How can we tell if anyone is a racist?
Is there a blood test that will confirm it? “I’m sorry, Mr. Trump, but the results are in, and you are a racist.”
Will 23andme.com do a DNA test that reveals that he comes from racist stock?
When someone says, “He doesn’t have a racist bone in his body,” how do they know? I’m married to a forensic paleo-osteologist, and it’s not something she’s ever mentioned in 25 years. I’ve prodded her to investigate the topic, and her response is not something I need to hear again. Bones simply don’t have racism as a feature. Neither does blood. You’ve got to be carefully taught . . . .
The only thing we have to go on with Trump — or anybody else — is what they do:
The actions they take, the things they say.
That’s it. And the actions that they take and the things that they say aren’t necessarily indicative of some basic inner quality, anymore than an accent or a food preference is.
Racism isn’t in our bones, or in our blood. It’s in what we do or say. It’s not useful or helpful to say, “That SOB is a racist!,” no matter how accurate it may seem, especially if one’s goal is for them not to take racist actions or say racist things, or to get others to recognize the racist nature of what they say or do.
What may be useful is to point out, “That’s a racist thing to say, and here is why,” or “That is a racist action to take, and here is why.”
Racism does not reside in our blood or bones, but in our culture. When you accuse someone of being a racist, that is a totalizing, irredeemable charge, which is why so few are willing to make or sustain it. To label someone a racist is to label them as beyond the pale, when in reality, we are all infected with racist linguistic constructions and their cultural counterparts. Some of us embrace them and propagate them enthusiastically, some of us are conscious of them and reject them, many suffer from them, but most of us uncritically live within a culture where such memes have currency.
If you can say, “That is a racist statement, and here’s why,” then you might could lead people to think, instead of respond viscerally. The Trumpistas are going to only respond viscerally (have you ever visited a Free Republic thread?); the other 60% of Republicans are reachable, and shameable. I am reachable and shameable, and I’m no Trumpista.
But to return to the title question, we can tell Donald Trump is a racist by the things he says and the actions he takes. I’ll not endeavour to detail them here, for they are legion. But henceforth, when he pronounces racist utterances, I’ll be sure to focus on the content of his statements and why they are racist and therefore harmful to America, and not just on the odious nature of the speaker.
And so, to respond to his son-in-law’s “My father-in-law is not an anti-Semite,” the only response can be, “Then why does he propagate so many anti-Semitic ideas?”