Are we In Danger of falling into the Racism Trap?
There is a movement happening and I am starting to get excited about it. For me the flash point of the current racial climate was the perfect storm of a pandemic that has been indiscriminate in causing suffering and frustration; a white presidential candidate questioning the “blackness” of those who might not vote for him; and the release of the devastating footage of the murder of George Floyd, at the hands of the police, coupled with the infuriating footage of Amy Cooper weaponising her status as a white person to potentially put a black man in harm’s way. One indisputable thing after the other where the outrage and frustration was bipartisan. No longer could people stay silent and there was, and still is, an eruption of pent up feelings that cannot be kept silent. Since then there have been conversations and arguments in equal measure and this is what I am excited by.
We are at a cross-roads now and through my various conversations, mainly with people who I did not immediately agree with, I have realized that this is a crucial point. We have had the initial outburst of our pent up feelings which has led to greater support for change but seeing the discussions, especially around the riots, I realize we are in danger of continuing previous cycles. It is the racism trap. Recently I saw the following picture quoting what had been said by Lord Macaulay in his address to British Parliament in 1835:
As you can see in the above text the end game was for Africa, and the African Diaspora as a whole, to be a “dominated” people. To promote a feeling of white supremacy.
It got me thinking about the true nature of Racism and how we might actually be playing right into the trap set by the ruling class all those years ago. So I dug deeper and my summary is that Racism is the line drawn to divide and thus perpetuate the feeling of domination. To quote Henry Louis Gates, a Harvard Professor, “Race and Class have always been fused”. Create a group of people who you can feel superior to and you will create a feeling that there is something to lose if you change things. I genuinely think that Racism was designed as much to subjugate non-white people as it was to keep working class and middle class white people on the other side.
I have a formula I use that I call it FAR (1), Facts + Analysis = Reality. So my starting point tends now always to be everyone is right in their reality. It is the analysis of the situation that creates the different reality. It is in the analysis that we need to understand before we can share a reality. And this is where Racism is working exactly as it was designed to. Our analysis is driven by the self (ego). Feel attacked and you will stop listening and be driven by fear. Feel justified and you will listen more. Racism is designed to make everyone feel attacked.
Every time someone says “all lives matter” in response to “black lives matter” it feels like our struggles as black people are being dismissed and undermined. Of course all lives matter but why is it you forget about that until you hear black people complain? Our analysis is formed by the continuous visuals and lived experiences every single day. Breonna Taylor killed while in bed; Ahmaud Arbery killed while jogging; Tamir Rice, a child for goodness sake, killed for playing with a toy gun; and John Crawford shot while shopping at Walmart just to name a few. None of these people did anything wrong yet are no longer with us. Seeing that all the time clearly we are not going to feel like all lives matter. I was once racially attacked by 6 white men on the streets of London and the police officer actually told me that it was an “inconvenience” to him. Of course I feel like my life did not matter in that situation. Wouldn’t you? It is examples like that we need to share to start helping people understand our reality.
While having a conversation an old friend of mine recently she said, “Why should I have to work hard and then you people come in complaining about race and get a handout”. Obviously I was not happy to hear those words. My first instinct was to lose my composure and chastise. However, when I took a step back, I realized why they felt how they felt. They were on the fear cycle of making predictions and conclusions, based only on what was poignant to them. I afforded them the courtesy I wish they had provided me by acknowledging their reality. However, I told them “if you feel this discomfort then you are having a small taste of my reality. However, until you can move away from thinking only about just your discomfort and start considering the discomfort of others, we will perpetuate this cycle. By not changing things for the most vulnerable you give the power structure permission to keep ignoring their responsibilities. And as we have seen with the breakdown of working class communities across Britain and the USA, they are ignoring you too”. I changed a perspective that day.
What is the solution?
We cannot let up even if we start to see progress. This is a process and we have to accept it will take time. So here is my suggestion for how we can avoid the Racism trap:
1) Do not let up. Keep having the difficult conversations. Discomfort is a signal for the potential of growth. Don’t let up because people don’t agree with you straight away. Understand their analysis and keep trying to explain in ways they might understand better. As with the example above it requires moving past your own triggers. It requires bravery and practice to do that and what the protests are showing us is we have that bravery in us.
2) As you are expressing your feelings start to acknowledge the feelings of those you do not agree with. We are all right to feel how we feel and react how we react. We are habitual creatures with a quest for survival wired into us. If we feel our survival is threatened, our instincts kick in. You cannot convince everyone but the aim is to reach a critical mass of consensus.
3) This is the most important bit and the most difficult. As we reach the mass of consensus and we start seeing progress, in terms of policy, we then need to FLIP THE PARADIGM. If the purpose of racism is division we have to starve it of that. We tend to sanitize the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He did not just fight for racial equality. Actually, following the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he had turned his attention from just racial lines to economic justice for all. I feel this is an important fact that often gets missed. He realized that crossing the racial lines and fighting for the working and middle class would further the progress made by the civil rights movement. He realized the Racism trap is perpetuated by the feeling that there are those that have and those that have not and each side arguing it out. All the policies that disproportionately affect minorities also affect the working class white community. The middle class who have a small taste of the pie fear losing what they have. We need to realize that wealth is not a zero sum game. The bigger the middle class the more opportunity for entrepreneurship and creativity to thrive.
4) Unite across the basic needs of all people. Education, Healthcare, mental health, Jobs and the restoration of community. These are not costs to governments and we need to get away from viewing them as such. These are investments into the mental well being of a nation and the lack of this investment is the ROOT CAUSE of majority of the issues society faces. Invest in solving these and watch the symptoms such as race and discrimination start to diminish.
I am hopeful. The winds of change seem to be blowing in a direction to move us forward. I feel as long as we can understand the insidious trap that is racism then the future looks brighter.
References
1. FAR was inspired by the work of Whitten & Roy - FIX (Facts + Interpretation = eXperience)