Just by chance, this sign was made by the “Lonestar Restaurant Assn. Dallas, TX”
A few interesting things happen when someone suggests that racism might have played a role in someone’s actions (say, for example, an overly aggressive police officer’s actions). A couple of days ago I published THIS POST talking about how important is is to watch uncomfortable videos (like the one of the girl getting her face shoved into the ground at that pool party), along with a video about systemic racism, and one about videotaping police interactions. This is not the first time I have written posts that point out racial bias and discrimination–I actually write about it quite often–And I’ve noticed that the response to posts like this (at least in my white bread world) follow a fairly predictable pattern. In no particular order, here is what seems to follow any accusation of racism:
- Blame the media for trying to make it a “race thing.” People genuinely don’t want to believe that race had anything to do with it, so they blame the media for attempting to “turn it into something it’s not.” This is an especially powerful scapegoat if you suggest that they are only trying to make money.
- Suggest that the fault lies in the moral failings of the person getting hurt. It is a sentiment that says, “They should have obeyed, and they wouldn’t have gotten hurt/shot/killed.” This was most clearly seen when Walter Scott got shot in the back as he ran from an officer, and many people’s response was, “Why did he run?” It is also easily observable with people like Fox”News” anchor Megyn Kelly suggesting that the 14 year old girl was “no saint either.” Or pointing out that slain teenager Trayvon Martin had smoked marijuana during his short life. That list goes on and on. People don’t want to believe that the world is the sort of place where an innocent person gets harmed like that, so when they find out moral shortcomings, it comes as a relief.
- Blame the parents. You probably can’t get three comments into a thread about racism without someone blaming the parents. “WHERE WERE THEIR PARENTS??” If the person being victimized is too young to take responsibility for his or her actions, the moral failing must lie with the parents, because SYSTEMIC RACISM DOESN’T EXIST!!! This comes out when the question “What if that was your kid being harmed?” is answered with a response like, “That wouldn’t happen to MY kid, because MY kids have been taught to be respectful.” Which leads to the next one….
- Make calls for more corporal punishment. This is a very common solution for people at the stage of consciousness which refuses to see systemic racism–“They need to get their little behinds whooped.” It is either that, or this sort of person will chalk up their own respectfulness to getting THEIR asses whooped while growing up.
- Call you a racist for noticing racism. Saying things like “The people who see it all as racism are usually the people with the biggest problem with race” is basically the “Whoever smelt it, dealt it” of racism….
- Look for a black person who says it WASN’T about race. Oh my god, there is nothing sweeter for a person insisting that race had nothing to do with it that finding a person with dark skin who says they don’t think it was about race. They cling to those testimonies almost as tightly as they cling to the 3 out of 1000 scientists who claim that the proof of man’s effects on climate change is still unclear.
- Blame it on “thugs.” This makes it easier to differentiate between the “good” black people and the “bad” black people. It is the sort of thing that leads people to say things like, “I don’t have a problem with black people…. I just have a problem with THOSE KINDS of black people.”
- Dismiss the concept of White Privilege. There are few things more upsetting to us white people than someone suggesting we didn’t EARN everything we have. For example, a person on my Blogs’s Facebook page actually wrote the words, “I am white, and the priviliges I have are because I obey and respect the law.” I mean… I just can’t.
- Make yet another “One Bad Apple” defense. If the evidence seems overwhelming that race played a role in a person’s actions, an appeal will often be made that this was an isolated incident…. But how many “isolated incidents” does it take before something become a pattern?
- Say things like “Racism goes both ways.” This is basically saying, “Sure, it looks like there is some racism involved here, but there are plenty of black people who are racist against white people too.” Yes, I’m sure you feel the effects of that racism every day…. Try sending in a resumé with a black sounding name, and see how many times you get called back.
- Post “the other side of the story.” Just because you found an article from some ultra-conservative website that claims to tell “the other side of the story,” doesn’t mean you should repost it. Many people posted this article while trying to defend the actions of the officer Eric Casebolt in the pool party video. Read some of the comments…. Do they seem like the sort of thing you might hear at a KKK rally? Do you want to align yourself with that sort of thing? These are the people whose ideological company you keep.
