What white people need to understand about racism
Most people believe that racism is simply a case of not liking Black or Brown people (racial prejudice), saying offensive things, or belonging to certain racist groups or organisation. And yes. These things are racist. But words and actions of this manner are not the entirety of racism.
Racism is about power.
It’s about centuries of specifically crafted and constructed systems, societies, institutions, and beliefs that uphold the dominance of whiteness and everyone else as “other”, in order to protect that power.
It’s about dehumanising people to the point that they can be considered nameless, unimportant, or as numbers to be reported on but nothing more. Reduced to the point that their lives carry less weight than a hashtag that can be forgotten in the next news cycle.
I appreciate that a lot of us will be ashamed of our lack of knowledge, I was too, and I’m still learning. And I don’t want to start laying more shame on top by calling us out on this – but we do have to acknowledge that if racism is created by and for the protection of whiteness, it can’t possibly be dismantled without the involvement and action of white people.
If you want to learn more about the social construction of racism, you can read my article “Racism: Who benefits?”.
Racism is scary
One of the biggest fears I have on my journey with allyship is associated with fear. Most specifically, the fear of saying the wrong thing. And what I want to share with you know if how I examine what I want to say to decide if I a) still want to say it; and b) if I do, am I likely to be saying something that will cause harm.
I want to begin by sharing the following statements:
I hate the idea that I might be racist.
With everything I’ve learned about the history of racism, I must acknowledge that I have directly benefitted from systems and structures that place value on whiteness.
From my position of privilege as a white person, for years I will have seen no issue with these same systems and structures, because they worked for me.
Therefore, I have benefited from racism.
And, I will have engaged in thinking and behaviour that was racist.
These statements have nothing to do with my intention. They are simply facts that I must make peace with, to move on and start taking action not to repeat them.
If you’re white, it’s likely that they will apply to you too.
My belief is that we need to move away from binary good versus bad thinking when it comes to racism, (i.e., racism is bad, and I’m a good person so I can’t be racist) because the maths on this equation is all wrong. We must start accepting that our society is deeply and structurally racist, by design. This means accepting that all of us are capable of thinking or behaving in a racist way, whether we intended to or not. But this also means that we have the power (there it is again) to change the way we think and act, and to challenge others to do the same.
“All lives matter” and other problematic statements
So, today, I want us to make a start by challenging some of our defensive statements when it comes to our whiteness and learning more about our own contribution to upholding racism.
“Reverse racism”
Remember, racism is about power. So, if we understand this, and that systems, societies, institutions, and beliefs were crafted to uphold the dominance of whiteness in order to protect that power, we can now start to talk about the difference between racism and racial prejudice.
Because there is no such thing as “reverse racism”.
There is such a thing as racial prejudice, which is having a preconceived opinion or bias against a person based on their skin colour. This is something that can exist for any person, and so it is possible for white people to be subject to racial prejudice. However, it is not possible for them to be a victim of racism. White people have not been systemically or systematically excluded and dehumanised for centuries because of their race.
It's worth noting here that it is possible for any of us, regardless of our skin colour or ethnicity, to do or say something that is racially prejudicial. It is also possible for any of us to do or say something that is racist, or to behave in a way that upholds racist systems, viewpoints or behaviours. By this I mean that an organisation with a Black person as it’s CEO can still operate in a way that is racist or oppressive to people of colour. Because racism is insidious and has been baked into the fabric of our society.
Just as white people cannot be on the receiving end of racism, our proximity to Blackness does not equal an absence of racism either.
“I have Black friends, so I can’t be racist”
Without fail, I listen to white people “prove” they are not racist by explaining they have Black friends and colleagues, or have had Black partners, so they can’t be racist. And I’m sorry to say this just isn’t true. Proximity to people of colour does not erase our ability to engage in racist thoughts, words, or deeds.
Because like we said at the start, racism isn’t simply about not liking people of colour. It’s about power and privilege, and how this plays out in society. Power that I am granted as a right, instead of power that I must prove myself worthy of earning. Privilege I was awarded simply by birth, rather than any conscious effort or deserving action on my part.
If I don’t understand racism, or my part to play in how it is upheld and perpetuated, it will always be probable that I will demonstrate racist behaviour. AND even when I do understand it, my position of power and privilege will still make it possible too. The sooner I accept this, the sooner I can release the fear and start actively taking steps to change things. Again, our proximity to Blackness does not equal an absence of racism.
“All lives matter”
Unless you really weren’t paying attention, in 2020 you will have seen the arrival of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement into almost every conversation and news cycle, in response to the killing of George Floyd. In fact, the movement was founded in 2013 in response to the murder of Treyvon Martin. You can read more about the organisation BLM on their own site.
Our social media feeds in particular were awash with black squares and #’s of support. It was a pivotal moment in the fight against institutionalised racism in the USA, in particular in their police forces. The statement Black Lives Matter means exactly that. That the lives of Black people are of equal importance as everyone else, and yet they are targeted, harmed and killed at disproportionate rates. And it’s not just The States either… in the UK, Black people make up about 3% of the population, and yet they account for 8% of the deaths that occur while in custody. And if you want to read more about this, Nazir Afzal wrote a great piece for The Guardian.
Why is this? It’s racism. Because our society places more value on whiteness, and has centuries of ingrained thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that uphold this. So, you can understand why so many Black people and their allies felt the need to re-affirm that Black lives did matter, and that something needed to change.
However, in response to this movement we also saw the rise of “all lives matter” statements, overwhelming from white people. Because when we view the statement Black lives matter from a position of privilege, we are unable to comprehend that the experiences of other humans are not the same as our own. We are unable to recognise that the lived experiences as racism are as horrifying as we are told. And we are unable to place anyone else, other than ourselves, at the centre of importance. We begin to wonder why Black lives deserve special treatment, when surely all life is important.
But when we can understand what racism is and it permeates all of our lives, we can begin to centre the experiences of Black people, and recognise that, yes, all lives do matter, but all lives can’t matter, until Black lives matter too.
And if we still feel uncomfortable with this statement, we must ask ourselves, “if achieving equity for someone else upsets me, how is it that I was benefitting from their oppression?”
So now what?
Knowing all of this, how do you feel about your relationship with racism now?
What will you say, think or do differently?
I appreciate that racism is a triggering and difficult topic for many white people, so I welcome any comments or further discussion that you may want to have. Understanding how power presents itself in society, and how it is distributed and protected is squarely at the heart of becoming a true ally. If you’re struggling with any of this, and are committed to understanding to become a better ally, I am always here to talk about it.