{1} Introduction
Surreal – (1) having the intense irrational reality of a dream.
For the past week, I have been dealing with the flu. I’m not sure if having a high fever has added to, or subtracted from, the experience of watching the Imus diaries on MSNBC and reading the Inus threads on the Democratic Underground. The intense irrational reality of this day-dream state was amplified by a phone call from a person who, because he was unable to get through on the phone to MSNBC, decided to call me to express his opinion on what "you people" need to do. Under normal circumstances, I cut off those who feel they can tell me what I think, but this was an abnormal pomp, leaving me temporarily incapable of saying more than, "Huh…..interesting……thank you….bye."
I suppose the caller will be disappointed that I am not up to the task he assigned me: leading the boycott of MSNBC that will bring them to their knees, thus resulting in Don Imus’ triumphant return. Yet he will know he did his best, by saying that I am no braver than Senator Obama if I fail to carry the yoke transmitted over the phone line.
Instead, I will opt to type an essay on prejudice, racism, and bigots, and post it on DU: General Discussion. It will include a variety of unorganized and disconnected thoughts that have been accumulating in my mind for the past week. One of the things that I have noticed is that many of the guests on the tv shows, including the good and decent people, start by saying that we must focus on the ladies from the Rutgers’ basketball team, and then skip immediately to a chapter from their own lives. And that is okay, because a big part of this issue is how we, as individuals, experience racism in the context of our society.
{2} Definitions from American Heritage Dictionary
Prejudice – (1) An adverse judgement or opinion formed beforehand without knowledge of the facts. (2) Irrational suspicion or hatred of a particular group.
Racism – (1) The belief that a particular race is superior to others. (2) Discrimination or prejudice based on race.
Bigot – (1) One who is intolerant esp. in matters of religion, race, or politics.
How we experience and interpret life is a result of the combination of biology and environment that we call our childhood. It includes our family of origin, our neighborhood, and our schools. My extended family includes a diverse group: there are black, brown, red, yellow, and white folks; some are male, and some are female; some are young, while others are older; there are Christians, agnostics, atheists, Jews, "new age," and some with that "old time" religion.
My education, both formal and informal, has included having the opportunity to learn from people who have shared their theories and experiences in – to borrow a phrase from my friend Rubin – "an anthropological expedition into an unnatural laboratory of the human spirit."
And how could "racism" be described as anything other than "unnatural"? For it is a type of hatred that is based upon the concept of "race" – and in the most literal sense, the biological and genetic reality is that there is no such thing as race! Yet "race" exists in human beings’ minds, and this strange misconception has created false boundaries between human beings, just as surely as the imaginary boundaries between nations has pitted one family against another throughout human history.
An interest in families and misconceptions led me to employment in the field of human services. My last job, before retirement, was at a county mental health clinic. And there I had experience in working with individuals who had experiences with prejudice and bigotry in their lives, as well with larger systems that involved racism in surprising ways. I had the privilege of having talented coworkers; some were black, brown, yellow or white, and our team benefited from the variety of life and employment backgrounds that people had.
One thing I remember well is that in the decades that I was employed at the clinic, very few of the staff had ever had the experience of being poor. Some had been temporarily short on cash in their college years, but not poor in the sense that many of the people who received services from the clinic experienced poverty. A co-worker and I had both known poverty in our childhood, and we would often compare notes. While we could tell those co-workers who really didn’t understand the culture of poverty in rural upstate New York, most of our co-workers could. We would discuss these issues in our staff meetings, and intelligent, open-minded people were able to understand other people’s circumstances, even if they had not actually lived those circumstances because of what we might call "economic privilege."
(3) On Power and Racism
"Catherine fits the typical profile of an incarcerated Native woman (Ross 1993, 1994, 1997): She was thirty-one when she was initially incarcerated, has six children, was beaten by supposed loved ones, and sexually abused as a child and later as an adult. She has a sporadic employment history, quit high school, and was convicted of a violent crime (her first felony). The influence of violence on one’s life is readily depicted by Catherine’s story and illuminates how personal biography is tied to larger societal structure." – Punishing Institutions: The Story of Catherine; Luana Ross; 1996)
In the staff meetings at the clinic, we also discussed issued involving racism. The population we served was largely white people from low-income families. But, like the rest of the country, rural upstate New York had a growing non-white population.
Racism is found on both the individual and group levels. An individual who holds beliefs about the superiority of his "race" is known as a racist or a bigot. When a system oppresses a group because of their race, it is known as systematic racism; other terms include institutional - , structural -, or state racism.