- Follow political lines to a frightening degree. I’m being honest here…. I bet you that I could tell you–with about 95% accuracy–who a person voted for in the last presidential election just by reading a comment that person makes on a racially charged story like the McKinney pool party. And that is some scary stuff when you think about it. And what is even weirder is that the party of “less government intervention and more freedom” seems to be taking the side of side of the government in cases like these, but if the police were filmed violently throwing just the white kids onto the ground, people grab their trip-fold hats out of the closet.
- Stick your head in the sand. Even when presented with seemingly insurmountable evidence that race played a role, people’s cognitive dissonance kicks in, and they simply refuse to accept facts that don’t line up with their accepted world view.
Compare how the police treated participants of a shootout in Texas between white bikers (which left 9 people dead) to Officer Casebolt’s reaction to kids jumping the fence of a neighborhood pool. You might not be aware that the police officer in this case was sued in 2008 for racial bias and abuse (the case was dismissed, as the man who brought the suit said “he struggled to track down evidence while incarcerated”). In addition to this, officer Casebolt has a YouTube playlist titled “Police Training” that contains videos with titled like, “Man Attacks Baltimore Police Officer,” “Man Sucker-Punches Cop Gets Kicked in the Face,” and “Chief tells the TRUTH that Black People don’t want to hear.” He has since set the playlist to private, but below is a screen-capture of the contents before he changed the settings on his account:
It’s not super easy to see in this setting, but notice that he added the video “COPS CRASH POOL PARTY” (the video of him manhandling the girl in the bikini) to the list of “Police Training” videos…. These videos on this list are videos of violent altercations with police officers. All of the videos on this list happen to be altercations with black men.
Not long ago, I wrote a post titled “If It Wasn’t About Race Before, It Is Now.” It chronicled some of the hugely racist comments that followed the protests to the grand jury decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson. And as much as I know we’re not supposed to read the comments, if we’re going to have a realistic view of the problem of racism, I think we have to from time to time. The anonymity the internet provides allows people to show their true colors, and just like men anonymously burning crosses in people’s yards 70 years ago–The internet is today’s new pointy white hood. And sure, there are always going to be freaky, ultra-racist people there, but the overwhelming number of people who “Like” these horrible comments shows that the “freaky, ultra-racist people” are not alone in their sad way of seeing the world. Here is just a sampling of some of the comments from that viral “Other side of the story” post:
And then we even have some pride in people from the younger generation sharing the fair & balanced “other side of the story” from the CTH (ConservativeTreeHouse)….
There are hundreds of them…. And they are everywhere. Imagine being a black family in this neighborhood and reading so many of these hate-filled, racist comments. Look at just about any of the comments on the videos Eric Casebolt had on his playlist, and you will see stuff that is way worse. So bad that I don’t even want to repost them. But it’s not just YouTube comments and conservative blogs where you’ll find them. Here is one posted on story about the history of segregated pools from NPR:
To which came what is either an awesomely sarcastic reply, or an awesomely tragic reply:
These are dark times, but don’t be discouraged–In the dark, the light shines even brighter. Sometimes it seems like ignorance and hatred are everywhere, but truth and love are so much stronger. We cannot let cynicism take root in our hearts. We must watch the videos, we must (occasionally) read the comments, and we must let the reality and gravity of the situation become fuel for us to love people even better than we do. ALL people–The ones making the hateful comments, the ones being degraded and diminished by those comments, and the ones having those 13 reactions that I listed above who refuse to see racism for what it is–Everyone and everyone…. Until the light of our love illuminates the darkness of people’s hearts.
The Boeskool 
Once again, I thank you for so eloquently saying what I also see happening in this world.
You totally read my mind with the bullet points. i found myself thinking those same thoughts as I foolishly read through the comments.
Ooh. I come here for a detailed and intelligent explanation of liberal Christian opinions, and this might be your best article I’ve seen for that purpose.
Systemic racism exists; in particular, I know the court system is sick with it. I recognize that society has a much harder time with differences in skin color than with differences in, say, hair color. Generally white folks are not directly harmed by this, because of the concentration of power.
