Racism is a structure. It’s housing policies and drug-conviction and incarceration rates. It's women sold for sex.
But it’s also an idea. It’s the fear of black men revealed all but daily in horrendous police brutality, studies designed to discover internal bias, and Karens in Central Park doing racist-Karen shit. It’s the fetishization and devaluation of the black female body through means as diverse as books like Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer and a Washtenaw County Sheriff brutally beating a woman with zero justification.
A structure and an idea. The two are connected. And we, my fellow whites, are engulfed in the former and infected by the later.
We’re racists. But merely recognizing this is just the beginning. Because we need to decide what kind of racists we will become.
I have neither the data nor the desire to construct the definitive taxonomy of racists. (Honestly, that shit sounds depressing!) But I do have a working continuum, a schema if you will, of the types of white racists in the world today along with an invitation to become less of one.
Evil Racists
At the bottom of my racist totem, you have people like David Duke.
I don’t know Duke’s internal beliefs and motivation. It’s possible he’s unaware that The Bell Curve is based on disputed science, at best, and that the conclusions it presents definitely don’t follow from the science; it’s possible he doesn’t understand that race, being different from ancestry, is a social construct; it’s possible he fails to grasp how social norms and policies shape the various races we have constructed. It’s a strong possibility he is that dumb.
But it’s also possible he’s just evil: he understands completely that racism is a social construct that destroys the lives of a large portion of humanity. But he doesn’t care because it’s his means to power.
Whether willfully ignorant or just plain evil, those like Duke who actively promote the morally and scientifically bankrupt notion of white supremacy are evil racists.
Dumb-Fuck Racists
Just above evil racists, come dumb-fuck racists.
It’s probably apparent from the above, but the line between evil and dumb-fuck racists is murky at best.
The definitive thing about dumb-fuck racists is they explicitly believe racism.
Whether raised in isolation or having somehow isolated themselves, they have no friends outside of their race. Coupled with the racist tropes of our society, their ignorance clouds their reasoning.
For example, dumb-fuck racists think race not only exists but determines things like intelligence and aptitude. They are, of course, mistaken.
Consider four things that are true:
- Humans have evolved
- This process has sorted us into social groups that are ethnically similar
- Individuals and families have genetic and evolutionary histories
- There is a correlation between the above three things and genetics
What conclusions can we draw from this? Two words for you: Jack shit. Because the science is still disputed at a fundamental level. And the dispute is not over how to interpret pure data that exists out there — somewhere. It’s that there’s as of yet no consensus on how to even scientifically pose the question let alone how to collect meaningful data to answer it.
As one luminary, Eric Turkheimer, says:
When one discusses questions about the origins of human differences, most of the scientific designs that might be most informative aren’t available. You can’t breed people, you can’t mess with their DNA, you can’t raise them under controlled conditions. So the discussion is necessarily based on quasi-experimental science that is by definition fundamentally flawed.
In their ignorance and stupidity, however, dumb-fuck racists misread this correlation. They think the first three truths equate to their social construct of race. (In case you missed it—they don’t.) But they go even further. With their mistaken idea of race in hand, they view the real differences that exist in the world between people groups not as the outcome of racism and prejudice but as the justification and vindication of racism and prejudice.
They mistake the cause for the effect.
Dumb-fuck racists have bad theories based on shitty data and shoddy reasoning. Assuming, that is, they’re reasoning at all, which is not at all a safe assumption to make about dumb-fuck racists.
Average Racists
Next, we have average racists. These are possibly the most dangerous kind.
Unlike those below and above them on the racist continuum, average racists will adamantly declare themselves as—wait for it—not racists!
They are the ones who bring up their brown or black friend (usually, an acquaintance) whenever a discussion of race makes them nervous someone might hint at them being racist. They think racism is nothing more than an internal attitude of animosity and prejudice against people with a different heredity. When they briefly look within, they’re certain they can’t detect this animosity and prejudice — ergo, not racist.
Average racists are how trends like “blue lives matter” gain traction.
Because they think they’re not racist, they see no need to investigate what anti-racist activists are actually saying. When they hear “Black Lives Matter,” they don’t hear it as a rallying cry to change a corrupt system that disproportionately kills black men (and also black women and children) with immunity. They don’t hear it as they should — “black lives matter (too)!” — but as “(only) black lives matter.”
