What White People Should Know About Racism
Many dimensions of racism are invisible to white people.
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." — Dr. Martin Luther King
As a white person, trauma and relational therapist, professor, clinical supervisor, and mental health professional, I feel it’s my duty to educate my white counterparts. Just like Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility (201
, I also hope I can use my insider status as white to challenge racism. Not to challenge it is endorsing it by default; white people are socialized not to consider race, especially their own.As white people, we "belong" racially as soon as we're born. We don’t have to think about our race much at all. Whites hold social and institutional power over non-whites in every realm of society: education, medicine, law, government, finance, the military, among others. The United States is unequal racially, and whites mainly benefit. Whites are insulated from racial stress and feel deserving of their advantage, but uncomfortable talking about it. This isn’t the case at all for non-whites. More white people in positions of power need to break the silence, so here we go.
Race is not biological
To clarify a grave misconception, there is no true biological race. Race is socially constructed. The differences we see, such as skin tone, hair texture, or eye size or color are superficial and emerge from adaptations to geography. The fact that most of us didn’t know this stealthily maintains racism; we should have learned this in school. Thinking of race as biological makes it easy to believe the misconception many hierarchies, power structures, and divisions (mainly whites being in power) that we see in society are “natural.”
MLK
Source: MLK/Pixabay
To challenge this misguided belief in race as biology, we need to understand what led to society's racial division and why it has prevailed long-term. As DiAngelo (201
reminded us, there were enormous economic interests in justifying black enslavement and colonization. For example, our third president, Thomas Jefferson, suggested they were natural racial differences and asked scientists to find them. Instead of asking if blacks were inferior, Jefferson instructed scientists to find out how blacks were inferior. So, race is ultimately a child of racism, not its parent. Also, given that race is intrinsically a social construct, no race is factually superior to another (DiAngelo, 201.Racism is a system
When a racial collective is backed by legal authority and institutional control (whites), it transfers to racism, a far-reaching system that functions separately from intentions or individuals. Racism is a structure more than an event: It’s upheld by the false notion of meritocracy, the idea that our achievements are merely based on how hard we work, seen (equivocally) as an outcome of “natural order” from genes, effort, or individual talent (DiAngelo, 201. But, as I said, race is an evolving social idea created to legitimize racial inequality and protect white advantage. For example, who’s considered white has changed over time; race categorization has been used to monitor and influence US immigration in the last century. This is at the root of why non-whites have fewer opportunities; economic and racial forces are entangled and thus complex to separate (DiAngelo, 201.The myth of meritocracy
One powerful force is the myth of meritocracy, which obscures yet protects racism in the United States (DiAngelo, 201. It diminishes the importance of group memberships like sexual orientation, language, race, class, ability, education, or gender.For instance, although Brad Pitt’s children clearly have an advantage, we staunchly cling to notions of individualism. But it doesn't apply in reverse: Non-whites may refuse to serve whites, but non-whites as a collective group cannot pass legislation that prohibits whites from accessing a mortgage to buy property in a certain neighborhood (DiAngelo, 201
. A non-white person may also hold prejudice against whites but they lack the institutional power to transform their prejudice into racism, so the impact of their prejudice is limited, circumstantial, and temporary.Let me be clear: Saying that whites benefit from racism doesn’t mean that they don’t face or struggle with different barriers. It just means that we don’t face the particular barrier of racism. Whites have been defined as the norm or standard for humans, and non-whites as a deviation.
Powerful people of color like Barack Obama, Kanye West, Marco Rubio, or Clarence Thomas don’t challenge the status quo enough to be threatening. This is why using the term “reverse racism” doesn’t make sense; it is not fluid and doesn’t change direction because a few non-whites manage to excel (DiAngelo, 201
.Seeing racism as “a thing of the past” also strengthens it; in many contexts, racism is increasing instead of decreasing. It exists in every institution in society (DiAngelo, 201
. Race influences whether we survive at birth, where we live, the schools we attend, our careers, our career potential, our physical health, and much more. Individual whites may be against racism but they still benefit from a system that privileges whites as a group.White people don't see all aspects of racism
The dimension of whites benefiting from racism is usually invisible to whites, which is why they feel so disconcerted when discussing racism. Unfortunately, because the US is a global power, US white supremacy has spread internationally. Our discomfort with the term white supremacy protects the status quo and obscures racial inequality. Racial bias is largely unconscious, which is why whites often become defensive when anyone suggests we may have it. However, we can’t change what we don’t refuse to see, and our lack of understanding of implicit bias leads to racism. The best we can do is engage in ongoing self-awareness, education, relationship-building, and anti-racism (DiAngelo, 201.Right now, you may be considering ways you are different from other whites. That if only we knew how you had to come to the country or had grown up, then we would know that you were different or “not racist.” None of these situations would remove you from the forces of racism because no aspect of society is outside them (DiAngelo, 201
.Setting aside your own uniqueness is a crucial skill to allow you to see the big picture in which we live; notions of individualism will not. If you are white and uncomfortable by this post, we’re on track; we will not move forward in race relations by staying comfortable. All humans have prejudice. We can’t avoid it. It’s no reason to be seen as wrong or be shamed. Whites often feel the need to defend their character instead of explore their mainly subconscious prejudice. But we can’t change what we don’t explore.
Instead of eschewing discussing racism, I urge my white readers to instead reflect on why the topic unsettles you? Only these uncomfortable conversations can interrupt our white fragility that can ultimately lead to more racial equity and social justice. As MLK stated, "in the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
