white folks," but rather, "We are being destroyed [in her opinion] by a white dominated society and we need to separate in order to survive." There's a huge difference there. Do I want to see that happen? Absolutely not. And that's my bigger point -- we need to listen and address these types of concerns so that minority groups don't feel this way instead of make false equivalences that miss the greater dynamics at play in situations such as this.
EDIT: And yes, other races are certainly capable of being "racist." The question, however, is how we define "racism" in the first place. On the one hand, we have the dictionary definition of racism: "the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races." Critical Race Theory challenges that -- English dictionaries, after all, have traditionally been written by white people and thus arguably advance a white narrative beneficial to white people. Looked at in this light, racism isn't so much about preference for one's own race so much as advancing narratives that favor the dominant race. It's all about power dynamics and how those dynamics define the greater society around us. In this context, the dictionary definition itself could be considered racist, in a sense -- after all, it certainly precludes any necessary introspection on behalf of white people regarding how the narratives we embrace secretly empower ourselves while marginalizing others! I digress, however. In this sense, a black racist in America would be an individual who promotes white narratives. That sounds silly at first, and I actually rejected the notion for the longest time, but on further reflection it makes more and more sense. Uncle Tom was a racist -- when you call someone an "Uncle Tom", you are pointing out that the individual in question favors white-dominated narratives rather than narratives that reflect his or her own experiences and interests. The point, however, is this: who are we, as white people, to define the nature of the problem when it has been our attitudes and behaviors which have been the cause of the problem in the first place?
I'm not saying this is all "correct", mind you, or that you have to agree. I'm simply offering it as food for thought in the context of the broader conversation.
