Racism and White Supremacy in the Post-Civil Rights Era

The following is a final paper I wrote for my Social Problems course at Ivy Tech Community College in the 2013 fall semester. A few people requested to read it so I decided to post it online. It has been sitting in the drafts of this blog for months, because without a concrete deadline, I have a hard time feeling like anything I've written is every truly ready to share. But this is a concept that I need to have written somewhere so it can be referred to as folks continue to use outdated definitions of racism while trying to address modern problems. Without further ado:

When topics of race or racism come up, many enter the discussion with shallow conceptualizations of what racism actually is. For many people, especially white people, racism can be considered anything done or said disparately against one race, particularly in favor of another. Dictionaries commonly define racism as simply hatred or intolerance of another race and/or the belief that one race is superior over another. By either of these, or a combination of both, definitions, racism is mostly attitudinal and usually individual, and unless someone is purposely being prejudicial or discriminatory, then they’re not racist. Based on this line of reasoning, most of our analysis of race and racism occurs after the fact, and it is sensible to believe that following the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s, the U.S. began to enjoy a period that some call post-racial, or post-racist – meaning that racism, and race, as we have understood and defined it in the past is no longer relevant in U.S. society. However, others – particularly the members of racial minority groups whom racism has most disparately impacted in the past – maintain that racism is still not only present in U.S. society, but has managed to thrive in the past several decades that followed the Civil Rights Movement. I doubt anyone would argue that racism as it existed in the 1950s and ‘60s still exists in the same way and still manifests the same way that it did then. Obviously, segregation and other solely race-based policies are no longer explicitly written into law; the KKK are no longer staples in every white community, they’re considered fringe extremists. But the fact remains that black Americans and other racial minorities continue to lag behind whites in various areas of society. In a land of purported equality, black and white Americans continue to have vastly different experiences, especially due to race (Douglas E. Schoen, 2012). What can explain this? In this paper I will explore how racism has transformed in society following the “success” of the Civil Rights Movement, particularly how prejudicial attitudes have allowed for racially oppressive systems in the U.S. to continue to thrive.

This paper will predominately focus on racism against black people, not because racism against other people of color is less important or significant, but because the black/white racial divide is and has always been the most visible in U.S. society, black people have consistently been the largest U.S. racial minority group, and the forms of racism enacted against black people (enslavement, lynching, etc.) have manifested in the most violent and widespread forms. It is important to acknowledge that while all racial minorities face racism, certain groups (such as Asians, particularly East Asians) due to their financial and educational success in America, in addition to “model minority” stereotypes, do not face the brunt of hostilely negative prejudiced beliefs, violence, and discrimination that other groups (such as blacks, natives, and Latinos) do. The term “racial minorities” can apply to all people of color in America, but it is important to keep in mind that racism manifests differently across different racial groups.

