I was recently asked whether I really believed that most white Americans are racist.

[TygrBright]

6. I would put it higher, myself.

Being white and female and educated and, if not precisely in that "suburban women" demographic, close enough that it would be easy to assume I'd voted for [Redacted] if you didn't know me.

I am not sure how many people who self-identify as "white" have come to America from places that don't have an essentially racist culture, economy, and social order. But however many there are, those are the ones that are probably not racist. Depending on how long they've been here- if they were brought here as young children and raised here, that will not apply.

America is a racist culture, economy, and social order. By that definition, it privileges people who are (or look) white.

Raised in that culture, with that privilege, imbues us with racism so profoundly that we may not even be aware of all the levels and cues, ideas and assumptions, we have accrued. Being privileged with whiteness also acts as a disincentive to even examine our racism. The privilege, and the racism that creates and sustains it, are part of our identity.

The attempt to not be racist is relatively easy, up to a point: Understand the grosser manifestations of racism, the systemic evidence in various laws, regulations, etc., and work against those. Understand the grosser expressions of racism in word and action, and eliminate them from our own patterns of speech and lifestyle.

The next level is more difficult but still quite do-able: Stay alert for those grosser things among other white people and, where we have influence or power, identify them, speak against them, act against them.

The next levels are a little harder, at least I have found them so. My assumptions about racism came largely from the people who raised me, taught me, helped define my identity, and THEY WERE WHITE. Now, I'm lucky in that they were aware of racism and attempting to counter it insofar as that awareness went. I grew up in a "liberal" white family, went to a church that expressed the values of inclusion and equality. The people around me reinforced those values, supported the Civil Rights movement, tried to counter the grosser manifestations of racism on the legal level.

But, again, THEY WERE WHITE. I never had much contact with non-white people until I went to college, and, later, entered the workforce. And it was damn' hard to realize that all the assumptions I had about racism, which had been shaped in my white culture, neighborhood, and family, had NOTHING TO DO with the actual experience of racism.

It took quite a few knocks upside the head (metaphorically speaking) for me to realize that my white ideas about racism, while generally benevolent in intent, were only (at best) a good start. If I wasn't willing to listen, learn, and accept the experience of racism from the actual targets of racism, I was still pretty racist. Not mean racist. Not intentional racist, but still... racist.

It's taken me a long time to come to terms with the reality that on some level I will ALWAYS be racist, simply because of where I grew up (America) and what color my skin is. The best I can hope for is to continually try not to let my racism- and the privilege that created it- influence my awareness and assumptions about the world, and other people.

What's helped me most is my experience as a woman, and my awareness of misogyny and how it's shaped me and everyone else in this misogynistic culture, and how impossible it is for someone who hasn't experienced misogyny- someone who's benefited from male privilege- to over come that misogyny.

So yeah. Virtually all white people are racist, whether we "act" racist or not. Virtually all males are misogynist, whether they "act" misogynist or not. It's baked into a racist, misogynist culture and the privileges that culture bestows and the structure that culture maintains and defends to perpetuate itself.

Can we overcome it?

Yes. Over many generations.

To overcome racism, we have to listen to those who've experienced it, empower them, and follow their leadership.

To overcome misogyny, we have to listen to those who've experienced it, empower them, and follow their leadership.

Doing those things is as close as we can get to "not being racist" or "not being misogynist."

opinionatedly,
Bright