RACISM PRECEDES RACE: Dylann Roof Provides An Example

 “Scott Roof, who identified himself as the suspect’s cousin, told The Intercept that “Dylann was normal until he started listening to that white power music stuff.”

He claims that “he kind of went over the edge when a girl he liked starting dating a black guy two years back.” He added, “Dylann liked her … The black guy got her”

from WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE CHARLESTON GUNMAN, 

NY MAG JUNE 2016 

This quote is not precisely an example of racism preceding race. But it's pretty close.

Establishing that racism precedes the social construction of  race, racial categories, is important because there is a huge, predominantly white, crowd of people that are always searching for a way to say that "race" isn't real so just ignore racism and both will go away.

One of the ways this race-isn't-real group makes its position sound morally superior is by saying
 

ONCE UPON A TIME 

THERE WAS ONLY THE HUMAN RACE. 

WE WERE ALL ONE 

BEFORE RACE, CLASS, AND MONEY
DIVIDED US. 

First of all, I'd like to know what pink colored sky, 100s of rainbows with pots gold at the end for everybody to share type world, this EVER happened in. You can't even get to it via time machine. But racism didn't come into the world after race. Racism came into the world first and then race, racial categories came afterward.

Ta-Nehisi Coates gets credit for putting it succinctly:  "Racism Precedes Race" But, Howard Zinn wrote a pretty good paragraph or ten in "People's History Of The United States" on how this deliberately done in the United States by Rich Europeans to keep people divided and categorized so as to secure wealth.

But I can demonstrate it racism precedes race, just using this quote. And if you know how very badly one group always wants to feel better than another, they you'll understand how rich white people got the poor white people to go along with believing in and executing race categories in the first place.  

The quote again:

 “Scott Roof, who identified himself as the suspect’s cousin, told The Intercept that “Dylann was normal until he started listening to that white power music stuff.”

He claims that “he kind of went over the edge when a girl he liked starting dating a black guy two years back.” He added, “Dylann liked her … The black guy got her”

RACISM PRECEDES RACE EXAMPLE A:

Step 1 of Creating Racism in Self

What you are greedy for is observed - a girl

Step 2  Creating Racism in Self

The reason you can't have it is some observed difference. he's a different color

Step 3 Creating Race

The observed difference, the different skin color,  means he IS OTHER. And his being other is what makes him evil and inferior (an idea that was fostered by the music)

CONCLUSION  Race is created as justification for resentment as it takes the eyes off ones own inferiority and/or the girl's choice.


* * * * *
RACISM PRECEDES RACE EXAMPLE B:

I can see this happening the very first time a white man sees another race. Let use a Native American as an example:

1)  You see what you are greedy for

Free land and free resources

2) The reason you can't have it is a person in your way with an observed difference

men and women of different a skin color, face shape, hair color, hair texture, culture - they are different and even too stupid to even understand what they have

3) The observed difference is willfully made inferior and/or evil

   They are other, a different race, maybe a different and inferior species. People in this inferior category don't deserve to have this land/resource when I don't have land.

Race has been created as justification for stealing land

Do you see? The reason (greed) for the hatred (ethnoracism) came first. The hated object was only given a category that othered-him/her afterward (race)
Gee, I guess racism STILL requires soul searching and taking action based on what you find.