One of the most significant ideas supporting the claim of a post-racial society is understandable and follows a general pattern of social change: as time goes on, society progresses. I doubt more than a small minority of people would argue that society has not progressed at all since the Civil Rights Movement, particularly regarding how racial groups are treated. However, a bit of a larger minority – myself included – would argue that while improvements have no doubt been made, the success of the Civil Rights Movement, and the subsequent end of racism, has been far overblown. Some say that due to the election of a black president, it is impossible for racism to exist in the U.S., and that instead, an epidemic of “reverse racism”, i.e., racism against whites, has taken its place. I wholeheartedly reject both of these claims, and instead maintain that racism has not disappeared, but merely transformed. Social psychologist James Waller defines two distinct forms of racism as either “old-fashioned racism” – which is what most people assume is meant by the word “racism” – and “modern racism,” (James Waller, 1998) which has developed following the passage of the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s, when discrimination was outlawed and a new age dawned where “old-fashioned” racist beliefs slowly became less and less acceptable in mainstream America. “Old-fashioned racism” as defined by Waller is a three-pronged belief system consisting of beliefs in white racial superiority, in sanctioned segregation (in schools, communities, public areas, etc.), and in justification for racial discrimination against those races deemed inferior; in addition, the trademark of the old-fashioned racist is that they are blatantly open about these beliefs (James Waller, 1998). Based on this definition, which is what many infer by the term racism alone, then it is true that racism in U.S. society has diminished. However, what Waller calls “modern racism” is a much different beast – modern racist beliefs include 1) denying that racial discrimination against minorities continues, thereby 2) influencing their hostility to minority demands for equal treatment, and finally that 3) the “equal treatment” given to minorities is in fact an unfair advantage over whites, because in the modern racist view, minority groups are already given equal treatment by the normal functions of our society: anything extra is excessive and thus reverse-discriminatory (James Waller, 1998). If the term racism were to apply to this modern racism as opposed to old-fashioned racism, then from my perspective it would be far more common than uncommon in U.S. society. However, the main ability for these “modern” racist beliefs to persist and thrive is in that they are not considered racism by the general populace, particularly by the people who hold these beliefs. Waller (1998) says that, in fact, “[Modern racists] abhor, and avoid, all expressions of old-fashioned racism” (p. 121). He goes on to discuss how although these modern racist beliefs stem from the same underlying prejudices as old-fashioned racism, the social acceptability of openly, “old-fashioned” racist beliefs have declined, which is why these subtler beliefs have taken its place and are simultaneously not considered racism of any type by the general populace (James Waller, 1998). A subset of modern racism is symbolic racism (James Waller, 1998; David O. Sears, et al, 1997) which includes the previously addressed beliefs of modern racism, but also include absence of positive feelings for black people and the assertion that blacks should work harder (David O. Sears, et al, 1997), implying that where black people and other minorities lag behind in society is not due to discrimination – modern/symbolic racists believe discrimination is a relic of the past – but due to their (blacks’) own personal failings, such as lack of work ethic. The very belief that the majority of blacks have a lower work ethic than whites, since the majority of blacks lag behind whites in overall wealth, income, and employment, is fundamentally racist – even in the “old-fashioned” sense – by assuming blacks’ work ethic is inferior to that of whites. But because of how the belief is framed, those who hold these beliefs can escape the label of racism by refusing to examine the undercurrent of prejudice in their beliefs.

Somewhat ironically, one of the main concepts used to justify the post-racial theoretical view of society is arguably the same thing that causes racist beliefs and structures to continue to function with ease: colorblindness. Simply put, colorblindness is the concept of one not seeing color, or more accurately, not seeing race as a defining factor in any one person or people. Colorblindness is a common solution for racial inequality, and individuals as well as institutions claim to utilize it. But this theory has one major glaring problem: why is race so significant to someone’s identity that in order to treat everyone equally, one must pretend that that they can’t see it, that it doesn’t even exist? Surely if one had a purely egalitarian perspective, they could see all manner of different people and those differences would have no bearing on how one treats them. This brings me to my point that ultimately, the theory of colorblindness actually fosters racial biases. By refusing to “see” race, one simultaneously refuses to see the differences in experience, culture, history, and identity of individual people, for whom that status may be of importance. As Monica T. Williams suggests in “Colorblind Ideology is a Form of Racism,” it is mostly white people who ascribe to this doctrine, since their perspective as white people directly reinforces the concept that race doesn’t matter – for them. Because white people in America enjoy being both the majority in size and power, they have no history or understanding of how race impacts one’s identity except as to how it affects “others” (Monica T. Williams, 2011).

