Let's talk about racism

It's that one subject you're never to broach in public or private, because in this day and age, it's better to be a mass murderer, than a racist. So why talk about it at all, if it makes everyone so uncomfortable?  Because in the U.S., race permeates every part of social life.  From where people live, to how they speak to each other, to their varying opportunities for education, to the power they hold in our society, all of it is influenced by their race.  The degree to which race influences each of us, however, depends on our race.  That's why it's so important to face racial challenges directly, and also why we should encourage this difficult dialogue.

 

Because racism relies on institutional and systematic factors to operate, it requires a macro-level view to understand.  Oftentimes, people who don't understand racism, insist that it is simply a matter of interpersonal mean-spiritedness.  So if the white supremacists and hate groups are the only ones responsible for racism, and someone is not a part of those groups, then either a) they aren't racist and therefore, have no culpability in either the problem or the solution or b) racism doesn't exist and it's just a figment of people of color's hypersensitive imaginations.  By separating one's self from racism and its structural nature, people can ignore their responsibility to make our society better, vote in ways that don't support equity, and ignore the voices often unheard.  They can continue to use their power, both individual and institutional, to perpetuate racism and racist systems, even if they don't mean to do so.  This is why it's a good idea to understand how pervasive and insidious racism is.  It's so much so, that we often confuse racial prejudice (an attitude) or racial discrimination, with racism.  The "-ism" indicates structural, institutional harm, not just individual harm.  There are systems in place in our society, which restrict the free movement of people to be and have all they can, but we choose not to see them, because again, they make us uncomfortable.  That ability to turn it on and off is the true insidious nature of racism, and is an example of the power it takes to be able to pull it off.  People of color certainly cannot turn it off.  They can choose to try and ignore it, but the effects of racism are still present.  They may still be treated differently and have benefits withheld, or treated wrongly by people representing institutions, and just not be aware.  People with Spanish-surnames, for instance, and people with "Black-sounding" names, are discriminated against in the hiring process because of the idea about what their names mean about their performance and value.  That's the way racism works.  But there are no systems in place to insure that people with "white-sounding" names are uniformally discriminated against.  Can a person of color purposely discriminate against a person with a passing name?  Yes, but there are no built-in systems to insure it happens, and if they do, their chances of getting caught and prosecuted for it are greater.

 

The other component to this, is the "tit for tat" part, where we tend to believe, in our "freedom and justice for all" kind of society, that we're all treated equally, so if you're experiencing troubles in your life, don't blame anyone but yourself.  Also, if I hurt you and you hurt me right back, then we're both hurt the same amount.  This fallacy, combined with our "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" kind of society where your problems are your own making, is also fallacious.  If whites can be mad at people of color, then they can do the same, and "pain is pain," "we're all the same," "we all bleed red."  But the problem with those false equivalencies, is that they ignore the structural differences in power that exist in our culture.  Interpersonally, yes, it does hurt when someone hates you or discriminates against you because of your race.  But the effect, the long-term damage, is different for people of color than it is for whites.  Since whites have the most structural power, interpersonal slights can be much more easily associated with structural inequality.  If a white person doesn' like Asians, for instance, they can withhold jobs, benefits, information, educational opportunities, health care, acces to all the good stuff in society.  It doesn't operate in the reverse, because even though people of color will make up a minority majority soon, they won't be able to treat whites that same way without structural power to back it up.  And who would want to do so, anyway?  Why hate?