I was perusing the Skepchick blog for new articles when I came across this. They talk about an article written by Tim Wise that discusses the racism of liberals. It's a pretty good piece, but it's not really news to me. I've always found that people who spend an such inordinate amount of time trying to convince others that they aren't racist, are really trying to convince themselves. The topic racism though, is one that tends to put me into rant mode(what doesn't, really?). You know what that means? That's right, it's time for a harangue! So, hold onto your asses, assholders!
Racism is a symptom of a far larger problem in our society. That is to say, it's part of the biased treatment of people based on some trait they have, but didn't choose. We don't have a say in so many of things that make up who we are. Skin color, hair color, eye color, gender, sexual preference, who your parents are, and where you are born, are all things that are completely out of your control. Simply put, it's wrong to treat a person badly because of these things. You can't control who your parents were anymore than a tree can choose to be a giraffe.
If one looks at racism from this vista, it's clear to see that it's part of the same overarching issue. One can't simply challenge racism by itself, because this leaves all of the other issues unresolved. The struggle of any person to prevail against a given bias is the same, despite the bias being challenged. We have to learn to regard people with equal respect and dignity, in spite of our differences. This is the only way that our species will progress.
Tim Wise makes a good point in his article about trying to include other groups of people in political activism and other organizations. Many activism groups end up being predominately white simply due to a sort of apathy. Here's what he says specifically:
In short, while progressive formations should almost instinctively recoil from overwhelming whiteness — since it likely signals serious failings in coalition-building, strategy and tactics, as well as utter obliviousness to the way in which we’re going about our business and base-building — liberal-left colorblindness trades this critical introspection for a bland and dispassionate nonchalance. “Oh well,” some will say, “We put up signs and sent out e-mails, and we can’t control who comes to the meetings/rallies/protests and who doesn’t.” End of story, end of problem.
It's really sad, but it is completely true. When I was involved with the Ron Paul campaign back in 2008, I saw very much the same thing. It's not that Ron Paul's message was one that appealed to only white people, but rather nobody seemed willing to do the kind of leg work needed. In order to include people equally, you need to spread your message equally and create an environment where all people feel comfortable. This sometimes means you have to go out and talk to people. Sadly, not everyone has access to the internet or a computer.
I think that it's important that if we want to change society, we have recognize the privilege that being white holds. If you're white and living in the developed world, then you are better off than most of the people living on the planet. This is a cold fact of reality. It is folly to ignore this little bit of information. If someone does ignore this, they run the risk of walking through life with rose tinted glasses obstructing their view. But, conversely someone shouldn't live their life lamenting it and feeling guilty for being white. Feeling guilty for being white is completely pointless(as is feeling guilt for any accident of your birth).
Before we can hope to fix our social issues, we must first recognize that they exist. You can't treat a problem that you refuse to acknowledge. Sometimes this requires us to take a very sober look in the mirror. As the article points out, even the places that we think of as bastions of Liberal ideas, are still plagued by the problems of racism. It's not something that most would probably like to admit. Which makes the whole issue just that much harder to resolve.
Even though the developed world has made some great strides toward eliminating such social injustices, there is a great deal left to be done. But that's just the developed nations of the world. There is far more yet to do in developing nations, where old hatreds still burn hot and people are divided by many lines. Be they religious, ethnic, sexual, or national.
One thing that irked me while I was reading the article was the use of the term "liberal-left". I can honestly say that I'm not a big fan of labels. They can sometimes be useful in expressing a notion. For instance, I'm an atheist. It's a really neat, shorthand way of saying that I have no belief in deities of any sort. Other labels are often far more complex and subjective. The whole Liberal/Democrat and Conservative/Republican thing is a good example. It becomes an easy way to polarize people without ever actually dealing with the substance of their ideology.
Republican\Conservative has come to be synonymous with theism, racism, pro-life, pro-war, and George W. Bush. Democrat\Liberal has become synonymous with pro-choice, antiracism, anti-war, and Barack Obama. They become a simple way to immediately judge someone without even listening to their worldview. It's guilt by association. When you say that you're a Liberal, people make all sorts of assumptions about you. Even worse, when many people take on a label like Liberal, they immediately assume that it makes them immune to certain things. For instance, if you're a Liberal, you just simply couldn't be a racist. As if it's a free pass, an exemption from having to question your own world view.
This is incredibly problematic when it comes to actually fixing problems. If you assume that your group is infallible, then there is simply no way to approach the issue. Again it comes back to conundrum of dealing with a problem that no one will even speak about. Something that is somewhat pointed out in the article.
But suggest that racism and discrimination are also significant problems in more “progressive spaces,” even among self-proclaimed liberals and leftists themselves — and that it might be unearthed in our political movements — and prepare to be met with icy stares, or worse, a self-righteous vitriol that seeks to separate “real racism” (the right-wing kind) from not-so-real racism (the kind we on the left sometimes foster). And know that before long, someone will admonish you to focus on the “real enemy,” rather than fighting amongst ourselves. “What we need is unity,” these voices say, “and all that talk about racism on the left just divides us further.”
The labels in themselves aren't really bad things. They are, after all, just words and words are pretty powerless without people. The real dilemma arises when we willingly accept a label in place of the person's world view and make assumptions about them without further evidence. This is association fallacy in its worst form. Pointing this out though, as Tim suggests in the article, often creates a great deal of vexation.
I have heard very few things in my life as contrived as the lines "some of my best friends are black!" or "I voted for Obama!"; both of which imply that one couldn't possibly be racist. If you feel that you must constantly convince the world that you aren't racist, maybe you should ask yourself who it is that you're really trying to convince. Furthermore, the whole action of voting for someone simply because of the color of their skin, regardless of the color, is itself a racist action. The liberal voting for Obama simply because he is black is little different than the conservative voting for McCain simply because he is white.
It would be something that would deeply worry me if I voted for a black man, just so I could say it to not feel like a racist. I think it would be a sign that I was in denial about my own beliefs. I can't imagine that carrying such a profound cognitive dissonance would be good for one's mental health.
I often wonder that myself. Thankfully, I don't let such questions stop me from rambling on. Succinctness if for suckers anyway. Verbosity is far more exciting(all the cool kids are doing it)! But, in all seriousness, I could probably write a book on the topic(or any topic really). It's something that I'm intensely passionate about and something that I think needs to be discussed.
In all the vastness of space and time, we're alone on this little rock. We're just one human family, riding out existence on a little bit of blue amongst the black backdrop of night. If we are to survive we need to work with each other. Our very future rides on the promise that we can erase the lines that divide us.