“Blame the media for trying to make it a ‘race thing.'”
Do you deny that this happens? I certainly don’t suggest that it’s always the case. This type of headline does tend to be an eye-catcher.
“Suggest that the fault lies in the moral failings of the person getting hurt.”
… Do you believe in having police at all?
“Blame the parents.” and “Make calls for more corporal punishment.”
I don’t see how these really have anything to do with racism. Maybe you didn’t mean for them to?
“Say things like ‘Racism goes both ways.'”
Social dysfunction tends to go both ways; racism is just one example.
“Call you a racist for noticing racism.”
Social dysfunction in politics goes both ways, too.
“Post ‘the other side of the story.'”
Hey, I found that same article by Google. The comments are terrible, but the fact that you had nothing to say about the article is, in my opinion, a compliment to it. From what I can see, that site tends to produce that level of quality. I read you, progressives, socialists, and one conservative, and now CTH.
“Follow political lines to a frightening degree.”
I agree, that’s irritating. I think we should all turn our coloring paper over so there are no lines.
“Look for a black person who says it WASN’T about race.”
Objecting to this tactic implies that black folks don’t have any more authority on racial matters than white folks, which is kind of the point.
“Blame it on ‘thugs.'” and “Dismiss the concept of White Privilege.” and “Stick your head in the sand.”
Yep, let’s have less of that.
So… How did I do?
“… Do you believe in having police at all?”
Oops, I should have switched back from my text-editor to your post for that one. I agree that ad hominem attacks are pointless and harmful.
Awe, Chris. You wrote a blog for me. Thanks!
Don’t you see how making blanket statements about white people (or black people or brown people or any kind of people) only exacerbates the racial divide? We need to build bridges and come together to resolve injustice. Making claims that can’t be proven about why a particular white person makes a choice is so completely destructive. Come on Chris. And vilifying and marginalizing people you disagree with by name calling does zero to make the country a more just and equitable place. Rather than suggesting and reinforcing the idea that the hardships minorities face are the result of some vast white conspiracy and a silent secret network of racists bent on repressing and murdering black people everywhere, we could do more to change the facts on the ground by finding the real causes of poverty implementing changes that will have a real impact on people’s lives.
This a million times. I don’t like laws, particularly federal ones, but otherwise I’ll go a good distance for this cause. Show me what I can do with my hands or mouth, within reason (i.e., I have a job and a budget), and I’m game.
In this current political kerfuffle, there aren’t very many people who are helping matters, except maybe the ones keeping their mouths shut. That’s becoming my opinion about most kerfuffles, actually.
Chris, where do I suggest or reinforce “the idea that the hardships minorities face are the result of some vast white conspiracy and a silent secret network of racists bent on repressing and murdering black people everywhere?” That is NOT what racism is…. Have you watched this yet? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_hx30zOi9I
That’s a good explanation of the term, and I didn’t know about this part before: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining
I didn’t think of the Illuminati while reading your post, but it did strike me as divisive. I suspect that what you quoted was hyperbole (and it seems to be accurate for some liberals).
Many of the racial controversies are rooted in irresponsible actions by individuals who happened to be black. (As explained on CTH, McKinney fits that description.) As long as you refuse to acknowledge this contributing factor, you’ll have a hard time building any dialogue with most conservatives, as opposed to a monologue or echo chamber.
There is no need to acknowledge that “many of the racial controversies are rooted in irresponsible actions by individuals who happened to be black.” Even your definition of “irresponsible” is probably so colored by a culture of systemic racism that it becomes a meaningless acknowledgment. One cannot separate the actions of persons from the system that birthed those actions. Someone said today, “It’s not the fish. It’s the water.”
