Professional Documents
Culture Documents
_ija.
of racial ln e;;",,i,
jt
iilTf_
aonerents of"p-:rsistence,
the postracism consenrrsitt.ib_
patterns of black disadvantage
},._:^Tiling
,? p.. tarlings or pathologies of black peo_
i, to Jh-uit
tle wlrs in which racism il';;;;;_
*iih;;;;
course. An understanding of
these"n"*
foi.rr
of racial discourse i,
".r]""ti"ili,h*.;"
cemed about the growth
of ,u.ir_ l"a
right-wing power are to more effectively
in_
tervene in.contemporary debates
uUoriior_
rroversral rssues related to affirmative
action,
immigration, multiculturrfir-,
*"iflr*'""a
traditional/familyvalues.''--'$r!'q
E-Racing Race
There can be little serious doubt
that there is
much that is new in the politi.,
racism in the contemporary
"i States.
""a
United
More traditional notion, of ir..
ir*
uJrlir_,
dependent as theywere o"
"^tl^-" ^i*rli'^"]'.
;,r'#;;;.ht.;;7##:l,ir'j',Tl,i::ijit;
in disrepuie. Th"#pli; ;;_
,ull:duy"tu.gely
Jectlon o.f eq-ual-opportunity and civil rishts
ror people of color is now virtually
an abient
political discourse except ut tt
nirrn",
" ".y
E;;";il,
;ii?"
f"s;;tti;;
"neo-racism"
or
1990),
tifr considering it a departure from racist ideologies of the past. These features are (t) a
sanitized, coded language about race that adheres to more than it departs from generally
accepted liberal principles and valuJs, mobilized for illiberal ends; (2) avid disavowals of
racist prejudice and intent; (3) rhetorical cir_
cumvention of classical antiracist discourse;
and (4) a shift from a focus on race and bio-
30
States
newrightists
as an
of its effort
the true leg:
against thos,
tion that
re
that
antirar
largely to bla
ofblack peo
even intens
Hostility is l
color themst
racism, to th
crats. In this
ways more a
racism" (Mu
The fourt
the characte
course as
with the
"r
osr
culture and r
marked in st
rope, as exp.
tion based or
of inferioriq
the more be
ence and nr
Thguieff 199
For example,
timent no lo:
of civil/polit
as it do
desire of (rvh
grant
preserve the
"wayoflife,"i
mine the shi
and languagr
tity. This shif
dentin U.S. ri
vein of debat
povertF and
underclass rr';
of color lie n
traditional fc
their antisoci
structures, o
Such a shift ft
not onlv mor
sanitized pos
rrogatory
I catego-
"-[ayg
of black people,
race
Is
mPorary
'acial ex-
'evolving
anxieties
rs to an
p,,
the ra-
;ues is ef-
lsubtext,
previous
d subseilliberal
Ltegories:
in
racial
rce at all.
: of the
buted to
d consis-
insisting
cism but
rure and
superfi-
port for
stoodbv
: ofracial
, as
such,
Mtion
is
eside the
r are less
ts of the
: contraacialized
Larges
of
ides amr
rr-ish to
ticzl disdassica-t
ing it tbr
irent s1ote neces-
rnlent
oi
of their
rt
as
Par:
as
well
as
of
Lines 3l
to chara-cterize
as racist?
political project
as racist by
offering the
"A
advice:
racial
project
can bJ delollowing
fined as racist if and only if i1 creates or repro-
32
States
Winant L986:71).
Bythis standard, the new rightt racialproj_
ect is clearly not racist. Omi and Winant ieem
more comfortable in arguing that the current
hegemonic racial projeit is ibout the retreat
of social policy from any practical commit_
q.n! fo racial justice and the manipulation
of white racial anxiety and resentirent to_
of
Given this fl
the debates
commit ones
of racist clai
lenced when
press but no I
of social scier
The domi
broader app
that emphas
ideas
but rat
based on
(Omi
and
racial proj-
inantseem
the current
the retreat
rl commitmipulation
ltment to,ipeople of
it does not
hegemonic
heless "ex:ism all the
lcal orsigirnciple of
ad Winant
d the right
oach, such
and Mary
ocate a re-
oiding use
lcusing on
right-wing
rcial anxid electoral
n, Stephen
's
develop-
forms of
:til iry certilin'butis
politicians
rat alreadv
itical
dis-
:ist.
