SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW RACISM

“Americans at the present time suffer from severe feelings of alienation, identity insecurity, individual uselessness, and impotence within an authoritarian system which manipulates and controls all aspects of human behavior.  The causes of tensions in society are vastly more complex than any individual can comprehend, leading to the need for a scapegoat.

                The Negro has often been forced to assume the role of scapegoat in American history.”

                I can’t say that I’ve ever run across a quote that more aptly describes what is going on in contemporary American society.  The battle cry, “Make America Great Again,” presumably from having been contaminated by a black president, rings out throughout the land, as hate crimes escalate.  There is only one problem: This quote is from a book, “White Racism” by Barry Schwartz and Robert Disch, that was written almost fifty years ago! The intransigence of the feelings of helplessness and scapegoating of black folks represent one major thread in the apparently indestructible fabric of American racism.

                There is no more pernicious force (with the possible exception of religion without spirituality, which correlates highly with racism, but is grist for another discussion) and none less understood than racism.  Wikipedia defines it as: prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior: But racism is both simple and complex, nuanced and grotesque  and  often confused with other issues.  While we can hardly exhaust the subject here, perhaps sharing a few categories (some well-established, some identified by yours truly) may be of some value.  Perhaps the best known racial dichotomy is:

INSTITUITIONAL VS. INDIVIDUAL

 Once again, according to Wikipedia: “Institutional racism (also known as institutionalised racism) is a form of racism expressed in the practice of social and political institutions, as distinct from racism by individuals or informal social groups. It is reflected in disparities regarding criminal justice, employment, housing, health care, political power and education, among other things.”

            Institutionial racism is, by far, the more dangerous of the two.  Yet the dichotomy is never clean cut.  After all, institutions are comprised of individuals.  Furthermore, the more power an individual wields, the closer his/her racism comes to being institutional.  A racist cop with a gun is far more serious than a racist janitor with a mop.  But when the States Attorney, the judges, and the city administration all join together to protect that cop, we then have a serious case of institutional racism! 

                                                            PURVEYORS AND CONSUMERS

            Then there are what I call the purveyors and consumers of racism.  The purveyors are primarily politicians, and media types.  Politicians use racism to get elected to office, to stay in power once in office, and to divert working class whites’ attention away from political facts that negatively impact them.  None was more adroit at manipulating white folks through racism than the “Gipper,” himself, the anointed one who would be on Mount Rushmore were there room for his likeness, the exalted Ronald Reagan.  The truth is that like Trump, Reagan went from catastrophe to catastrophe but remained so popular he was called the “Teflon president” because nothing could stick to him.  (Even our first black president, Barak Obama, could not resist singing his praises!)  Yet this pro-South African Apartheid president did one thing remarkably well; he made white folks feel good about being white, and for that, a large percentage of them will always revere and adore him.

The purveyors may or may not believe the racism they spew.  The late Alabama governor, George Wallace, for example, achieved national prominence with his fierce support of segregation when he blocked the doorway of the University of Alabama to prevent black students from entering and declared his infamous credo, “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!”  We know that Wallace knew better because at the end of his life he tried to repent, asking African Americans to forgive him his transgression.  Rush Limbaugh, on the other hand, believes his own propaganda so much that even when it meant losing a high-profile job providing football commentary on network television  he could not refrain from spewing his racist bile.

WHITE MAN’S BURDEN/ MANIFEST DESTINY

These two ideas represent different manifestations of the same concept:  White supremacy bestowed by the Creator/ Jesus as the natural order. .  The poem, “White Man’s Burden” by Rudyard Kipling is a call for colonialism and imperialism by the United States as the duty of the white man to save the rest of the world from itself.   Manifest destiny is straight out of the Old Testament.  It declares that all land between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans were destined by God to be the territory of the white man! While the examples I have given have been from the past, this virulent brand of racism still thrives.  Congressman Steve King (R. Iowa) has made a career out of making racist white supremacist statements, that somehow never interfere with his being re-elected.

                                                UNCONSCIOUS RACISM

I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the single most popular brand of racism in America.  People honestly don’t know that they are racist.  Talking about unconscious racism always brings out the skepticism in black folks.  “They know,” is the usual response.  Or “How could they not know?”  The answer:  racism is so pervasive and ubiquitous in American society that the only way these people might know that they are racist would be for them to somehow be transported to a magical land where it does not exist.  The most fascinating example of this racism, at least for me, came in the form of an anecdote offered by a woman who works to ensure that racists aren’t picked for juries. This particular case involved Indians.   When the prospective juror was asked if she had had any contact with Indians, she responded affirmatively.  She said she let them stay in her barn when they got caught in sever rain storms.  The questioner then asked if this woman would have had them stand in the barn had they been white.  The prospective juror burst into tears.  Obviously, she would have invited white folks into her home! 

I have barely touched the tip of the ice berg regarding the genres/categories of racism.  But if any dialogue results from this work, I will be satisfied.

 

 

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