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 RUclips. 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.
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 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 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
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
??? "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.
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)
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
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
@@Johnnysmithy24In today’s political climate, you might as well be both if you’re even remotely right of center right. Whether or not they’re trolling, grifting, or genuinely believe what they say, conservatives and alt righters are scum that impede progress and fairness for everyone.
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?......
I Love all punks, skins, hippies, rockers, and mods. I Love Whites and people of color. I am not Right Wing and racist, but people are people, and tolerance is always better than race violence in the PUNK community in general. PUNK is always going to have Left Wing bands and some Right Wing ones. There's always going to be gangs and authority figures of aggressive punks who are for or against racism and very politically charged by Right and Left politics.
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 .
Racism is Racism no matter what you are! People often judge someone for their ethnic background more than getting to know the person behind the flesh. This song makes so much sense considering anyone who is White, Caucasian, or European descent are often labeled as of their predecessor's, Slavers, bigots, segregators and so forth. Personally alot of us come of long ways from that. we are all better than our ancestors.
Literally, no one does that. What they are probably telling you is that you have a blind spot in terms of how systematic racism has affected and still affects the world today. White people have a degree of privilege that other races don't have and we need to be aware of this, because it defines the world today. It doesn't mean you are responsible for what your ancestors did, or that you directly condone what they did, but that is no excuse to ignore the legacy of what they did. To blame other races on their marginalized lot in life (which is still very real in the United States), is to completely ignore how said systemic racism has put them at a disadvantage that you as a white person will never have to experience. So, if you interpret that as "they are saying that its my fault for everything! " you are almost certainly deliberately misinterpreting what they are saying because you are too selfish and lazy to make yourself aware that systemic racism is still very much a real thing that needs to be dealt with.
Look, the 'slavers' were the elite not the normal white guy in the street. This is a canard used to create divisions. We're all slaves now, but most don't know it. Such is the effectiveness of the propaganda we're subjected to.
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.
@bjarczyk I'm fairly sure it just started off as a social movement in England and SHARP broke off of that after it got hijacked, it didn't start off pro or anti racism.
Ian MacKay: on top of no drugs or alcohol in Discord House, how about we also have no women... ya know... just because... so we don't think about sex. Just a bunch of dudes being dudes. The whole straight edge movement was just Ian not being ready to come out of the closet
Wtf you talking about?? Ian is literally married and has a kid. When he sang about “I don’t fuck” he was against promiscuity not sex itself. People are so close-minded.
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 .
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.
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.
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?
My high school was 79% Hispanic, & by no means 21% White. I know what it's like to be a minority in a hostile environment. My friends & I used to like this song, irrespective of how you meant it, & we remain Straight Edge & proud of our roots 20 years on. But what's wrong with speaking up for the White man? I'm not talking about politics or Nationalism or anything of the sort. We're the new minority - increasingly so - and standing up for ourselves makes sense as individuals and as a people.
Abyssaeon fucking A brother, protect your heritage and traditions. Keep in mind, white people’s traits are more recessive than non whites, so preserve your race.
Because you aren't allowed to do anything without being labeled racist if your skin is of a certain color, and the irony isn't seen by any of the ones crying "racist!"
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
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.
Until the philosophy which hold one race Superior and another inferior Is finally And permanently Discredited And abandoned Everywhere is war Me say war - Bob
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?
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
Fucked up thing is if he wrote that today he'd be hailed by the media as "a figurehead of the alt right"(which my phone recommended right after alt though I've never typed alt right before)
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.
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
I hate when people think punk rockers about being racist. Punk rockers about being who you are, no matter who you are. I don’t want to be associated with hateful bigots. This song is awesome!
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”
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.
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😅
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 bad each time I hear this quote: "nationalist nazi guy in Poland" from Ian, but the sad truth is that we have them more and more each year. Pity..
@@fuckamericanidiot LOL. Yet another leftist idiot that thinks far right beliefs are only found in Ukraine, and not in the entirety of Eastern Europe in general. Try looking up Wagner or Rusich, bud.
