How to fight racism was a topic we were discussing. But then all at once, she insisted, “If you don’t actively fight racism, you are a racist.”
“WHAT!” I exclaimed. “What do you mean by racism? And who is to decide what ‘actively fight’ means? Are you trying to instill a guilt trip on me?”
I think her idea came from Ibram X. Kendi’s book How to be an Antiracist, which book is full of circular definitions, which are logical fallacies.
How would you respond to her statement?
What is racism?
It is important when discussing racism to be explicit about what you mean by the term. Words are important. Well-defined words are the foundation of effective communication and understanding. And effective communication is the foundation for all human relationships. And THAT is why we have to be precise!
Racism is judging people on their race, and more generally on things over which they have no control, such as race, sex, country of birth, etc. Racism is the crudest form of collectivism, which means assigning a person to a tribe, a race, a sex, a country, etc., and making judgments based on that.1
Notice that I am precise with my definition of racism. An example of a “non-definition” is given in the first lines of Chapter 1 of How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi where he states “[A Racist is] one who is supporting a racist policy through their actions or inaction or expressing a racist idea.” The reader has no idea what the author means, and perhaps the author assumes the reader means the same thing as he does, whatever that is. This example is a circular definition, which is a logical fallacy. See my post on How to have a successful discussion for more elaboration.
Being judged by something over which you have no control is totally unjust. It is terrible. It hurts, is irrational, is mean, can be psychologically and financially devastating, can make you angry, can make you want to strike back, can make you lose confidence in part of humanity, and can make you withdrawn. Being the target of racism is a trauma-causing event. There is absolutely no excuse for racism.
Psychology of racism
Some people want to feel good about themselves because they have the same skin color as George Washington or Albert Einstein, rather than because of their individual achievements; and some want to dismiss the achievements of people who are smarter, more productive, or more accomplished than themselves, just by uttering a racist epithet.
People who are racist want to feel superior to other people, when, in fact, they have some degree of inferiority complex, and try to make up for it by blustery, by racist comments or actions, or by just being mean.
“Like every other form of collectivism, racism is a quest for the unearned. It is a quest for automatic knowledge—for an automatic evaluation of men’s characters that bypasses the responsibility of exercising rational or moral judgment—and, above all, a quest for an automatic self‐esteem (or pseudo‐self‐esteem).”1
I fight racism all the time because I treat people as individuals.
- When I owned a company, I hired people based on their talents and education relevant to the jobs. Period.
- I rewarded my employees based on their performance. Period.
- In my other business interests, I associate with people based on what they bring to the table. Period.
- I sing with people who are good singers. Period.
- I dance with women who like to dance. Period.
In other words, my focus is on the individual, not their race. My actions are not in any way directed to “fight” racism. It just turns out that a side benefit of my treating people as individuals is what one might consider as “fighting” racism.
I fight racism when I advocate for individualism.
Individualism is the foundation of America2, where individuals own their own lives and don’t “belong” to a king. A philosophy of individualism regards every person as an independent sovereign entity who possesses an inalienable right to their own life, a right derived from their nature as a rational being. Every person is an end in himself/herself, and not the means to anyone else’s ends, be it a neighbor, the majority of people in the state, or the government.
Individualism holds that a civilized society, or any form of association, cooperation, or peaceful coexistence among people, can be achieved only on the basis of the recognition of individual rights – and that a group, as such, has no rights other than the individual rights of its members1.
A philosophy of individualism means that you treat people as individuals, and not as members of a race, clan, tribe, etc. See my post on Individualism and Collectivism.
We are constantly inundated about race, so that we get conditioned to think race is important and to then classify people according to their race rather than viewing them as individuals.
A start that would help combat racism is to stop talking about it! View and treat people as individuals. Period! QUIT LOOKING AT EVERYTHING THROUGH THE LENS OF RACE!
When you identify a person’s race, that implies that race has some degree of significance about the person, especially in making judgments about the person. Consider that we don’t identify a person’s height or look at everything through the lens of height. That is because we don’t consider a person’s height significant in making judgments about the person.
Years ago, I was associated with an organization that was adopting a program to enhance racial diversity among its clients. I asked, “How do we know when we are diverse? What are the numbers?” There was no answer. Then I asked, “If we accept clients based on their race to increase diversity, isn’t that racism itself – making a decision based on race?” Still, there was no answer, as they either did not want to admit there was a contradiction, or the notion and fallacy of a contradiction was not in their way of thinking.
The government causes racism
The government is the biggest culprit and has been the biggest cause of racism by forcing with laws and regulations actions and decisions to be made based on race. From the Japanese interments to the Jim Crow Laws to current “set-asides” in government contracts. From Affirmative Action quotas (actual or implied) to requiring on almost every form you have to complete, that you identify your race, gender, and ethnicity. Just look at your driver license application or the Census form for examples. What does race have to do with driving a car or being counted to determine how many Representatives your state should have?
Recently (November 2020) the City of Dallas sponsored an outstanding presentation entitled Undesign the Redline given by Braden Crooks, and it included a detailed history behind racist redlining. Tragically, FDR’s New Deal was explicitly racist and was a major cause of subsequent racist policies and redlining by the federal government, which, of course, trickled down to the states and cities. So many government programs under the New Deal created racist problems, which another government program tried to solve, which then created more racist problems which another government program tried to solve, and so on – a government version of the Whack-a-Mole game. For example, for a good summary of the government’s sordid history of causing segregation in housing, see The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein. Today we are living and struggling with the effects of these misguided government programs that cause and continue to engender racism.
