So if racism isn't always about hatred then what is it? Essentially this entire Angry series has been about exploring this question. In summary:
Racism is about our views of groups not of individuals. It's not how we feel about the Exceptions, it's how we feel about the Rest. To many of the white people I knew growing up, I was the Exception not the Rule. So clean cut, so well-spoken. Isn't that nice. The Rule is where racism often lies. And the Rule is generally negative because. . .
Racism is about fear. Hear the words of Dylann Roof who, in a racist rage, murdered nine people: "You're raping our women and taking over our country." I don't know of anyone who would admit to this young man's words resonating. On a conscious level I imagine they only resonate with a few fanatics on the fringe. But the fear that can't be, or can't be allowed to be articulated is still there. I may not hate you, the individual black person that I know and like, but I'm afraid of a horde of Them. Taking our jobs, changing our culture. While it's easy to love individuals--it always has been, even in the time of slavery and segregation--it's harder not to fear a Group. And many still hold inchoate fear. They are unnerved and "concerned" about black people as a group. Racism is in fact about a very specific kind of fear. It's the fear of losing power. Because. . .
Racism is about power. Who has power and who doesn't. But here in the United States our divide has never been about two groups struggling for the upper hand. This is not the War of the Roses. This is not the U.S. vs the USSR. It's not Northern Ireland. Despite what we're often told, racism is not exclusively a personal issue or a heart issue. It is a societal and cultural issue. We don't need "racial healing" or "racial reconciliation" in this country. This isn't a situation in which black and white people have been unfortunately feuding for many generations and now it's time to bring both sides to the table and work things out. There's no "both sides" here. Each side does not need to "do some work" and find it in their hearts to "forgive." White people haven't been wronged and thus cannot offer forgiveness. Black people have already had the value of forgiveness drilled into us by the larger culture that realizes that if black people can't forgive, we are all in trouble. One group of people have dominated another group of people for most of this country's history. What's needed is justice. What's needed is change. What's needed is a reevaluation of what we assume to be true in our culture. Because. . .
Racism is about our views of groups not of individuals. It's not how we feel about the Exceptions, it's how we feel about the Rest. To many of the white people I knew growing up, I was the Exception not the Rule. So clean cut, so well-spoken. Isn't that nice. The Rule is where racism often lies. And the Rule is generally negative because. . .
Racism is about fear. Hear the words of Dylann Roof who, in a racist rage, murdered nine people: "You're raping our women and taking over our country." I don't know of anyone who would admit to this young man's words resonating. On a conscious level I imagine they only resonate with a few fanatics on the fringe. But the fear that can't be, or can't be allowed to be articulated is still there. I may not hate you, the individual black person that I know and like, but I'm afraid of a horde of Them. Taking our jobs, changing our culture. While it's easy to love individuals--it always has been, even in the time of slavery and segregation--it's harder not to fear a Group. And many still hold inchoate fear. They are unnerved and "concerned" about black people as a group. Racism is in fact about a very specific kind of fear. It's the fear of losing power. Because. . .
Racism is about power. Who has power and who doesn't. But here in the United States our divide has never been about two groups struggling for the upper hand. This is not the War of the Roses. This is not the U.S. vs the USSR. It's not Northern Ireland. Despite what we're often told, racism is not exclusively a personal issue or a heart issue. It is a societal and cultural issue. We don't need "racial healing" or "racial reconciliation" in this country. This isn't a situation in which black and white people have been unfortunately feuding for many generations and now it's time to bring both sides to the table and work things out. There's no "both sides" here. Each side does not need to "do some work" and find it in their hearts to "forgive." White people haven't been wronged and thus cannot offer forgiveness. Black people have already had the value of forgiveness drilled into us by the larger culture that realizes that if black people can't forgive, we are all in trouble. One group of people have dominated another group of people for most of this country's history. What's needed is justice. What's needed is change. What's needed is a reevaluation of what we assume to be true in our culture. Because. . .
Racism is about superiority. It might seem that believing that you are superior to someone else must be the equivalent of hatred. I mean, isn't it obvious that you hate someone that you do not view as your equal? But think about this for a minute. People love their dogs (this was the comparison that really got under the skin of the guy I was debating on Facebook; he couldn't separate the upcoming analogy from believing the analogy to be true). They are man's best friend after all. We grieve them when they die, some even call them "family members." But you'd be hard pressed to find even the most ardent dog lover insist that dogs are equal to humans and should be granted the same rights and privileges we have. And just watch what happens when the family dog bites the family child. Suddenly it becomes very clear who is more valued. I'm not suggesting that any but the most radical racist sees African-Americans like dogs. But this wasn't always the case. Not too long ago this kind of thinking was a given. This "I love you but I am above you" thinking was certainly prevalent among many slave owners during the days of slavery. It's no accident that some of the slurs used against black people were designed to communicate not hatred, but a message of their "place" in society. Boy or gal are not hateful words in and of themselves. My sons are boys (right now). My saying that does not communicate that I hate them. It's an appropriate description of them mentally, physically, and emotionally. Now consider the slave owner who says of his beloved "Jim," "We've had our boy Jim in our family for most of my life and he's just fantastic." That statement while technically "loving" and appreciative is horrible because Jim, hair grayed, body stooped with years of labor is not a boy--not emotionally, not physically, not mentally. He is a man and every bit the equal of the "master." Of course few people countenance that kind of thinking now. But I am making the point that if one can con consciously view someone as not their equal but without an ounce of "hatred" in their hearts, they can certainly do so unconsciously. And while we've dismantled slavery and legal segregation, what's left are the beliefs that once justified those systems. Because. . .
