Proud To Be White... Is That Right?

I have just received an email outlining the difference between the white race and any other race having racial pride. The email illustrates (very well I might add) that it is OK for Black people to have rallies, groups, parades, protests, pride, dedicated funds, colleges, schools and many other things, but when a school is explicitly for white people it is a racist school. Oprah's new school is a good example I think.This email is more American-centric than South African-centric so much of it is not applicable. However I do think that there is a lot of truth to this sort of mentality. The race card is played very often by various demographics in SA. I am classified (I am not sure who does this sort of classification any more) as a white male although I have never looked like any classically white male in my life. This has really never had an impact on my life. Yet I have dealt with the race card in various situations.I studied Politics back at Rhodes University. I will never forget the day that I almost received the beating of my life when I tried to proclaim that I was an African. I believe that I am African. I am born and bred in Africa and that makes me African. Mark Shuttleworth has launched his Ubuntu Linux System and I believe that he is a man who truly understands the concept of Ubuntu. So is he not African?In the end, I am all for having pride for oneself, for ones culture and for anything else that anyone wished to be proud of as long as that pride is not inflicting some sort of harm on anyone else. I am not talking about a perceived harm here, where one persons belief system conflicts with another persons belief system, that is avoidable and resolvable to a certain livable extent. I am talking about harm in the true sense of the word.Let the Satinists be Satinists and let the KKK be the KKK, but let them be who they are own their own in the privacy of their own home and heaven help any group if they start to bash people around and attempt to enforce their perceived superiority on others. Is this sort of approach correct? I can't say. I think that what the email i received is trying to portray is that if white people have to be quietly proud and restricted then so should everyone else. If other ethnic or racial groups are allowed to proclaim a school to be all black, asian, hispanic or anthing else, then so too should white schools be able to be proclaimed as such.This is where I think the line needs to be drawn, freedom of speech rocks, it truly does, as long as it too does not detrimentally impact on any person, group, culture or nation.I think that South Africa is on the right track, tolerance is of the utmost importance. I think that we have much to be thankful for here in SA. Integration is a slow process and one that needs to be fought for tooth and nail. People need to proactively work towards integration. It is not something that will simply happen. Just as practicing a sport makes you better at it, so too would practicing tolerance, integration and appreciation for others.