Trust me, Minor Threat began racist and fascist and violent, so did 80s Hardcore like Black Flag along with some Jazz, Blues, and Rock 'n' Roll and Rap in general. I'm not for or against racism and fascism though, let's just sum it up entertainment is not really serious about politics and race.
Interpretation (based on individual perspective) is everything. People can make (or "mis"interpret) anyone else's message or words, regardless of what the original message and words actually were or are, into (support for) their message and their agenda. We probably all do it to some extent... But yeah, words and interpretations can be dangerous and destructive, or on the other hand, they can be tolerant, positive and constructive. AND OFTEN THE SAME WORDS CAN BE USED FOR BOTH DESTRUCTIVE/ NEGATIVE/ INTOLERANT purposes as well as CONSTRUCTIVE/ POSITIVE/ TOLERANT purposes, for good or ill, DEPENDING ON WHO IS DELIVERING THE MESSAGE (WORDS), WHERE, WHY, WHEN AND IN WHAT CONTEXT. THIS KIND OF COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN, PROPAGANDA, AND SELF BRAINWASHING, the REPURPOSING OF WORDS, playing word games, IS VERY TYPICAL OF BOTH RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS AND POLITICS, REGIMES AND IN THE LEGAL SYSTEM (which is, in my opinion, the most corrupted and ridiculous form of word games and mind games, that's pretty much all the law is). Both of which (religious and government institutions) are pretty much the same fucking thing, anyways. Atleast they operate very similar, and in my opinion (again, this is all my opinion, so no need for anyone to take offence, my opinion means nothing in the long run, I'm just one random guy making a comment on UA-cam. Please don't take my opinion too seriously, I sure as hell don't. This clarification is for all you religious people, all yall Jesus and Allah freaks out there aha 😆, and all those nationalist types who worship their government and believe they can do no wrong, which is just absolutely insane and ludicrous at this point in history, lol) for the same reasons: power and control. I'm NOT an anarchist, I believe in SMALL government, a democratic government made up out of the people FOR the people. The governments of the world (as well as banking, media, industry, etc.) have all been hijacked by criminals, and the government has gotten WAY TOO BIG and out of control. No one even really knows who runs things anymore, because its the mega rich and the billionares, basically private industry, private citizens and groups with way too much money and power who all have their own agendas and have literally bought out the legal system, have the politicians in their pockets, either through blackmail or $$$$$ Look at the Clintons, the cops in Arkansas called Bill Clinton and his posse of criminals the "Arkansas Mafia". They were known to be involved in drug smuggling and arms dealing, as well as shady bisuness deals. He married a crooked greedy, power hungry lesbian lawyer to help him look like a normal guy and because she is an incredibly heartless, selfish, troubled, greedy, crooked, evik woman, who knew the ins and outs of the law, all ths loops holes etc. The whole Clinton Foundation is a front for criminal enterprises. Its how other elitist criminals and politicians can buy protection and do illegal bisuness operations with the Clintons, and nobody including the law, the IRS can say anything about the billions of dollars going in and coming out of their bank accounts. Its all free donations, gifts for their charity, because, you know, The Clintons are such wonderful caring philanthropists, Ahaha 🤣 And thats a very old example. Ive just stopped watching the news and folowing politics (crime and lies), world events, etc. The media is ment to confuse you and make you paranoid, scared of everything. PEACE, LOVE AND EMPATHY
your obviously a fake account. the fucking globalist are always trying to push the narrative of angry working class white people making punk music didnt actually happen well it did
earth to dip shit race is real and it matters its a biological fact and to deny that is to deny natural law. get off your fucking highorse. punk rock is angry white working class youth wearing doc martens not whatever bullshit multiculti crap you push
zog noty = a nobody that that needs to feel proud about something he put no effort into and part of something pointless, too afraid and weak to be an individual and stand alone.
White Riot wasn't necessarily intended as anti-racist, it was a rallying cry. They were making the point that black British people were standing up for themselves against the police so white working class people should do the exact same thing against the police.
The Clash were anti-racist. They promoted themselves as such. Another punk band, Stiff little fingers had a song called "white noise" which was clearly an anti-racist song. But many couldn't get past the highly offensive language used in the lyrics. This song "Guilty of being white" comes across as being negative towards black people. I'm not surprised that some white supremacists like it. They won't like the Clash or SLF song.
@@johnstack5008 I never said The Clash weren't anti-racist, I said 'White Riot' wasn't a "racism is bad" song. It was a rallying cry to White British people to stand against the establishment, inspired by Black British people.
I hope one day that the color of a person skin will be insignificant and that everyone will be treated with the kindness and respect that they give others. Maybe one day...
sidneythekidney12 In the U.S. if you are black you already have two strikes against you. Much harder to better yourself when it isn't a level playing field.
campnfish90 The Irish were never culturally discriminated against because of their skin color- it was because they were Irish. If they kept their mouths shut (for instance) they would have pulled off being British. Many did. I'm Scots-Irish American also- and my pop was a historian, so I have a pretty good grasp on the history of the Irish in Ireland, England and the U.S.. I haven't had to endure any pitfalls because of being (actually- Irish, Scot, and Swede.). The U.S. is now a very visual place- if your skin is the right color, you aren't German or Polish or Italian- you're just "white". ;) and Black people and brown people do get pulled over and fucked with way more than white people. I'm a white, American guy- I just don't blame anyone else for what I have or haven't accomplished. Have a great day. :)
***** That actually was a racist comment- but you don't realize that. Apparently your education didn't serve you well enough that you could recognize that. I guess having lived in Hawaii most of my adult life I have avoided the pitfall of ending up a bitter person who looks at skin color every time I find something that is not palatable to me.
Mackaye is super cool. Not racist by any means..He and his band Minor Threat have gotten me through many hard, stressful times in my life including my teenage/formative years and even nowadays in my 40's.. listening their songs always helped get frustration/anger/stress out of my system. Thanks Ian and Minor Threat...you're one band I'll never forget!
He's definitely not racist. I've never heard anyone accuse him of that but I'm sure it's happened. lol Silliness. In the 90's or early 2000's or whenever this was recorded, we were a lot further behind socially than we are today. We've learned a lot since then. Ian's opinions are probably more developed and maybe more sophisticated than they were then. Fat Mike used to rail against vegetarians and then he became one. People grow and evolve and change. Look, I was a kid in the 90's but I know I was an idiot all throughout the 2000's. lol The point being I bet a conversation about racism with Ian today would be a lot more complex and interesting than it would have been back then.
One of the problems with growing up in a place where white people are the minority, or even just not an overwhelming majority, is that it's difficult to wrap your head around some of the mentalities that accompany living in overwhelmingly white places. In the context of DC, it was really like a diss rap against some kids who would blindly judge based on race. It would be obvious that it wasn't directed at "all those black people pulling the race card" or anything like that. Transpose it to a place like the Pacific Northwest (or Poland), and there's a huge segment of the listening public who will basically take it as something much more political, and mainly aimed at white progressives (because they don’t really know any black people, and perceive them as a semi-conscious monolith anyway)
ok perhaps this is hindsight but a song called guilty of being white seems like its begging to be coopted by the alt right. it sounds like a tom mcdonald song title
KurlzDaGodBeats - so that’s why many older people of all races don’t believe in mixing races. It’s pretty common to be against mixing races for any race but white and any nationality other than western. Go ask a man in India what he thinks about mixing..... race consciousness is only “bad” when whites do it. And I say that as a white man with half Hispanic children. Nothing wrong with being proud to be white and wanting white children who look like you. And if you have a problem with it you’re literally against actual diversity. Diversity doesn’t mean genetics. It means DIVERSITY. It means different kinds which INCLUDES WHITE PEOPLE. You’re right. One drop of non white blood makes you non white. But you can’t exclude whites from diversity
hell0 I’m just saying there’s different ways to be diverse without having integration forced upon people. People with different colors and cultures naturally segregate themselves anyways. I think people living in their own nation and culture brings out more diversity around the world instead of intruding someone else’s culture.
