What Racism Really Is...Explained...Once A-gain
It is yet another dark period in America. And if you haven’t heard why already I will assume that you are one of the following:
A. Clinically blind, deaf, and Amish.
B. That you live under a toll bridge in a fantasy land created by your own LSD induced trip...or,
C. You have just been released from Guantanamo Bay.
But if you do not fall under any one of these categories and you live in America and especially if you are African American, then you know that the proverbial tectonic plates are again shifting under this nation. Once again we found ourselves witnesses to the unjustified murders of four Black men at the hands of white police officers, the most prominent of these cases being that of Alton Sterling of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Philando Castile of St. Paul, Minnesota. Other such murders within this week include Delron Small, a New Jersey man who was killed in New York by an off duty police officer on July 4th, 2016, and Alva Braziel who was murdered while surrendering to police in Houston, TX. Even more, as protests erupted around the nation to the blatant and horrifically public murders of Sterling and Castile, a demonstration that took place in Dallas was brought to a chaotic halt when gunfire erupted. In the end, 5 officers would lay dead, 7 wounded, and the shooter later identified as a Black man by the name of Micah Johnson who targeted police as retribution for the recent police murders of Black men. All of this made the week ending on July 10th 2016 arguably one of the worst on record in this nations history and compounds what has already been one of the most overtly displayed polarized eras politically and racially in an already historically divided nation. As politicians on both sides of the aisle seek to in some way address (and/or politicize) the issue of police brutality, pundits on one side of the issue or another banter about on national television offering exchanges that range from the valid argument, to the subtle diss, to the racist generalization, to ad hominem attack, and so much more. What strikes the me every time these tragedies and other racially charged moments occur however, is the morphing of what should be an honest dialogue about the history of race and racism in this country into verbal jousts over it’s subtexts. Police killing and arresting Black people disproportionately ends up becoming an argument about more training, or body cameras, or even the so called role of “Black on Black crime” instead of a historic overview of law enforcement’s development in a legally racist society. Systemic racism and it’s burdensome effect on the social, economic, legal, and political lives of Blacks, becomes but a “flight of the Black imagination” and is then described as if racism is a matter of ill will in a minority of whites only to be solved by appeals to their “conscience” and “heart”. This is enough to confuse and defeat the under-or-uninformed to the point where they may retreat into an opiate like escape and over indulgence into psuedo pop culture. Conversely, this is enough to make the informed and intelligent citizen want to explode at the seams. “So, what the hell am I to do at this point?” you ask. You sit your ass down, and read this piece among the thousands that have already been written about what this whole race and racism shit is actually about. This way you will understand why we as Black people think it sucks when police kill us, arrest us, or lock us up all kinds of lopsided. This way you will understand #Blacklivesmatter and the tradition from which it comes. This way you’ll understand what shit like systemic racism means. This way you will understand why we as Black people know that racism wasn’t incidental to the creation of this country, but rather was, a symbiotic necessity to the creation of American “democracy”. If you get lost....sit your ass back down an read it again...and again...and again. Until you get it through your thick ass skull.
Before we get into this Q & A, I think it necessary to provide a quote from an esteemed law professor. This quote is important because well, context means something.
“Law has no meaning outside of society. It both shapes and is shaped by the society in which it functions. Law is made by humans. It protects, controls, burdens, and liberates humans, non-human animals, nature, and inanimate objects. Like the humans who make it, Law is biased, noble, aspirational, short-sighted, flawed, messy, unclear, brilliant, and constantly changing.”
-Professor Patricia Leary
Glad you asked. Racism is defined as prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against people of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is or should be considered superior.
What is systemic racism then?
Well, its the same as the definition of racism above. Except in this case it is practiced through systems controlled by the so-called “dominant” or “superior” racial group against those in the so-called “inferior” group. These systems range in realm from the social, political, economic, and legal. Ex: Banks may give a person from the so-called “superior” group a loan but not give it to someone with the same qualifications from the so-called “inferior” group. Or so-called “inferior” group may be subject to laws or policies in a way that those of the so-called “superior” group may not be. And this is the case for every system with the so-called “inferior” group receiving nothing or at best the short end of the stick.
This is typically driven in part by the desire for control and power on the part of those in the so-called “superior” group.
Who is this so-called “superior” group?
Most people that are of races or racial descents such as: African, African-American, Afro-Brazilian, Afro-Latino, Latino/Hispanic, Native American, Asian, Arab, or even East Indian etc., would probably agree that it is those in that group classified as “white”.