'acism ha.
ransionist,
liberal ideology. There can be no racism without race, according to the restrictive conception, for this would obscure the real qualitative differences between the racist discourse
of the political right during the fim Crow era,
for example, and the colorblind discourse of
today's conservatives.
Those who advocate a dominance approach to the study of racism, as I do subsequently, object to the restrictive conception's
focus on the content of new right discourse.
Of course, it is important to study the ways in
which the content of racial discourse has
changed over time, but such a task is of limited value if we recognize the degree to which
the changed content nevertheless serves to
justi$, the same old exclusionary practices,
albeit in a new form. Today more than ever it
is imperative to explore the connections between race-neutral discursive practices and
the maintenance of institutional relations of
racial domination. If the changed content of
racialized political language and the new
right's avid disavowals of racist intent blind
us to the dynamism of racism and the variety
of discursive garbs in which it can appear, we
will unwittingly abandon the study of the
cultural and ideological (as opposed to the
structural) dimensions of racism, except in
its most exceptional forms, and so effectively
absolve today's conservatives from blame for
particular
I edge ano
rse
who,
as
rfr.';t;;t;;;;l;t
Lines
33
retical divide between structural and ideological accounts and, within one conceptual
approach, seek to understand the link between cultural codes, meaning systems, and
processes of signification and the establishment and maintenance of existing relations
of racial domination. It is with this object in
mind that I now turn to a critical discourse
analysis of the new racism of the new right in
the United States.
ing to race. . . . We may argue about the appropriate limits of government intervention in trying to
enforce the ideal, but at least it should be possible
to identifr the ideal: Race is not a morally admissible reason for treating one person differently
from another. Period. (P.223)
tention to rar
differentiatir
cies are purs
nated racial
theirwhite cr
sis for th" p.
perception tl
The Director of the Free Congress Foundation, Paul Weyrich (1991), commented on
the 1991 Civil Rights Act:
system of ra
Thus, rather
of the ability
approach err
abilityto vier
group. Only
litically right.
The colorblind approach rests on the argument that in order for racial discrimination
and inequality to be eliminated, it is necessary that government policF treat individuals
qua individuals, that is, on the "content of
been
colorblindness implies the belief that government should disregard race as a factor when
34
States
merit-and
penalties according to the lack of it-irrespective of the individual's race. The implicit
assumption
advocate of
possible to a
(i.e., the elim
is
The appro
ironic, inde
tention of thr
cades
priortc
(P. 35)
of the colorblind
approach is
that racism is the product of individual prejudice.It follows from such an attitudinal definition that to combat racism, government
need only guarantee individual equality
of
opportunity.
The colorblind approach is conceived by
the new right as the opposite of color consciousness. The color-conscious approach
shares the colorblind vision of the good society wherein racial differences will be of no
significance or consequence, but it differs
over the question of the means to achieve
such a society. For the advocate of colorconscious policies, it is necessary to pay at-
colorblind de
ably to put a
back in place
right insisten
mitment to p
racial groups
this commitr-r
sults or statisl
the new racis
discriminatio
or prejudice,
key items on
to dominant
cultural coder
CloselylfuI
blindness is t
in the Unitei
sider to be a
contending ir
The need for
vidual oppon
so-called pref
opposed. A c
tween equaltr
dividual oppo
he
appropri-
: in trying to
possible
rrally admisJ be
r differently
Foundamented on
ss
and chart a
should be
'based on a
;e
nerica must
hdt race is a
nployment,
ion and the
race is imnnot be po-
:ontent of
iheir skin.
policy, re-
erit-and
it-irre-
implicit
proach is
dual prejdinal defvernment
Le
luality of
ceived by
olor conapproach
ood soci-
be of no
differs
it
r achieve
of coloro pay at-
colorblind demand in recent decades is arguably to put at least some of those obstacles
back in place. This is the import of the new
right insistence that the government's commitment to pursue equality for subordinate
racial groups has gone too far in making real
this commitment via the pursuit of equal results or statistical parity. Tiue to the spirit of
the new racism, the rhetorical tool of antidiscrimination, absent anti-black sentiment
or prejudice, allows new rightists to oppose
key items on the black agenda and to adhere
to dominant constitutional principles and
cultural codes.