damn so much aggression and violence in the speed of that music, its hard to canalize that without fighting another human being. This kid had a big weight in his shoulders, to show those kids how they had to behave. a false move on his part and it all would go to hell. He probably had to walk like a cat all the time. He probably was a big role model to all those. till this day he has to behave. Big responsability.
he is a good influence, personally my biggest punk influence is Darby Crash if you wanna check him out. But I think for a guy like you, you'd like GG Allin. he's not as heavy as Ian MacKaye
Jacob Rodriguez I know both. Id say GG shouldnt really be a role model, but to each his own. Not really much into Darby Crash and never really really liked his music. Not really into heavy drugs either .Misfits, Ramones, Minor Threat, DK, Black Flag, TSOL are more in my line of taste
No, my grandparents weren't communist, they fled Poland and they fled Russia to escape communism and the Russian Revolution. So, no, I don't apologize my ancestors enslaving the Africans, Haitians and Jamaicans. Why? Because my ancestors didn't do a lick of enslavement. Am I sorry that WHITE PEOPLE did that to the Africans, Haitians and Jamaicans? Yes. Just like how I'm sorry the Jews were tortured and enslaved. I'm sorry that had to happen, but that doesn't mean blacks have to treat me or any
1:18 "How could I know...?" That's why we call it a learning experience. As pure as his intentions were, he could have known that it could be co-opted by white supremacists. It's not like forbidden knowledge, it's just something that needs to be learned through life experience. It's okay that he didn't know, he's not a bad person for not having known. But I hope he learned how an anti-anti-white song can be construed to attack minorities. He may have been a minority in his school and he may have had something valuable to say about that. But when he blasts it out to the world, it's going to be interpreted in different ways. In most contexts, white people are not the minority, especially when we talk about wealth and power. Of course it's going to appeal to white people who want to act like they're the real victims of "reverse racism" or "neoracism" or whatever BS term that right-wingers are using to justify their bigotry. Oh, and I hope he also learned about the power dynamics that play into racism. It's not just about the color of a person's skin. It's about how a group of people fit into society at large. Blacks were a majority in Ian's school but they were overall still an oppressed minority in America and the world. That fact can't be glossed over if you want to have a serious discussion about racism.
Racism is racism. Whoever is doing it to whoever. Sure, there is systemic racism/institutional racism what involves power over and above the individual, but when talking about just 'racism', power need not be taken into consideration.
@MyTwoSenses yes it does, lesser forms of racism intersect with other kinds of discrimination as a result of the systemic order of keeping it a status quo.
it's called "contextualize" , today no ones do it . this is one of the many problems internet poses , you reed something and you may think is contemporary but maybe is not . the reasons behind those lyrics were very contextualized and if you extrapolate any meaning out of them , out of that time and space out of that reality then maybe you make a mess and understands something different from what originally meant .nowadays we adore to judge everything by our standards and our values but we generally makes only a big mess putting everything in the same basket , every period , every moment in mankind have it's own rules and values which can be far from our contemporary sensibilities . taking somethin' out of a frame changes it radically . most people are too dumb to accept it . here lies the value of historians , they are the only ones who can help us to understand correctly all those beliefs which we feel so weird to us nowadays . in this case in particular the song is just a reaction on being bullied probably on daily basis for quiet a long time , there are no deep meanings other than trying to look over the colour of the skin to realize that we (they) are the same .as in the end it's just a "class war " not a "race war " .
Exactly. Love Minor Threat to this day but these are exactly the kinds of serious discussions about systemic racism that too many punk bands are still avoiding .
Reading the comments, it seems to me that some might be misinterpreting Ian’s lyrics and the intention he had when writing guilty of being white. These lyrics specifically stick out to me and I believe they show what Ian is attempting to convey: “I’m a convict of a racist crime, I’ve only served nineteen years of my time.” This is admitted white guilt. Ian is showing his understanding of the complexities that exist within race relations in America. He’s admitting that he recognizes what systemic racism is and he feels shame for carrying his white skin. But he also realizes that there’s nothing he can do about that - he didn’t get to choose his skin. And he recognizes this is the same experience that black people have, at least in some sense. They can’t help that they’re the descendants of slaves. And that the system has purposefully oppressed them for centuries. But he’s also saying “don’t judge me for the crimes of my ancestors in the same way I don’t judge you for the oppression of yours”. It’s simple, maybe slightly off the mark, but it’s honest. Ian was young, idealistic and maybe a little naive when he wrote a lot of these songs, but I can see his sincerity. At the very least, consider where Ian is from and his experience in DC during the late 70s and early 80s and living there potentially having an significant impact on his perspective.
Nice try , trying so hard to justify what Ian wrote . Instead of saying , yeah I’m a commie clown . Most hardcore and punk bands gave the middle finger to PC trash . I might not agree with what he says , but I’m a friend and I still like the music.
@@robertlawrence4719 you're commenting on a post I made two years ago talking about communists and pc culture using shit grammar and expecting me to know what the hell you're on about. Elaborate your point in a coherent way and maybe I'll be able to understand you.
@@afauxican_american pretty much you are trying to justify the song . When clearly most ( not all) punk and hardcore bands gave the middle finger to pc garbage . But because you like minor threat , you try to justify and twist and turn the song into some anti racist propaganda song . It is pretty sad man .
Skrewdriver set a high bar for their first couple albums. The band that started all that shit was talented it's silly to say otherwise. But the vast majority of bands that followed that path just made dumpster fires and called it music
@@Joenuts-zf4zf Yeh. I agree. It's not what I meant. I meant the thought of this song being racist didn't cross my mind until someone else pointed it out in this video, and I still don't think it is.
I'm kinda glad to hear him explain it because that song always stuck out. I know who Minor Threat were and who Ian McKaye and they were anti-Nazi to the core. So why did this song sound like Nazi bullshit? Context. That's why. Remove it from the original context and the message sounds different.
Imagine being the type of person this video was directed towards and still completely missing the point. Let me guess, you oppose the teaching of Critical Race Theory?
Ian Mackaye nos esta contando de que la cancion " guilty of being white " se trata de cuando fue un nino iendo a la escuela secundaria en Washington D.C ,estados unidos el fue de los pocos blancos que fueron atakacado por la mayoria de ninos negros en su escuela .Espero que lo explique bien a ti que dijo Ian en este video.
McKaye can try to twist it and play safe but the message of the song is clear and he can't take it back or otherwise try to spin it. It's clearly an identitarian song, end of debate. He should be honest and own up to it, it's nothing to be ashamed of.
He went to majority-black schools for middle and high school. You got a foot in both cultures by that point. He literally just meant, guilty of having white skin.
So comical how clueless normies just associate punk with nazi’ism, like metal to satanism😂 So far from it. The whole while them and their kids listens to shit like Doja cat Taylor Swift
I love him and his music, and I don't think the song was written with racist intentions or to support neo nazi punks, but-- It's important to remember that even though Mackaye felt being the minority during his years in junior high and high school made him the victim- it's actually impossible for him- a cis white male- to be victimized or systematically oppressed in the way people of color have been and continue to be in this society. Hopefully he's grown as a person.
I'm not glorifying picking on innocent white people for the past. That is wrong, and people who do it are (pointlessly) getting mad at innocent individuals (like Mackaye), when they should be getting mad at a SYSTEM, cultivated for years and years, that makes it harder for people of color to benefit from the fruits of their ancestors' labor (white people got the benefit of that up until extremely recent history ), that makes it harder to find a job if they have anything other than a "white" name, to be racially profiled and reduced to "rapists and murderers" by people running for president, and that endagers their lives in such a way that they could be senselessly mudered by the police, and have their killers walk free and society look the other way. I'm not saying they SHOULD'VE victimized Mackaye for being white, I'm saying that I found it weird he would write a song about being discriminated against when he is literally at the top, and instead of focusing on immature people who picked on him in high school, I think he should be focused on working to be educated, and educate fellow whites about the system we all live in. And working with poc to do it. Because the SYSTEM I spoke of earlier benefits him in every way, he'd get paid more in any job field in comparison to women, he never had to worried about being murdered in the street for being trans or for being gay, and he's white, which means all his life he's been benefitting from a society that caters to white people. That's the only way the world will ever change. I don't blame him for wanting to vent about something that IS wrong, but I am saying he has bigger fish to fry. But I mean it's only my opinion.
cis white male is a descriptive term created in academia to describe people better. Please, choose to be willfully ignorant because words make you feel bad
It doesn't help that THIS guy's name is Ian MAckaye and that a guy name Ian Mckaye (without the a) once played bass for the band Skrewdriver. Skins weren't a political movement. Skins were hijacked by political movements of both left and right variety.
