Here’s something I wrote in May of ’95 that still seems
relevant and if I may say so, prescient. It was written in reaction to ideas
dominant in higher education at the time. Looking at it now, I see it is woefully incomplete in accounting for the racism that still exists, perhaps naively so. But it speaks from a point that cuts past the liberal/conservative dialog, which had never been helpful. What do you think?
Divide And Conquer
According to current ways of looking at things, Oprah
Winfrey is an oppressed individual. Apparently, the color of her skin (not to
mention her gender) offsets the fact that she takes in a hundred million
dollars a year. The unemployed Appalachian white male, however, is “empowered”,
someone raking in the benefits of a prejudiced system. The incongruity of this
juxtaposition goes to show the limits of the current prominent paradigm. Using
nationality as a way of categorizing people is accepting the paradigm of the
oppressor. Emphasizing racial themes increases racial tension, resulting in
tearing apart a majority that should be working together.
A big part of the reason that prejudice exists is because of
cultural and economic differences, especially in regard to the
African-American. Statistics show that a larger percentage of African-American
males are incarcerated than are represented in society. If we look at this
statistic through a racial paradigm, we can choose only two options: one, that
black males are more likely to commit crimes, or two, that the white-male
dominated system is more likely to incarcerate black males. Either way we
increase racial tension without relieving the problem. If we choose a different
paradigm, however, we see race as an incidental issue. Poverty is a major
determinant in crime. An inordinate amount of Blacks are poor. The causal
relationship is obvious. While race still plays a part in this paradigm, we can
put it into its historical perspective by stating that slavery and bigotry have
caused the poverty which now represses the African-American. In this view, we
see a greater commonality between the unemployed white Appalachian and the
urban black, even though they themselves may not see it.
While it is easy to say that hard work can help the ghetto
dweller or the unemployed Appalachian to succeed, the cold hard facts are that
the great number of them do not. The occasional success story does not
compensate for the countless lives which never had the opportunity to grow.
This is not a racial issue. If we were to go into the slums today and make sure
that an equal portion of whites lived with violence, poverty and hopelessness,
it would not ease the suffering one iota of the people who would still live
there. Poverty, not racism, is the issue. Racism is perpetuated by poverty
rather than the other way around. If we truly wish to deal with and overcome
racism, we must ensure that all people in this nation are given equal
opportunity.
Categorizing people by their race or background is a legacy
we have acquired from the likes of slave owners who wished to rationalize their
inhuman treatment of fellow human beings. We cannot “fight discrimination with
discrimination” as Stanley Fish says. Any power grab by a minority group is
bound to trigger off a backlash of the majority. Those who erroneously believe
in Fish’s assertion are giving fuel to the Rush Limbaughs and hate mongers. In
fighting prejudice, it is crucial to avoid accepting the prejudiced categories
that divide us.