An individual who is subjected to the racist hatred of others may suffer injury on many levels. Some individuals grow stronger in the face of racism, not because of the hatred of others, but despite it. However, those who do the hating are always damaged: hatred contaminates the vessel which contains it, I have learned.
It can be difficult, even for an educated and open-minded person, to work within a larger system that is contaminated by racism. The clinic had linkages to other agencies, including social services, probation, legal aid, and the corrections and court systems. I can recall one case where there was a custody dispute between a young mother, and a father. The mother was aware that she did not have the ability at that time to care for the children, but felt pressed by others to be a "good mother." I remember a social worker saying, "The mother should always have the children." That social worker was someone I respected and admired, but she was wrong. In Indian culture, extended family plays a larger role than in US culture. A grandmother often serves for periods as the primary care-giver for little ones. In many Indian languages, the word for aunt implies a maternal relationship. There isn’t a stigma of failure in having a grandmother and/or aunts take responsibility for children for periods of time. In this case, the father’s mother would be providing the children’s care.
It’s interesting to note that in the mid-1980s, when Congress was considering strengthening the Indian Child Welfare Act, which required social agencies to attempt to coordinate services with tribal leaders when "placing" Indian children, some charged Indians with "racism." Donald Hodel, who served as Interior Secretary in the Reagan administration, wrote a memorandum calling this "pure racism" which ignored "all other aspects of a child’s status as a human being." As Joan Smith wrote in "Young Once, Indian Forever" (San Francisco Examiner; July 3, 1988)Hodel was responding to a Mormon complaint voiced at the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs that the law "gutted" a program that had previously placed about 5,000 Indian children in Mormon homes. This is an example of systematic racism that impacted Indians on the family level.
It is also worth noting that both male and female Indians are over-represented in the jail and prison populations across the United States. And females, rather than males, are incarcerated at the highest rates. (Ross; 1996) When we discuss issues of racism in this country, the penal system must be considered. I am not advocating any "soft on crime" policies, nor am I saying that those who are incarcerated should not be held responsible for their crimes. But when we examine the make-up of the prison populations, or when we consider the percentage of young black males who are involved at some level with the judicial system, it is evident that racism plays a role.
{4} The Big House
"Normally, ‘order’ was maintained by having different factions constantly fighting and at each other’s throats: blacks against whites, Hispanics against blacks, Moslems against non-Moslems, bikers against everybody." – Lazarus and the Hurricane; Chaiton & Swinton; 1991
"Like most prisons, Rahway had conflicting factions – Muslims, Italians, Hispanics, urban blacks, and others." –Hurricane; James Hirsch; 2000.
Every year, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Report examines "the year in hate." Across the United States, there is an alarming increase in the number of "hate groups" spreading their diseased thinking. Most of the hate groups are based upon racism, although many spew hatred of other minorities, including the gay population. According to the SPLC statistics, most of these hate groups are white people who target blacks, Hispanics, gays, and Jews. However, they have information on more than 70 "chapters" of non-white racist hate groups.
It should come as no surprise that most of these groups have close associations with the prison system. In fact, racism – which had been reduced in many prisons by progressive reforms in the late 1960s and early ‘70s – began to increase in intensity during the Reagan administration. Indeed, racism is as functional in the prison system today as it was in the antebellum south.
In previous essays, I have discussed the systematic racism that resulted in my friend Rubin "Hurricane" Carter being convicted for a crime he did not commit. He was incarcerated from 1966 to 1985 for a triple murder that prosecutors claimed that Rubin and John Artis commited as "racial revenge" for an earlier murder of a black man that they did not know. In reversing the conviction in ’85, a federal judge noted, "Notwithstanding the lack of evidence that petitioners had a background of racial animosity against whites or had any such feelings after the specific death involved, the prosecutor was permitted to render the illogical logical, by relying upon the petitioners’ blackness and the victims’ whiteness."
The judge continued, "An appeal to racial prejudice and bias must be deplored in any jury trial ….Underlying the prosecutor’s theory and summation is the insidious and repugnant argument that this heinous crime is to be understood and explained solely because the petitioners are black and the victims are white. …. The extensive record clearly demonstrates that petitioners’ convictions were predicated upon an appeal to racism rather than reason, and concealment rather than disclosure."
It is important to note that not everyone involved in the Carter retrial was "racist." One person from the prosecutor’s office identified himself as a "liberal." He had been involved in anti-war demonstrations as a student; said Martin Luther King, Jr., was his idol; had belonged to the ACLU; and had briefly worked with the NAACP. Yet the federal court system found that the case was infected y systematic racism. The actions taken by two racist investigators in 1966 contaminated everything that the prosecutors did thereafter.