My mom's ex was a skrewdriver fan, he was a neo-nazi asshole, I was too young to understand what I was listening to, I look back at that chapter of my life and shudder, I could have ended up like him, a hateful recidivist, fucking nazis are a part of the downfall of the punk scene, I told a guy at school I was a punk rocker and he said " isn't punk like super racist" and I was just shocked, I explained some things to him, showed him some bands and that was all the convincing he needed, nazi punks are not real punks
I doubt nazis in Poland heard minor threat and thought "that must be the guy from screwdriver" I'm sure it was just the flavor of the song that drew the crazies. I do agree though politics completely ruined the skin scene. You choices as a skin without a crew these days are hard-core neo nazis in the woods, or groups of sharps who literally will attack you if you aren't a communist. I was a trad, where the fuck does that leave me. "I'm not a nazi, I'm not a red, all I'm am is a SKINHEAD." Name the band and we can be best buds.
there's no cashing in white power. "white power" in the sense you speak of manifests itself not just as what you RECEIVE, but what you DONT RECIEVE. you don't recieve the same negative treatment based on skin color as a black person does in general. doesnt mean you're worse or better, thats just how systematic racism works.
Less screwed doesn't mean not screwed. This song had nothing to do with white privilege, by the way. It was common for some DC kids in those days to go for the super low-hanging fruit of slavery and racism, even though their working-class white classmates came from stock such as yours (and mine), and had nothing to do with either.
Just because he was in the minority in one segment of society (i.e., D.C. public school), does not mean he was inherently divested of the privileges that attached to his whiteness, especially as they related to Black in the 1970s and 80s. He was the son of a well-educated journalist who likely had far more privileges than most other kids at that school. He could leave that space and be in the majority almost anyplace else in America where he would not have to worry about the "racism" that he experienced at his school. Black kids could not. "Reverse racism" isn't a thing. Reverse discrimination might be, but racism attaches to concepts of power, domination, wealth, exclusion, and systemic violence. Whites encounter none of these in any real way from blacks or other non-whites. Just because he wants to not be judged by the color of his (white) skin does not make him an anti-racist; it makes him an opportunist who demeans the concept of racism and how it has historically been deployed against people of color. Blaming someone for slavery hardly lives up to real racism that non-whites have faced (and face today). Also, "blaming" him for slavery is not racist. He, and every other white person in America, directly benefits from the vestiges of slavery (especially poor whites). The physical domination of Blacks during slavery and the legal and economic domination of Blacks in and up through Jim Crow (even today in many ways) serves to place a bottom below poor whites and every other group that provides them with material benefits derived from the color of their skin. The kids blaming MacKaye for slavery don't mean it in a literal sense; they mean that he benefits from their subjugation as do all whites. I take MacKaye at his word when he says he's an anti-racist but I don't think this song is a very nuanced view of how racism operates or of the actual power imbalances in American society.
@@Angellisgod No one on Twitter types this long, he probably just actually has this belief and researched it himself. Shocking I know. Here is a great quote from Tim White that aptly shows why I feel this song is simply unnecessary even if what Mackaye experienced was bad. “When a group of people [such as racialized individuals] has little or no power over you institutionally, they don’t get to define the terms of your existence, they can’t limit your opportunities, and you needn’t worry much about the use of a slur to describe you and yours, since, in all likelihood, the slur is as far as it’s going to go. What are they going to do next: deny you a bank loan? Yeah, right. … White perceptions are what end up counting in a white-dominated society. If whites say [Indigenous people] are savages (be they of the “noble” or vicious type), then by God, they’ll be seen as savages. If [Indigenous people] say whites are mayonnaise-eating Amway salespeople, who the hell is going to care? If anything, whites will simply turn it into a marketing opportunity. When you have the power, you can afford to be self-deprecating, after all”
Those fascists always want to use some artists songs for their messages, campaigns rally etc whilst putting their own ideology onto the actual real meaning of a song that is very much opposed to their views. This has happened many times. The fact that Ian even had to explain this shows you how so many people are just ignorant af😅
He didn't say minority status, he just said minority. Want me to give you a link to the definition of minority? Because he was clearly the minority within his school.
seth f Well, since apparently my replies magically disappeared, I said that you somehow managed to not find the definition of the word minority, but only the ethnicity labels we use on surveys and/or other identification papers that are based off a nation-wide scale, not a school in Washington.
lol as much as i love ian's music i just gotta say don't act all surprised when a nazi feels identified with your song if all you're doing is parroting reactionary talking points.
@@xbfdx988 tbh idk how i managed to revive this fucking stale ass argument but i think we should've moved past this elementary school level understanding of racism. again, crack a book sometime
I wouldn't have known. "I'm not responsible for the actions of dead white people." You have to be obsessed with race to read this song as anything but that. A Nazi or a wokey. Both racist.
The irony is that the far left are doing exactly what this songs lyrics are about, discrimination against a group of people because of how they were born, and using a type of emotional punishment against them as if they were criminals. Maybe don't try to gatekeep a song about an individuals life experiences using a backdrop of modern politics.
I don't even understand how they could get there, except it's angry and has white in the lyrics. Eastern European Nazis in particular tend not to be the sharpest of spoons.
I feel that Guilty was a pretty ignorant and uniformed song, but that doesn't make him or them racist. Would be nice if he actually admitted that though instead of pretending it was something profound or meaningful instead of a teen whining about social issues he didn't understand
Did you grow up in DC? Cuz yah know, it's possible that he was talking about local issues that you don't understand, rather than social issues he didn't understand.
In other words, you are proud of doing nothing. You can be proud you graduated college or ran a marathon. You cant be proud of something you had no part in. You just were born like that.
seth f He's saying he is a proud/ heterosexual/ white man. He has pride, he is hetero, and he is a white man. You can have pride, you can be heterosexual, and you can be a white man you stupid fuck
I agree it's kind of irrational being proud of the way you happened to be born. Being a "proud gay black woman" makes just as little sence (But I guess we're not quite there yet as a society).
what are the lyrics of this song? because saying "im white and they are aloooot of black people around me right now" seems racist... why would he write a song about that if it doesnt bother him, what is the problem? that there are alot of black people in his school? in america? If thats not the problem then i dont know
Dhieen no he's implying he faced racist abuse and judgement simply because he was white. He wasn't bothered about being surrounded by black people, just that he was subject to racism.
People misattribute the atrocities of the past to white people today, and the song was specifically about his and henry rollins experience in school The lyrics go "Im sorry For something that I didnt do Lynched somebody But I dont know who You blame me For slavery 100 years before I was born Guilty of being white"
rational white person, for whom there ancestors came from Europe, of enslaving their people. You don't have to treat me like shit because you think my ancestors did you wrong. So, educate ya'self. P.S. Sorry, that was off-topic but I always wanted to say that.
okay but... bad take, ian. you weren't a minority. "minority" doesnt just refer to number... it refers to power. and black people dont have the majority of the power in washington goddamn dc lmao.
If you're outnumbered in racial demographics you are LITERALLY a minority. Fact. Ian Mackaye is NOT responsible or accountable for the actions of ANY OTHER PERSON outside of his own circles. Fact. If you need a university degree to learn what racism is, you're probably highly susceptible to becoming a racist. Fact. How dumb is Gwen? By today's standards? A very unremarkable 6.4 out of 10.
You could have known had you just thought about it, for a second, Ian. You get butthurt about straightedge when people bring that up, too. What were expecting to happen?
White people started racism in the first place but all of that has changed over decades and decades and decades. Now, no one does that, only some do that can be either white or black or brown or Asian or anything basically to that point, it's not the whole race that's racist it's only that individual person that is racist.