Like you might see a black kid acting like what you define as “disrespectful,” but that’s only if they are playing by your rules. When I am crossing the road and a car is waiting for me, I hurry up and run a bit…. Because I feel bad for making them wait. Then, when I’m in a car and someone DOESN’T hurry up, I feel like that is a rude/disrespectful action. It used to piss me off. “How DARE they not hurry up for me!?!” But just a few generations ago, black folks had to–by law–enter a bus through the back door. A few generations before, they HAD to hurry up–For no pay–or they might get horribly beaten. Maybe a grandfather told that kid, “Don’t you ever run for NO ONE. You take your sweet, damn time crossing that road. Our people have been hurrying for others for too long.” And you might have no idea about that story. You just see someone not hurrying, and it looks to you like “disrespect.” Next thing you know, you’re PISSED–“How DARE that girl not move fast when I told her to move fast!?!”–and you find yourself throwing a 14 year old girl in a bikini on the ground for not walking fast enough. And then you lose your job, because people with eyes to see can see it for what it is: The fruits of racism.
It’s not the fish. It’s the water.
Ugh, so much to say, I don’t know where to start.
First, here are some cases where the injured person did *not* (best I can tell) do anything remotely justifying the injury:
#TamirRice
#TanishaAnderson
#SayHerName
All of those injured are black. All of their stories get me upset. And I think the bias to spread stories of violence *because they involve black folks*, and not bother with the others, is perverse.
“and you find yourself throwing a 14 year old girl in a bikini on the ground for not walking fast enough. And then you lose your job, because people with eyes to see can see it for what it is: The fruits of racism.”
The McKinney cop was wrong to get involved when he did; he should have waited until he wasn’t one man against a mob. He shouldn’t have cursed at the party-goers. Once he compromised his position, I think his physical actions were the best he could do in a terrible situation.
“Even your definition of “irresponsible” is probably so colored by a culture of systemic racism that it becomes a meaningless acknowledgment. One cannot separate the actions of persons from the system that birthed those actions.”
Sounds like culture shock. Is that what you’re getting at? That’s a sincere question, because maybe you wouldn’t call it that.
In McKinney, a party was organized on private property without the consent of the owners. (I think it’s actually multiple parties, but we didn’t notice until this one.) The result, apparently not intended by the organizer, was that a whole lot of teens jumped a fence to a pool, far exceeding the safe capacity of that pool. This all looks like the result of 1) not caring about others and 2) not being experienced enough to handle this type of situation.
Are you saying that I can’t make that judgment because I’m white? Are white folks simply incapable of judging black folks? Is the reverse true, that black folks can’t judge white folks?
What do you think we should do about all this? If we can’t understand each other due to race, we apparently can’t govern each other, and we can’t exist under the same democracy.
If this nonsense keeps up, I might end up agreeing with that. Germany seems to do OK keeping the nonsense at bay; maybe I’ll go there.
Chris, forgive me if I have put words in your mouth. You never said “the idea that the hardships minorities face are the result of some vast white conspiracy and a silent secret network of racists bent on repressing and murdering black people everywhere”. I made that conclusion based on your previous discussions of unconscious racism, white privilege, and systemic racism in this and other posts. The problem that I think we are running into is that of differing terminology, which it turns out is very important.
See when you (and others) use the term “racism”, I (and others) have understood you to mean:
1: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2: racial prejudice or discrimination
So I deduced that your “systemic racism” must be the widespread application of racist beliefs to drive repressive policies against minorities, or in other words “a vast white conspiracy…” After watching the video you linked, I see that what you’re really referring to is a historic disadvantage experienced by black people today. I think that is an undeniable fact in a statistical sense. Statistically speaking, any black baby boy born today is starting life with the odds stacked against him and that is something that we should work to change for sure. But that is completely different than saying that he’s starting with a disadvantage BECAUSE he’s black, as in his skin color is the CAUSE of his disadvantage. Does that make sense? When you (and others) call it systemic racism, you imply that there is a racist somewhere with his white hands on the levers discriminating and repressing minorities into there disadvantaged position. That would be reprehensible, if it were true. So repeating this mantra over and over again just pounds a wedge deeper and deeper between huge groups of people. Black people with relatively few negative first-hand experiences with white people have started viewing their neighbors and their co-workers with suspicion for the first time. As a white person, I have found myself questioning the sincerity of this whole movement since it seems to be based on the manipulation of words to get the greatest emotive effect on the masses. I mean, why is it not good enough to fully investigate an incident with the police and determine whether or not an action is appropriate in itself? Why is it not enough to say that Walter Scott was murdered and prosecute the officer? Why must we assume that race was the motive without any evidence to support it? Doing so suggests that this national dialog isn’t really about justice, but rather just a tribalistic power struggle between factions. I don’t want to believe that’s the case. I want to believe the goal is to make America more free and more just. It would be a whole lot easier to do so if people would remember that words have meaning and let Noah Webster be their guide.