Classified as “white”....meaning?
Meaning those who are of European/Nordic descent.
Ohhhhh, I got it. What made them feel that they could consider themselves “superior” in the first place?
It’s kind of a long story.
Can you give me the shortest version?
Sure. So, at one point in history Europeans were suffering in there respective countries. Many times this led to famine, disease, revolts, and collapses in government and kingdoms. The idea to alleviate part of this was to go in search of other places around the world that could be used for resources that could then be brought back to these countries and kingdoms and be used for the purpose of enriching monarchs, “healing” and “feeding” the people, warding themselves against neighboring antagonist countries, and glory. However, when some people left these countries, they wouldn’t come back, effectively “settling” wherever they went hoping to conquer and enrich themselves. These people were called “settlers” and if they worked on behalf of the government or monarchy or were a part of the wealthy class, they were called colonist. In order to justify what would essentially become taking from others, they used a fusion of religion and psudeo-science proclaiming those of European stock to be a supreme race. That’s why those who still believe in that today are called white supremacist.
This may sound dumb but, what is a colonist again?
You’re right it does sound dumb, because the answer is above. But for the sake of brevity a colonist or colonists is a person or groups of persons who colonize on behalf of another country.
When members of one country take over another country. The country that is taken over is called a colony.
Yeah before it effectively became America. Parts of which where colonized by the Spanish, French, and even the Dutch before the power the British (Englishmen) used their military might (the greatest in Europe at the time) to effectively drive other colonists and Natives out. Once done it was consolidated into thirteen colonies.
Wait, you said Natives, so you mean there were people already on the land?
Oh yeah. But, through a combination of coercion, advanced weaponry, torture, disease, and intermixing (forced and unforced). The original natives were all but decimated and scattered about...but not before putting up one hell of a fight. Now that the Europeans had the land all that was left to do was develop it and make it habitable for themselves and their descendants. But this would require work...lots of it. The Natives were all but decimated and those ones left knew the land too well to be confined. The Europeans in many cases found themselves lacking the required farming knowledge. Further many were lazy, weak from famine, and/or too stubborn toward work to build the new land.
I think I know where this goes....
If its to Africa then you’re right. By this time there had been active slave trading between Africa (particularly West Africa), Europe, and its colonies. The colonist here needed work, they thought slavery was a great idea.
At least to them it was. Only one problem though, Africans are human and humans generally don’t like to be held captive by other humans. So rebellions often occurred in route to the colonies in the west and once they landed. Meanwhile, (if we fast forward a couple of years) “white” people (as they had now affectionately become) were building attempting to build a government in the 13 colonies against the will of the colonial regime of England. They had slaves for some time at this point, now it was time to put this growing economy to use for the building of the new nation that would be called America.
What does this have to do with racism?
Are you serious? Everything!
Because governments and nations can go only as far as their economy. And the economy here thrived from the free slave labor of Africans and their descendants hereto referred to as African Americans/Blacks/....and back then as “Negroes”. Thus, slavery had to be justified by the dehumanization of Blacks in theory and in practice, by social custom and codified in law.
How could this be? Wasn’t America created with ‘liberty and justice’ in mind?
Liberty and justice for white people. The majority of those men known as “The Founding Fathers”, the authors of those documents upon the which this nation was founded such as the Declaration of Independence, Federalist Papers, Constitution, and The Bill of Rights were slave owners themselves (with the exception of a very small few). This means that even they had a vested interest in the enterprise. Though there were many who privately and philosophically disagreed with the existence of slavery, in public policy and practice they allowed it to be since the very interest and union of a white nation rested on it. Only a handful of men from that time (two that I can think of) fiercely and openly disagreed with and refused to practice slavery. Those men were Thomas Paine and Alexander Hamilton. Everyone else either practiced it and wrote policy upholding it while considering it abhorrent in theory only, or didn’t practice it but looked the other way as state and federal policies allowed for it. It was codified into law. This was primarily because the southern states which relied more upon slave labor the the continued growth of their agricultural industry threatened from the beginning not to be a part of the union if slavery was abolished. And since the entire economy was essentially dependent on the south, slavery continued until about 1865. But I’ll get to that.
Codified laws, how is that?
