In America, many equate discussing race with being racist (on Daily Kos, it is a frequent battle across so many diaries). And now with Harry Reid's quote about Obama's demographic chances as a candidate leading the news, the argument kicks up yet again on the national stage, with some healthy hypocrisy and spin from his opponents.
UPDATE: Here is Sen. Reid's quote from the book "Game Change" by journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann:
"He was wowed by Obama’s oratorical gifts and believed that the country was ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama — a ‘light-skinned’ African American ‘with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one,’ as he later put it privately."
I think now is a really good time to present a simple overview on race and racism. Join me on the swing with a cool glass of lemonade, and I will share some simple thoughts with you.
Whether you claim to have been riveted or revolted by President Obama's address on racism last spring, the Nielsen company tells me you watched it. That frank and personal dialogue about race, in which Obama spoke honestly about his beloved grandmother's own conflicting issues with Black men, kicked up a storm of confusion. Joe Scarbrough embraced the meme with his morning show comments:
I really wonder why anybody, why any man would throw his grandmother under the bus during a political speech, regardless of the point he was trying to make.
My ethnic friends and I just sighed. Obama had made a true statement about his grandmother's struggles with race. Why would sharing that reality be represented as "throwing her under the bus"? We all love people who are mildly or wildly racist - doesn't everybody love people despite some flaws? But we knew that facility in racial dialogue is a gift not always given to American children.
In fact, many Americans equate any mention of race with racist behavior. Ironically, they often assign this conflation to people of color, even when people of color are specifically shrugging and saying, "Hmm, not racist to me." As I have often written here on DKos, mentioning race does not equal a charge of racism. But that is because I have lived a life comfortably, deeply and frequently discussing race. And I have met many, including friends here of many ethnicities, for whom such discussions are new.
On "The View" today, Elizabeth Hasselbeck repeated the current meme that "if a Republican had said that, people would be flipping out" (paraphrased). That is a simplistic evaluation by someone who believes that all mentions of race are of equal intention and result, who does not understand, believe or respect that people who study and live and regularly discuss race can consistently evaluate and categorize race-related statements and behavior. Such evaluations are not capricious, malicious or arbitrary; they are fairly uniform. So as the news and the blogosphere and perhaps even you wrestle with Sen. Reid's statement and the reaction of people of color, I thought here, at last, is an opportunity to share the foundations of racial dialogue from a woman of color's POV.
Here, now, is a glossary of terms to help engage in racial discourse and understand how people of color often use terms in such discussions. Your own additions, nuances and debate are invited below.
(1) Racial Dialogue or Discussion. Objective discourse that includes mention of people's races or race as a topic. Judgment, insult, condescension or subjugation of the people being discussed are not part of the tone or content.
Example: "My daughter-in-law is Black." "The average African-American family has only 18 percent of the wealth of the average White family."
Usage: Racial dialogue is common among people of color. In many cultures in America, race and culture are positively intertwined, and mention of race is casual, comfortable and accepted. You may mention the race of someone you live with or love, crazy racial statements someone made to you or general beliefs about racial beliefs in America.
The inclusion of race, if stated objectively, is meant to be objective. As the glossary continues, you will see that there are specific terms for other purposes, and those are used for those purposes. Little needs to be inferred or subliminally "teased out" in common racial dialogue. If a person of color means to call you a racist, they will use that term. But it is not tossed around as lightly as many believe. The other terms below are not code words that really mean "racist!"; they are terms with their own definitions and use.
If you find yourself uncomfortable discussing race even in objective statements, this primer may help you connect better with the nuance and distinctions and gradations that people of color may seem more facile applying.
(2) Prejudice. When people characterize something or someone as "racist," they often really mean "prejudiced." Prejudice is the belief that another group or culture, as a whole, shares a characteristic. That can be a physical feature, a taste in something, a behavior pattern, etc.
Example: Believing or stating that members of certain cultures are thieves, lazy, happy, technologically superior, it doesn't matter - as soon as you operate from a preconceived belief everyone of a group has that trait by virtue of belonging to that group, you have "prejudged" them and are "prejudiced."
Usage: Anyone of any culture can be prejudiced against another culture - or their own. Spelling - there is no letter "g" in the word "prejudice." The noun is "prejudice" (e.g., "Prejudice is the root of much inequality in our country.") and the modifier is "prejudiced" ("It is challenging to converse with a prejudiced person.") "Prejudiceness" is not a word.
(3) Racism. Racism is empowered prejudice. When an individual or group from a culture's dominant race states, acts upon or institutionalizes prejudiced beliefs about those from a subjugated race, that is considered "racist behavior."
Example: White Americans distributing images of the President as a monkey/with a watermelon patch for a front lawn of the White House/with a bone through his nose as a "witch doctor" or stating that a gorilla is the President's African-American wife's "ancestor" or yelling a racial epithet at someone or using it behind their back, etc.