I can relate. I went to a majority black middle school & I had to fight nearly every day because I was a white minority. It sucked. Also, I lived in Japan for 12 years & dealt with racism from Japanese people, a lot. Racism is not an exclusively white thing. Nobody should judge others based on color of skin. It’s ridiculous.
Race is more than skin color. It's irreconcilable and most people don't want to be surrounded by other races and if they do they are usually insane self righteous whites or non whites who want to be around whites.
@@MrBooYa-yd5er race is nothing more than slight differences between groups of people, plus a history of exaggerating and exploiting those differences. They are COMPLETELY reconcilable
??? "No, you need a history lesson on WW2! Hitler & his nazis were not generally racists - they did not hate blacks but Jews." ??? You could some extra history lessons dude, i geuss.
I'm so glad to hear this....Ive loved minor threat since the 80's and....love the straightedge deal, as if the crowd I was hanging with would have taken a hint, they would still be around today....sadly no...from Austin, and there are a handful left out of hundreds. Anyway, to hear that Minor threat were not racist, thrills me and because when I was younger, I was too drug addled and brain soaked in alcohol, to even think that was a possibility. all these years later it occurred to me that might be the case, and my heart hoped they weren't racist. So happy to hear Ian declare his thoughts so many years later. This is honestly one of my all time favorite bands. Really love this band...always will.
@@s.a.l.1974 no the title is great it does show how ppl can be racist towards whites and that ppl get blamed cuz of the actions of thier ancestors which is the most dumbass thing ever
The first time I l saw the complete lyrics of Guilty Of Being White, it was very clear to me it was and still is an anti-racism tune. Yes Ian McKaye is right - it is so clear. I get it.
Silly, silly little dude. Trying so hard to justify it , because you like minor threat . Guess what ,most punk and hardcore bands from the 70’s and 80’s gave the middle finger to the pc clowns.
If you can hear or read all the lyrics it makes sense, even without Ian’s explanation here its clearly not racist. But I can understand how someone who’s not really paying attention or Nazis wanting a racist song would see it as white supremacist
Все мои стихи обо мне самом, но я то знаю, виноват что я белый, я писал о Вашингтоне, для большинства чёрных. Я сталкивался с этим в государственных школах, я знаю , что это антирасистская песня ведь сам я был меньшинством. В средних классах я был в числе 10% белых в школе, в старших в числе 25% белых детей в школе, я пел, я виноват лишь в том, что я белый, не судите по цвету кожи! ЭТО АНТИРАСИСТСКАЯ ПЕСНЯ, это же ясно. Ну разве я мог предвидеть, что националисты в Польше, через 15 лет послушают эту песню, и скажут, -"Молодец мужик, ты выражаешь позицию белой расы." Откуда мне было знать?......
Dude, it's not a racist song. It's anti-racist. Do you fucking people even listen to what he says in the video? No he wasn't oppressed, he just felt he was treated unfairly by black people because he was a "white-boy". Think about this for a second, sorta of topic but, not all white peoples' ancestors were oppressive slave owners. I'm white. My dad is from Ecuador and my grandparents and great grandparents were from Europe. Poland and Russia. So, how could I be accused of oppressing blacks?
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He does indeed make a really good point how words can be misinterpreted and adjusted to one own needs
There's a Minor Threat song about that, actually. It's called "Filler".
@@kallitalonpoika oh yes. He gots to get out the slayer version too.
Trust me, Minor Threat began racist and fascist and violent, so did 80s Hardcore like Black Flag along with some Jazz, Blues, and Rock 'n' Roll and Rap in general. I'm not for or against racism and fascism though, let's just sum it up entertainment is not really serious about politics and race.
I'm not saying they meant it, but Punk in the late 70s and early 80s Hardcore was not a good scene or politically correct.
Interpretation (based on individual perspective) is everything.
People can make (or "mis"interpret) anyone else's message or words, regardless of what the original message and words actually were or are, into (support for) their message and their agenda. We probably all do it to some extent...
But yeah, words and interpretations can be dangerous and destructive, or on the other hand, they can be tolerant, positive and constructive. AND OFTEN THE SAME WORDS CAN BE USED FOR BOTH DESTRUCTIVE/ NEGATIVE/ INTOLERANT purposes as well as CONSTRUCTIVE/ POSITIVE/ TOLERANT purposes, for good or ill, DEPENDING ON WHO IS DELIVERING THE MESSAGE (WORDS), WHERE, WHY, WHEN AND IN WHAT CONTEXT.
THIS KIND OF COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN, PROPAGANDA, AND SELF BRAINWASHING, the REPURPOSING OF WORDS, playing word games, IS VERY TYPICAL OF BOTH RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS AND POLITICS, REGIMES AND IN THE LEGAL SYSTEM (which is, in my opinion, the most corrupted and ridiculous form of word games and mind games, that's pretty much all the law is). Both of which (religious and government institutions) are pretty much the same fucking thing, anyways. Atleast they operate very similar, and in my opinion (again, this is all my opinion, so no need for anyone to take offence, my opinion means nothing in the long run, I'm just one random guy making a comment on UA-cam. Please don't take my opinion too seriously, I sure as hell don't. This clarification is for all you religious people, all yall Jesus and Allah freaks out there aha 😆, and all those nationalist types who worship their government and believe they can do no wrong, which is just absolutely insane and ludicrous at this point in history, lol) for the same reasons: power and control.
I'm NOT an anarchist, I believe in SMALL government, a democratic government made up out of the people FOR the people. The governments of the world (as well as banking, media, industry, etc.) have all been hijacked by criminals, and the government has gotten WAY TOO BIG and out of control. No one even really knows who runs things anymore, because its the mega rich and the billionares, basically private industry, private citizens and groups with way too much money and power who all have their own agendas and have literally bought out the legal system, have the politicians in their pockets, either through blackmail or $$$$$
Look at the Clintons, the cops in Arkansas called Bill Clinton and his posse of criminals the "Arkansas Mafia". They were known to be involved in drug smuggling and arms dealing, as well as shady bisuness deals. He married a crooked greedy, power hungry lesbian lawyer to help him look like a normal guy and because she is an incredibly heartless, selfish, troubled, greedy, crooked, evik woman, who knew the ins and outs of the law, all ths loops holes etc.
The whole Clinton Foundation is a front for criminal enterprises. Its how other elitist criminals and politicians can buy protection and do illegal bisuness operations with the Clintons, and nobody including the law, the IRS can say anything about the billions of dollars going in and coming out of their bank accounts. Its all free donations, gifts for their charity, because, you know, The Clintons are such wonderful caring philanthropists, Ahaha 🤣
And thats a very old example. Ive just stopped watching the news and folowing politics (crime and lies), world events, etc. The media is ment to confuse you and make you paranoid, scared of everything.
PEACE, LOVE AND EMPATHY
most hardcore bands are and were not racist and if they are racist thats a whole different genre in its self
wew lad
zog noty fight me pussy
your obviously a fake account. the fucking globalist are always trying to push the narrative of angry working class white people making punk music didnt actually happen well it did
earth to dip shit race is real and it matters its a biological fact and to deny that is to deny natural law. get off your fucking highorse. punk rock is angry white working class youth wearing doc martens not whatever bullshit multiculti crap you push
zog noty = a nobody that that needs to feel proud about something he put no effort into and part of something pointless, too afraid and weak to be an individual and stand alone.
Just like the song by the Clash "white riot" was misinterpreted also. It also is an anti racist song.
White Riot wasn't necessarily intended as anti-racist, it was a rallying cry. They were making the point that black British people were standing up for themselves against the police so white working class people should do the exact same thing against the police.
The Clash were anti-racist. They promoted themselves as such. Another punk band, Stiff little fingers had a song called "white noise" which was clearly an anti-racist song. But many couldn't get past the highly offensive language used in the lyrics.
This song "Guilty of being white" comes across as being negative towards black people. I'm not surprised that some white supremacists like it. They won't like the Clash or SLF song.
@@johnstack5008 I never said The Clash weren't anti-racist, I said 'White Riot' wasn't a "racism is bad" song. It was a rallying cry to White British people to stand against the establishment, inspired by Black British people.
Also NOFX's Don't Call Me White.
Reagan Youth were also an anti racist band that was really misunderstood.