Average racists are dangerous because they unwittingly join forces with evil and dumb-fuck racists. To return to the Black Lives Matter example, they join evil and dumb-fuck racists in attacking a protest movement that would make the world safer for not only black folks but for all of us now-precarious peons by holding to account those to whom we’ve entrusted with the awesome authority of the law, including the power over life and death.
In their fear and ignorance, in their inability to practice sustained self-reflection based on dialogue with others and scientific facts, in their self-defensive indifference, average racists enable the system of racial oppression to carry on.
Aware Racists
The difference between average racists and aware racists is found in the name: aware racists are aware they’re racist.
Whether they can perceive animosity and prejudice toward other races inside themselves or not, they’re aware that science has shown we harbor subconscious racist scripts.
They’re also aware that race is not merely an internal disposition but a web that has entangled us all, all the more powerful because it’s tough to see.
Aware racists know that while whites embrace certain aspects of black culture, we often do so in ways that are disruptive of that culture while benefiting us whites. They know that our policing practices and legal systems — from policies like Stop and Frisk in New York City to the racially skewed rates of national incarceration to the ways in which cities are developed and regulated — devastate communities of color, while often benefiting us.
They know that while blacks are only 13% of the US population, they make up 30% of arrests.
They understand that blacks were cut out of the home-mortgage market between the 1930s-1960s. They grasp that this was due to the concerted efforts of whites to keep neighborhoods segregated, including bombing black homes. They also know that this was due to racist national policies such as the red-lining of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) — which colored black neighborhoods red on maps, rated them as “D,” and didn’t approve FHA-backed mortgages for these neighborhoods, not only making it all but impossible for blacks to own homes but enabling white con-men to steal black wealth.
Aware racists know this history is still with us.
They’re aware white districts receive, on average, over $2,000 more in funding per student than nonwhite districts. Because school funding is tied to property taxes, and predominantly white districts hold more value in property. Because of racists housing policies and white violence. Aware racists agree with people of color—we need reparations.
Aware racists know the structures of racism go well beyond these few examples, such as, for example, making Covid-19 more deadly for people of color right now.
Aware racists know that the battle against racism and white supremacy must be fought simultaneously on two fronts. First, we must seek to overcome the ways that racism has poisoned us internally by unearthing and repenting of our subconscious racist scripts. Second, we must seek to overcome the ways racism has poisoned us as a society by understanding these forces, protesting against them, engaging in electoral politics to change policies and legislation, and calling out the violence of racism wherever it manifests.
Aware racists know that when it comes to race, racism, and white supremacy, we need to support our black and brown brothers and sisters as they lead.
Aware racists are aware we’re going to get it wrong. We know we’re going to be called out as racists. Aware racists are scared of this — because no one wants to be called out—but they’re willing to take the chance because they know racism poisons us all and they have a role to play in overcoming it.
Woke AF
At the very top of the racist totem, we find the coveted woke AF. These are racists who are so aware of racism and so entrenched in the fight against it that they may no longer be racist.
I don’t think I know any white people who are woke AF. But I want to hold out the possibility they could exist. (Maybe that’s racist?)
The bad news first: you’re a racist, and so am I. It's okay to admit it, because it's reality. But it's a reality that's not okay.
I like to think I’m at least an aware racist. Unfortunatley, I’m sure I inadvertently fall into average racist all the time. But I’m trying to live into my potential as an aware racist, with the (likely unrealistic) hope of someday becoming woke AF.
The good news is no matter what type of racist you are, there’s still time to repent and become a better human — even if you’re an evil or dumb-fuck racist. That’s the great thing about being human, we can realize our mistakes and change course. You don’t have to be evil. You needn't remain a dumb-fuck. You can be above average. You can be aware, and being an aware racist is much better than being average, let alone a dumb-fuck.
If you're on the aware track, here are some other things you can do:
- Follow the Black Lives Matter Global Community Network to learn about “the issues, perspectives, and solutions that will transform our communities and the world.”
- Check out The 1619 Project, an interactive project from the New York Times which “aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.”
- Read, follow, and financially support bell hooks, Michelle Alexander, the Proletarian Pundit, Ta Nehisi Coates, Adam Serwer, Bree Newsome, Jelani Cobb, and The Root.
- Support black political leaders by donating to The Collective PAC, which "is working to fix the challenge of African American underrepresentation in elected seats of power throughout our nation."