Usage: The content of an interaction, in a vacuum, does not make it racist. Nor does its intent. Again, racism is assessed by the cultural position of the person who speaks or acts on a prejudice and the cultural position of the person or group being targeted by that statement or action. The word "racism" means a dominant-to-subjugated relationship in that experience.
In this country, the dominant culture is the White mainstream culture. The subjugated cultures are those of color. So George Allen calling a volunteer of Indian descent "macaca" is racist. Trent Lott wishing a segregationist had been elected president so that we would not have had "all these problems" is racist. But Harry Reid's statement that Obama's skin tone and voice would be less harmful to his candidacy is, in fact, a comment by a White person about White people. That is why Black organizations have ignored it or rejected categorizing it as a racist statement. Josh Marshall put it best on TPM:
Talking about racism does not make you a racist; advocating racism does.
Also, "racism" is not a global term for institutionalized prejudice. It refers to race-based institutionalized prejudice. There are many other forms and corresponding terms, including sexism, anti-Semitism and homophobia.
UPDATE: Thanks to soothsayer99 for specifically singling out systemic/institutional racism. That is the codification of racial oppression into law, policy or standard practice (even if such a practice is specifically illegal). Jim Crow, redlining in real estate and disparate conviction rates and terms in the U.S. prison system are examples of institutionalized racism. Its partner is systemic or institutional privilege, as explained next.
(4) Privilege. Privilege is the institutionalization of advantage for the recipient group's benefit. By "institutionalization," I mean it is codified into law, policy or standard practice (even if it is, in fact, illegal). In America, White privilege and male privilege have long been institutionalized realities. But having privilege is not the equivalent of being racist. White Americans can flat out reject all access to privilege the country affords them, and their privilege still exists. You don't have to like it or use it to have it.
Example: The White civil rights workers who marched and died alongside their brothers and sisters of color had privilege. They could sit at a lunch counter, shop in any store, buy in any neighborhood. They were fighting to dismantle that privilege.
Usage: Privilege is a given, an acknowledged reality for many people of color. Arguing against its existence will counter the legitimacy of any associated argument you might present. If you find yourself personally affronted by the mention of the term, remember the White civil rights workers who inherited privilege but abhorred it. That will help remind you that privilege is institutional; prejudice is personal. If someone calls you privileged, and you are White, straight, wealthy or male and American, then you, in fact, are. (You may not have actively used or abused - or even been aware of - that privilege. But it is a foundation of our nation's construction and ongoing existence, and you inherited it at birth.) If someone calls you prejudiced or entitled, however, then you can personally assess and respond.
There is no letter "d" in the word "privilege."
(5) Entitlement. Entitlement is a personal belief, manifested in word and deed, that you deserve and even earned the institutional privilege you have been granted. Entitlement suggests that you do, indeed, expect, use and abuse your privilege, even if it is subconscious behavior. It is not a race-based expression; instead, "White entitlement" reflects the racial term. Entitlement can also be gender-based, class-based, sexuality-based, religion-based, etc. "Mainstream entitlement" often reflects all of the above.
Example: A White person who believes or states that African-Americans should or should not be offended by Harry Reid's statement, that they are hypocrites if they are or are not, or that they are feigning/inventing a distinction between Reid and Lott's statements is displaying entitlement because such statements are rooted in the belief that as a White person, his or her unfounded opinion is the equivalent or, in fact, superior truth to the real experiences, academic understandings and evolved foundation of beliefs of African-Americans.
Usage: Entitlement conveys the belief that, as a White person, even with no related life experience, researched facts and, perhaps, even lesser education than those to whom you are speaking, you are inherently equal or superior to anyone with whom you converse by simple virtue of being White. If you act or express yourself in a way that equates your uninformed feelings as equivalent to someone else's tangible facts, that is entitled behavior, as is the belief that you do not need to further inform yourself before continuing in discussion or that someone else could legitimately know more than you about any subject, even when you have never studied or personally experienced. If you do not behave as such, then you would not be considered entitled.
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Check-in. How are you doing with the racial dialogue so far? Is it difficult to receive objective or conditional statements, even if they do not apply to you, if they include race as a factor? Stay with me. It gets more comfortable with exercise and time.
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(6) Offensive. In race-based discussions, this is an often lighter term used to advise that a statement or action was insulting. Its application is sometimes intentionally used to separate the word or deed from the person's intentions.
Example: "I found your comparison of my skin tone to chocolate/earth tone palettes/various coffee products offensive."
Usage: "Offensive" characterizes an insulting word or deed itself. Many people equate being told that something they have done is offensive to being called "racist." Please know that to many people of color, the word "racist" has a real meaning and is specifically used when it is appropriate. If someone says you have offended them, it is often a softer statement that gives you the benefit of the doubt. An apology is welcome and usually ends any discomfort in the dialogue. An attempt to invalidate that person's frame of reference, instead, may escalate you from "offensive" to "entitled," as explained in the "Usage" section under entitlement.