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 RUclips. 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.
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.
How dose this make one cool or not.
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
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
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
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
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.
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)
Thanks for allowing me to do public relations on your page. Trust me, I respect all people. Deep down, all people are good.
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
I grew up in texas at the time this song was out and I can say the whites were the minority no doubt
Tell it like it is Ian. Don't let them distort your true view
Ian Mackaye doesn't have a racist bone in his body.
We are all guilty
Guilty of being white! And I ain't even white. 🤘🤘
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
@@Johnnysmithy24In today’s political climate, you might as well be both if you’re even remotely right of center right. Whether or not they’re trolling, grifting, or genuinely believe what they say, conservatives and alt righters are scum that impede progress and fairness for everyone.
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
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
It’s almost more relevant now
I Love all punks, skins, hippies, rockers, and mods. I Love Whites and people of color. I am not Right Wing and racist, but people are people, and tolerance is always better than race violence in the PUNK community in general. PUNK is always going to have Left Wing bands and some Right Wing ones. There's always going to be gangs and authority figures of aggressive punks who are for or against racism and very politically charged by Right and Left politics.
Right wing punk is a joke
different places, different reality. sadly, people may use anything like this in wrong ways.
click bait
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 .
Racism is Racism no matter what you are! People often judge someone for their ethnic background more than getting to know the person behind the flesh. This song makes so much sense considering anyone who is White, Caucasian, or European descent are often labeled as of their predecessor's, Slavers, bigots, segregators and so forth. Personally alot of us come of long ways from that. we are all better than our ancestors.
Literally, no one does that. What they are probably telling you is that you have a blind spot in terms of how systematic racism has affected and still affects the world today. White people have a degree of privilege that other races don't have and we need to be aware of this, because it defines the world today.
It doesn't mean you are responsible for what your ancestors did, or that you directly condone what they did, but that is no excuse to ignore the legacy of what they did. To blame other races on their marginalized lot in life (which is still very real in the United States), is to completely ignore how said systemic racism has put them at a disadvantage that you as a white person will never have to experience.
So, if you interpret that as "they are saying that its my fault for everything! " you are almost certainly deliberately misinterpreting what they are saying because you are too selfish and lazy to make yourself aware that systemic racism is still very much a real thing that needs to be dealt with.
Look, the 'slavers' were the elite not the normal white guy in the street. This is a canard used to create divisions. We're all slaves now, but most don't know it. Such is the effectiveness of the propaganda we're subjected to.
You're definetly a rightist punk fan 😂😂😂😂
Fucking absolutely!
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.
He did speak for the white man. He didn't do it a supremist. He did as a conservationist as a minority.
white people are not in danger and dont need "conserving". that's white nationalist rhetoric
He spoke for himself.
I'M sorry.
Not we're sorry.
awesome song performance.
Whooooo caresssss
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.
I came here from one of kurts journals.
i hope none of these comments are directed towards me hahaha
Fuck you,
.
.
No I'm just joking
But they show a video of a different song than the one he talks about.
@bjarczyk I'm fairly sure it just started off as a social movement in England and SHARP broke off of that after it got hijacked, it didn't start off pro or anti racism.
Ian MacKay: on top of no drugs or alcohol in Discord House, how about we also have no women... ya know... just because... so we don't think about sex. Just a bunch of dudes being dudes.
The whole straight edge movement was just Ian not being ready to come out of the closet
Wtf you talking about?? Ian is literally married and has a kid. When he sang about “I don’t fuck” he was against promiscuity not sex itself. People are so close-minded.
I'm a proud hetersexual sea anemone.
I'm a proud Apache attack helicopter
wasn't too hard to predict that even back then
@Yeah9Youre9awesome Yes, I have since learned that it in fact started in Jamaica.
i feel bad for all the people in these comments saying “I hope racism can die down in the future” and 8-10 years later, 2022. It’s getting worse
@LawlessLee brother I am literally experiencing it in real time
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 .
Ironic that there would be Nazis or Communists in Poland.
