Perhaps racism is even partially justified... I moved to Little Rock from Branson, Missouri and I'd hardly seen five black people in my life. I couldn't understand how they spoke or how they acted - they constituted a whole alien culture for me. By now I've learned to like people of all races, no thanks to constant bombardment by Martin Luther King, Jr. videos, but thanks to pure experience and tolerance.
The problem is, 'superior' is hardly a scalar value. Like different species, human races could be specialized to their environments, making others superior in some areas and other races in other areas. Note that I'm not saying "making all to be good at something"; that comment has no base. It is no certainty. It's like saying all computer software is good at something.
But, the logic above doesn't apply in the light of recent studies; it appears that the differences between human races are, except for looks, pretty much negligible. Or so I heard. I think the analogy was, "humans from separate continents have less difference than gorillas from separate parts of woods". The statement above sounds a bit strange, but now that Apartheid has eased up a bit it seems it is correct. Therefore, racism is, now, basically a dead theory.
Fourth, the racism's innocent ideas were, as usual, applied wrong by people who didn't realize, or didn't want to realize, what it was all about. It was only theory, not a justification to kill people before they could prove themselves. That is what made it so wrong that now people are action on racists like racists were acting on other races. Both are theoretically wrong, but since we're not Free World, and people here are inherently irrational, persecuting racists is fine.
I heard a radio program here in the UK detailing the story of a young man who returned to his ancestral home of West Africa; his family were originally slaves shipped over to England hundreds of years ago.
He traveled around the coastal towns, looking at the history of the slave trade; the fortified towers where the slaves were kept for weeks or months until the next boat turned up...Told how the women were raped; other stories of how evil people could really be. His travelling companion, an American woman said 'I don't think I'll ever be able to look at another white person in the same way again...'
Having listened to the previous depravities I could well understand why; but me coming from a rural part of East Anglia, far away in time and space from this; I'm thinking 'Shit, what can I say, or do in light of this, damned for the sins of my ancestors' Aside from not committing the same acts, or thinking the same thoughts, perhaps not a lot.
The guy travelled around a bit more, and in one of these towns found a statue erected by tribal elders, by way of apology for some of their tribes past crimes. He asked his guide 'Why the statue was there, what crimes did they have to apologise for?', his guide explained that it was a slave trade. Tribes or nations would prey on others, and sell to the slave ships.
One of the most moving stories I've ever heard; there is such a thing as monsters, and they're us.
The previous writeup gives an excellent broad definition of racism, and addresses interesting scientific and philosophical issues. The word racism itself however, is quite a loaded term in American society today. When asking ourselves the question "what is racism?", we have to take into account the connotation of the word and how it is used. As in the previous writeup, this is also an America-centric discussion of racism. In other parts of the world, the concept of race is quite different, and a discussion of the difference between American and Eastern European racism would be a quite interesting topic.
Most reasonable people agree that racism is a bad thing, but many people who are accused of being racist vehemently deny having any racist thoughts. Personally I like the term prejudice to describe the unavoidable generalization and stereotyping that everyone is subjected to. I say unavoidable, because it is a consequence of the human brain's function that we generalize and experience immediate impressions of everything we see. Without this mechanism, it would be impossible to function (and survive in nature).
In the fight against racism, the exact details of what type of prejudgement are based exclusively on race is a tedious and unnecessary detail. The important thing is, of course, how racism affects people, and from that how we can personally avoid racist comments and actions.
Politically one of the most commonly discussed aspect of racism is exclusion from the American power structure. Intiatives such as Affirmative Action have been proposed and implemented in an attempt to compensate for the past injustices that were systematically inflicted on minorities in America. Minority advocates differ on their assessment effectiveness of such measures. I am not prepared to judge such a contentious issue. What I will say is that Affirmative Action alone can do little to help society permanently banish racism.
I mention this to hilight the fact that superficial rules and legislation don't solve the current problem America has with racism. After all, we already have plenty of anti-racist legislation. To really solve this problem and all the subsequent problems of cultural isolationism, people must make a concerted effort to understand each other. This starts by pushing your prejudices to the back of your mind. When you meet a person, respond to what they say, and not what you think of them based on how they look. Ask open-ended questions that don't make assumptions. Almost all racist statements boil down to either a generalization about a group of people, or an assumption about an individual based on something other than concrete knowledge about them.