(7) Insensitive. In race-based discussions, this is a somewhat lighter term used to advise that a statement or action was insulting. Its application is sometimes intentionally used to suggest the person is aware of the effect of his or her behavior.
Example: "Harry Reid's remarks invoking Barack Obama's skin tone and dialect were racially insensitive."
Usage: "Insensitive" can characterize a statement or deed, or, if the behavior is repeatedly demonstrated, the person himself or herself. Like "offensive," many people equate a charge of "insensitivity" with being called a "racist." Instead, it can mean that you are choosing not to care that your behavior is insulting and are consciously continuing in that pattern.
(8) Hyper-sensitive. This is a commonly mainstream term used to invalidate any of the above words, regardless of their accuracy as an assessment of behavior. It attempts to redirect discussion from the actual behavior being assessed by instead discrediting the person making such an assessment. It is an expression of entitlement because a member of the dominant culture is expressing that he or she has the right to determine what is or is not insulting or oppressive to the person experience the statement or behavior.
Example: "Offering a big slab of watermelon to our show's first Black writer was a joke, and he complained to the executive producer. He's just hyper-sensitive."
Usage: "Hyper-sensitive" generally is used to invalidate claims of insult or injustice made by individuals or groups.
(9) Politically correct. This is a commonly mainstream term used to invalidate institutional changes that dismantle privilege or offer better or equal status to subjugated groups. It also is used to invalidate justly earned positions and accolades by traditionally subjugated individuals and groups by claiming such recognition was due to unwarranted currying of favor (sometimes also phrased as "Affirmative Action ____," e.g., Affirmative Action hire, Affirmative Action baby, etc.)
Example: Sports fans who are not American Indians routinely claim that rejection of American Indian-based mascots is due to "political correctness" rather than respect for the requests of first nations to counter negative images or have their culture appropriated and misrepresented by another group. (By contrast, "entitlement" would be patiently explaining to American Indians that a given mascot to which they object actually is a positive image that uplifts them.)
Usage: "Politically correct" is mainly used to detract from a subjugated group's expectation, request or demand for institutional respect of their culture and control over its representation.
(10) Colorblind. This is a commonly mainstream term used in racial dialogue by a person who feels unable to otherwise contribute at a level that he or she perceives as equal to the others engaged in the discussion.
Example: "I'm colorblind; I don't see race - I see people."
Usage: Requests for and claims of colorblindness frequently occur in complex racial discussions. It is may be used by someone who does not yet have comfort and vocabulary to participate at an academic or experience-based level. Its surface intention is to show support, but its subconscious intention can be to elevate one's own perceived lack of contribution and make it equal to the deeper discussion. In that sense, it, ironically, serves to invalidate the worth of such discussions by stating that denial of race and cultural experiences is equal or preferable to acknowledging and embracing them.
A statement of colorblindness is not regularly received as an offensive or insensitive, but it can be received as entitled, because it presents that it is preferable to never acknowledge race, without: 1) realizing such a worldview and practice is afforded only to those who do not routinely have to due to racism and institutionalized privilege; and 2) understanding that race and culture are sources of pride, identity and joy to many who can discuss it objectively and do not equate the mention of race with discomfort, discord or anger needing to be diffused with colorblindness.
(11) Person of Color (PoC). This is an umbrella term for people around the world of African, Asian, Hispanic/Latino, Indigenous/American Indian and Middle Eastern descent. In the U.S., "ethnic" also is often used to describe people of color.
Example: "Barack Obama has appointed a number of people of color to high ranks in his administration."
Usage: I learned here on DKos that some people think that People of Color is another term for "Black." Rather, it is an all-embracing term for multiple, non-White ethnicities.
That is the beginning of a primer from a woman of color's point of view. What I hope will follow, of course, is interesting racial dialogue. What may happen, of course, is crickets. It is late-night already in the blogosphere.
If, instead, you are feeling a strong emotional reaction: Consider that your reaction could be due to discomfort or unfamiliarity you have with racial dialogue. Re-read to see if you or anyone is being called racist in the diary or if race is just being mentioned, and you still equate its mention with a subliminal charge of racism.
If you still feel a need to shut this discussion down or attack it, first, ask yourself, and share, what is so enraging about being called racist if you are not racist? If someone called you short, and you are actually tall, would that equally enrage you? Are you possibly reacting to a feeling of powerlessness, that you feel you don't have any default authority to immediately reject such a charge? Do you resent the feeling that you have to prove your innocence of such a charge, even if you are not directly being considered guilty of it? Think such things through and try to respond to the substance of those considerations rather than with deflection or attacks.
Whatever your experience is of this diary, I thank you for reading it. I invite you to contribute your actual feelings in the moment, examine them, share them, explore them. That is what dorm stairwells, and late-night dinner parties and backyard swings with lemonade are for.