Racism

When I hear that America is awash in racism, and that we white people are all really racists, I cringe. The limited ocean in which I swim is made up mainly of solid, white, liberal Democrats who have fought racism most of our adult lives. We marched with Martin Luther King Jr. and have been champions of anti-racism wherever we have encountered or even heard about it. There are racists in America, but we should not be on that list—or should we? Are we really free of the horror generated by bigotry? I recently have become aware that this anti-racist attitude has made it difficult to admit or even see what racism among white liberals is all about. There follows a statement I picked up from Scott Woods, who is best known as a poet. Woods has occasionally appeared on National Public Radio and has been featured in “Profiles from the International Black Community.”

The problem is that white people see racism as conscious hate, whereas racism is bigger than that. Racism is a complex system of social and political levers and pulleys set up generations ago to continue working on behalf of whites at other people’s expense … Yes, racism looks like hate, but hate is just one manifestation. Privilege is another. Access is another. Ignorance is another. Apathy is another. … While I agree that no one is born a racist, it remains a powerful system that we’re born into. … It’s a set of socioeconomic traps and cultural values that are fired up every time we react with the world. It is a thing you have to keep scooping out of the boat of your life to keep from drowning in it. I know it’s hard work, but it’s the price you pay for owning everything.

Wood’s point confronts us with the reality that racism is not an attitude one might hold, but a social condition. It is not therefore anything we change by having friends of other races or fighting the bigots who live on the fringes of our liberal lives. Racism is not conquered by creating occasions for conversations across racial lines, attending workshops or welcoming those of other races into our churches, clubs or social gatherings. Among liberals it is not an attitude to be corrected, but a societal reality we cannot escape by any of our more benevolent impulses.

So what do we do? We probably should begin by admitting that white privilege is our reality, and has been for a long time. White privilege is the ocean in which we swim. While we cannot escape it, we must recognize its existence. I was born into it and it has dominated every important decision and circumstance with which I have been confronted. Societal issues may only be solved with organic remedies. And this means among other things, political action. The long-standing commitment to affirmative action was a healthy start. But even that has been effectively countered by branding it just another form of racism, disadvantaging qualified white students in an effort to fill quotas.

“Black Lives Matter,” is a passionate movement joined by a significant number of solid white liberals. A BLM flag flies from the flagpole at the center of our community. Rooting out police brutality is certainly worth our commitment, but its ending in violence, burnings and looting has turned out to be counterproductive and has little to do with addressing the roots of racism even while white participation has been crucial to the effective impact of the BLM movement. While frantic and misplaced calls to defund the police might have merit, even that leaves the cultural impact of racism unaffected. If the thousands in the BLM demonstrations do not rally their colleagues to vote, their militancy may be wasted.

Perhaps our major effort needs to be directed to attacking the system that for generations has been the root cause of American racism. To believe this societal disease can be easily overcome is to minimize the problem. Elections are only a good place to start. In addition, we must be certain that the opportunity to vote is guaranteed even while this commitment meets the resistance of those conservative political forces that believe limiting voting is to their advantage.

Admitting that racism is the nature of our white culture is also a necessary starting place. Beyond that, ridding the nation of those images and symbols celebrating slavery and the Confederacy must be systemically accomplished. This includes eliminating from our communities the Confederate battle flag and the symbols, including monuments honoring those who were the traitors to the nation.