More on Racism

A recent discussion has inspired me to think about racism more than usual. I recall a seminar at Columbia University in "identity based conflict" where I was schooled in the latest wisdom on the subject. Among other things, I was informed:

• Members of a minority category cannot be racist, and only the majority may be guilty of this.
• Whites are less aware of racial issues than black folks because these are less salient to whites, and black folks are consequently better qualified and more authoritative to speak to the issues.
• If you are white, you are a racist, and if you do not know it you are probably very racist.
• No matter how crappy a poor white person's life is, it will never be as bad as a black person's situation.
• It is OK to denigrate poor whites.
• Anything that impacts blacks disparately is racist even if it is ostensibly race neutral.

I will concede that race is more salient to black folks and that white folks can be pretty clueless and hurtful because of their lack of sensitivity to racial issues. However, I also believe white folks can learn an appropriate level of sensitivity and can grasp racial issues as fully as anyone. As for the rest of what I learned, I am skeptical to say the least. After all, there are no objectively existing, real races in a sociological sense. There are only racial "categories", and these are more or less meaningful depending on circumstances and what you are using them for. Let's not endow the labels with more power than they should rightly possess. That, IMO, is the gravamen of racism. To reify racial categories and imbue them with undue significance are the hallmarks of racism, and anyone, black or white, can be guilty of this irrationality.

The principal problem with the seminar's approach (aside from its radical egalitarianism and collectivism), in my view, is that it sought to tar whites with guilt for reifying race while reifying race when it suited the instuctors' purposes. I can't say whether doing this suits black folks' purposes, but I can say that it is an aggravating case of intellectual inconsistency.

To a large extent, I can detect a legitimate argument in all this noise. Yes, it is wrong for whites to reify racial categories, especially for the purposes of screwing someone over. In my view, it is wrong for anyone to do so.

Yes, it is wrong for whites to set up racially motivated obstructions and disengenuously declare that they are race neutral. For example, requiring a credential for a job that is not necessary to the job but which effectively disqualifies blacks should give one pause. Although you may not have intended to discriminate, once you know the facts you might want to rectify the situation. This does not mean, however, that a valid job qualification should be abandoned to rig a position for an unqualified candidate. Moreover, some things with a disparate impact on races may genuinely be innocent of discriminatory motives.

Yes, racial issues are more real and troubling for black folks on average because they have to live with them every day and negotiate a society in which racism is very much a factor. The racial issues are real, race itself is not real other than as an artifact of flawed thinking. Now, I know there may be "races" in a biological sense, but this should not have any bearing on the social or moral status of persons in any racial category. As long as it is acceptable to reify race for the purposes of praising blacks (eg "they are a loving people"), it is difficult to harangue people for reifying race for other purposes. You can't have it both ways. You can't make generalizations about black people and posit a black community as if it existed and then expect everyone else to avoid generalizing and talking about a black community.

It appears to me that the instructors and text writers for the seminar had taken every argument and simplified it and generalized it beyond reason. Thus, for example, "some seemingly race neutral actions may in fact be discriminatory" morphed into "everything with a disparate impact is discriminatory by definition". "Generalizations about race are irrational" became "generalizations about race by whites are irrational because they are not as knowledgeable as blacks".

I know racism. I grew up racist. Although my family never gave me any racist instructions, I absorbed it in my town and at school and church. Even after schools were integrated, black kids never associated with white kids. All the black families lived in one neighborhood and went to black churches. Black people were said to be inferior in every respect except sports and music but this was not their fault as "they did not ask to be born black". Any black boy who dated a white girl might well be beaten or even killed, and no self respecting white boy would have anything to do with the girl thereafter. All in all, I grew up with a very condescending and paternalistic view of blacks, and it took years of conscious effort to rid myself of the cognitive defect of racism little by little. I still have traces of it, and my hope is to recognize it and purge it from my system as it appears. Some of it exists on a visceral level and probably will never go away. All I can do is resolve not to act upon it.

When I moved to Yonkers, NY, I was surprised at the virulent racism of some of my neighbors. This was a hateful brand of racism, not at all paternalistic, that I had not experienced back home in Georgia, and I found myself as an expat Southerner rebuking Yankees for being racist and defending black folks. These folks genuinely believe that black people are evil. (Of course, they also believe this of other ethnic categories of whites. )

I long for the day when the diseases of racism and nationalism are cured. In time, if the state does not aggravate the situation by trying to force people to like each other or by institutionalizing racial categories, most folks will learn to get along and to appreciate one another. Those who claim to look out for the interests of black folks may want to consider rethinking any ideology or practice that keeps the race virus alive.