Some racism is worse than others. At least, I think that is true. We shudder at the racism of a white cop holding a hand-cuffed black man on the ground by placing his knee on the man’s neck. Or as happened in Winnipeg a few years ago an indigenous man left in an emergency waiting room for more than 24 hours before he died without being attended to. If the cop does that because the man is black that is racism. Or the hospital staff neglect the man in the waiting room because he is indigenous that is also racism. In both cases, it is bad. It’s wickedness is easy to see. Because it is easy to see it is easier to address. Subtle racism is harder to see and therefore its effects can be more pernicious. That is why I think it is much more dangerous.

When a group in a position of power holds prejudicial views of another race and those views are supported by the power of legal authority and institutional control, that racism can easily be transformed into a system of racism that might be difficult to discern exactly because it is so common and so pervasive. The reason it is so powerful is that such racism does not require an intentional act on the part of the racist. It just happens. In such a system racial prejudice functions implicitly without anyone consciously deciding to act on the basis of the prejudice. People function independently of their intentions or their own self-image. They don’t realize they are acting out racism. When that stage is reached it is incredibly dangerous. That is the stage that we are at in Canada and the Americans in the U.S..

That is why J. Kēhaulani Kauanui said, “Racism is a structure not an event.” Institutional power by people of influence can transform prejudice and discrimination into what Robin DiAngelo calls “structures of oppression.” Such structures are so important because they can inflict harm without anyone doing it intentionally. None of us look like we are racists, but we operate inside a racist system.

And then, as if that is not enough, such structures are often invisible for exactly the same reason–one does not see anyone intentionally doing a bad thing. This is what I called invisible racism in an earlier post. It all seems so normal, so natural. What could be wrong with that? The answer, of course, is that everything is wrong with that. As DiAngelo said, “Everyone has prejudice and discriminates, but structures of oppression go well beyond individuals.” That is because institutions have so much capacity to inflict serious harm. Power converts minor havoc into irreparable harm.

An example might help explain this. A good friend of mine constantly and rightly that me reminds me that women are guilty of discrimination too. Not just men. This is obviously true. But it is also a fact, that very few women have the ability to inflict as much harm as the institutional system that is controlled by men. Women cannot match that power. That usually makes discrimination by the system much more effective and hence more heinous than the discrimination by women. Men have been able to deny women their human rights for a long time because men controlled the institutions.

That is why systemic racism is so powerful and leads to so much harm. That is what we have to be on the look-out for.

Recently I blogged that I was a racist. At least I had been guilty of racism and was not proud of it. Some friends tried to let me off the hook. They said it was not really racism. I was being too hard on myself. I think they were wrong. I wish they were right. No one wants to be a racist—even me.

However, if we are racist we have to face up to it. Unless and until we fess up we cannot change. The great theologian Martin Buber said, “We can only be redeemed to the extent to which we can see ourselves.” We have to acknowledge our own racism even when that is uncomfortable. As Dan Lett said in a recent opinion piece in the Winnipeg Free Press, “…to get to a better place we’re going to need to own our racism.”

A recent Abaca poll in Canada indicated that most Canadians are actually aware of their own racism. 23% of Canadians surprisingly admitted that they had “a lot” or “some” racist views. Even though it was confidential survey I found that surprising. More than 67% believed racial discrimination was real. 61% acknowledged that racism was built into our institutions. That last one really bothered me. If 61% of Canadians believe the system is racist why are more people not speaking up about it? Where are the complaints? Why do people acquiesce? Why are so many people silent about it? Is it because they are complicit in that system? They benefit from the racism so keep quiet about it? That seems pretty nasty doesn’t it?

Yet as Lett pointed out, “it is highly unlikely only one in four Canadians have racist views. Instead the poll might confirm just how reluctant we are to admit our own racism.” Actually I think it is almost impossible to actually admit that one is a racist. In our society that is to admit that we are really bad except for explicit supremacists who explicitly think their race is superior.

Earlier I blogged about prejudice and discrimination. Lett made the following interesting point:

Racism is defined in most sources as ‘prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior.’ That is a broad definition that would catch most of us for something we said or thought.

However to avoid being labelled, many white people set the bar to qualify as a genuine racist much, much higher.

They would argue a true “racist” is a hateful person of almost comic book proportions who is actively seeking the oppression or eradication of an ethnic group. Think of the former apartheid government of South Africa: think the Ku Lux Klan and neo-Nazis. However, limiting the definition of racism to such extreme examples prevents us from seeing the more subtle ways we reinforce it in day-to-day life.

 

Such racists are easy targets. All of us are tempted to raise the bar high to get ourselves off the hook. None of us want to be thought of as racists. Yet, when one looks at Canadian or American society we have to admit there must be a lot of racists out there. And maybe I am one of them. That is a very uncomfortable thought.

Some racism is worse than others. At least, I think that is true. We shudder at the racism of a white cop holding a hand-cuffed black man on the ground by placing his knee on the man’s neck. Or as happened in Winnipeg a few years ago an indigenous man left in an emergency waiting room for more than 24 hours before he died without being attended to. The staff just thought he is was sleeping it off.  If the cop does that because the man is black that is racism. Or the hospital staff neglects the man in the waiting room because he is indigenous that is also racism. In both cases, it is bad. The wickedness is easy to see. Because it is easy to see it is easier to address. Subtle racism is harder to see and therefore its effects can be more pernicious. That is why I think it is much more dangerous.

When a group in a position of power holds prejudicial views of another race and those views are supported by the power of legal authority and institutional control that racism can easily be transformed into a system of racism that might be difficult to discern, exactly because it is so common and so pervasive. The reason it is so powerful is that such racism does not require an intentional act on the part of the racist. It just happens. In such a system racial prejudice functions implicitly without anyone consciously deciding to act on the basis of the prejudice. People function independently of their intentions or their own self-image. They don’t realize they are acting out racism. When that stage is reached it is incredibly dangerous.

That is why J. Kēhaulani Kauanui said, “Racism is a structure not an event.” Institutional power by people of influence can transform prejudice and discrimination into what Robin DiAngelo calls “structures of oppression.” Such structures are so important because they can inflict harm without anyone doing it intentionally. And then, as if that is not enough, such structures are often invisible for exactly the same reason–one does not see anyone intentionally doing a bad thing. This is what I called invisible racism. It all seems so normal, so natural. What could be wrong with that? The answer, of course, is that everything is wrong with that. As DiAngelo said, “Everyone has prejudice and discriminates, but structures of oppression go well beyond individuals.” That is because institutions have so much capacity to inflict serious harm. Power converts minor havoc into irreparable harm.

An example might help explain this. A good friend of mine constantly and rightly that reminds me that women are guilty of discrimination too. Not just men. This is obviously true. But it is also a fact, that very few women have the ability to inflict as much harm as the institutional system that is controlled by men. Women cannot match that power. That usually makes discrimination by the system more effective and hence more heinous than the discrimination by women. Men have been able to deny women their human rights for a long time because men controlled the institutions.

That is why systemic racism is so powerful and leads to so much harm. That is why invisible racism is often so much worse than obvious racism. That is why what happened in Minneapolis, bad as it was, is actually not as bad as systemic racism.