Why isn't there a NAAWP?

The title refers to a complaint I heard recently, and a thought I used to have long ago - why is it acceptable to have a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), but not a National Association for the Advancement of White People (NAAWP)?  Why is there a Black History Month and not a White History Month?

To many, this doesn't seem racist.  After all, the fight against racism is a fight FOR equality, and what's more equal than having separate-but-equal organizations? 

If we were a truly post-racial society, perhaps that would be true - but in a truly post-racial society, the organizations wouldn't be separate.  We wouldn't see the NAACP as an entity that specifically serves the needs of other.  "Colored People," in our definition, would include "extremely-light tan" and "pale."

And that distinction between self and other is part of where this argument hinges.  Note that no one ever proposes that all races have their own chapters of the NAACP, or similar organizations, but rather that there are two: NAAWP/NAACP.  It's a distinction between "White" and "Colored." 

But, it's also more than that - the only reason for a NAAWP is the perception that people of other races are somehow benefited by the NAACP in a way that the self-race is not.  It's a perception of a loss of power in comparison to other that must be regulated through the use of an imposed power organization benefiting self.  It is, essentially, the perception of war.

That's the heart of the argument - the belief that the other is waging war against the self, and is doing so through establishing special history months, etc. 

It fails to recognize that we are not in a post-racial society (which you can read about in my last post).  It fails to realize that every other organization is an NAAWP, that the basic power structures of our society are still built to support White Men to the detriment of women and minorities.  It fails to recognize that the other 337 days of the year are White History Month, and the other 334 days of the year are Men's History Month. 

It fails to recognize these things because it is entirely self-perceptive - that is, people who fall into this trap are only able to see their own experiences, and not the experiences of others. 

Imagine that you could measure power.  When white men held slaves, the power ratio was something like 99.99/0.01 - that is, a white man might occasionally have to fear a slave revolt or runaways, but the chances of such a thing were so small and the punishments for slaves so great that this was realistically unlikely.  Runaway slaves surviving to freedom were the exception, rather than the rule.  When slavery ended, the power shifted slightly, to perhaps 99/1 - truly significant to the former slaves, but relatively minor to the former slave-holders (after all, they were still able to hire former slaves at effectively slave-wages).  By the 1960s, the power had shifted to perhaps 90/10, and when segregation ended, the power shifted to maybe 75/25. 

Since 1970, we can measure that ratio in terms of income.  Doing so reveals that the power ratio today is 57/43 for men and 47/53 for women (black women actually make more than white women).  The power ratio of white men to white women is 55/45 (and white men to black women is 52/48).  That's assuming the statistics are correct - In 2010, just 5 years ago, the ratio for white men to black women was 59/41, and had been for many years.  At any rate, equality would be 50/50 for each group. 

Now, imagine you can't see that second number.  As a white man, you see your power dropping: 99.99, 99, 90, 75, 57....  your power is slipping through your fingers, and that means that other groups are stealing it away. 

It's the cause of so many in this country feeling like they're under attack - and why Fox 'News' uses attack descriptions in their demagoguery. 

That's not to justify these feelings, but rather to point out how they're based in an inability to perceive and empathize with others.  If we would like to reach people who feel this way, we need to understand why they do. 

Maybe the NAAWP needs to be an organization that advances the White Race by teaching people who feel this way to empathize with other races, to support changing those ratios to 50/50, to show how such a change strengthens everyone of all races, white included.