Racism Buried Deep Down in Our Society, Essay Example

Introduction

When the history of race in the United States is truly examined, an interesting and disturbing reality seems to be evident; namely, that each episode of the society and/or government seeking to end racial inequality has a great impact, and the racism generating the initial issues somehow continues, expressed in different ways.  This is no doubt linked to the inescapable fact that racist ideologies have been an enormous part of American culture, and from the founding of the nation.  In plain terms, America underwent a devastating Civil War because huge elements of the country insisted on the “right” to keep black slaves, which relied on a conviction that blacks were not fully human.  In the 19^th century, tides of poor European immigrants faced severe obstacles because they were also perceived as essentially inferior to the white mainstream.  Then, as World War II policies revealed, and as has been vividly seen in American views of Muslims since 9/11, race typically becomes a defining – and negative – force in how German, Japanese, and Middle Eastern Americans have been perceived and treated.   Advances in justice and civil rights notwithstanding, then, the entire history of the U.S. strongly points to racism as being so embedded in American ideology, it is within the American  – or human – character.  It cannot then be ended through legislation, and only a full and honest rethinking of the American/human impulse to define human quality by race may be truly effective.

Background and Consistent Issues

If anything has marked racism in the U.S. in a general sense, it is an ongoing duality or intense conflict.  On one level, the racism is invariably evident in social policies and belief systems, as the latter typically shape the former. This is important, as it reinforces the depth of racism in the culture.  For instance, maintaining blacks as slaves was not a practice originated because slaves translated to profit for their owners; it occurred because there was a widespread conviction, and certainly in the South, that blacks were not of the same human quality as whites.  The meaning of this belief cannot be overstated because it goes to the depth of racist feeling as, in the views of those holding such a belief, not “racist.” For a great many Americans, and many of the most educated class, it was simple fact that blacks were mentally inferior to whites, and consequently naturally in place to serve the superior white interests.

Famously, the Southern insistence on this divided the nation, but it is important to understand that such racism was by no means restricted to the South. If Southerners exploited blacks as slaves, Northerners typically did not view blacks as equal to whites. Mark Twain, revered as a humanist author and intellectual of his era, blatantly expressed a preference for what he called “nigger” entertainment, claiming that grand opera could not compete with minstrel shows (Neider 18).  There was in fact a widespread ideology of racism in the North distanced from the Southern only in terms of actual slavery, as Northern industrialists exploited black workers and social conditions emphasized the common view of black inferiority. When the wives of black Union soldiers tried to ride the Philadelphia streetcars to see their men off, for example, they were not permitted to sit (Waugh, Gallagher  93).  Put plainly, it was slavery and not racism that divided the U.S., because racism was a national ideology.

In surveying race relations in U.S. history, it is also very clear that racism was – and is – not confined to white views of African Americans. As noted, the European immigrants coming to the country desperate for opportunity were subject to racist practices and beliefs holding them inferior as well. Later, World War II would trigger a “new” kind of racism, as German and Japanese Americans were suddenly perceived as dangerous, no matter the contributions of them as American citizens. More disturbingly, the environment of war generated policies as racist and unethical as slavery, as Japanese Americans guilty of nothing more than ethnic background were herded into internment camps. This was a governmental response ironically reflecting the treatment of Jews by the enemy America was fighting.  Then, and briefly, more modern history reveals a wide variety of racist agendas still very much in place. Urban police are identified as routinely practicing profiling and harassing blacks due to expectations of criminality;  minority wages and educational opportunities remain consistently lower than those of whites; and Mexican Americans, legal and illegal, are discriminated against by the same society eager to use them as cheap labor.

What is evident, then, is the duality mentioned earlier.  On one level, the nation perpetually seeks to address racism and eliminate it through legislation, as in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  On another, and importantly, such changes tend to occur only after great social conflict, and the oppositional sides of the conflict are by no means defeated when the laws change.  This translates to the racism as continuing to exist beneath the overt efforts to end it, which in turn presents racism which will continue to undermine the efforts.  It is fact that, five decades as the Civil Rights Act, blacks face a variety of racist obstacles in virtually all arenas of the society, just as anti-Muslim feeling seems to have been “permitted” by the 9/11 attacks (reminiscent of the American reaction to Japanese Americans during World War II).  Then, as Eugene Jarecki’s The House I Live in emphasizes, modern racism is so pervasive, it enables oppression in processes of economic disparities connecting to drug abuse, and a legal system all too eager to reinforce the racism generating the “criminality” of drug abuse; a vicious cycle is in place wherein minorities are more severely punished by the society which denies them opportunity and essentially encourages their participation in the drug culture.  The question then arises: how can a country so intent on ending racist practices still reflect the same?  The answer relies, as discussed below, on a more complete understanding of the nature of American – and human – character.

