Last fall, I lost a friend.

In a single conversation, I went from someone he cared

deeply about to someone he loathed. We didn’t argue or shout; our conversation was in

text. He wrote a blog entry the night of Barak Obama’s election:

Barring a miracle, I fear I have just taken part in the last free election of
the United States of America. As some laugh and rejoice, I am silent,
seeing what is likely the end of everything my ancestors have fought to
protect since we were colonies.

As I was one of those rejoicing millions, I wrote back, confused. “What are you

afraid of?” I asked. “Is it because Obama is black?” His blogged reply knocked my socks

off:

This has really simmered and burned me the last few days. I was
accused of being a racist by someone whom I thought knew me better
than that. If I had a nickel from every inbred bigoted two-bit Yankee
who has told me "Well, you’re from the South, so you obviously hate
black people," I wouldn’t have to work ever again . I *DONT* hate
anyone based on their race or faith.. NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON
ON THE ENTIRE PLANET. But you want to know who I *DO* hate
with a vengeance??? People who *think* I'm racist.

Over the past two generations, Americans have been indoctrinated against the

evilness of racism. Harper Lee, through the character of Atticus Finch in To Kill A

Mockingbird, says “As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day

of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you forget it - whenever a white man

does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he

comes from, he is trash.”

For decades we’ve been told that racists are detestable, irrational people; racists

are stupid, unthinking, uneducated, and are filled with hate and bile. Being a racist is not

just bad, not just a character defect, it is horrific.

 To many Americans, the mere suggestion that we might be sensitive to race is

unacceptable, and is met with furious, heart-felt denial. In the face of such an accusation,

many will argue that they are “color blind,” and that race plays no part in their decision-

making process or interacting with others. Discussing this issue, another friend of mine

wrote, “I don’t even notice when someone is of a different race! Race is not on my radar.”

This type of thinking is dangerous. It is a trap. Thinking that we are color blind is

a self-deception that draws us further into racist thinking.

Xenophobia, or anxiety about strangers, is probably hardwired into our behavior.

The fear of “the other” is found in almost every species on earth, from ants to elephants

(Southwick et al 1974 ). Though it is a behavior that is often reinforced, xenophobia is

not a learned behavior, but is something that every baby develops around the age of six

months. (Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 2007) Behavioral scientist Johan van der Dennen states that

xenophobia “is a widespread trait throughout the animal kingdom, important because it

helps to “maintain the integrity of the social group” and “ensures that group members

will be socially familiar.”

But humans aren’t simple animals. We are intelligent, complex, social beings.

Translated into human culture, our basic, hardwired fears are justified and rationalized,

becoming what van der Dennen calls sentimental structures. Our lusty sexual urges

become “eroticism”, our feeling of loss at the death of a child becomes “mourning,” and

our anger becomes “hate.”

Our basic, hardwired emotions are the raw materials that we push into the mold of

conventional symbols and abstract concepts. Though it is a behavior that is often

reinforced, xenophobia is not a learned behavior, but is something that every baby
develops around the age of six months, (Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 2007) and it is our adaptive and

necessary (Harris 2006) fear of “the other” that is the raw material from which racism is

formed.

So, if we all share a basic xenophobia, does that mean we are all racists? It

depends on our definitions.

Generations of social scientists have said have said that racism is a social

dysfunction or pathology (Poussaint 2002). But if xenophobia is natural and adaptive, can

we call it dysfunction? Tom Bouchard, director of the Minnesota Center for Twin and

Adoption Research, points out that: "The genes sing a prehistoric song that must

sometimes be resisted but which should never be ignored." (Lykken, 1998)

Culture is the framework on which we hang our xenophobia. Perhaps it is a type

of hairstyle, someone who is too tall, too short, or too fat, or too thin. Perhaps it is the

way someone pronounces a word, or their beliefs. Perhaps it is a different type of

clothing, a physical disability, or the color of their skin. Anything that signals to us that

this person is “the other” will cause a subconscious xenophobic reaction.