I hope one day that the color of a person skin will be insignificant and that everyone will be treated with the kindness and respect that they give others. Maybe one day...
sidneythekidney12
In the U.S. if you are black you already have two strikes against you. Much harder to better yourself when it isn't a level playing field.
campnfish90
The Irish were never culturally discriminated against because of their skin color- it was because they were Irish. If they kept their mouths shut (for instance) they would have pulled off being British. Many did. I'm Scots-Irish American also- and my pop was a historian, so I have a pretty good grasp on the history of the Irish in Ireland, England and the U.S.. I haven't had to endure any pitfalls because of being (actually- Irish, Scot, and Swede.). The U.S. is now a very visual place- if your skin is the right color, you aren't German or Polish or Italian- you're just "white". ;) and Black people and brown people do get pulled over and fucked with way more than white people. I'm a white, American guy- I just don't blame anyone else for what I have or haven't accomplished. Have a great day. :)
***** That actually was a racist comment- but you don't realize that. Apparently your education didn't serve you well enough that you could recognize that. I guess having lived in Hawaii most of my adult life I have avoided the pitfall of ending up a bitter person who looks at skin color every time I find something that is not palatable to me.
I guess we still have a long way to go.
*****
You obviously aren't clear on the definition of the term "racist".
Lmao the way he mimics the accent
Ian MacKaye = righteous dude
Ian maclaye left dude
Mackaye is super cool. Not racist by any means..He and his band Minor Threat have gotten me through many hard, stressful times in my life including my teenage/formative years and even nowadays in my 40's.. listening their songs always helped get frustration/anger/stress out of my system. Thanks Ian and Minor Threat...you're one band I'll never forget!
He's definitely not racist. I've never heard anyone accuse him of that but I'm sure it's happened. lol Silliness. In the 90's or early 2000's or whenever this was recorded, we were a lot further behind socially than we are today. We've learned a lot since then. Ian's opinions are probably more developed and maybe more sophisticated than they were then. Fat Mike used to rail against vegetarians and then he became one. People grow and evolve and change. Look, I was a kid in the 90's but I know I was an idiot all throughout the 2000's. lol The point being I bet a conversation about racism with Ian today would be a lot more complex and interesting than it would have been back then.
I’m a huge minor threat fan and I’m 100 % against racism, Ian isn’t and will
never be a fascist. As he said he was only telling his childhood story.
One of the problems with growing up in a place where white people are the minority, or even just not an overwhelming majority, is that it's difficult to wrap your head around some of the mentalities that accompany living in overwhelmingly white places.
In the context of DC, it was really like a diss rap against some kids who would blindly judge based on race. It would be obvious that it wasn't directed at "all those black people pulling the race card" or anything like that.
Transpose it to a place like the Pacific Northwest (or Poland), and there's a huge segment of the listening public who will basically take it as something much more political, and mainly aimed at white progressives (because they don’t really know any black people, and perceive them as a semi-conscious monolith anyway)
Ian MacCaye loves everyone. He even loves puppies. But who doesn't love puppies?
American blacks curb stomp puppies for being white
I saw Ian kick a puppy after a bad show in 84, he hates dogs surprisingly
@@No1hyp0cr1te no way
ok perhaps this is hindsight but a song called guilty of being white seems like its begging to be coopted by the alt right. it sounds like a tom mcdonald song title
Doesn’t matter
And Tom McDonald is not alt right, just regular conservative
Guilty of being white! And I ain't even white. 🤘🤘
what’s wrong with speaking for white people? Diversity includes whites
hell0 Diversity always leads to less white people. Keep in mind, being white is more recessive than being non white.
KurlzDaGodBeats - so that’s why many older people of all races don’t believe in mixing races. It’s pretty common to be against mixing races for any race but white and any nationality other than western. Go ask a man in India what he thinks about mixing..... race consciousness is only “bad” when whites do it. And I say that as a white man with half Hispanic children. Nothing wrong with being proud to be white and wanting white children who look like you. And if you have a problem with it you’re literally against actual diversity. Diversity doesn’t mean genetics. It means DIVERSITY. It means different kinds which INCLUDES WHITE PEOPLE. You’re right. One drop of non white blood makes you non white. But you can’t exclude whites from diversity
hell0 I’m just saying there’s different ways to be diverse without having integration forced upon people. People with different colors and cultures naturally segregate themselves anyways. I think people living in their own nation and culture brings out more diversity around the world instead of intruding someone else’s culture.
damn so much aggression and violence in the speed of that music, its hard to canalize that without fighting another human being. This kid had a big weight in his shoulders, to show those kids how they had to behave. a false move on his part and it all would go to hell. He probably had to walk like a cat all the time.
He probably was a big role model to all those. till this day he has to behave. Big responsability.
he is a good influence, personally my biggest punk influence is Darby Crash if you wanna check him out. But I think for a guy like you, you'd like GG Allin. he's not as heavy as Ian MacKaye
Jacob Rodriguez I know both. Id say GG shouldnt really be a role model, but to each his own.
Not really much into Darby Crash and never really really liked his music.
Not really into heavy drugs either .Misfits, Ramones, Minor Threat, DK, Black Flag, TSOL are more in my line of taste
I don't like GG Allin. My top 3 favorites are Darby Crash from The Germs, Jello Biafra of Dead Kennedys, and Steve Albini of Big Black
@@jacobrodriguez9144 Biafra is nuts
one of the only people in punk smart enough to express the grievances of working class whites without advocating for violence or being a criminal
It’s almost more relevant now
No, my grandparents weren't communist, they fled Poland and they fled Russia to escape communism and the Russian Revolution.
So, no, I don't apologize my ancestors enslaving the Africans, Haitians and Jamaicans. Why? Because my ancestors didn't do a lick of enslavement.
Am I sorry that WHITE PEOPLE did that to the Africans, Haitians and Jamaicans? Yes. Just like how I'm sorry the Jews were tortured and enslaved. I'm sorry that had to happen, but that doesn't mean blacks have to treat me or any
1:18 "How could I know...?" That's why we call it a learning experience. As pure as his intentions were, he could have known that it could be co-opted by white supremacists. It's not like forbidden knowledge, it's just something that needs to be learned through life experience. It's okay that he didn't know, he's not a bad person for not having known. But I hope he learned how an anti-anti-white song can be construed to attack minorities. He may have been a minority in his school and he may have had something valuable to say about that. But when he blasts it out to the world, it's going to be interpreted in different ways. In most contexts, white people are not the minority, especially when we talk about wealth and power. Of course it's going to appeal to white people who want to act like they're the real victims of "reverse racism" or "neoracism" or whatever BS term that right-wingers are using to justify their bigotry.
Oh, and I hope he also learned about the power dynamics that play into racism. It's not just about the color of a person's skin. It's about how a group of people fit into society at large. Blacks were a majority in Ian's school but they were overall still an oppressed minority in America and the world. That fact can't be glossed over if you want to have a serious discussion about racism.
Racism is racism. Whoever is doing it to whoever. Sure, there is systemic racism/institutional racism what involves power over and above the individual, but when talking about just 'racism', power need not be taken into consideration.
@MyTwoSenses yes it does, lesser forms of racism intersect with other kinds of discrimination as a result of the systemic order of keeping it a status quo.
Stfu go cry somewhere else we ain’t reading that
it's called "contextualize" , today no ones do it . this is one of the many problems internet poses , you reed something and you may think is contemporary but maybe is not . the reasons behind those lyrics were very contextualized and if you extrapolate any meaning out of them , out of that time and space out of that reality then maybe you make a mess and understands something different from what originally meant .nowadays we adore to judge everything by our standards and our values but we generally makes only a big mess putting everything in the same basket , every period , every moment in mankind have it's own rules and values which can be far from our contemporary sensibilities . taking somethin' out of a frame changes it radically . most people are too dumb to accept it . here lies the value of historians , they are the only ones who can help us to understand correctly all those beliefs which we feel so weird to us nowadays . in this case in particular the song is just a reaction on being bullied probably on daily basis for quiet a long time , there are no deep meanings other than trying to look over the colour of the skin to realize that we (they) are the same .as in the end it's just a "class war " not a "race war " .