Closely linked to the key category of colorblindness is that of equality. New rightists
in the United States make what they consider to be a crucial distinction between
contending interpretations of the concept.
The need for government to equalize individual opportunities for all is affirmed, yet
so-called preferential treatment for blacks is
opposed. A distinction is thus drawn between equaltreatmentdefinedin terms of individual opportunity and equal outcome de-
and that thereby deem underuse or underrepresentation sufficient proof of discrimination. The point of such guidelines is to enRacial Fault
Lines
35
American Experimentlgg5), head of the California Association of Scholars and co-architect of the California Civil Rights Initiative,
'Affirmative action fundamentally violates
the principle that everyone deserves equal
protection under the law without regard to
membership in any group" (p. 8).
In the last fewyears, the attempt to circumvent the meaning ofliberal egalitarianism has
givenway to a frontal assault on the very notion that equality should be an aim of public
policy, thus exposing the morbid underside
of the new right's defense of equal opportunity- The publication of The Bell Curveby
Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray is
only the most extreme example of the argument that intellectuals and policymakers have
overlooked the role intelligence plays in determining wealth, poverty, and social status.
Although the so-called dependency culture
previously served as the ideological articulator of the conservative assault on the welfare state and its associated democratic values, now it is the alleged genetically
36
States
as explained by Carl
Cohen (1979),Professor of Philosophyat the
University of Michigan:
racism.
Ironically, it is the new right that has succeeded in presenting itself as heir to Martin
Luther King's call that society judge an individual by the content of his character, not the
color of his or her skin,
as seen
ers'have be
lems of bla
white racisr
DineshD'&
by arguing
what he reg
by quota
critic
white racism as an explanation for blackpoverty and instead focus on the behavior and
attitudes of black people themselves. Walter
E. Williams (1980), a black neoconservative
and Hoover Institution scholar, wrote,
"Somebody should tell the emperor that he
has no clothes on. For years now, black 'lead-
Nothingstrer
than the
be
underclass w
izesbasic cod
blacls as a gr
of performir
workforce, ar
sponsibilities
ism will
be
experience. (.
In the cont
developmen
prejudice is
sociologist r
Although
tainly not ra
patterns em
color, such
or rising o
stripes dopo
material cirr
tunity stmc
institutional
symbolic cc
and respons
vidualismer
firmative acl
agenda with
ited racistsequality are
time as the
ally oriente
closed.In all
conviction
initiatives ru
and thus co
life."
to the new
izens (not
ndividuals
merit and
.ed by
Carl
rphy at the
.skin-color
It
is
underclass which flagrantlyviolates and scandalizes basic codes of responsibility and civility. . . . If
blacks as a group can show that they are capable
of performing competitively in schools and the
workforce, and exercising both the rights and responsibilities of American citizenship, then rac-
races.
rch persons
rt has suc-
is of
mmunities
King's call
to the gods
national
(1eeo)
ti-
r. Steele, a
re, wrote,
antage or
looking to
:lackpov.ayior and
es. Walter
nservative
tr,
wrote,
or that he
lack'lead-
experience. (P.268)
to Martin
1e an indiler, not the
uota critic
$ Invisible
Afir-
Individualism coexists in new right ideology with the apparently contradictory cate-
self-
Although it is in all ways valid (and certainly not racist) to call attention to manifest
patterns emerging in poor communities of
color, such as low educational achievement
or rising crime rates, new rightists of all
stripes do so without relating such patterns to
material circumstances, the objective opportunity structure, or the continued reality of
institutional racism.In this way, through the
symbolic construction of individual blame
and responsibility, the key category of individualism enables the new right to oppose affirmative action and other items on the black
agenda without appearing to be mean-spirited racists. Relations of class and racial inequality are thereby legitimated at the same
time as the pursuit of larger, more structurally oriented political solutions are foreclosed. In all of this, the new right afiirms its
conviction that color-conscious antiracist
initiatives run counter to individual freedom
and thus counter to the 'American way of
lifel'
Lines
37
\
(1991), National Association
of
Scholars
member:
According to the theorists of curriculum change'
the real purpose ofeducation for difference is not
academic success but "empowerment"' Empowerment means learning how to struggle relentlessly against the oppression of the "dominant
culture, in other words, Western civilization'
capitalism, and almost every asPect of m.ainstream American culture and politics' (P' 37)
plea of tolerance
readers ihat toletat ce means accepting people of all cultures' Armed with this double
*ou., the symbolic construction of the PC
enemyhas ailowed newrightists to erode prosressive antiracist gains in the sphere of
f,igh"t education while speaking in the name
oflolerance and free sPeech.