I’ll name about three or four major ways. First, is the overarching theme of dehumanization. Any discussion of racism’s history and present in America must depart from the fact that legally as well as socially slaves were classified as property not people...that alone makes every other right that you could have nil. Then there were creations such as the Enumeration clause or better known as “The 3/5ths Compromise” where slaves to be counted as chattel...3/5ths of a human being. Article 1, Sec. 9 of the Constitution that “stopped the importation” of slaves but also said that the institution could be kept alive (we know now that slaves did continue to be imported after this). Then “The Fugitive Slave Clause” which basically was implemented to keep slaves from running away. It stated that the laws of one state doesn’t not relieve the slave of his/her “duty” in another state. Again these are but a few...we haven’t even gotten into state policies and early ‘Black Codes’, (born out of such codes were the slave patrols that were the genesis of the modern day police force). But as I said before, this vile existence continued legally for about 250 plus years up until 1865.
We Black people fought our asses off! It was often the attempt of racist historical revisionist to make it look as if we took either the whole 250 years lying down or most of it, documents prove otherwise. The entire time, rebellions would spark throughout different colonies in the west some successful and some not, but all striking fear into white folks and rightfully so. Most of these rebellions where led by large bands of slaves who were either used religion as a catalyst for revolution or combined military strategy with organization for the gaining of their freedom. This happened a lot and scared the shit out of white people a lot. There were even some rebellions led by “radical” whites or participated in by these same types of whites or abolitionist, those these types were in a minority. It would eventually come down to war over the question of slavery.
War, you mean the Civil War right?
Yep. Revisionist will attempt to say that the war was fought essentially because the infiltration of the federal government (under President Abraham Lincoln) into the rights of the states. But it was about the rights of the states (southern states) rather to continue owning slaves. This was of such interest to white people, that they were willing to die by the hundreds of thousands to continue the enterprise of dehumanization, particularly in the south. These folks were called the confederates. And well...they lost, slaves were more or less “freed” and the south went bankrupt....unsurprisingly months after the surrender President Lincoln was killed by a disgruntled southern sympathizer.
So you mean to tell me they fought a whole war just so they could continue to shit on Black people?
Yep. More so they could continue to shit on Black people, while keeping their pockets fat.
That had to piss them off when they lost, right?
No shit. Whites at this point were broke, their “confederate government” in shambles, slaves free, and to add to all of this was the fact that for the first time at least in their known American history up to that point, they had to recognize their former “chattel” as men, whether they liked it or not. The Reconstruction Era was ushered in.
The Reconstruction Era, what is that?
It was a period after the end of the Civil War, roughly 1865 through 1877 when the country was having to get its shit together, rebuilding and whatnot. This was something of a golden period for African Americans because we began to build schools, businesses, and communities. We began to participate in the political process, with some of us becoming politicians on the state, local, and federal levels, we even boasted a Lt. Governor and a Black U.S. Senator...huge at that time. Organizations such as the Freedman’s Bureau and Freedman’s Bank as well as fraternal orders and mutual aid societies of every stripe were creating the foundation upon which the hope of a new Black day would one day emerge. Sure, these were not perfect programs by any stretch, but for the first time ever we had some semblance of a platform. But this was new to white folk...”how dare those niggers thinking they people in’such!?!?”. This intensified the hatred and jealousy of whites (particularly southern but not exclusively) toward Black people.
Jealousy and hatred? Why that, I thought whites saw themselves as “superior”?
Yeah they still did and that’s the point. Every since the founding of the nation there had been slavery. There had come with that a certain social, political, economic, and legal “order” that had for the longest benefited whites, even those whites of lesser means. The Civil War as well as the pre-war and post-war grassroots activism of Black abolitionist rendered that shit a wrap! So, when these poor and formerly rich whites saw the turn that “their” world was taking (Blacks were now not only political and economically active independently, but competing as skilled laborers against whites for jobs) it was an offense to their maniacal egos and pride...not to mention what they perceived as their interest in maintaining “supremacy”.
And then, what would come about was nothing short of terror. White organizations such as the paramilitary ‘White League’ and the secretive and vigilante Ku Klux Klan formed around about 1874 in violent opposition to Reconstructions and the gains made by Blacks. These campaigns of terror when included as results, Black voter suppression, direct destruction of Black infrastructures such as businesses, societal organization, and churches etc., lynchings and other extra judicial killings of Blacks in mass numbers (often public), rape and defiling of Black women, and too many more horrors to count. To add insult to injury many of the former Black politicians were threatened out of office and or left office due to voter suppression so these seats were often filled by Klan members or white supremacists of some other sort. This would put an end to what little gains Reconstruction yielded for that moment and usher in a new set of white supremacists laws known as ‘Jim Crow’.