Exactly.
Love Minor Threat to this day but these are exactly the kinds of serious discussions about systemic racism that too many punk bands are still avoiding .
I'm a proud hetersexual sea anemone.
I'm a proud Apache attack helicopter
different places, different reality. sadly, people may use anything like this in wrong ways.
Reading the comments, it seems to me that some might be misinterpreting Ian’s lyrics and the intention he had when writing guilty of being white.
These lyrics specifically stick out to me and I believe they show what Ian is attempting to convey:
“I’m a convict of a racist crime, I’ve only served nineteen years of my time.”
This is admitted white guilt.
Ian is showing his understanding of the complexities that exist within race relations in America. He’s admitting that he recognizes what systemic racism is and he feels shame for carrying his white skin.
But he also realizes that there’s nothing he can do about that - he didn’t get to choose his skin. And he recognizes this is the same experience that black people have, at least in some sense. They can’t help that they’re the descendants of slaves. And that the system has purposefully oppressed them for centuries.
But he’s also saying “don’t judge me for the crimes of my ancestors in the same way I don’t judge you for the oppression of yours”.
It’s simple, maybe slightly off the mark, but it’s honest.
Ian was young, idealistic and maybe a little naive when he wrote a lot of these songs, but I can see his sincerity.
At the very least, consider where Ian is from and his experience in DC during the late 70s and early 80s and living there potentially having an significant impact on his perspective.
Nice try , trying so hard to justify what Ian wrote . Instead of saying , yeah I’m a commie clown . Most hardcore and punk bands gave the middle finger to PC trash . I might not agree with what he says , but I’m a friend and I still like the music.
@@robertlawrence4719 the fuck are you talking about?
@@afauxican_american it’s pretty clear cut what I was saying . Basic plain English .
@@robertlawrence4719 you're commenting on a post I made two years ago talking about communists and pc culture using shit grammar and expecting me to know what the hell you're on about. Elaborate your point in a coherent way and maybe I'll be able to understand you.
@@afauxican_american pretty much you are trying to justify the song . When clearly most ( not all) punk and hardcore bands gave the middle finger to pc garbage . But because you like minor threat , you try to justify and twist and turn the song into some anti racist propaganda song . It is pretty sad man .
@Yeah9Youre9awesome Yes, I have since learned that it in fact started in Jamaica.
Does he understand the word "minority" now ?
I'm really into black chicks... maybe I should move to DC.
Lol, DC is no longer a black city.
Dick Huntz why don’t you try reversing those numbers in Whte on Blk Rape.....Which never happens.
Skrewdriver set a high bar for their first couple albums. The band that started all that shit was talented it's silly to say otherwise. But the vast majority of bands that followed that path just made dumpster fires and called it music
Is it true they didn’t initially start out as political ?
I had never even thought of that song as being racist until now.
But it’s not
@@Joenuts-zf4zf Yeh. I agree. It's not what I meant. I meant the thought of this song being racist didn't cross my mind until someone else pointed it out in this video, and I still don't think it is.
@@propdouchebag Oh I see, you didn't even think about the ASSUMPTION that it is.
People who came later don’t get it.
They weren’t there.
I'm kinda glad to hear him explain it because that song always stuck out. I know who Minor Threat were and who Ian McKaye and they were anti-Nazi to the core. So why did this song sound like Nazi bullshit? Context. That's why. Remove it from the original context and the message sounds different.
His song is more relevant than ever.
Imagine being the type of person this video was directed towards and still completely missing the point.
Let me guess, you oppose the teaching of Critical Race Theory?
@@agoo7581 Haha 😂, go troll somewhere else, Critical Race Theory should be about whites getting discriminated against but it’s not.
J7JoYoPro Studios a joke
@@agoo7581 *Critical racism
nice
Minor threat just copied chaos UK? ???????
VVere you born in the Nineties ?
he say Washin' Dc?
Nenhum artista passou um dia na prisão.
Vocês não têm direito à opinião pública de nada
Oi isn't nazi. Skinhead isn't nazi. Nazi, is fucking Nazi.
@bjarczyk YES! SOMEONE WHO GET'S IT!
*NP*
*FO*
Alguien que hable español :/
Ian Mackaye nos esta contando de que la cancion " guilty of being white " se trata de cuando fue un nino iendo a la escuela secundaria en Washington D.C ,estados unidos el fue de los pocos blancos que fueron atakacado por la mayoria de ninos negros en su escuela .Espero que lo explique bien a ti que dijo Ian en este video.
McKaye can try to twist it and play safe but the message of the song is clear and he can't take it back or otherwise try to spin it. It's clearly an identitarian song, end of debate. He should be honest and own up to it, it's nothing to be ashamed of.
He went to majority-black schools for middle and high school. You got a foot in both cultures by that point. He literally just meant, guilty of having white skin.
Can someone please tell me what documentary this is from? I can't remember the name of it. It's for a school project. Thank you Punk Rockers.
it from American hardcore documentary
Thank you for the help, I'm gonna try to see if I can find the documentary online.
+Thurston “TandTInc.” Schaff I'm a bit late but I remeber watching it on Vimeo once or twice and some other site
PunkInDrublic98 Thank you. I will see if I can get it on Vimeo.
+Thurston “TandTInc.” Schaff if not its on Google play.
Your right, but it started in Ireland, because of lice, but it led to that
Poison idea😂😂😂😂
So comical how clueless normies just associate punk with nazi’ism, like metal to satanism😂
So far from it.
The whole while them and their kids listens to shit like Doja cat Taylor Swift
Racist no, heightist, yes.
Theres no such thing as ISMS
This is hilarious 🤣
no he wouldnt hed be shot and the killer could claim self defense, did ya see what i did there, this thing works both ways ya know
There are no Nazi punks. Unless you call anybody that has a different opinion a Nazi.
Your opinion of this happens to be the same exact opinion as Nazi punks. Which makes you either a dangerously naive patsy or...a Nazi punk.
definitely a naive patsy
Stodder walk by
I love him and his music, and I don't think the song was written with racist intentions or to support neo nazi punks, but-- It's important to remember that even though Mackaye felt being the minority during his years in junior high and high school made him the victim- it's actually impossible for him- a cis white male- to be victimized or systematically oppressed in the way people of color have been and continue to be in this society. Hopefully he's grown as a person.
I'm not glorifying picking on innocent white people for the past. That is wrong, and people who do it are (pointlessly) getting mad at innocent individuals (like Mackaye), when they should be getting mad at a SYSTEM, cultivated for years and years, that makes it harder for people of color to benefit from the fruits of their ancestors' labor (white people got the benefit of that up until extremely recent history ), that makes it harder to find a job if they have anything other than a "white" name, to be racially profiled and reduced to "rapists and murderers" by people running for president, and that endagers their lives in such a way that they could be senselessly mudered by the police, and have their killers walk free and society look the other way.
I'm not saying they SHOULD'VE victimized Mackaye for being white, I'm saying that I found it weird he would write a song about being discriminated against when he is literally at the top, and instead of focusing on immature people who picked on him in high school, I think he should be focused on working to be educated, and educate fellow whites about the system we all live in. And working with poc to do it. Because the SYSTEM I spoke of earlier benefits him in every way, he'd get paid more in any job field in comparison to women, he never had to worried about being murdered in the street for being trans or for being gay, and he's white, which means all his life he's been benefitting from a society that caters to white people. That's the only way the world will ever change.
I don't blame him for wanting to vent about something that IS wrong, but I am saying he has bigger fish to fry. But I mean it's only my opinion.
+Indigo Sloan go back to tumbler
"cis white male" stopped right there, its literally only sjws or uninformed people who use such a stupid term
cis white male is a descriptive term created in academia to describe people better. Please, choose to be willfully ignorant because words make you feel bad
Cis white male??? Yeah, you can fuck off too
i argee, ok?
1stworldconflictz
So what if theyre racist what do you care
Racism is cool
lolzz
That's kinda like a pedophile saying that pedophilia is cool. Get your head checked as soon as possible.
"guilty of being white" is a brilliant song for the 2020´s. ian was far ahead of his time.
You missed the point. Watch the video again.
