CORRESPONDENCErnLetter From NewrnYork Cityrnby Nicholas StixrnLegalized RacismrnWap! Someone just punched me, goingrndown the subway stairs from the elevated.rnBehind me, I hear girlish, teenagedrnlaughter. No aeeident here. I turn to myrnassailant, a 12- or 13-year-old blaek girlrnand tell her she’d better keep her handsrnto herself. “You better keep on walkin’, 1rndon’t talk to no white people,” shernreplies.rnI want to slap some sense into her,rnbut this is the South Bronx, and I’m thernonly “white” face for miles. Hitting backrnwould be suicide, and she knows it. Shernneeds only to start screaming and pointingrnat me, and thugs, er activists, willrncome out of the woodwork to beat me torna pulp, maybe even to death.rnYou may ask what on earth I, a whiternman, am doing in the South Bronx?rnThree years ago, when 16-year-old YusufrnHawkins was murdered in Bensonhurst,rnBrooklyn, white “liberals” emphasizedrnthat young Hawkins had a right to gornanywhere he wanted; he didn’t need arnreason. No such rights apply to a whiternman in the South Bronx in broad daylight.rnNo liberal organizations will takernup my cause. Not over a punch, notrnover a killing.rnThe ravings of a frustrated racist? Arnperhaps true but exceptional case? Believerneither at your own peril. Despite arnvirtual news whiteout against publishingrnstories of black racial attacks, harassment,rnand discrimination against whites,rnthe stories are increasingly leaking out.rnA hypocritical practice shared by mediarnand “civil rights” organizationsrnmeans they rightly scream bloody murderrnwhen blacks are victimized by racistrnwhites, but maintain silence or engage inrnshameless apologetics when blacks attackrnwhites. Sometimes these apologistsrnconjure up a casuistry that would make arnJesuit blush, showing how, in reality, itrnwas the bruised, bloody white who assaultedrnthe poor blacks.rnIn New York, the city’s Human RightsrnCommission (HRC) supposedly existsrnto protect all citizens against discrimination.rnWhere blacks are the accusedrnmalefactors, the rules just don’t apply. Arnwhite man claiming racial harassmentrnon his job as a senior public administratorrnfiled a human rights grievance overrnfive years ago. The HRC never investigatedrnthe charges, despite an agency policyrn(and claimed track record) of investigatingrnall charges within three years.rnThe man, since retired, recently initiatedrna lawsuit. Is it a mere coincidence thatrnthe HRC just agreed to investigate hisrncase?rnIn a related case, several white formerrnexecutives of New York State’s Off-TrackrnBetting Corporation have initiated arnmultimillion-dollar civil suit againstrntheir past employer. The former executivesrncharge that 0TB fired them merelyrnfor being white. During cross-examinationrnlast spring, a high-ranking currentrnOTB officer acknowledged that thernplaintiffs were white and, hence, “had torngo.” In the next breath, the officer deniedrnthat this constituted racism.rnIn eariy 1991, I was attacked on thernsubway during rush hour by a gang ofrnfour young blacks. A transit detective acknowledgedrnthat the attack was obviouslyrnracially motivated, a “bias crime” asrnfar as New York’s laws are concerned,rnbut “there are some things you can’t say”rndue to the political climate. The detectivernalso reported that such racially motivatedrnattacks by blacks against whitesrnoccur every single day in New York City.rnThe routine harassment and humiliationrnof whites in the workplace and thernphysical attacks on them on public conveyancesrnare pieces of the same shatteredrnmosaic. The political climate therndetective spoke of was produced by an alliancernof groups—white “liberals,” blackrnnationalists, and the media—and toleratedrnor granted victory through defaultrn(leaving town or boycotting public conveyances)rnby their supposed opponents.rnThe aforementioned alliance has succeededrnin making any mention of blackrnracism a virtual taboo and in grossly exaggeratingrnurban white racism. Thus,rnevery ugly racial incident instigated bvrnurban whites against blacks is emblazonedrnon the front page of every bigcityrnnewspaper. The mere claim by arnblack, without benefit of evidence, thatrnhe was discriminated against gets saturationrncoverage. On the other hand, storiesrnabout black crimes are constantlyrndistorted, by printing that they werernmerely “assaults” or “robberies” whilernomitting that the victims were pickedrnout for being white.rnAs a result of the toleration and encouragementrnof this racism, the attacks,rnthe harassment, the prejudice have becomernbrasher. In more and more of NewrnYork’s public sector and (publicly financed)rnnonprofit agencies, blaek workersrnmay utter racial slurs and degradernand even assault white workers with impunity.rnThe point is to run whites out ofrnthe work place.rnThe crux of a racist system is that, regardlessrnof the feelings of the majority ofrn(blaek) office colleagues, one alone or arnsmall group may harass or assault someonernmerely because of his pigmentation.rnThe majority of black workers may despisernthe few who discriminate, but theyrntolerate the bigots all the same.rnThe silent majority of black workersrndo nothing against black racism, duernto the aggressive nature of the hatemongersrnand the latter’s insistence thatrnopposition would amount to treasonrnagainst the race—and be dealt with accordingly.rnPerhaps more importantly,rnthe legitimacy enjoyed by black nationalismrnis due largely to white support. Thernagencies in which I saw the brashest,rnmost aggressive blaek racism were runrnby whites. For the white working in suchrna setting, the white boss or colleaguernmay at times be one’s worst enemy. Certainrnwhites, from the entry-level positionsrnto the program director’s office,rneven seek favor with their blaek colleagues,rnbosses, and subordinates by settingrnup white employees for abuse. Therndevious ones thus protect themselvesrnagainst landing on the whitelist.rnCurrent journalistic etiquette requiresrnthat I balance ever)’ example of blackrnracism with ten of white malefactors.rnThis unwritten rule is utterly at oddsrnwith my experience. I seem to be in toornlow a tax bracket to afford the sort ofrnblinders that “liberals” wear. Then, too,rnunlike those whites who check underrntheir beds every night for racists, I amrnused to actually living and working withrnblack people, not idealized, abstract victims.rnThe onl’ people whose opinions matterrnto me at the moment are the manyrnOCTOBER 1993/41rnrnrn