In more recent years, I was contacted by friends of a young black man who had been sentenced to 14 to 20 years in state prison. He had engaged in sex with a white female who was two months shy of the age which would have allowed her to legally consent to sex with this fellow, who was less than 2 years older than her.
The court records showed that there was no force involved; in fact, the female had approached the male. More, the court-appointed attorney had not asked for any psychiatric evaluation of the fellow, to consider issues such as if he posed a risk to society; if he would be a good bet for treatment in a sex offenders group; if his ability to speak English (his second language) allowed him to assist in his defense, etc. His only previous conviction had been for a non-violent offense, relating to "partying" with alcohol and pot.
After reading the transcripts, and communicating with Myron Beldock, Rubin’s attorney, I was able to help this young man. I wrote to him frequently, and read his painful letters from the Big House, while we waited for the appeal. He served over a year for a crime that most white defendants – under the same circumstances – would not have served a day in county jail. That is systematic racism.
There are times when I consider that, as the only real "growth industries" in upstate New York in the 1990s were prisons and an Indian gambling casino, if our economy could survive a dramatic decrease in crime.
{5} Systematic Injustice
"Dear Attorney General Vacco:
"I am writing in reference to an incident of racially motivated violence….in which two young men…were badly injured. I hope that your office will investigate the circumstances of this incident and take appropriate action.
"The incident occurred as (the two young men) were leaving…a popular event. After first baiting (one) with racial epitets, a group of young men ambushed (the two) as they walked to their cars. (They) were knocked unconscious, severely beaten, and left lying in the parking lot. Both boys were hospitalized and (one) has suffered permanent hearing loss and nerve damage." – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.,; Letter to NYS AG Dennis C. Vacco; 7-2-98
Most of my friends on DU are familiar with this story: my nephew was the more seriously injured of the two high school students attacked by the gang in the incident Robert Kennedy wrote about above. The gang of racist thugs was upset by the media coverage that my nephew was getting, after leading his team to a NYS title.
A witness to the assault, which took place in a dark parking lot, described it as "a pack of wolves attacking." A group of 15 came from behind, struck the two victims with either bottles or rocks, and then beat them as they lay unconscious on the ground. My nephew literally had his hands in his pockets.
One of the two gang leaders was never charged. The next year, he was involved in a racially-motivated drive-by shooting; the other man with him was sentenced to jail, but he was not charged. Months later, he was one of the SUNY-Binghamton wrestlers arrested for a series of racially-motivated attacks on asian-American students.
The other gang leader was charged. He admitted to punching my nephew 12 times after he was unconscious on the ground. This fellow had a football scholarship to Rutgers’ University. An associate of mine contacted the assistant coach, and told him about the incident. She later told me that he said to her, "Wow! Hit the guy after he was already out cold on the ground? That’s our man!"
He eventually had all of the charges save one dropped. He was given a $50 fine for having an open can of beer in public, at the time of the assault. His attorney was someone that I had been friends with for years. He had assisted efforts to help traditional Indian people recover "sacred objects" and grave goods. Although we are no longer friends, I understood that he had a job to do. And I do not think he is prejudice. But I know that he participated in a racist system of injustice.
{6} Conclusions
"Hate can only produce hate. That’s why all these wars are going on, all this insanity. There’s too much anger in the US. People are too afraid, too numbed out. We need to wipe out all this hatred, fear, distrust, and violence. We need to understand, forgive, and love." – Rubin "Hurricane" Carter
Malcolm X used to say, "You should fight crime in the high chair, not the electric chair." Many people did not realize that he was quoting FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. I think that Malcolm liked that.
I do not pretend that I know "the answer" to problems such as racism and violence. I do not know what is in the heart of Don Imus, either. Is he prejudice? How else does one explain his participating in the racist rant last week?
How do we combat racism, especially in light of the fact that our justice system is, in many ways, a racist system? I do not think that it can be accomplished by way of some of the angry insults and self-righteousness that has been found in many of the discussions of the Imus Scandal this week.
I think that we need to protect our children and youth, and I support efforts to hold Imus and the corporate media accountable for their role. But we cannot stop there. We need to concentrate on the racism and hatred that is infecting our local communities, and which is tied to the racists in the White House conducting a racist war half-way around the globe.
We need to fully appreciate that power that the ladies from the Rutgers’ basketball team demonstrate.
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