What many of us don't realize is that racism had its roots in this country not in hatred, but in greed. Racism was an ugly but practical by product of rationalizing race-based slavery. Slavery in the New World started out the same way it had already existed for millennia (and the way it still exists illegally today, where human trafficking preys on the vulnerable). One group was overpowered by another group and enslaved. In Africa, one kingdom defeated another kingdom in battle and enslaved the losers, selling them to European slavers gathered on Africa's West Coast. Meanwhile the Spanish were enslaving the defeated Native Americans they encountered in the Caribbean, Mexico, and central and South America. But over time, it became apparent that it was economically useful to have a class of people, easily identifiable, who would be permanent slaves. The Native Americans were dying out from European diseases. Africans were easy to distinguish, immune to European diseases, and in the New World mostly already slaves or indentured servants. And then think of the genius: If one's "race" was tied to their status as slaves that meant that the children of the slaves you had would be your slaves as well. It's like if your money could give birth to more money. It was too good to pass up. And so gradually slavery came to shift from "You're my slave because we defeated you in battle; it could just as easily have been me but luckily it wasn't" to "You're my slave because you are 'black' and I am 'white.' While theoretically you could be free if I decided to grant you that, I could never be your slave because of who I am and who you are." Race-based slavery was institutional, economic, systemic not individual or emotional in nature. The emotional aspects came later and were born of rationalization not blind hate. Slavery of any kind is unChristian. It's wrong. And race-based slavery is even worse. So in order to sleep at night, in order to view oneself as a "good person" economic necessity wasn't enough. There had to be a "reason" that black people were "supposed" to be slaves. And so came the rationalizations: they're "savage", in need of Christianizing and civilizing, they are childlike and best suited for manual labor rather than intellectual pursuits, they are dangerous and need to be contained and controlled. Once white people and white society adopted these beliefs racism as we know it today was established.
What many of us don't realize is that racism had its roots in this country not in hatred, but in greed. Racism was an ugly but practical by product of rationalizing race-based slavery. Slavery in the New World started out the same way it had already existed for millennia (and the way it still exists illegally today, where human trafficking preys on the vulnerable). One group was overpowered by another group and enslaved. In Africa, one kingdom defeated another kingdom in battle and enslaved the losers, selling them to European slavers gathered on Africa's West Coast. Meanwhile the Spanish were enslaving the defeated Native Americans they encountered in the Caribbean, Mexico, and central and South America. But over time, it became apparent that it was economically useful to have a class of people, easily identifiable, who would be permanent slaves. The Native Americans were dying out from European diseases. Africans were easy to distinguish, immune to European diseases, and in the New World mostly already slaves or indentured servants. And then think of the genius: If one's "race" was tied to their status as slaves that meant that the children of the slaves you had would be your slaves as well. It's like if your money could give birth to more money. It was too good to pass up. And so gradually slavery came to shift from "You're my slave because we defeated you in battle; it could just as easily have been me but luckily it wasn't" to "You're my slave because you are 'black' and I am 'white.' While theoretically you could be free if I decided to grant you that, I could never be your slave because of who I am and who you are." Race-based slavery was institutional, economic, systemic not individual or emotional in nature. The emotional aspects came later and were born of rationalization not blind hate. Slavery of any kind is unChristian. It's wrong. And race-based slavery is even worse. So in order to sleep at night, in order to view oneself as a "good person" economic necessity wasn't enough. There had to be a "reason" that black people were "supposed" to be slaves. And so came the rationalizations: they're "savage", in need of Christianizing and civilizing, they are childlike and best suited for manual labor rather than intellectual pursuits, they are dangerous and need to be contained and controlled. Once white people and white society adopted these beliefs racism as we know it today was established.
So where does hate come in? It comes when those who have been assigned a station in life dare to try to rise above it. We are angered by those who challenge our authority: The insolent child. The biting dog. That anger--and fear--over time can and does coalesce into hatred. And why do we see less "hatred" today than we did in the past? Because the idea that black people "belong" in a lower station in life is no longer socially acceptable. Most of the obvious institutional scaffolding that justified the rage and the hatred has been taken down. White people are no longer enraged by the very sight of a black person who isn't in a subservient position. You can't get angry and ultimately hate someone for not holding to a system you've disavowed. But you can be angered by threats to the system that still remains. I find it fascinating that some of the most vitriolic responses to talk of racism is when we talk about it's systemic nature. It's odd because it would seem that this would be good news right? We're not blaming any individual person--we're not blaming you. But people hate the concept of systemic racism. It's a lie, it's a myth. It's just a few bad apples. I don't hate anybody. All this protesting is just causing division. Those are the cries of people unconsciously enraged by black people stepping out of the place they are now currently assigned and messing with the way everything's been set up. Come at me if you want, but leave the system--whether it's slavery or segregation or what's left of these in our society-- leave the system alone!
Dealing with racism today ultimately will boil down to destroying it in the same the way it was built. Racism wasn't built out of the hatred in people's hearts. It won't be destroyed by the warm fuzzy feelings in the heart. It will be destroyed however by love-- a sturdy, working, practical, and pragmatic kind of love. If racism was born out of greed, it must be killed through unselfishness and generosity of spirit. If fear has motivated racism, courage must be its antidote. In a sense it is individual work--not just laws passed and institutions challenged. But it's work that requires moving past the easy targets of racial hatred, to the more subtle issues of fear and selfishness. We must root out racism entirely, not just lop off the ugly branches and leave the nicer ones. Together we must take institutional, practical measures that dismantle a system built for the benefit of one group at the expense of another, and rebuild in a way that allows for true power-sharing and equity. (By that I don't mean "socialism". ..geez. Come on, people).
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