Interjecting itself into the middle of the
culture *utt it, the mid-1990s is what could
be regarded as a shift from the project of
erodiig liberal policies such as multiculturalism inihe name of constitutional principles
of fairness to a more bold defense against
challenge of the dominant (white) culture'
Sienaline a convergence of sorts with Euroright diicourse about the "alien
pJu,
".iu iightists in the United States are
wedgei'new
beginning to uddrets the conflation of race
anl nation head-on, even to celebrate it' In
the policy arena of multiculturalism, new
righiists no longer simply attack liberal edu.u"to.t as enemies of tolerance but rather assaii the very assumption that all cultures are
equal, a[ the while holdilg 9p- the ideal of
w'hite culture as the standard by which all
others are judged, as seen in The End of Racismby D'Sbuzi (as quoted in Walker 1995):
The pathologies of black culture suggest that the
racists were right all along. ' ' . What blacks need
States
Indeed, the new right is engaged in an attempt to reconstructwhite as a nonracist cultural identity.
A constituent element of this new narrative of whiteness is a fresh boldness on the
part ofa certain faction ofthe new right coulitio, to take on the issue of immigration'
vocate culturi
nationalist ag
within the ner
of immigratio
sion in the nei
enemies of th
probably conti
black and/or.
main subtextut
discover it.
The final ke.
racismr" t'reve:
racism," or
(Glazer 1975;M
1986:24-39). T
initiatives
ism-that
cons
is,
ag
cially prevalent
on the subject c
In making t
policies discrin
neoconservative
diction that alth
in conception (i
compelli
essarily individu
tation. This is an
dress a
serious attention.
of affirmative
cannot therefore
as simply a code.
hide alleged raC
opposition to aff
reverse racism is
tion of the set ol
outlined previou
According to r
for people of col
individual equali
criminates againr
so constitutes "re
special class of p
an
effectively
migration.
if the new
onstrating
o the pubrl and eth-'s.Anum-
als-most
f
.National
ior editor
>ases
for a
ls conser-
nation of
y similar
Pe, SUCh
e context
ity of the
vhite" by
rlackand
rily alter
,lead the
rnal suiagainst
hers adan iden-
ethnic
part of
newlfar
ant iniessfully
nia) re-
rwright
he conightists
rolicies
ho ad-
orscover rt.
"^ll:IP
u,,tidiriu,ir.
racism," "reverse'discriminatior,,i-?*
racism," or ,,affirmative
(Glazer
ara
air..i*iriiiorr,,
of affirmative action.
Ia. making the argument that
antiracist
policies discriminate against *tit.-f.Jpt",
neoconservatives play on the central
iort.u_
otcrron that although such policies
are social
rn conception.(in that theylre
geared t"
oress.a cgn]p9t_ting social need),
"a_
th"y u." ,"._
essarily mdividual at the point
of implemen_
.d;i;;_
?ii"il.
tfr"
fr*
*[t]r:Dureaucrats.
ment
At issue is the question of the legitimate
means to redress racial inequality."armed
with the set of assumptions
ii""ijrrf" air_
cussed,.new rightists deem racialdir*i,irirr_
; j;;;il;;"*
ljirii*ii""
of institutionat iacism ili ;b;;;;"._
abo.ut the
,p..irliri""..ri, u,
i"i.i"r,r.
