Systemic Racism vs. The Racist: Defining Terms in Modern America
The next chapter in the edited volume is titled “The Problem of Racism in “Post-Racial” America” and is written by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva and Liann Yamashita. They address the current systemic nature of racism and how it differs both from past forms of racism and from white people’s current false perceptions of racism.
They begin by noting and rejecting the common idea that because we elected and reelected a black president, that means racism is over in America. On the contrary, hate incidents rose during the following Trump presidency, and racism has continued to be as present as ever in the lives of non-white Americans. Racism did not fall in 2008 and return with a vengeance in 2016. Instead, it never left, merely changed forms. It continues to affect the lives of all Americans as we live in a racialized society.
Today, there is a kind of folk belief that racism is an ideology and set of behaviors exhibited by “racists.” It is embodied and enacted by groups like the kkk, alt-right, neo-nazis, and poor white southerners. It is seen as a prejudiced way of thinking born from a hateful and irrational worldview. This covers the truth of systemic racism and obscures the more subtle yet pernicious ways that racism continues to affect people.
Racism persists because it benefits white people as a social group. However, it is comforting to “good” white people to be able to claim innocence and push the culpability onto an “other.” They can disavow “racists” and condemn “isolated incidents,” all while feeling virtuous and moral. White America, especially liberal white America, has actively worked to create a class of “racists” to serve as the villains in their narratives, and eagerly set themselves in opposition to these pundits, Trump supporters, and hate groups. They appease their sense of self by saying “they” are racists; I am not like them; therefore, I am not a racist. This ignores that we all participate in racial systems from which white people benefit. Claiming not to hate black people does not remove that truth nor reduce the responsibility of a truly just person from working to dismantle those systems even while recognizing how they benefit from them.
This pushing of the label of racist onto others has also led to a rise in “colorblind racism.” Ignoring the reality that racial discrimination still exists within our social systems allows one to blame minorities for their lower social standing. It also makes it so that programs to help combat discrimination seem like unfair extra help. It creates a worldview where reverse racism exists and the notion that white people are being disadvantaged in favor of black people. It rejects the fact that racism is still alive and well all around us and tries to operate as if everyone is on equal footing. If we ignore the realities of systemic racism in this way, it only ensures that equality will never be achieved.
This comes through extremely clearly in discussions of programs like affirmative action. For a person operating as if the world is colorblind, affirmative action can be described as hiring a black person over an equally qualified white person just because of their race. This ignores that socialization and systemic racism in education, hiring practices, and policies would ensure that an equally qualified black person would almost never be picked in favor of a white person. Indeed frequently, less skilled white people would be selected. It is already more difficult for non-white people to access education and jobs. Affirmative action is not a perfect solution, but it also has to be acknowledged that without policies like this, so many of the already limited opportunities for minorities, for women, for no straight, non-cis people would disappear.
It is impossible even to begin conversations about racism if people mean completely different things when they use the word. Rather than representing a vilified subset of people who are rejected from society, effectively containing the prejudice, racism should be seen as the systemic racialized institutions and their effects on all aspects of life. It is not something that can be pushed away or evolved beyond while it is still integrated into the foundations of our lives. This is why the idea of being a non-racist is not enough. Complacency will not lead to change. To address what racism really is and the many insidious forms it takes in the modern day, we must actively be anti-racist. This starts with agreeing on the language around the issues so that we can have productive conversations.
About the Author
Stella Hudson is a Graduate Assistant with the Baha’i Chair for World Peace. She graduated from the College of William and Mary in 2021 with a B.A. in English. She is attending the University of Maryland and pursuing a Master’s of Library and Information Science.