The Trick of Racism

It has been a very bad week for racism. More accurately I should say is has been a very bad week for two racists. I’m quite sure everyone is now familiar with America’s two most recently celebrated racists. The first to come to our attention a couple of weeks ago was Nevada cattle rancher Cliven Bundy. Cliven is a very interesting man not because he is a racist (that’s very common), but because he became a cause-celebre among the ultra-conservative crowd who elevated him to folk-hero status for stealing national resources from you and me without paying for them. Of course he wore that banner proudly by proclaiming that he had an “ancestral right” to public land resources, and didn’t need to pay for them like his neighbors and fellow ranchers. He also proclaimed that he did not recognize the existence of the Federal Government. The (itchin’ for a gunfight) ultra-right-wing wackos came out of the woodwork to defend him against legitimate court-ordered law enforcement for his crimes, and forced an armed stand-off. The Federal BLM agents showed proper restraint and backed down rather than cause a loss of life. Bundy’s cause was quickly joined by the right wing radio hosts (like Hannity and Limbaugh) and a number of prominent politicians who jumped on the anti-government band wagon, even though they are  now serving in the Federal Government that Bundy doesn’t recognize- but that’s a joke all on its own.

This foolishness took a big turn when our folk-hero turned out to be a raving racist. In my opinion he started out being a raving lunatic. The man lives in this country, has the advantages of this country but doesn’t think it exists when it’s time to pay the bill. Bundy had been through the courts for years making his ridiculous claims and lost every time. For him to then declare that the country doesn’t exist is delusional on its face. His claim of “ancestral ownership” would make an interesting case in an Indian Tribal Court, wouldn’t you think? Then at the height of his fifteen minutes of fame he comes out with statements suggesting the “Negroes” would have been better off remaining slaves. He went on to say a number of other nonsensical things about what he “knows” about Negroes, but they are too ridiculous, ignorant and offensive to restate here. This clarifying expose’ on race sent the aforementioned politicians running for the hills.

We should only have to be subjected to this level of public bigotry (no more than) once a month, maximum. But Don Sterling, owner of the LA clippers of the NBA, lit up the media a second time when his tape recorded fight with his mistress was made public and he was exposed as a total racist bigot who didn’t want his girlfriend to seen with “blacks” or have her bring “them” to the Clippers’ games. A nation filled with righteous indignation demanded his head and the NBA gave it to them- rightly so. Of course everyone in the NBA knew about this part of his character and tolerated it until TMZ just put in our collective face. Now he is banned totally from the game he partly owns. He will likely have to sell the team- at a profit.

These two outlandish examples of racism in America form the basis for the Trick of Racism. The trick is this: when such blatant and obviously cartoonish examples of racism grab and hold our attention we trick ourselves into ignoring the baked-in, institutional racism that has existed in this country from its inception. We trick ourselves into believing that taking a stand against these overtly racist people, somehow grants us permission to ignore the covert racism that permeates nearly every segment of American life. In some ways,  people like Bundy and Sterling are the ointment we apply to stop the irritation of more prevalent forms of racism we should otherwise be concerned about.

One way to think of racism in America is to liken it to the molten center of the planet. It is always there at the core. Occasionally the molten lava rock makes its way to the surface and erupts. We take notice of the noisy, flamboyant eruption because it frightens us, then we go back to ignoring the mass of molten lava that constantly rumbles beneath our feet. The two noisy eruptions of racism this month are themselves a smokescreen to hide the depth of the racism that marked their own existence. In Bundy’s case, the likes of Rand Paul and other self-serving politicians were face forward to the cameras to pronounce him a "patriot" when it served their purposes. But, when the true racist Bundy came out, their “spokesmen” issued all the denials. How refreshing it would be to see a Republican actually (and personally) denounce racism when it counts. In Sterling’s case, the whole league said I unison, “there is no place for racism in the NBA” – except that there was a place for that in the NBA, and no one was willing to take a stand against it until it publicly embarrassed the other owners.

The true damage from the trick of racism is not the damage suffered by a few foolish and delusional militiamen and idiot politicians, or those who inhabit the elite world of the NBA. The true shame of this trick is that it keeps us from addressing the racism that is rotting the nation. It is pervasive. It is damaging to our national character- and very few of us are willing to even acknowledge it.

