“The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.” –Aldous Huxley
Okay, “Could you be a racist?” is an admittedly challenging question that many will reject out of hand without any introspection whatsoever. That’s too bad. Because introspection is definitely what is called for here. But let’s just start with some definitions. From American Heritage fourth ed: “Racism – 1. The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others. 2. Discrimination or prejudice based on race.” Randomhouse Webster’s (2nd) adds more layers including: “…the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule others.”
One very notable piece missing from these definitions is any reference to racism as absolute, a black and white issue (no pun intended). Racism exists on a gradient and is not an either/or condition. You can be “a little bit” racist. Furthermore, you can be racist to some degree and not even know that you are. This is true because racism is definitely not absolute, and because it develops over time in an individual by virtue of largely passive acceptance of seemingly benign pieces of information. Most people develop some racist tendencies. And most do so by virtue of things their parents taught them without realizing they were doing so. And in the spirit of full disclosure, I am what is known today as an old white male.
There was a news story some time back featuring an interview of some woman who had stated something about the issue of the hour, Critical Race Theory. She was indignantly claiming that just because she had come out against teaching CRT to her kid, she was not a racist. She was in tears at the time. I am certain that this drove home two different points in separate members of the audience. Some people supported her in her statement, feeling she had a perfectly valid argument. They knew they, themselves, “weren’t racists,” and held the same opposition to teaching CRT. Because opposition to teaching history was one thing, and opposition to teaching CRT was something else altogether. Then in the minds of a second group, there immediately formed the notion that she was, indeed, racist and just didn’t know it. CRT was the teaching of a historical reality that should not be ignored and swept under the rug. She couldn’t see that, so she must be somewhat racist to oppose the teaching of this element of history. Why else would she oppose this factual history lesson?
This issue over CRT came to a head more than a year ago, when D. J. Trump issued an executive order specifically in rejection of CRT, an EO which banned any “training” that labeled the nation as racist. So the radical right immediately had a brand new issue to tout. And they have picked it up and run with it.
Critical Race Theory: Britannica.com defines CRT as “an intellectual movement and loosely organized framework of legal analysis based on the premise that race [and by extension, racism] is not a natural, biologically grounded feature of physically distinct subgroups of human beings but a socially constructed (culturally invented) category that is used to oppress and exploit people of colour.” That may not be the very best definition, but for our purposes it will do. Because, while it does exclude people of color from “being racist,” it certainly does point out that racism is, if not exclusively, at least largely, targeting POC, not their white counterparts. Whites do have the distinct advantage of “white privilege” in their favor. This is so true that whites almost never have to think about the issue of racism in their daily interactions.
Acts of racism at base reduce to degradations of others, others being defined as being noticeably different and isolatable. It has been argued that this is a very natural development, that it is a remnant of instinctual behavior patterns that permitted the survival of the species in earlier times. This argument ignores the obvious fact that racism is directed not at other species, but is entirely intra-species. Never mind. There is the perplexing but simple fact of racism’s existence. And it is more broadly developed than might at first be suspected. The military, for example, explicitly employs the concept of racism to dehumanize the enemy in times of war. There can be no sympathy for the enemy, only enmity. In this case it is perhaps the ultimate degradation of humans, leading directly to their deaths. Racism exploits fear, and it is a fear of “the other.” And if there is insufficient fear there to exploit, deliberate racists create and fan the flames of fear to materialize sufficient hatred. For the military, it is merely a means to an end. It is a form of useful motivational propaganda.
Since it is apparently so difficult to answer the question, are you racist, I will change the perspective and use myself as the target witness in this investigation. The question in this introspective analysis moves from you to me. Am I racist? Note that it is not, “Am I a racist.” It is do I have any racist tendencies? At least that lets you off the hook until you realize I am talking not just about myself.
But first, my parentage and experiences in youth are important. On the maternal side of my family, I can honestly say I recall no experiences of overt or even mildly indicative racism. I cannot say the same about my father and his family. At one point, my dad actually participated in a stage production known as a minstrel show, a sort of stage play. These plays were a blatantly racist American form of “entertainment,” in which several participants, white men actually wearing black face, played the role of “end men” (usually two groups, seated at the far ends of whatever was going on at center stage). End men interspersed jokes and commentary into the production. My dad was an end man. In black face. Yep. There were other instances I could mention, but there is no need to pile on the man. This example should suffice.
So, have I totally escaped the racism I witnessed as a kid and young adult? That is where the investigation begins. Quite recently, I was made aware of racist remnants in myself, by my daughter. As I write this, America has just escaped its “forever war” in Afghanistan. Now, remember the earlier point that in war, the enemy gets no sympathy. They get the most virulent racism the military machine can muster in its soldiers. And some reference was made in a news story or commentary that referred in some manner to the Afghanistan Isis offshoot as “machete-wielding cave rats.” When I commented lightly on the humor of the phrasing, my daughter pointed out how racist it was. Hmmm. Well, at least I am not yet sobbing in denial like the anti-CRT Karen. The military employs fear to develop hatred. And even though I have never been in the military, I was still ready and willing to at least completely overlook the hatred to find the racism funny. I saw blatant racism as humorous. Also just recently, I made a joking reference to someone’s knuckles dragging on the ground. It was pointed out to me that this reference had some definitely racist overtones. I had used the term thinking of this as a big dimwitted person. I missed the possible reference to gorillas, our distant relatives which are sometimes used in racist references to Black people. Hmmm.
Let’s formulate a test. Let’s create an instrument to test for the presence of racism. Are you ready? Answer the questions. We will focus on white males only for this test.
Could you, a white male, marry a Black woman?
Could you, a white male in an all-white family, adopt and raise a Black child?
Do you, a white male, have any issue with the practice of upper-casing the first letter in Black while not doing so in the word, white?
Could you, a white male, see comments like “machete-wielding cave rats” as innocent (non-racist) jokes that are “okay?”
Could you, a white male participating in a war zone such as Vietnam use phrases like slope, or gook?
Could you, a white male, participate in a play in which you wore Black-face?
Could you, a white male, participate in a play in which other whites wore Black-face?
Could you, a white male, use the N-word disparagingly (or in any context), “because Black people use the word, themselves,” in a non-disparaging manner? [Acknowledging honesty, I intended to use the actual word here, but in light of publication principles and the fact that racists would probably enjoy seeing it here, I demurred.]
It is not too hard to see where this is going, and it is equally easy to see how cheating on this test would be entirely possible. For myself, my failure on question 4 makes my answer on question 5 somewhat iffy. I have never used the words, but I was also never personally involved in the Vietnam War.
Hatred is real. The day approaches that will be the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. On that day twenty years ago, a great deal of hatred was born. And for how many of us did those people responsible for 9/11 instantaneously become “rag heads?” In retribution, when Osama bin Laden was found and killed, his body was taken out to a ship and buried at sea. This was done ostensibly “in honor” of Muslim traditions about the body of a deceased person being buried within 24 hours of his death. That explanation has always seemed a little thin. For what better way would there be to conceal any postmortem bodily desecration than a burial at sea? Hatred is very real. So is racism, and the greater the hatred, the easier the racism.
Introspection. It is called for in any serious self-evaluation. We must be able to identify our weaknesses as well as our strengths. But we can always strive to be the best we can be, and racism can be realized and overcome. Whether we are religious or secular, as a value going forward, there is no substitute for being the best we can be.