For the vehement anti-racist, a high level of tolerance is necessary. Ironically, condemning racists outright is against the spirit of anti-racism. Because our personalities are shaped by our experiences, and because we all have unique experiences, judging someone else can never be logically justified. The best thing we can do to fight racism is turn a cheek to racism and prejudice which we ourselves experience. Responding in anger only increases the negative emotions and may reinforce negative attitudes. By exuding understanding and refusing to instinctively retaliate, we create the best possible outcome from a bad situation.
Finally, just as important as not reacting negatively to racism, is positive education of those near you when they propagate racist ideas. If you have a friend who is racist, the only way they will change is if they realize the negativity of what they are doing. Who else besides a friend would they actually listen to?
The really bad part about the whole thing was the lady's daughter and her family. They were really nice to me, and the most entreprenurial people I've ever met. It's a whole family of people all bent on the accumulation of wealth through wheeling and dealing. And the most racist people I've ever met.
I guess I shouldn't be suprised, this being The South, and this lady's entire family being well on the redneck side, but these people weren't your standard mulleted, trailer-park, 1981 Trans-Am driving, unfortunate facial-hair types like you think of when you think of rednecks. They had a nice house and nice stuff, a respectable business (or 2 or 3 of them, actually) and they had all kinds of nice pickup-truck-type vehicles. They even owned their own Bobcat.
But it seems like half the things out of their mouths were about black people and their lack of positive qualities, to put it kindly. It was awful. The first thing out of the husband's mouth when I got there was about how he had some nigger drivers and how cocky they were. There wasn't even any reason for him to talk about it, but he got to rag on black people, so why not? He was the only one in the family that used the n-word in front of me, and he was more redneck than the rest of them, so I guess it was to be expected. Right?
We went to Olive Garden for dinner, and the daughter told me how they had just opened the place up, and it was always busy. "You can't hardly get in because of all the black people." I don't believe I've ever heard anyone speak in italics before, but she managed it. Quite a lot, actually. Out in public, there was always a furtive look, a close-in lean, and then the italics would begin.
They live in a predominantly black neighborhood. It's tough for me to understand who else would be at the Olive Garden, given the demographics. And it's not like this is a ghetto. The place had nice homes, a busy commercial district with lots of new development, and it seemed to be full of honest, hard-working, normal, everyday people.
They complained about how the state flag didn't really include the confederate one, because the black people didn't want people to be able to vote on the issue. (I can't imagine why not.) They had had some tile work done recently in their house, and it was of low quality, "and it was even white boys that did it!" Suprise and shock, I'm sure, because we all know there are no idiot white people. There was the tired "the blacks moved in so the whites moved out" story about the area. They complained endlessly about affirmative action. It just went on and on, and by the time I was ready to go to bed, I was so worked up I couldn't get to sleep.
I guess anybody who knows about this kind of thing is thinking about now "Yeah, racists. So what? Get over it." I think my problem is that I've lived in such a happy little bubble that I had completely convinced myself that racism was a thing of the past, relegated to people who were so low on the social totem pole that the only way they could feel good about themselves was to convince themselves that somebody else was lower. But here I had nice, successful southern people, who had nothing to fear and everything to be thankful for and no reason to hate, but they hate all the same.
So now that my illusion is shattered, I kind of worry about everyone. I don't worry about my friends or family, but these people hid their feelings pretty well in public. As a black person, how would you ever really know about someone? If there are these people who talk complete shit when it's just "us whites" around, how many are there? Does everybody do it? They'd never admit it to you (assuming you are a minority) if they did, and their non-racist friends probably wouldn't say anything so as not to lose them as friends. Everybody knows that racists are by definition closed-minded, so what's the point of arguing with them about it?
