Scuttlebutt: Racism, BLM and more
Lately I have been trying to figure out what a racist is. My years traveling around the world as a merchant seaman made it obvious to me that EVERYONE has some strong feelings about some other group, one that often gets categorized as belonging to another “race”.
Science (that pesky thing again) tells us that there is only one race of homo sapiens. This makes me uncomfortable using the word “race” to describe people of a different cultural or ethnic background than me. The idea that Europeans, Asians, and Africans are of a different race is so well accepted in common usage that for the purpose of this piece I guess I have to use the word as it is typically used, despite the fact that I think it sort of misses the whole point of inter-cultural relations.
Race is a political category that humans invented to create some space between themselves and another group that they have decided needs exploiting. This is typical of the English colonial way of thinking- and, of course, Spanish missionaries. Some have even used the concept of race to glorify themselves, thereby denigrating all “others”. Read Shogun, for example.
How about the Palestinians and the true Middle-Eastern Israelis? They look a lot alike to me and though they spell it differently, they both use the name Abraham or Ibrahim, yet I am sure many on both sides of that conflict consider themselves of a different race than the others.
Since we all have our preconceived—or programmed—beliefs about other people, you might say that makes all of us racists. I'm OK with that, but it begs the question, what do each of us do once we accept that idea. How we act with that knowledge is where the rubber hits the road.
So maybe it is not our beliefs, but our actions that really defines a racist. I may have some preconceived notions about the culture of Black, or Chinese, or Hispanic people, but do I allow those ideas to guide my behavior toward an individual member of one of those groups when my ethical principles should lead me in another direction? That seems to be what matters.
Another question: If I am put off by someone of another culture (that some would call another “race”) is it because of my unchecked bigotry or is it because that individual person happens to be a jerk? If I am being off-putting to that person because of our cultural differences, am I being a racist or just an asshole?
It is easy enough to define a person as racist if they openly take action to display their bigotry. The white power lunatics make it all too obvious how that goes, but any bank manager still practicing redlining is morally just as racist as the nuts that get on TV.
People often go along with their peer group regarding the negative attributes of another “race” simply to keep from being singled out for scrutiny. They don't want to speak up when they see others repeating racist ideas for fear of being attacked themselves. So are these people racists or just cowards? Does it matter? And is everyone always expected to act heroically? It is not easy to go against dominant thinking. Group thought doesn't tolerate contrary opinions very well.
Perhaps the most positive street-level effect of the Black Lives Matter movement will be the increased willingness of white people to speak up when they see racial injustice. If the BLM rallies are any indication, white people are more than ever deciding to speak out about their own frustration with the lasting effects of America's “original sin”.
The targets of racism are, of course, the most seriously affected by racial stereotypes, but racial bigotry affects all of us. Not only does a nation lose out by denying the equal participation of all the talents of its citizenry, but we all individually are denied the intellectual growth that comes with experiencing other cultures. Most people understand that travel broadens the mind and opens new channels of thought and communication. People who never visit other cultures tend to be more insular and provincial. The same holds true within our country. If our different cultures don't- or can't- mix, then we are all the poorer for not sharing our different strengths.
Things do seem to be changing. Beginning with the boomer generation appreciation of cultural differences began to emerge. White kids went crazy for black musicians. Oddly, Chuck Berry might be one of the most significant motivators of racial integration in America.
White civil rights workers in the South during the 1960s braved the scorn of their white peers (Viola Gregg Liuzzo was murdered by the Klan), and even Lyndon Johnson, who is reported to have used the n-word in private, felt obliged to sign the Civil Rights Act.
Despite whatever criticism is leveled at millennials, it can happily be said that they seem to be the least racist members of our society. The percentage of interracial marriages has more than doubled since 1980. 22% of blacks ages 15 to 29 are intermarried. Of all newlyweds in their 30s,18% are married to someone of a different race or ethnicity. Among all white newlyweds, the rate is around 11%.
Perhaps the best advice for creating racial harmony comes from the Warren Beattie character in the film "Bulworth". I believe it was the concluding line of the movie when he stated, “all we need is a voluntary, free-spirited, open-ended program of procreative racial deconstruction. Everybody has got to just keep f***kin' everybody 'til they're all the same color.”
Photographs of (top) Viola Greg Liuzzo. and (above) Chuck Berry
