Is America racist? Its history
and institutions say yes
By Noel A. Cazenave=Special to The
Hartford Courant
There is ample evidence to demon
strate what to many people of Afri
can descent and other people of color
is an obvious fact of life:
America is racist to its core.
This fact is evident when one ex
the
amines
nation’s histori
cal foundation
and legacy; its
white suprema
cist beliefs; and
Social science research documents that white racism
is central to the structure and operation of every
institution of American society.
the organization
and operation of
its social institutions.
Contemporary white racist attitudes
and practices are built upon this
nation’s legacy of past white-racist
views and actions. For example, un
derstanding current land disputes and
sovereignty-rights conflicts involving
American Indians requires knowledge
of federal government policies of
forced removal or genocide, which
drove American Indians from their
land to reservations. All but a tiny
percentage of their land was taken
from them, and the U.S. government
broke many, if not most, of the trea
ties it made with American Indians.
Knowledge of history also is
needed to appreciate fully why many
Latinos migrate to the United States
in search of economic opportunity.
For example, urged on by the popu
lar doctrine of the Manifest Destiny
of the “white race,” much of what was
Mexico was taken by the United
States by military force. That land
now includes all or parts of seven
states. Among those states is natural
resources-rich California, where,
ironically, not long ago voters ap
proved a proposition to stem the im
migration of Mexicans.
To understand why relatively few
people of Asian descent live in the
United States, and why Asian Ameri
cans often are viewed as foreigners
in their own country, we must remem
ber that Asians were excluded from
coming to the United States by im
migration laws that specifically barred
them. Racist immigration quotas
against Asians continued until the
mid-19605. Consistent with this
legacy of hostility toward Asians, in
recent years Asian Americans increas
ingly have been the targets of racist
violence.
Key to this historical legacy are
white supremacist values and ideolo
gies that often manifest themselves in
white racist stereotypes.
In his book "American Society,"
sociologist Robin Williams identifies
“group superiority themes" as one of
15 core American values. This in
cludes the assumption of “racial”
group superiority.
The superior evaluation of “white
ness” is evident to anyone who reads
the definitions of white and black in
any standard dictionary. It becomes
clear that these terms refer to much
more than benign racial designations.
The following are some of the values
my dictionary assigns to these suppos
edly value-neutral race/colors.
White is “auspicious, fortunate,”
“morally pure; innocent” and "lack
ing malice; harmless; white magic."
Black, of course, is the opposite.
Black is “marked by disaster or mis
fortune,” "gloomy, pessimistic; dis
mal: a black future,” “harmful, evil,
or wicked: a black heart." Black also
is “soiled or stained with dirt,” "sul
len or hostile" and “indicating cen
sure, disgrace, etc.: a black mark on
one’s record.”
Is it any wonder that surveys con
sistently show the acceptance of rac
ist stereotypes about people of color?
Black Americans commonly are seen
as lazy in comparison to European
Americans; violent; less intelligent
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than other racial groups; and people
who prefer to live off welfare. Simi
lar stereotypes are widely held to a
lesser degree for people of Latino de
scent. Moreover, both Latino Ameri
cans and Asian Americans, who of
ten are assumed to be non-Americans,
are thought to be less patriotic.
These stereotypes arc key building
blocks in the
ideological justi
fication of white
supremacist be
liefs and prac-
science research
documents that white racism is cen
tral to the structure and operation of
every institution of American society.
White racism affects societal judg
ments about appropriate sexual and
marriage partners. It often determines
where blacks and other people of
color are allowed to live, and conse
quently what schools their children
attend. White racism affects whether
they are encouraged or discouraged
in their college aspirations and the
availability, nature and quality of their
employment. It also impacts how they
are treated by the police and the rest
of the criminal justice system. White
racism affects their treatment in re
tail stores, how much they pay for
automobiles and houses, who they
know, their overall quality of life, their
health and, ultimately, their life ex
pectancy.
In brief, white racism is a systemic
problem, not a problem of a few ra
cial bigots. Since white racism is a
core feature of the organization and
evolution of American society, it will
persist unless society is changed in a
fundamental way. Its eradication re
quires systemic solutions that funda
mentally challenge both “white" ra
cial identity and privilege.
Cazenave is an associate professor of
sociology at the University of Con
necticut. He teaches a course called
White Racism.