Our xenophobia can be resisted, but it must not be ignored. If we ignore it, we

risk falling into the trap of color blind racism. Mark Halstead, Reader in Moral Education

at the University of Plymouth, defines color-blind racism as “the type which most closely

corresponds to what is commonly called 'unintentional racism.' Color- blindness falls

down because it is based on an idealistic principle (that all people are equal) which may

be valid sub specie aeternitatis but which fails to take account of the contingent facts of

racial inequality and disadvantage in our present society.”

 In the late 1970’s, sociologists suggested that racism could be fought by

pretending that there was no such thing as race. Surely ignoring that one man was of one

race and one was the other would be the best policy and would lead to true

egalitarianism. William Julian Wilson, in his book The Declining Significance of Race

(1978), wrote that, compared to the overt racial prejudice of the early twentieth century,

racial barriers had “crumbled under the political, social and economic changes of the civil

rights era.” Instead, barriers were “simply” those of socio-economic class.

What a relief! Blacks no longer had to worry about not being white! They could

simply rise above social barriers by moving up the socio-economic ladder, just as so

many of our white, European immigrant ancestors had done. Sure, there were still

barriers against a poor, young black man to receiving an education, getting a job, and

buying a house, but those barriers were because he was poor, not because he was black.

Striving toward the ideal of thinking “color blind”, American sociologists in the

1980’s sought to link clear societal failure of non-whites to anything other than barriers of

racial prejudice, and national politics swung away from anti-discrimination laws. Since

race was no longer a problem, blacks now had the same advantages and privileges as

whites. Whites no longer had to even think about their unconscious xenophobia.

And that is the problem with being color blind.

In his compelling book Racism Without Racists (2006), Eduardo Bonilla-Silva

writes that the Color Blind ideology leads to fallacious thinking: it causes us to minimize

racial disparities, to ignore white privilege, to think that racial segregation is natural, and

to ignore our own actions that are racially discriminative.

 "This color-blind racism ideology, comprised of frames, style, and racial stories

seems suave, even genteel, but it is not," said Eduardo Bonilla-Silva in 2008 at a speech

at Smith University. "Color-blind racism is the most significant political tool available to

whites to explain and ultimately justify the racial status quo." (Neale, 2008)

Americans live in a society that is imbued with messages about race. Interestingly,

these messages work best on us when they are delivered below the radar, at an implicit

level. When an appeal is explicit, people will react negatively because the appeal violated

the norm against racism. (DiTomaso, et el 2002)

Every day of our lives, from infancy to old age, we are bathed in an acid wash of

subconscious messages of racial bias. These messages of racial bias are most easily

absorbed when we ignore their presence and they fly under the wire.

An example of unrecognized white privilege can be seen in the public blog post of

science fiction author David Levine. In an internet-wide debate on characters-of-color in

science fiction/fantasy genre fiction dubbed RaceFail09, authors, editors, publishers and

readers discussed the reasons why there were not more characters of color portrayed in

available science fiction and fantasy genre literature:

Levine wrote:

“I have sometimes included characters of color, and of races and cultures

other than my own, in my writing. I've been trying to do it more. I
recognize that doing so is fraught with peril and I have done my best,
through critique and research and asking questions, to get it right. I also
recognize that sometimes I will get it wrong, and if I do so in a published
work I will take my lumps and try to do better in the future.

However. Your reactions to the written works and Internet posts of my

friends who are also trying to do the same have made me question even
the attempt. The height and breadth of the heap of spleen that I have seen
dumped upon my friends is more than just "lumps" -- it's something I
 wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. This slapfight, dogpile, shitstorm,
whatever you want to call it, has been so severe that I am wondering if I
should even try.”

Levine was answered in a public blog entry by abydosangel:

“You know what, sport? Them's The Breaks when you do something
badly, and then your friends (like you are doing here) miss the point and
make it about White Asshurt when they ride in to your rescue.

… Is this about getting it right, or people patting your wee head? Make up
your mind which one it is, because if it's the latter, then I have to question
your motives for writing a Black character at all. It will not guarantee you
A Ghetto Pass, or Black People Like Me cred and finally - we don't need
you to tell our stories. Not at all.

Am I being perfectly clear, white writers?