. ..tn breaking with the princ[ie-;il;;"._
blindness,
powe-r of (blackl
*ril"""I*
"i._
a..o.Ji;;';';.*
:i racial injusti...
lit rdeologues,
flgnr
affirmative
discriinination
ls tantamount to saying,,no
whites
need apply_" ln makin"g such
oi_rf",
;;;il;;r,
H;i;r:il,
,ror rourr
rrrrr
39
males
as
States
'_arlar. an(
resPon*.
:he meai
:xeans :o
iglt-s :o 1
.
.;'.
.-.
anaractenz
::eiudce a
:or1'Dracti(
'c poliies
:leeded
r,
=-,,-l:--:SUqdlli
-i5_-s1.
d-It-d.te.
It
sut:ol
ltl1-
Conclusion
bolic conflict.
40
:r.-F
1L t_\ -X
rdeat and p
&crh.inat
so\-ernxtenl
--aigeied exc
;:lonal ton
eriusio;:. a
:e;-i erclusic
'-:o an hc
areia ilo:e
--1
-^-'.-i---_,idtl5.:<l
in
=a-ir
i:-^--.-:_--t-L.tl
eu:.
d g!
\otes
- :
-.1---..
:i
:: -:- ::1=:-.:3.
-
E.1- =---
f L,.
-.
-r
-::e-:-:
:--=-_-___'-_ -:
.:
- _- _r.--_-=
-,^
-_Li_\_
R.eferences
;r:*----,
-_-:
=_
t_r
--:-ei::
- _:
i=
ruecham-
berry and
rosals that
tifr
vantage.
range
of
ogytoday
of a set of
than with
rilosophi:an liberal
,much an
or the
luals with
/rt than a
;ies
generally
cn in U.S.
rf the
new
for
re irratio-
It is precisely
;earch
rect exclusion
ry has re-
rtly comlpolitical
e of sym-
rtists and
efits that
continue
rns of rar apPears them to
idealized
iery with
;ocioeco-
:ya miliofoundly
:ions and
threat to
rosed by
authori-
Edsall, Thomas
Reac-
Notes
1. This is the view of Sara Diamond, for example, as communicated to the author in several personal interviews.
2. For examples of this evidence in that sociolo gical literature, see Sniderm an and P iazza ( I 993 ).
For examples of this evidence as propounded by
new rightists, see Lynch (1990, 1991).
imaginan of sup-
References
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Limbaugh, Rush. I 994. The Ru sh Limb augh Sho w, Sep tember 14.
Lynch, Frederick, R. 1990. "Surviving Affirmative Action (More or Less)." Commentary Auglusti44-4T.
1991. Invisible Victims: White Males and the
Crisis of Afirmative Action. New York: Praeger.
Racial Fault
Lines 4l
/
McConahay, John B. 1986. "Modern Racism, Ambivalence, and the Modern Racism Scale." Pp.9l-125 in
Prejudice, Discrimination, and Racism, edited by I.
F.
Dovidio and
demic Press.
Morganthau, Tom.1994. "IQ: Is it Destiny?" Newsweek,
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Murray, Charles. L984. Losing Ground: American Social
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Omi, Michael and Howard Winant. 1996. Racial Formation in the United States. New York: Routledge.
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Seidel, Gill. 1986. "Culture, Nation and 'Race' in the
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Smith, Anna Marie. 1994. New Right Dismurse on Race
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Sniderman, Paul and Thomas Piazza.1993. The Scar
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Steele, Shelby. 1990. The Content of Our Character: A
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Perennial, p. 17.
Taguieff, Pierre. 1990. "The New Cultural Racism in
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Wetherell, Maragaret and |onathan Potter. 1992. Mapping the Language of Racism: Discourse and the Le-
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Weyrich, Paul. l991. "Civil Rights at a Crossroad! New
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Williams,Walter. lg80. "TheEmperorHasNo Clothes.,'
Moral Maj o rity Reporf," November.
2.
our universil
the racist tor
black studen
very costly fo
cutors. Thesr
Ansell:
1. Ansell
spendmuch
hands of wI
and adminis
hours recov
against, the
often endure
devoted to tI
tormentors,
alizg this.
As analyst
cently failed,
is wasted in r
both in the
globe. Cons
amounts of
therein over
the billions
UnitedStates
death-derlinl
told waste
flicted by
fi
-e
Consider the
42
States