It is very odd, also a lot of naz in Russia which also doesn’t make much sense given their history.
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.
seriously though, you cut out the part where they show the lyrics
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.
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.
You seam to only think in terms of skin color and it isn’t really about that.
My high school was 79% Hispanic, & by no means 21% White. I know what it's like to be a minority in a hostile environment. My friends & I used to like this song, irrespective of how you meant it, & we remain Straight Edge & proud of our roots 20 years on. But what's wrong with speaking up for the White man? I'm not talking about politics or Nationalism or anything of the sort. We're the new minority - increasingly so - and standing up for ourselves makes sense as individuals and as a people.
Abyssaeon fucking A brother, protect your heritage and traditions. Keep in mind, white people’s traits are more recessive than non whites, so preserve your race.
@@kurlzdagodbeats3589 aaaaaand you sir are the problem
Because you aren't allowed to do anything without being labeled racist if your skin is of a certain color, and the irony isn't seen by any of the ones crying "racist!"
As a white guy I'd gladly appreciate you "stand up for white people" folks to please sit the fuck back down.
@@AcidPhos69 And why is that!
Does he understand the word "minority" now ?
Classe média. Você não tem direito como o resto a dizer "cometa crimes "
Você nunca foi pobre
he say Washin' Dc?
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
Your right, but it started in Ireland, because of lice, but it led to that
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.
Oi isn't nazi. Skinhead isn't nazi. Nazi, is fucking Nazi.
Until the philosophy which hold one race
Superior and another inferior
Is finally
And permanently
Discredited
And abandoned
Everywhere is war
Me say war
- Bob
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
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 ?
Im offended how he imitated the polish guys accent. And im not even polish. 😊
I guess he imitates any two-meter aggro, hool bonehead. It just a guess, because I am pole but a bit smaller ;)
@@m.darmos6703 hah yea, I can't believe I wrote this comment 2 yrs ago!
@@jacoblyman5359 not at all :) it just stays in the void forever ;)
Minor threat just copied chaos UK? ???????
VVere you born in the Nineties ?
People who came later don’t get it.
They weren’t there.
Theres no such thing as ISMS
Nenhum artista passou um dia na prisão.
Vocês não têm direito à opinião pública de nada
i argee, ok?
yeah
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.
Fucked up thing is if he wrote that today he'd be hailed by the media as "a figurehead of the alt right"(which my phone recommended right after alt though I've never typed alt right before)
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.
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
@bjarczyk YES! SOMEONE WHO GET'S IT!
Cmon, he knew…😊
*NP*
*FO*
@bjarczyk actually dude, this might be nit picking but it was started in Jamaica to combat globalism invading their culture.
You .. are.
Poison idea😂😂😂😂
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
Racist no, heightist, yes.
nice
This is hilarious 🤣
Let em be racists...
Stodder walk by
I hate when people think punk rockers about being racist. Punk rockers about being who you are, no matter who you are. I don’t want to be associated with hateful bigots. This song is awesome!
1942_/2018.
Jello Biafra said it best...
Jello Biafra has never said this bs
lol awesome content
lighten up ian,smoke a spliff.
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”
White power rock/punk is an entirly different off shoot from hardcore punk.
a shit one at that
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
1stworldconflictz
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
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?
Poor Ian rest. In. Peace
What??? hes not dead lol
More like your brain
(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 bad each time I hear this quote: "nationalist nazi guy in Poland" from Ian, but the sad truth is that we have them more and more each year. Pity..
you think the nazies are the problem 😂
You should send them to be with their friends in Ukraine.
@@fuckamericanidiot "their friends" rather invading Ukraine right now. "funny" innit?
@@dopekinny if only we were 😂
@@fuckamericanidiot LOL. Yet another leftist idiot that thinks far right beliefs are only found in Ukraine, and not in the entirety of Eastern Europe in general. Try looking up Wagner or Rusich, bud.
polish, "white". lol okay
+mike jones
The longer you _Polish_, the whiter you become..
Not a minority, yet. We'll have to wait. Bwahahahahahaha...
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.