Editorial
Only those who revel in
victimhood call America racist
By Laurence D. Cohen=(c) 1998, The
Hartford Courant
To theorize that America is inher
ently racist may be fashionable among
university scholars who revel in
victimhood, but the shabby generali
zation does no favqrs to those of us
who value clarity and logic and com
mon sense. ““
To toss around
the term “racism"
as a description for
a nation (or even as
a description for
the white majority
within the nation)
represents shabby
scholarship,
sloppy vocabulary
Social
and a thesis that
depends on anecdotes for evi-
ls the white migration to the sub
urbs “racism”? Blacks are moving to
the suburbs at an even faster rate. Is
opposition to racial quotas “racism”?
A growing number of blacks view
arbitrary quotas as an assault on their
own talent and skills. Is every white
cop who smacks around a black citi
zen a “racist”? What do we call it
when a cop smacks around a drunk
French Canadian dry waller who gets
hostile on a Saturday night?
“Racism” brings with it all sorts of
ideological baggage and a hodge
podge of speculation about human
interaction that can find safe haven
only in the friendly confines of uni
versity black studies or sociology de
partments.
Is there value to recognizing and
studying the friction (real and imag
ined) between black and white in
America? Of course there is. But to
be consumed by it, to amplify every
racial slight, distracts minorities from
the sad reality that lousy public
schools, destructive welfare programs
and dismal public housing are prod
ucts of their friends, not their enemies.
To mull why the French abuse the
Algerians, to study the historic ineq-
uities between the elite and the lower
classes in England, to consider the
nature of the tribal warfare with which
Africa has been afflicted, to make
sense of whatever curse afflicted the
Turks and Armenians: These and doz
ens of other examples of social, eco
nomic and political discord are as in
teresting and angst-ridden as white
Is there value to recognizing and studying the friction
(real and imagined) between black and white in
America? Of course there is. But to be consumed by
it, to amplify every racial slight, distracts minorities
from the sad reality that lousy public schools, destruc
tive welfare programs and dismal public housing are
products of their friends, not their enemies
black friction in America
Virtually every religious and eth
nic minority in America has a sad tale
to tell on the way to the great melting
pot (a much-scorned metaphor today
despite the fact that most Americans,
and immigrants to America, embrace
it still).
Do blacks have a special claim on
our national conscience? They were
enslaved; freed; limited in that free
dom; lynched, burned and bombed;
discouraged from exercising their
franchise; and run away from even as
integration became the law of the
land. It is a history lesson that is im
portant to learn.
But at what point do the victims fall
victim to history? At what point do
we cling to the peculiar comfort that
offers us the refuge, the sympathy, that
comes from victimhood? To be sure,
it is the conceit of the self-satisfied to
suggest that blacks “get over it” and
move on. But said a bit more gra
ciously and carefully, the culture of
America today screams out at us all
to get over it (whatever indignity “it”
may be) and move on, with the free
dom to prosper, whether or not we are
loved.
With the most outrageous legisla-
KENNETH STWtfS MAKE-CWER
Thursday, April 16, 1998 - The Behrend College Collegian, page 5
tive abuses to which blacks were sub
jected now relegated to documenta
ries about Martin Luther King Jr.,
blacks now are liberated by a culture
that responds to financial reward and
suspicion of government social engi-
ncenng.
Economist Jeremy Bentham. a
19th-century odd duck of a philoso
pher, had an in-
mon measure. The only common
measure the nature of things affords
is money. ... Those who are not satis
fied with the accuracy of this instru
ment must find out some other that
shall be more accurate.”
What do the Census Bureau num
bers suggest ' A job, a marriage, then
children: That is the surest road to
prosperity, to the American main
stream, whether or not you are ever
invited to join the country club,
whether or not you are black or white,
whether we are colorblind or merely
color-polite.
The American incentives to succeed
(color them green, not white) are more
persuasive as societal signposts than
any lingering examples of racial dis
cord. Is America a racist nation'.’ No,
America is a nation of choice-mak
ing machines, with the general good
sense and liberty to be productive
without the distraction of race-bait-
Racism is a footnote in the Ameri
can annual report. To acknowledge it
is appropriate; to put it on the front
cover distorts the truth.
Cohen is a senior fellow at the Yan
kee Institute for Public Policy Stud
ies, a public relations consultant and
a Courant columnist.
STWW A
yTOEROCK
teresting notion
about human
relations that
deserves to be
heard in our era
of suspicion.
"If we would
understand one
another,
must make use
of some com-