Racist? Guilty as Charged?

We hear a lot these days about racial injustice, white supremacy and systemic racism. There are many misconceptions and sometimes intentional misinterpretations that perhaps I can help clear up.

We all have biases, as what we believe is primarily based on our past experiences. We achieve these biases mostly unconsciously, so that there is no fault or blame to assign here. We have been immersed in a white dominant society. The effect is that we have been exposed to white being considered “normal” without our even realizing it.

However, even if we have an unconscious bias against others of another race, religion, national origin or sexual preference, that does not mean we are discriminatory, as we can consciously choose to act discriminatorily or non-discriminatory.

Bias, reinforced by the force of law, is the definition of “systemic racism”. Our national history is full of laws that have the intent of discriminating in favor of whites and against blacks and people of color. Some laws perhaps do not have the intent to discriminate but have the impact of discrimination. Collectively these have had the effect of creating vast differences in economic outcomes between blacks and whites. These differences in opportunity and results are what drives the term “white supremacy” and which results in “racial injustice”.

While some people can be consciously racist, the bulk of Americans are not. But, as a society, we can be racist without the vast majority being at all blameworthy. Nonetheless, some writers who write about racism feel that unless we personally are actively “anti-racist” we are by default “racist”. That is, if I am not actively against or if I am simply complacent about laws that intentionally or by impact are discriminatory, I am complicit in the racism. Obviously, this offends many “good people” who don’t feel at all responsible for things done in the distant past by people we didn’t know, are not related to or have any connection with. Nonetheless, the racial justice advocates believe, based on ample evidence, that racism still exists today and if we personally are not “anti-racist” then we are all collectively culpable.

I was raised hearing my mom’s mantra of “work hard and get an education”, which application has enabled my family to grow out of poverty to a comfortable financial status. So, I have a bias towards personal responsibility to one’s results in life. That led me to believe for years that the condition of people in poverty was largely the result of the choices they have made in their lives. Now, having learned about many opportunities I have received in life that have not been equally available, I realize that “pulling oneself up by the bootstraps” has not been equally possible.

The result is that I still believe in personal responsibility but also that we as Americans need to take action to truly allow all to live the American Dream. The United States is a great country, but it is not a perfect country. Let us all strive to live up to the ideals that our forefathers aspired to, that “All men are created equal”.