We want to believe that racism is a thing of the past. Perhaps the success of the Civil Rights Movement suggested that bigotry has been overcome. We assume that we are separated from racism’s cornerstone institutions – slavery, segregation, colonialism, eugenics, and genocide.
Today, there may be obvious individual cases of racism, but there are hardly any (explicitly) racist policies. If anything, in most cases of racism, people are unaware of their racist actions themselves. Very few people (even those who are widely considered to be racist) will ever admit that they are racist, and they may sincerely feel that way.
Even with recent racially motivated political affairs (Trump, populism, and the alt-right), people hardly identify themselves and their country as racist. Many, like Trump, claim their motivations, as backed up by countless studies, are economic or social, not racial. Racism is more of a byproduct or analogous to a deeper grievance. People claim that Trump’s success among white voters, for instance, is not due to some racial resentment but more so the anxieties of the economically disadvantaged. Today, no one is a racist for the sake of racism.
Despite the few ‘racist outliers,’ people seem to be progressing into a ‘post-racial society.’ Racial minorities have more entry into society, prestige, and powerful institutions. Broader culture has changed, too. Even the smallest instances of racism are often faced with outcry; racist behaviour can even destroy someone’s career overnight.
Many American conservative voices have also subscribed to the line of reasoning that racism – especially in their own actions – no longer exists. Most often, it justifies their rejection of affirmative action or other racially-conscious policies. For example, D’niesh D’souza argues in his 2009 book, The End of Racism,that, while racism still does exist, it has been on the rapid decline. More importantly, he insists, racism no longer has “the power to thwart blacks or any other groups in achieving their… aspirations.” Candice Owens, an African-American commentator, has argued that since she has “never been a slave in this country,” racism is no longer important.
Racist movements are consistently named “defeatist” since it is understood that no normal person could be genuinely racist.
To state otherwise, that racism still persists, is almost too pessimistic. It casts doubt on the idea that we live in a ‘post-racial’ society which many take for granted.
The idea that racism has been defeated has existed since the 1990s. During this time, a trend in media and politics emerged: the promotion of global unity and equality. Concepts like “globalization” and “multiculturalism” were attached to political developments. Most Millennials and Gen Z-ers have been taught these ideals since elementary school. We remember images of children, each in their traditional attire, holding hands around the world, or perhaps, a poster of how to say hello in multiple languages. Multi-culturalism has become to the basis of Canada’s identity. Will Kymlicka, one of multiculturalism’s leading political theorists and advocates, declared in 1999 that multiculturalism “had won the day.” This carried the message that a post-racial world has already been achieved.
Except, it hasn’t been.
Accepting the fact that racism has resurfaced requires us to admit that racism has stuck around. Modern racist movements especially must have had ground in order to believe that their views are true. Unfortunately, it seems that this is the case.
While there are definitely political, social, and economic factors at play, an aspect of modern, racially charged programs is racism, pure and simple. There are many intellectuals (Aleksandr Dugin, Alain de Beneoist, and Julius Evolva, for example) whose ideology is, evidently, racist. Jared Taylor, editor of the white supremacist magazine American Renaissance, is an advocate of “racial realism,” the idea that African Americans and Hispanics are ‘scientifically’ less-intelligent than Caucasians. This worldview assumes that there are strict racial groups that fall under a hierarchy (often with the speaker’s race being the best). Of course, in line with the current age, even Taylor does not view himself as a racist, but a “racialist.”
So how did racism stick around? Luckily, there is a dense body of claims, arguments, and concepts that answer this. For example, day-to-day events show that racism is still present: police brutality, Islamophobia (in which race becomes conflated with ‘radical Islam’), cultural appropriation, and general racial prejudice. While it could be argued that these are individual cases, there is clearly a social attitude that enables this behaviour.
Beyond social actions, institutional and structural racism hints at something more profound: a system that supports racial differences and disadvantages racial minorities. It is well established that, in the United States, most positive economic and social advancements keep African-Americans at a consistently lower level than Caucasian-Americans. On a more sinister note, systemic barriers do not need conscious intent to cause them, as today’s claims of ‘post-racism’ would suggest. This would be what writer Richard Thomas Ford calls “racism without racists.”
We have every reason to believe that racism is still around, regardless of how many people refuse to accept it. We have to give up the narrative of constant progress and instead see reality as much more complicated. Today’s resurgent racism is due to a complex structure of social, economic, and cultural factors in addition to – unsurprisingly – racism. Only when we understand the full picture can we truly achieve a ‘post-racial’ society.
By Sam Routley
Please note that opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views and values of The Blank Page.