For a detailed account of the government’s involvement in causing racism, see my post on the Cause of Institutional Racism.
An excellent short article by Edwin A. Locke, “All Lives Matter” Is The Correct Moral Principle That is 100% Anti-Racist, discusses racism from a similar point of view to this post.
I fight racism when I oppose collectivism in all its variations.
Collectivism holds that the individual has no rights, that one’s life and work belong to the group, and that the group may sacrifice an individual at its own whim to its own interests. Collectivism does not treat people as individuals but only as members of a group or a class of people, such as race. Collectivism is the foundation of socialism (whether or not you call it “democratic” socialism), fascism, Nazism, Communism, and all other political systems that hold that the (ruling) group is superior to the individual.
Examples of the end results of collectivism and the concomitant racism include Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, Cuba, North Korea, and Venezuela. Under collectivism, an elite thinks it has the knowledge to rule over a class of people, whether that class is Jews, the proletariat, Blacks, Irish, the Uighur ethnic minority in China, non-Muslims in Islamic countries, Armenians, etc.
Collectivism is the founding father of racism. Hence, to eradicate racism, you must root out collectivism in all its forms.
The three best ways to fight racism
1) For you individually, if you want to fight racism, most importantly, treat people as individuals and judge them “by the content of their character,” taking a phrase from Martin Luther King’s famous “I have a dream” speech. Again, quit looking at everything through the lens of race.
Take time to learn about, understand, and appreciate an individual’s character, talents, and context, no matter what the color of their skin.
2) For your children, lead by example. Using the phrase from South Pacific, “You’ve got to be carefully taught,” teach them that people are individuals and should be treated as such, and not as members of a race or any other class.
Do what you can to enhance their self-esteem, for that is a bulwark against the temptation of racism.3 If they have good self-esteem, which means that they are confident in their ability to cope with the basic challenges of life and are confident that they are worthy of happiness, then they will be less likely to succumb to any of the various forms of racism.
If they have the opportunity to be with a diversity of children, don’t even identify that there are Asians, blacks, browns, or whatever. Let them be with individuals as such, and when they return, just ask them if they had fun. Don’t even mention the diversity; they will figure that out on their own, and that people are just people, Period.
3) For your politics, to fight racism, advocate individualism and related government policies, and oppose all forms of collectivism and related government policies.
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As you are probably aware, many discussions on this topic are sometimes unfriendly and contain logical fallacies. If you decide to leave a comment, or even outside of this post, if you decide to have a discussion, public or private, you might find it helpful to follow the suggestions on my post How to have a successful discussion.
References
- “Racism,” The Virtue of Selfishness by Ayn Rand.
- America’s Revolutionary Mind: A Moral History of the American Revolution and the Declaration That Defined It by C. Bradley Thompson.
- The Six pillars of Self-Esteem by Nathaniel Branden.
Photo Credits
- Colored drinking station: WikiImages from Pixabay.
- Individualism vs. Collectivism: John Davis
- Texas Driver License Application: John Davis
- Two boys walking on a beach: Tania Dimas from Pixabay.
- Three girls at a pool: Analise Benevides on Unsplash
Individualism is a value of White culture. I recommend listening to: seeing White- an excellent podcast put on my Scene on a Radio via Duke University. To not acknowledge someone’s racial identity dismisses and denies the historical, current and systemic reality of ones life experience here in America. That goes for white people too!
Thank you for your comments.
I don’t know who first articulated the concept of individualism versus collectivism, but even if it was done by folks who were white, it doesn’t make it an exclusive “white culture” value. The philosophy applies to all human beings and all cultures, as inferred by the phrase “every person is an end in himself/herself” in the definition (italics added). I personally think that is what most people want – to be treated as an individual.
Thank you for the referral to the TED talk Seeing White by John Biewen. I agree with much of what he said. Remembering one of his closing comments, “If I don’t join you in the struggle to dismantle the system that advantages me, I am complicit.” I do disagree with that statement. However, what do you think my post is about if not that?
Racism, along with its genesis collectivism, is the antithesis and denial of individualism. Only a philosophy of individualism can defeat racism at its roots. You need to treat the cause, and not just the symptoms.
You are absolutely right about it. Every time we advocate for Individualism we fight against Racism.
I apply precisely these ideas in my own home with my kids, and they worth.
I remember when I had my son in an “inclusive” school and they asked them to “talk about their own race/country of origin”… I innocently thought it was probably to increase “culture”, but it was to stereotype them based on their race and bullies took advantage of this.
My son was bullied based on such presentation.
Individualism is the cure to racism.
Thanks, Denise. Your example illustrates what I am saying. Quit looking at the world through the lens of race.
Very well written and on point. Morgan Freeman was asked how to stop racism and he answered “stop talking about it.”
Thank you, Pam.
I like to keep things simple. Morgan Freeman said it best. If we keep talking about it, it won’t go away. Individualism is most important.
You are Correct. Thanks for commenting.
I love Morgan Freeman movies.