That's what really got to me: my own unwillingness to say anything contrary to their beliefs. I felt filthy just sitting there and taking that stuff. I never nodded or gave any positive sign of agreement, but I never openly disagreed with them, either, and that, I feel, is as good as agreement. I get the feeling they didn't have any idea that I might not feel the same way as they do. I certainly never did anything to let them know otherwise. Well, I take that back; when they were talking about affirmative action and how dispicable it was, I said, blandly, "I get the impression that a lot of things around here are determined by race." That was my one little backhanded stab at all that disgusting stuff, and I don't know if they even caught it. I think they did, because it kind of shut them up. But this wasn't until the next day when we were driving back to the airport, and the entire night before I felt absolutely filthy.
I understand that I don't understand anything about racism. I probably never will. I can only talk to black people about it and find out what they've experienced, but it's not the kind of thing you like to bring up with someone you don't know very well. I wish I had more black friends; as it is, I know one guy, a close friend's roommate, and he's always out with a girlfriend or being in plays or whatever, so I don't usually get to see him. There're probably all kinds of horrors out there that I'll never know anything about. But I've finally glimpsed an ugly, ugly side of humanity, and it really kind of scared me.
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Alec Baldwin knows.
A 'Bad Thing' The terms 'racist' and 'racism' are perhaps two of the most provocative words in the English language. They are representative of the destructive and vicious capacities that are inherent to the human condition. As a concept, 'racism' is bound to the darker side of human nature: the desire to be superior, to exploit, to segregate or even to behave violently.
Racism has a broad range of influences, with particular communities, whole countries or even entire continents able to suffer from its effects. 'Racism' can take varying forms, from subtle acts of exclusion to determined and premeditated acts of violence. It can affect people because of how they look, what they believe, where they come from, or who their parents happened to be. There does not appear to be a distinct and universally accepted definition of 'racism'. No one group practises it or suffers from it, no one action constitutes it. Nevertheless, whatever 'racism' is, it is generally recognised as being a bad thing.
Aside from being a 'bad thing' that lacks a precise definition, 'racism' is an emotionally involved idea. The term cannot be used dispassionately. It involves making a moral judgement, and making an accusation. Anyone else involved in this judgement or accusation is then also going to be forced to make their own moral judgement and choices. 'Racism' carries very definite ideas, even if it lacks a definition itself.
If 'racism' — whatever it might be — is so tightly bound to the human condition and takes on so many different forms in different situations, the question arises as to its origin. Is it ingrained into the human being, or it is something that has evolved? Without trying to impose our ideals onto those who have gone before us, can we see if they have exhibited 'racist' tendencies?
Origins of the term The term 'racism' was first used in the 1930s. A word was needed to describe the Nazi attitude towards Jewish people. So here, it would refer to the abuse and oppression of a particular group of people based on no more than who their parents were. It's a good starting point, but it does not take into account 'racism' based on creed, or on colour, or on origin. The 1989 Oxford English Dictionary defines 'racism' as: 'the theory that distinctive human characteristics and abilities are determined by race.' But then we run into another problem: what do we mean by 'race'?
Colonialism, Race and Racism Along with the growth of eighteenth and nineteenth century colonialism, the concept of 'race' began to flourish. By 1850 Robert Knox had offered his The Races of Men as the perceived definition of the divisions that existed between human groups and their inherent qualities and characteristics. The so-called characteristics and qualities that were associated with 'race' (and more often than not based on nothing more than somatic features, with blackness coming to symbolise this inferiority) were then used to categorise humankind into some form of hierarchy. Of course, it has since been proved that the idea of 'race' as discrete divisions amongst the human population which carry with them inherent characteristics, qualities and flaws is false.
However, the errors of Knox and his contemporaries served them well. Unsurprisingly, it was white Europeans who were placed at the head of the totem pole of humankind. Knox and his contemporaries had developed their theories from their experiments, from their experiences and from the events that were surrounding them in contemporary society. Colonialism was not the product of the development of racial theory, ideas of difference and superiority already existed. It was colonialism that galvanised these ideas into a theory and placed it on the world stage, complete with conquest and exploitation. Any pre-existing ideologies of superiority and difference that fed into the picture of 'race' would have arisen through internal politics and social situations.