Of course, many white people would disagree with this assertion, claiming they do understand what it is like to experience discrimination. What about affirmative action? Affirmative action as it is referred to today consists of the policies put in place in compliance with Executive Order 11246, which banned discrimination based on gender, race, national origin, disability or veteran status, among other things (United States Department of Labor, 2002).  Many assume that because affirmative action policies take minority social statuses into account (although race is the most popular talking point), that they must be discriminatory against the dominant social statuses. But this assumption has little basis in reality. What affirmative action policies intend to do is prevent discrimination; they do so by determining numerical goals of minority-status individuals for hire “based on the availability of qualified applicants in the job market or qualified candidates in the employer’s work force” (United States Department of Labor, 2002). This clearly states that in hiring, the social status of candidates is only considered among those who are already qualified for the position. Opponents of affirmative action claim that affirmative action policies give minority status individuals an unfair advantage; again, this has little basis in reality. In reality, white students with privileged backgrounds who have connections to a university are far more likely to attend a university for which they did not meet the admission qualifications than black or Latino students who benefited from affirmative action policies (Paul Pryse, 2008). Myths about affirmative action run rampant, perhaps the greatest one being that affirmative action puts white students at a disadvantage by favoring students of color. In truth, studies have shown time and time again that the greatest beneficiaries of affirmative action are white women (Tim Wise, 1998) due to affirmative action policies including gender as a consideration. Finally, I believe that any growing opposition to affirmative action from white people is very often a misunderstanding of the practices, chalking it up to “reverse discrimination” instead, or simply feeling their privileged position in society is attacked when racial minorities are given a chance to excel at the same level. After all, affirmative action explicitly for white people – otherwise known as racial discrimination – persisted in U.S. universities, hiring practices, and just about everywhere else from before the dawn of the U.S. as a nation until the 1960s.  Michael K. Brown (2003) notes, “Yet when power and wealth were being invested in their side of the color line, white Americans registered hardly any opposition to the arrangement” (p. 28). 

The bottom line is that affirmative action was enacted to reverse the centuries of discrimination that white people (specifically, white men) had benefited from at the expense of people of color (and white women). To use a metaphor, it is not opening a door for people of color and explicitly keeping white people out – it is opening a door for people of color that only white people were allowed to use for centuries prior. What stringent opposition to affirmative action tells me is that white people either enjoy benefiting from discrimination too much to give it up, or they truly believe that people of color are incapable of being hired or admitted based on their qualifications alone – both possibilities seem connected to racist beliefs that people of color should not enjoy the same educational and economic opportunities as whites, or that their inferiority makes it impossible for them to compete on the same level.

Colin Wayne Leach identifies a theory for the persistence of racism even after attempts have been made to reform racial inequality, which is first suggested in Gunnar Myrdal’s book An American Dilemma (1944) (Colin Wayne Leach, 2002). While many identify democracy and egalitarianism as sources of equality, Myrdal predicts – and Leach confirms – that while they ideally would dismantle systems of racial inequality, “the hope that U.S. egalitarianism will eventually reform racism and racial inequality ignores the fact that racism and inequality are as central to the society as egalitarianism” (p. 284). The United States, since its conception, has been considered a land of fairness, equality, and liberty; that is the reason colonists rebelled against British colonial rule. However, what many fail to remember and acknowledge is that this supposed liberty only applied to certain groups of people. Though many feel that this period (of racial inequality in particular) is over, it is worth acknowledging that whites have apparently felt this way for a while. Leach notes that around the time Myrdal’s book about democracy and the Negro was published in the 1940s, a minority of whites (40%) believed that blacks were treated unfairly despite this being a time when segregated public facilities and explicit discrimination was the norm (Colin Wayne Leach, 2002). Today, though many whites feel blacks are nowhere near as disadvantaged as they used to be and in fact are sometimes favored over whites (Colin Wayne Leach, 2002; David O. Sears, et al, 1997) it remains a fact that black unemployment, black homelessness, black poverty, and black arrests are all higher than the rate for whites, and that their income, and especially wealth, levels are lower. Myrdal and Leach argue that to protect their beliefs about American fairness and equality, whites will justify the disparities by inferring that blacks must be inherently inferior (Colin Wayne Leach, 2002). In other words, whites will not see the problems unique to blacks in America as a failure of democracy or proof of societal racism as they are far too invested in the former idea, and in the belief that the latter does not exist. Therefore the only way to rationalize the social standing of black Americans is to fall back on the assumption that has persisted for most of American history – that black suffering is a result of blacks’ own inherent inferiority. It also must be acknowledged that as such a democratic society progresses and the severity of racial inequality lessens, this belief will be much easier to justify as the severity of problems that blacks face will decrease (since it is easier to imagine that blacks are responsible for their own high unemployment levels than their enslavement, for example).