We do not need you to tell our stories and if you can't make an attempt
without creating a three ring circus around your predictably bad efforts;
we don't want you to.”

Is Levine acting overtly racist? No; in fact, he says that he sees that people of

color are under-represented in science fiction and fantasy, and he expresses his desire to

include more characters of color in his own stories. What Levine doesn’t recognize is that

there are plenty of people of color who are writing great stories which include characters

of color, but that these stories are not available to the general public because editors and

publishers have historically been white males who overwhelmingly choose stories about

white male characters written by white male authors.

This is the second half of white privilege; those with the privilege believe that

they must be the ones to take action. Not enough characters of color in genre literature? It

must be that there aren’t any people of color who write well. What’s a conscientious

white writer to do? Since there is no racism, it must be the job of white writers to write
more fiction that includes characters of color. Where Levine fails is in assuming that it is

his job to write fiction that includes more characters of color, instead of joining his voice

to others who are asking the publishing industry why they do not publish stories by

people of color.

Throughout the internet discussion that was Racefail09, the notion that the lack of

fiction written by people of color is due to unacknowledged racism is not only not

addressed, but objected with such vehemence that one imagines if it had been face to

face, blows might have been exchanged.

The reason that color blind racism is so dangerous is that it begs us to justify and

minimize our racially prejudiced actions. People who strive for being “color blind”

mistakenly believe that any recognition of race is racist. Since we know that we try to

avoid overt racism, and therefore aren’t racist, we strongly deny that we react to race,

even subconsciously.

Since we aren’t racist, the fact that there are more black men in prison than in

college must be because black people break the law more than do white people. Since we

aren’t racist, the fact that Hispanics pay the highest percentage of their income for their

home mortgage must be because Hispanics are more poor and unreliable than white

people. Since we aren’t racist, the fact that there are twice as many disabled Native

Americans than the average US population is because Native Americans are uneducated

alcoholics, and don’t take care of their health as well as do white people.

Certainly, it can’t be because our courts give prison sentences to blacks when they

give plea agreements and probation to whites (Ziedenberg et el, 2002), that our banks

charge Hispanics a higher interest rate than whites with the same income and credit rating
(Zibel, 2009), and that our Native Americans don’t have access to the same level of rural

healthcare that is available in similar rural white communities (Smedley et el, 2003).

Instead of striving for “color blindness,” we should acknowledge and celebrate

the differences between cultures and race. Instead of denying our primal fear of “the

other,” we should look it in the eye. We should readily and easily acknowledge that we

sometimes make decisions and judgments that have a racial bias. If we do that, if we

admit that we are only human, we can check our behavior for bias without a need for

justification.

If we can accept that xenophobia is a part of being human, we may be able to

begin to fight true racism. If we can accept the reality of white privilege and accept that

our culture exudes a multitude of racially biased messages, policies and actions, then

things can change. If we can look our unthinking racism in the eye without shame or

anger, then we can honestly say that we may need to reassess our thoughts and our

actions.

I commented on my friend John’s blog, “What are you afraid of? Is it because

Obama is black?”

He replied:

This person put words in my mouth, and slandered me. I will not *EVER*
be able to trust them again. And they have completely destroyed any
chance of a relationship with me. If there is no trust in a relationship, then
there is no relationship. They are dead to me.

We have not spoken since, and I miss my friend. If he could accept my words, I

would say that I regret the distance that has come between us. I regret, John, that you see

me as your enemy. I do not think that you are evil or vicious. I don’t think that you are a
racist. I regret that what I said caused you pain. But here’s the thing, John – I do not

regret my words. I would ask you those questions again, if I could.

References:

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http://abydosangel.livejournal.com/468124.html

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of Racial Inequality in the United States. Lanham:Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

DiTomaso, Nancy, Parks-Yancy, Rochelle and Post, Corinne,White. (2002) Views of

Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity: Colorblindness, Qualifications, and Quotas. AoM
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Eibl-Eibesfeldt, I. (2007) Human Ethology. Piscataway, NJ:Aldine Transaction p. 174

Halstead, M. (1988) Education, Justice, and Cultural Diversity: An Examination of the

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Harris, J. (2006) No Two Alike. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.

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