I think your insight about different definitions/understandings of the word racism (along with the modifiers used around it) is crucial to flesh out and may even point to underlying ideological differences in addition to more simple definitional differences.
In the circles I run in (I am a white teacher in a low-income neighborhood), we use the words “systemic racism” to refer to the conglomeration of laws, actions, mindsets, and behaviors that contribute to a disparity in access and opportunities for individuals (usually in America) that…correlates to their race. Yes, I believe your hypothetical black baby boy has less chance of success BECAUSE he is black. It is not because his blackness weakens his ability, but rather because the aforementioned factors, at this moment in American society, combine in such a way that he has less opportunities than my eventual son will have. I understand the word “systemic” to imply this complicated combination of historical injustices that has created a world (a system) that allows race to have a profound effect on people’s lives.
I find it more useful to label behaviors, experiences, and environments as racist than trying to tack the adjective onto an individual. And I definitely agree with you: finding a common language with which to talk about these topics is only useful in that it allows us to work towards creating a world where people have equal access a opportunity and freedom.
This excellent article by a liberal is not directly relevant but too good to not mention: http://www.startribune.com/black-lives-lost-a-genocide-from-within/307309321/
So what do we do about this problem of systemic racism? The popular answer seems to be “pass a law to fix it,” but this seems like a terrible idea to me. Laws often cause push-back (like “affirmative action” as a racial slur) and have other undesirable side-effects. What can be done on the ground? Why don’t I hear of community-building exercises to socially integrate the races*?
Instead the black “civil rights” movement is busy making race *more* important and picking a fight with everyone who disagrees with them. Reconciliation is supposed to be the point, but blocking traffic because you can’t swim in someone else’s pool (search “We Can’t Swim, You Can’t Drive”) only encourages white flight.
races* – which don’t actually exist
I’m with everything here, and I haven’t even read half the article yet- which means I’m looking forward to the rest. The big ‘but: I think ‘Dismiss the Concept of White Privilege’ needs to be redone. In that entry, the example quote is “I am white, and the privileges I have are because I obey and respect the law”. I think that example points straight to a brutal slave economy {if I just lost you, OK.}- a brutal police state that continues to this day and frankly shapes the behavior of anyone in any class that it touches. People’s culture is manifest in their family, community and their selves, so Culture remains the bedrock of identity, even in the face of brutality. Nevertheless anyone exposed to industrial society over the last few thousand years and especially the last few hundred years, experiences changes in community behavior, family behavior and self. If the local economy is overturned and destroyed, kin systems break down and the community experiences a radical upheaval in its organization, a loss of cultural memory and accelerated evolution of identity.
When I hear “..obey and respect the law”, as in the above example, I preferentially hear something different than a lot of people hear. I definitely didn’t invent this genre of ‘hearing’: from an old text compiling letters from a 17th[?] century the premier Japanese buddhist monk to the premier samurai warrior of the time, it says ‘Embodiment means the law’. When the author of this blog post comments on the “I am white, and the privileges I have are because I obey and respect the law,” quote by saying, “..I just can’t..” it is because it can be hard to go there because it is so direct. What I mean by ‘direct’ is that the sentiment behind “I am white, and the privileges I have are because I obey and respect the law” is really analogous to American Exceptionalism, the notion that the US alone has supraglobal security concerns due to its unique moral state. Not the world’s policeman, but the seat of the crown of humanity. The profound ignorance of promulgating a world slave economy while claiming unique global moral supremacy underlies the narrative of slavery in this country and civil rights today. If someone claims to have everything they have simply because they obey and respect the law, ask what law and whose law. If they start talking comfortably about the Nuremberg Code and diss Cheney, or start talking about God or Enlightenment or Jesus or beauty in life and humanity and the cosmos, or whatever -in a clear, calm, open and full-hearted way, then we can start to talk and make these issues become visual and understandable, and open to safe discourse in the community. Visual and understandable, and open; embodiment. Thic Naht Hanh says ‘Peace work means, first of all, being peace’. It’s important to be out-in-front of it when it comes to Peace. Somebody says ‘I have everything I have because I obey and respect the law’- Yes you can turn it around to shine. Maybe talk about the implications for the moral institution of slavery given the motivated stance of informed consent embodied in the Nuremberg Code, that moral legal statement given by the US’s Greatest Generation in response to Nazis, and specifically in regards to slave labor and human experimentation. Something like a legal framework structured around the Nuremberg Code to address reparations for genocide (and slavery) in the US. It’s called peace and reconciliation, lots of people do it everywhere, ‘legally’.