So far this paper has examined only attitudinal, or prejudicial, racism, but obviously prejudice is the foundation for discrimination and structural racism. Studies and statistics abound that show racial disparities continue to exist not only in employment and education, but in housing, the criminal justice system, and even healthcare. To verify that the source of disparity is intentional racism would be faulty, as someone could believe and claim that they are acting indiscriminately but regardless still treat members of different races unequally. One jarring example of racial disparity is shown in Devah Pager’s 1998 Princeton study of discrimination in hiring practices. Her experiment used men of equitable qualifications, age, physical appearance, and speaking style of different racial and ethnic backgrounds (white, black, and Latino). A second set of men were used to determine how a criminal background would affect results, but only the white man in the second group was given a criminal record. All were fielded to 171 employers in New York City. What may not be surprising is that in the first group, the white man received the highest percentage of callbacks (31%), with the Latino and black man receiving considerably less (25% and 15% respectively) (Devah Pager, 1998). What is shocking is that in the second group, the white man with a criminal record received more callbacks (17%) than the black men with clean records from each group (15% and 13%) (Devah Pager, 1998). The results of the study suggest that to employers, a white man with a criminal record is equally, if not more so, preferable for employment than a black man without one.

Studies like these suggest that racial discrimination is alive and well, and combined with the high incarceration rates of blacks – being 6.5 times more likely to be arrested than whites (James Williams, 2011) – the odds are stacked dramatically high against black Americans. Claims that we live in a post-racial society are mistaken, despite what people may think about the election of Barack Obama. While it may be true that intentional and explicit racial biases have faded from American society, that says nothing about the reality of unintentional and implicit racial biases – the only difference being that the latter is dramatically harder to identify and subsequently combat. Aptly summarized in the track “Never Let Me Down” from his 2004 debut The College Dropout, Kanye West raps, “Racism still alive / they just be concealin’ it.” As racism has existed since the dawn of our nation, its defeat can only be accomplished by an active and intentional campaign to totally dismantle the systems, institutions, and beliefs that support it. Unfortunately, this will likely never happen, as far too many people are invested in the current operation of the status quo. However, my hope is that through increased education and awareness about the reality of racial inequality, more people will begin to stand up and demand that something be done.

References

Brown, M. K., Carnoy, M., Currie, E., Duster, T., Oppenheimer, D. B., Schultz, M. M., & Wellman, D. (2003). Whitewashing race: The myth of a color-blind society. Berkley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.

Leach, C. W. (2002). Democracy’s dilemma: Explaining racial inequality in egalitarian societies. Sociological Forum, 17, 681-694.

Pager, D., Western, B., & Bonikowski, B. (2009). Discrimination in a low-wage labor market: A field experiment. American Sociological Review, 74, 777-799.

Pryse, P. (2008, October 23). In defense of affirmative action. Socialist Worker. Retrieved from http://socialistworker.org/2008/10/23/in-defense-of-affirmative-action.

Schoen, D. E. (2012). Newsweek/The Daily Beast Poll. Retrieved from http://www.thedailybeast.com/content/dam/dailybeast/2012/04/06/Newsweek_DailyBeast_Race_In_America_Survey.pdf.

Sears, D. O., Van Laar, C., Carillo, M., & Kosterman, R. (1997). Is it really racism?: The origin to white American’s opposition of race-targeted policies. Public Opinion Quarterly, 61, 16,-53.

Waller, J. (1998). Face to face: The changing state of racism across America. New York, NY: Plenum Publishing Corporation.

Williams, J. (2011). Racial disparities in the criminal justice system. Retrieved from http://criminaljustice.ncbar.org/newsletters/criminaljusticefeb11/racialdisparities.

Williams, M. (2011, December 27). Colorblind ideology is a form of racism. Psychology Today. Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/colorblind/201112/colorblind-ideology-is-form-racism.

Wise, T. (1998). Is sisterhood conditional?: White women and the rollback of affirmative action. Retrieved from http://www.timwise.org/1998/09/is-sisterhood-conditional-white-women-and-the-rollback-of-affirmative-action/.

(2002, January 4). Facts on executive order 11246 – affirmative action. United States Department of Labor, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/aa.htm.