It doesn't help that THIS guy's name is Ian MAckaye and that a guy name Ian Mckaye (without the a) once played bass for the band Skrewdriver.
Skins weren't a political movement. Skins were hijacked by political movements of both left and right variety.
My mom's ex was a skrewdriver fan, he was a neo-nazi asshole, I was too young to understand what I was listening to, I look back at that chapter of my life and shudder, I could have ended up like him, a hateful recidivist, fucking nazis are a part of the downfall of the punk scene, I told a guy at school I was a punk rocker and he said " isn't punk like super racist" and I was just shocked, I explained some things to him, showed him some bands and that was all the convincing he needed, nazi punks are not real punks
I doubt nazis in Poland heard minor threat and thought "that must be the guy from screwdriver"
I'm sure it was just the flavor of the song that drew the crazies.
I do agree though politics completely ruined the skin scene. You choices as a skin without a crew these days are hard-core neo nazis in the woods, or groups of sharps who literally will attack you if you aren't a communist. I was a trad, where the fuck does that leave me.
"I'm not a nazi, I'm not a red, all I'm am is a SKINHEAD." Name the band and we can be best buds.
The bassist of Skrewdriver was a man named Kev McKaye not Ian
You .. are.
lol awesome content
lighten up ian,smoke a spliff.
I'm white irish American, faimly came here in the 70, so for being white in America I have more power,tell me where I can go to get this
there's no cashing in white power. "white power" in the sense you speak of manifests itself not just as what you RECEIVE, but what you DONT RECIEVE. you don't recieve the same negative treatment based on skin color as a black person does in general. doesnt mean you're worse or better, thats just how systematic racism works.
Less screwed doesn't mean not screwed.
This song had nothing to do with white privilege, by the way.
It was common for some DC kids in those days to go for the super low-hanging fruit of slavery and racism, even though their working-class white classmates came from stock such as yours (and mine), and had nothing to do with either.
Just because he was in the minority in one segment of society (i.e., D.C. public school), does not mean he was inherently divested of the privileges that attached to his whiteness, especially as they related to Black in the 1970s and 80s. He was the son of a well-educated journalist who likely had far more privileges than most other kids at that school. He could leave that space and be in the majority almost anyplace else in America where he would not have to worry about the "racism" that he experienced at his school. Black kids could not.
"Reverse racism" isn't a thing. Reverse discrimination might be, but racism attaches to concepts of power, domination, wealth, exclusion, and systemic violence. Whites encounter none of these in any real way from blacks or other non-whites. Just because he wants to not be judged by the color of his (white) skin does not make him an anti-racist; it makes him an opportunist who demeans the concept of racism and how it has historically been deployed against people of color. Blaming someone for slavery hardly lives up to real racism that non-whites have faced (and face today).
Also, "blaming" him for slavery is not racist. He, and every other white person in America, directly benefits from the vestiges of slavery (especially poor whites). The physical domination of Blacks during slavery and the legal and economic domination of Blacks in and up through Jim Crow (even today in many ways) serves to place a bottom below poor whites and every other group that provides them with material benefits derived from the color of their skin. The kids blaming MacKaye for slavery don't mean it in a literal sense; they mean that he benefits from their subjugation as do all whites.
I take MacKaye at his word when he says he's an anti-racist but I don't think this song is a very nuanced view of how racism operates or of the actual power imbalances in American society.
very onesided idea of racism
u were spittin 5 years ago u still spittin
Damn I wish I knew all this 5 years ago like Kyle dide haha. That song always bugged me
@@FrogeFella most of what Kyle said was logical fallacies from twitter lol
@@Angellisgod No one on Twitter types this long, he probably just actually has this belief and researched it himself. Shocking I know. Here is a great quote from Tim White that aptly shows why I feel this song is simply unnecessary even if what Mackaye experienced was bad.
“When a group of people [such as racialized individuals] has little or no power over you institutionally, they don’t get to define the terms of your existence, they can’t limit your opportunities, and you needn’t worry much about the use of a slur to describe you and yours, since, in all likelihood, the slur is as far as it’s going to go. What are they going to do next: deny you a bank loan? Yeah, right. … White perceptions are what end up counting in a white-dominated society. If whites say [Indigenous people] are savages (be they of the “noble” or vicious type), then by God, they’ll be seen as savages. If [Indigenous people] say whites are mayonnaise-eating Amway salespeople, who the hell is going to care? If anything, whites will simply turn it into a marketing opportunity. When you have the power, you can afford to be self-deprecating, after all”
Those fascists always want to use some artists songs for their messages, campaigns rally etc whilst putting their own ideology onto the actual real meaning of a song that is very much opposed to their views. This has happened many times. The fact that Ian even had to explain this shows you how so many people are just ignorant af😅
Isn't there some Macy's y ou could be shoplifting right now?
lol your channel @@guillermoelnino
@@ftrsaliyf-zd4wk problem?
Racism is healthy.
It's a matter of personal hygiene.
sounds like blocked arsehole to me
Oi, Oi, Oi...
Jesus Christ Je.w.s not news
Poor Ian rest. In. Peace
What??? hes not dead lol
More like your brain
As much as I agree with some of his stuff, minority status has nothing to do with numbers. Take a sociology class for christs sake.
He didn't say minority status, he just said minority. Want me to give you a link to the definition of minority? Because he was clearly the minority within his school.
You mean like this? www.cdc.gov/minorityhealth/populations/REMP/definitions.html
hahahaha you're so upset.
seth f What happened to all my replies? Anyway, I'm not falling for that. Grow up.
seth f Well, since apparently my replies magically disappeared, I said that you somehow managed to not find the definition of the word minority, but only the ethnicity labels we use on surveys and/or other identification papers that are based off a nation-wide scale, not a school in Washington.
Ian really has NO understanding of structural oppression, but i still love his music so i'll let it slide.
Tf u mean
@@vladimirploppers5789 it's just an armchair bigot spinning its racist yarns.
@@vladimirploppers5789 Wow they's comment was written 12 years ago? A trendsetter in racial stupidity.
@@vladimirploppers5789 you dont either huh
lol as much as i love ian's music i just gotta say don't act all surprised when a nazi feels identified with your song if all you're doing is parroting reactionary talking points.
IT'S OKAY TO BE WHITE.
some people have fricking brains dude
@@xbfdx988 crack a book some time, it don't hurt
@@xbfdx988 i said what i said
@@xbfdx988 tbh idk how i managed to revive this fucking stale ass argument but i think we should've moved past this elementary school level understanding of racism. again, crack a book sometime
How could I know?”
It’s pretty simple really
I wouldn't have known.
"I'm not responsible for the actions of dead white people."
You have to be obsessed with race to read this song as anything but that.
A Nazi or a wokey.
Both racist.
(lol) Such a song can be easily adapted by the far right. And it doesn't help that it's such a great song too.
The irony is that the far left are doing exactly what this songs lyrics are about, discrimination against a group of people because of how they were born, and using a type of emotional punishment against them as if they were criminals. Maybe don't try to gatekeep a song about an individuals life experiences using a backdrop of modern politics.
I don't even understand how they could get there, except it's angry and has white in the lyrics.
Eastern European Nazis in particular tend not to be the sharpest of spoons.
I feel that Guilty was a pretty ignorant and uniformed song, but that doesn't make him or them racist. Would be nice if he actually admitted that though instead of pretending it was something profound or meaningful instead of a teen whining about social issues he didn't understand
Yup
how is it ignorant? how is singing about his experiences of racism whining about social issues he doesn't understand?
Is he guilty or accountable for crimes he had nothing to do with?
No.
I appear to be finished making my point.
Did you grow up in DC?
Cuz yah know, it's possible that he was talking about local issues that you don't understand, rather than social issues he didn't understand.
I'm a proud heterosexual white man!
In other words, you are proud of doing nothing. You can be proud you graduated college or ran a marathon. You cant be proud of something you had no part in. You just were born like that.
seth f
He's saying he is a proud/ heterosexual/ white man. He has pride, he is hetero, and he is a white man.
You can have pride, you can be heterosexual, and you can be a white man you stupid fuck
Uh, whatever you say.