Jim Crow, I’ve heard of that. It’s like segregation right?
Well yeah that’s the long and short of it. But it is important to note that Jim Crow was really is a set of actual laws meaning laws backed by the state (in this case mostly southern states but not just southern) and to a large degree allowed by the federal government that mandated de jure racial segregation primarily in the former “Confederate States of America”. Northern segregation was more de facto such as segregated patterns of housing enforced by private covenants, bank lending practices, job discrimination, including discriminatory labor union practices, etc. These Jim Crow laws followed the ‘Black Codes’ (1800-1866) which restricted the civil rights and civil liberties of African Americans and also had the added effect of over-criminalizing Blacks disproportionately. This was enforced with an iron fist within government and with out by use of white terror, mob violence, and intimidation not to mention continued vigilante activity. This ultimately lead to extra judicial killings often ignored by the ‘justice’ system and or perpetuated by police officers themselves. These laws would continue for close to another 100 years of this countries history.
So land theft, colonization, terror of slavery, reconstruction, terror again, then 100 more years of white supremacists laws?
How were Black people able to bare so much?
The way we always have. Through a mixture of organized activism, scholarship, politics, and self defense. Withing the 100 year period in which Jim Crow was legally active so many policies rose that reflected the Jim Crow reality that we had an organization combating each one if not organizations that attempted to combat it all. In fact, some would argue that the 20th century was the century of Black progress....at least more or less. This century can for us be best described as a series of generational convulsions between Black assertion and white supremacy, filled with setbacks, torture, humiliation, nominal gains, decent gains, compromises, murder, assassinations, etc. But nonetheless, this reign of Jim Crow lasted up until about 1964 with The Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act both big deals at the time.
So all was good then right?
Well not quite. One, because those gains were generations in the making and only came after decades upon decades of extrajudicial violence against Blacks from lynchings, to mobs, to police brutality, and assassinations. This is not to mention missing justice, unlawful imprisonments, socio-political exiles, economic fault lines, and sooooooo much more bullshit, it is ridiculous.
Well, with most of our leaders either old, or dead. New and more militant movements rose from out of the Black communities to combat the continued racial disparities between Blacks and whites. Though we at this point did indeed “have” civil and voting rights, including integration. The sheer length, depth, and legacy of slavery and Jim Crow created such a fault line in race relations at this point, is was (and is) a fundamental reflexive imprint in American culture. Groups like the Black Panthers rose in opposition to police brutality towards Blacks and well as in opposition to disproportionate levels of poverty, for example. There were numerous other groups with a myriad of focal points of departure as it pertained to the Black experience, but in typical American fashion, these were infiltrated by governmental an law enforcement organizations that once again saw Black rights and life as a threat...and continue on some level or another to think so.
Yep. We may have gained more social integration that ever before in our past history, and maybe even more ‘freedom’. But context as I said before, is everything. Comparing today to years past isn’t all that fair of an assessment when you consider that for 250 years Blacks were considered “property” and for another 100 years were considered at best “second class citizens” subject to a totalitarian regime of structural and social white supremacy, only to gain some level of separation from its overt forms after innumerable losses. Furthermore, this way of life has become so entrenched in the structures and psyche of America that it is but a function of it’s culture. Thus making our fight against racism and “white supremacy” in all of its forms a never ending battle.
All of its forms? A never ending battle?
Uh huh. See, this “way of life” has been in existence for as long as the country has. So it is just the American way to discriminate, and it is also just as much a part of the American tradition for the oppressed (in this case Blacks) to respond in kind...and then America counters through codified policies and force if necessary....then we respond again and it goes on and on and on...because there is still a desire for power in white supremacist society. Blacks statistically lag in every category of empowerment, and lead in almost every category that is to our detriment, notwithstanding some of us who have managed (however difficult) to create some semblance of a fair life here. Whether police brutality, the so-called “War On Drugs”, mass incarceration, mis-education, higher under or unemployment rates, wage disparities, or any myriad of issues among our community, non of it can be understood without a grasp of the above basics.
Hope this helps....once and for damn all.
Note: Obviously a lot of shit was skipped for the sake of brevity. So you don’t have to tell me that this that or another wasn’t mentioned. This was just a primer.