Nationalism and Racism The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were times of great political and social change throughout Europe. Wars, revolutions and scientific progress combined to create a world where people were looking at new possibilities and searching for new definitions. It was only around this time that the idea of the nation state was really born. Along with the idea of belonging to a country came the notion of the outsider. Territorial borders meant institutions and systems, and that meant inhabitants who were a part of the system, and those beyond it who were not.
But where does nationalism fit in with ideas of 'racism'? On the one hand, it can be argued that nationalism is an internal issue, focussing on a shared aim or destiny; whereas racism is based on class, and purity of identity. Alternatively, racism can be linked to the nationalistic idea of boundaries, of insiders and outsiders, of those who belong, and those who do not belong. If racism is about boundaries and definitions, it means that there is an argument for racism being transported into the colonial context, and being applied to skin colour, rather than being generated in colonialism.
In the post-Enlightenment world, the idea of community was something that became popular. But community also means exclusion: it is about insiders and outsiders. This combined with the new idea of the nation state and the idea of white European superiority over the supposedly inferior black African evolved. But the point is, racism did not begin here; perceptions of difference, of inferiority, ideas of insiders and outsiders, means that it had much earlier roots. For the empire-builders of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the ancient world — and particularly the Roman Empire — offered them a justification for their colonial activities and use of slave-labour. For them, the ancient world had perceptions of superiority that they in turn were able to manipulate for their own purposes. Even if Roman society was one devoid of ideas of 'racism', its potential to be seen that way has fed into later ideas of 'racism'.
Belonging and Not Belonging The concept that some people belong and others do not belong seems to be something that has existed as long as human kind. Humans have always established communities, or belonged to a particular tribe. Along with these communities come boundaries. 'Racism' could be interpreted as a consequence of these boundaries.
From here, it is important to understand that although theories pertaining to 'racism' were developed in the light of colonialism and post-colonial attitudes, they were not based purely on the situation of imperial dominance. In other words, racism did not arise from the development of the false idea of 'race'. The concept of racism was something that existed before anyone had tried to categorise human beings as Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Negroid or anything else, but it took on those elements as it evolved. 'Racism' is a socially constructed ideology and it is based on ideas of difference between groups of people.
Towards a Definition That 'racism' can be construed as a socially constructed ideology is integral to its evolution, and to the application of the idea of 'racism' throughout history. It means that the subject of 'racist' treatment is not necessarily going to be the same group of people over time, and neither is the form of 'racist' abuse that they suffer going to be the same, either. Furthermore, the group who define (either deliberately or subconsciously) and practise 'racism' will alter, too. The dynamics of those who suffer and those who practise 'racism' is dependent on the contemporary political and social circumstances.
So, it seems that racism has three key points, and a following, closely linked, fourth point. The first point is that racism is a socially constructed system, which also makes it open to change. The second point is that there have to be two groups: one perceived as 'normal', which is the aggressor, one perceived as the 'Other', which suffers. Thirdly, the 'Other' is judged as intrinsically inferior in some way compared to the 'normal' group. The fourth related point is that the aggressor suppresses, oppresses or abuses the 'Other' on account of these perceived inadequacies. Hence, racism does not have to be associated with an action (although it can be, and frequently is) to be classified as racism.
A Slippery Thing Part of the appeal of the racist ideology to those who wish to use it — and part of the nightmare for those who wish to fight it — is the illogical nature of racism. It is a malleable and constantly evolving idea. The positive qualities of a particular group of people (perhaps that they are hardworking or successful) can be turned against them into a negative argument (they fill all of the jobs and are greedy). That group of people need not be the same group of people from one day to the next; it is whoever society wants it to be.
Based on chapter 1 of my dissertation: Inside-out: Racism and the Early Imperial Roman Cultural Ideal.
Bibliography: Anderson, B: Imagined Communities, CUP, 1983. Fenton, S: Ethnicity: Race, Class and Culture, MacMillan, London, 1999. Malik, K: The Meaning of Race: Race History and Culture in a Western Society, MacMillan, London, 1996. Miles, R: Racism, Routledge, London, 1990.
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