I agree it's kind of irrational being proud of the way you happened to be born. Being a "proud gay black woman" makes just as little sence (But I guess we're not quite there yet as a society).
Great.
Humble much Ian?
ahhhhh how cute..
lol these beards everywhere
"NAzi punk" is an American only term, let's be honest....
Awful live show. Ar least as far as the actual sound. I'm sure people had fun, but not cuz it was a great performance
It's just punk rock, man. You don't gotta know how to play, you just gotta be a punk!
Fascists
(Loool 🙄😏😝)
what are the lyrics of this song? because saying "im white and they are aloooot of black people around me right now" seems racist... why would he write a song about that if it doesnt bother him, what is the problem? that there are alot of black people in his school? in america?
If thats not the problem then i dont know
Dhieen no he's implying he faced racist abuse and judgement simply because he was white. He wasn't bothered about being surrounded by black people, just that he was subject to racism.
Scott Raynor a white person facing racism abuse ? Yeah right
What do you mean yeah right? Are you saying that doesn't happen? You're an idiot.
People misattribute the atrocities of the past to white people today, and the song was specifically about his and henry rollins experience in school
The lyrics go
"Im sorry
For something that I didnt do
Lynched somebody
But I dont know who
You blame me
For slavery
100 years before I was born
Guilty of being white"
i love tool but you are an idiot.
rational white person, for whom there ancestors came from Europe, of enslaving their people.
You don't have to treat me like shit because you think my ancestors did you wrong. So, educate ya'self.
P.S. Sorry, that was off-topic but I always wanted to say that.
grow some hair.
okay but... bad take, ian. you weren't a minority. "minority" doesnt just refer to number... it refers to power. and black people dont have the majority of the power in washington goddamn dc lmao.
oh geez give it a rest
@@starchmonkey you should probably think harder about the world around you
@@xbfdx988 lmao. i bet you stand for the national anthem hahaha
@@xbfdx988 LMAO YOU DO HAHAHA
If you're outnumbered in racial demographics you are LITERALLY a minority.
Fact.
Ian Mackaye is NOT responsible or accountable for the actions of ANY OTHER PERSON outside of his own circles.
Fact.
If you need a university degree to learn what racism is, you're probably highly susceptible to becoming a racist.
Fact.
How dumb is Gwen?
By today's standards?
A very unremarkable 6.4 out of 10.
You could have known had you just thought about it, for a second, Ian. You get butthurt about straightedge when people bring that up, too. What were expecting to happen?
lol, do you think he even expected people in poland and shit to hear that song?
Dude, he was like seventeen when his little garage band wrote the song. What were the odds anybody outside of DC would even HEAR it?
He distributed it, didn't he? He knew someone would hear it. He's just being a tool. Wah wah wah, I have fans, wah, wah, wah.
Yes, I'm implying that if you distribute music there's a chance that many people will hear it. Thaat's why you distribute music. How old are you kids?
Guilty of being right
SUICIDAL PUNX
White people started racism in the first place but all of that has changed over decades and decades and decades. Now, no one does that, only some do that can be either white or black or brown or Asian or anything basically to that point, it's not the whole race that's racist it's only that individual person that is racist.
@Trevor Phillips White people started racism ??? How stupid are you ???? Dam your dumb.... smh
White people started racism? Quit playing GTA and read some books, and not neoliberal shit.
" Quit playing GTA "
what he said
You only have to look at some of the comments here to see how bigots approve of this song.
Yeah thats sad
Gee Ian, maybe it's because you've always shaved your head completely skin bald?
Still man, you've done great things, but grow some hair bro.
Minor threat sucks
uuuhhh im minowwity >o
" useful minecraft tips "
stfu
Not racist by any means STOP SHITTING ON PEOPLE FOR THERE RACE!
I just think of Comet Pizza now every time i think of these weirdos
What?
@@creamcannon825 Double what
whoa whoa 'guilty of being white'? pfft ok
lol listen to what he fucking says
I can relate. I went to a majority black middle school & I had to fight nearly every day because I was a white minority. It sucked.
Also, I lived in Japan for 12 years & dealt with racism from Japanese people, a lot.
Racism is not an exclusively white thing.
Nobody should judge others based on color of skin. It’s ridiculous.
Race is more than skin color. It's irreconcilable and most people don't want to be surrounded by other races and if they do they are usually insane self righteous whites or non whites who want to be around whites.
if only mindless SJWs understood that, when walmart and amazon are backing your "counter-culture" you know you are a useful idiot.
@@Kampfwageneer sure thing Adolf
@@tonynero7005 Ok Joseph
@@MrBooYa-yd5er race is nothing more than slight differences between groups of people, plus a history of exaggerating and exploiting those differences. They are COMPLETELY reconcilable
nice
I think that polish guy needs to pick up a history book on WW2.
Boddah I was gonna say that XD
Fred Swetnam "Everything on the internet is true" - Abraham Lincoln
I have read of those battalions, but I am quite sure they were inventions of convenience.
??? "No, you need a history lesson on WW2! Hitler & his nazis were not generally racists - they did not hate blacks but Jews." ??? You could some extra history lessons dude, i geuss.
Maybe he doesnt trust the motivations for those that write the history books.
I'm so glad to hear this....Ive loved minor threat since the 80's and....love the straightedge deal, as if the crowd I was hanging with would have taken a hint, they would still be around today....sadly no...from Austin, and there are a handful left out of hundreds. Anyway, to hear that Minor threat were not racist, thrills me and because when I was younger, I was too drug addled and brain soaked in alcohol, to even think that was a possibility. all these years later it occurred to me that might be the case, and my heart hoped they weren't racist. So happy to hear Ian declare his thoughts so many years later. This is honestly one of my all time favorite bands. Really love this band...always will.
I literally heard the song last week for the first time and read the lyrics, its anti-racist.
Oh yeah, and im black.
Yeah it just has a bad title
@@s.a.l.1974 no the title is great it does show how ppl can be racist towards whites and that ppl get blamed cuz of the actions of thier ancestors which is the most dumbass thing ever
@@darkseer100 bro did you even watch the video
@@s.a.l.1974 no it doesnt
The first time I l saw the complete lyrics of Guilty Of Being White, it was very clear to me it was and still is an anti-racism tune. Yes Ian McKaye is right - it is so clear. I get it.
Silly, silly little dude. Trying so hard to justify it , because you like minor threat . Guess what ,most punk and hardcore bands from the 70’s and 80’s gave the middle finger to the pc clowns.
@@robertlawrence4719 pc ?
@@hedgehogshadow982 politically correct, you know the phrase created by the commies idol , Trotsky.
@@robertlawrence4719 I have a lot to learn then
If you can hear or read all the lyrics it makes sense, even without Ian’s explanation here its clearly not racist. But I can understand how someone who’s not really paying attention or Nazis wanting a racist song would see it as white supremacist
Все мои стихи обо мне самом, но я то знаю, виноват что я белый, я писал о Вашингтоне, для большинства чёрных. Я сталкивался с этим в государственных школах, я знаю , что это антирасистская песня ведь сам я был меньшинством. В средних классах я был в числе 10% белых в школе, в старших в числе 25% белых детей в школе, я пел, я виноват лишь в том, что я белый, не судите по цвету кожи! ЭТО АНТИРАСИСТСКАЯ ПЕСНЯ, это же ясно. Ну разве я мог предвидеть, что националисты в Польше, через 15 лет послушают эту песню, и скажут, -"Молодец мужик, ты выражаешь позицию белой расы." Откуда мне было знать?......
Eskobarbi nigga what
Dude, it's not a racist song. It's anti-racist. Do you fucking people even listen to what he says in the video? No he wasn't oppressed, he just felt he was treated unfairly by black people because he was a "white-boy".
Think about this for a second, sorta of topic but, not all white peoples' ancestors were oppressive slave owners. I'm white. My dad is from Ecuador and my grandparents and great grandparents were from Europe. Poland and Russia. So, how could I be accused of oppressing blacks?
The vast majority weren't. Less than 1% were.
i hope none of these comments are directed towards me hahaha
Fuck you,
.
.
No I'm just joking
I grew up in texas at the time this song was out and I can say the whites were the minority no doubt