The following are a few blatant examples of the pervasiveness of racism that will continue on with very little response in the foreseeable future. On the basic issue of justice: consider that the US leads the world in imprisoning its citizens. There are 2.3 million Americans in jails and prisons. 1 million of those are black males. Much of the explosion of the black population in our prisons is due to the intentionally  racially biased “mandatory minimums” that came from our “war on drugs”. The evidence on this subject is very clear.  All African-Americans in the US (men, women and children) constitute 12% of the population. Blacks constitute 40% of the entire death row population. The very imposition of the death penalty is heavily influenced by the race of the victim. Since 1977, the overwhelming majority of death row defendants have been executed for killing white victims; although African Americans make up about half of all homicide victims (Amnesty International 2013) Every study on this issue concludes that racial bias is the reason for this disparity in the administration of Justice.

In the area of economic holdings: Whites on average possess 6 times the net worth of minorities in the US. Not only is the US the most inequitable in total wealth distribution, the wealth disparities are exponentially worse for minorities. “The racial gap in median income closed slightly in the last 20 years. Nonwhite families earned about half of what white families earned in 1989. This closed to 70% in 2007, and has slipped back to 65% in 2010. (The Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances) Every bit of data we have about the Great Recession of 2007 indicates that minorities fared far worse than whites in the loss of wealth. As the nation went into panic mode over an unemployment rate just north of 10% at the height of the recession, unemployment in the African-American population has hovered at 17% for generations, with hardly anyone talking about it besides the most rabid activists who are brushed off with a shrug of the shoulders.  For younger African Americans, the unemployment rate is even higher. In education, more and more urban public schools are showing signs of re-segregating. Then trend toward charter schools and other urban “innovations” in education have had the unintended consequence of fostering divisions in educational opportunity. The conservative leaning Supreme Court has recently made several decisions indicating they no longer recognize the need to guard against racial bias in educational opportunity. Only two weeks ago they upheld a Michigan law disallowing Affirmative Action in college admissions. Five states have such laws (including my own). In each State where Affirmative Action was set aside, minority college admissions have been cut in half- thus denying opportunities to minorities who are still subject to the disadvantages of racial bias and discrimination.

Let’s examine another basic area often overlooked in considering racial bias: health care. The Journal of the American Medical Association identifies race as a significant determinant in the quality level of medical care, with ethnic minority groups receiving less intensive and lower quality care. Ethnic minorities also receive less preventative care, are seen less by specialists, and have fewer expensive and technical procedures than non-ethnic minorities. In housing, racial minorities suffer discrimination based on both color and economic status. In the basic areas of economic enfranchisement, educational opportunity, housing, health care, and the administration of justice the numbers are clear. No argument suggesting reasons other than racism accounts for the depth and scope of these disparities.  

I could go on citing statistic after statistic about the racism that infects us- I have actually only scratched the surface on the wealth of data on the subject of racism in America. I could discuss the incredible rate of growth in white separatists groups since Mr. Obama became the President. I could give examples of obvious and despicable racism I’ve personally seen, even in my limited experience. I could point to the hypocrisy of banning Don Sterling from the NBA for things he said in his house, while at the same time tolerating a major sports team in our nation’s capital named with a racial epithet: the Washington Redskins. I could point out that the same shallow politicians who stood up for  Cliven Bundy as he was violating the law are the very same people who are denying illegal immigrants the ability to contribute to this country and enjoys its rights and privileges because they "broke the law" to get here.


All of these facts of our collective experience lead us to an inescapable truth- if we are willing to see it. Racism still lives in the core of our American culture. The challenge for us now, and in the near future is to resist the insidious trick of racism, that distracts us from our true need to eliminate pervasive institutional racism. The hardest thing to do is recognize it as a part of our national heritage and begin to undo the institutional racism the runs through nearly every facet of our national experience. This requires honesty. For those who claim we are the greatest nation in the history of mankind, don’t stand in the way of honesty by blindly promoting the ideal even when it is not a living reality. We should find ways to honestly address the undeniable mistakes of slavery, Jim Crow bigotry, genocide and cruelty toward the American Indians (including the removal of their children in the late 20th century), exploitation of Chinese laborers, internment of Japanese Americans, and the inhumanity of today’s immigration laws. Doing that will insure that generations to come will truly recognize us as the greatest nation in the history of man. We can, and should be judged by the way we corrected our mistakes- the ways we applied our values in real life, and the ways we overcame the tricks of self-deception that prevent progress.

Thanks for looking in.