PEACE
Unconscious bias exists for many as a result of sheer laziness and willful ignorance. I know I am dealing with a person deluded by racial reasoning when they routinely resort to easy stereotypes, overlooking that dysfunction exists as much among white people as among people of color. The selectivity of info that white racists focus on — always negative stuff regarding people of color — reveals their clear bias. One can easily research and find much positive information about blacks, Natives and other people of color if open to doing so. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
“overlooking that dysfunction exists as much among white people as among people of color.”
??? Do you meet these people often? I have the same complaint, but in reverse, as explained above. (And I think my complaint might apply more often to white liberals than to black folks.)
“The selectivity of info that white racists focus on — always negative stuff regarding people of color — reveals their clear bias. One can easily research and find much positive information about blacks, Natives and other people of color if open to doing so.”
Even needing to research to reach this conclusion seems bizarre to me. I wish we would all forget that race was ever something we cared about.
God loves us all. The issue I have with drawing a hard black and white line on this issue is that it tends to obfuscate the fact that race should not be part of the argument in the first place. We need to come together as one. We need to love one another. We need to stop seeing what color people are and start seeing that we all have the same color hearts. This is is the best I can do to describe my feelings. Peace be with us all!
Yes!
I like how the author generalizes white people the same way that he claims that white people generalize blacks. This is a completely biased article. Only shows the perspective of an ignorant individual.
#14–Make accusations of “Reverse Racism.”
#15–Make ad hominem attacks.
I think you need lessons in rhetoric… That approach is doomed. It’s also just as divisive as what you’re objecting to, except along political lines rather than racial.
This post in itself however is kind of racist. It implies that all these things are done only by the white population. That however is not true. Many times the black or mixed people that dare say their opinion that something wasn’t actually racist get so much hate from the black communities that its almost worse than a few racist comments. Being called a traitor to your race and told to die by “your own people” is awful. Any ethnicity can be racist and any ethnicity can hate their own “symphasizers of the opposite race” now a days it is hard work as a black person to make something grew out of your situation. But sitting back in the same ways that don’t work and looking actively for things to do to negatively affect other peoples lives is not the way to do it.
No shit, this dude tries so hard to be an ally to “mArGiNaLiZeD pEoPlE” but comes off as a whiny manchild that makes generalizations of races while calling the people that disagree with him “racist”. It’s almost comical reading this blog.
And “thug” is the new N word. In my experience, your points are very valid, and I tire of hearing them all.
Reblogged this on magthehistorian and commented:
This was a very insightful blog post. It made me think of the 1920s where the KKK was at its height of power and prestige. Only 10% of white Americans were in the Klan but the vast majority stayed quiet or silently cheered on the terrorist acts. Did those people just go away? No many of them raised their children with the same beliefs to stay quiet or silently support the racist, because we all know you are not racist unless you wear a Klan robe.
“…vast white conspiracy and a silent secret network of racists bent on repressing and murdering black people everywhere..”
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Reblogged this on Cheryl Writes and commented:
I wanted to share some bits of this, but the entire article hits the is just perfect. Go read. Now. I’ll wait.
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White people hate being exposed for racism, so they will deny it as much as they can. This is why we’re better off not discussing our racial issues with them. They will never get it and they will always deflect.
At least you never had to go through slavery or actual oppression. But no, instead bring up “muh 400 years” to derail from the fact that you’re fucking privileged compared to a lot of people out there.
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