Fundamental Causes of Racism

The first element to bear in mind when examining the above question is the inescapable reality of racism as enduring.  It takes many forms in American society and variously targets different populations, but it is consistently present. This presence is in fact amplified by the legal  efforts to eliminate it, because the society is on some level clearly aware of the wrongness of racist practices.  However it happens, and fueled by minority resistance or other means, the nation accepts, time and again, that it is inherently wrong to discriminate in any way based upon racial differences.  As laws and policies tend to reflect public feeling in general, it is then reasonable to assume that the society as a whole wants no part of racism.  There is in fact no shortage of evidence supporting that Americans fully understand the evils of racism, even as it continues to exist as a tangible force in the culture.

This being the case, there is an inherent problem with the statement that:  until our collective understanding moves beyond the interpersonal level, and regularly includes an understanding of how broad and interconnected policies and practices profoundly impact opportunities and racial outcomes in our society, our spectrum of solutions will remain painfully limited.  This statement is rational, certainly when first examined.  It is difficult to argue with the assertion that our solutions thus far have been limited at best, as legislative efforts have been unable to end racism in America. Then, it is reasonable to conclude that a far greater level of collective understanding is necessary, if only because previous or existing levels have been inadequate. There is, as the history of the U.S. and racism clearly supports, a totality to racism no specific efforts have been able to overcome.  Consequently, the broad awareness of this totality would seem to be essential if racism is to be finally and effectively combated.

At the same time, there is something disturbingly “limited” about this point of view itself.  It implies that, when the society accepts the truth of the implications of racist policies and practices, there will then be change at the necessary, fundamental level.  Unfortunately, this raises the further question of degree of understanding, because the evidence strongly reveals that Americans at least overtly recognize precisely how racism does indeed affect opportunities and racial outcomes.  Equal opportunity legislation does not happen without a tremendous impetus behind it, so it would seem that the nation very much reflects the understanding required by the statement.  Americans have moved beyond the interpersonal and insisted upon address, and frequently.  The greater reality, however, and crucial in understanding the core of the issue itself, is that racism does not care about such things, and will exist in a way securing itself even as racists accept such change.  More exactly, racism is so powerful, it may easily thrive under laws designed to obliterate it, and this is the key reality the statement ignores.  Any efforts based on social agreement are ultimately meaningless because even these are an inverted approach to the problem; they seek to address topically what is a visceral reality within Americans, and likely most humans: that there is a persistent impulse to define human quality by race.  Only a real “understanding” of this may be effective in addressing racism, and simply because any other approach relies only on rationales easily overcome by a visceral force.  Essentially, racism is not a social, economic, political, or even American problem; it is a human problem, and it cannot be fixed until humans are able to approach it at this fundamental level.

Conclusion

If the history of the U.S. reveals anything, it is that racism is as enduring as the seemingly endless efforts to end it, and the efforts as made by the society still racist.  This ongoing duality is the key to the issue, for it presents how legislative remedies are invariably topical, and easily circumvented by the implacable force of racism itself.  The entire history of the U.S. powerfully  points to racism as being so embedded in American ideology, it is deep within the American  – or human – character.  Racism, cannot then be ended through legislation, and only a full and honest rethinking of the American/human impulse to define human quality by race may be truly effective.

Works Cited

The House I Live in. Dir. Eugene Jarecki.  Perfs. Eugene Jarecki, Nannie Jeter, Betty Chism, and Dennis Whidbee. Al Jazeera Documentrary Channel, BBC, 2012. Documentary.

Neider, Charles (Ed.). The Complete Humorous Sketches and Tales of Mark Twain. New York: De Capo Press, 1996. Print.

Waugh, Joan, & Gallagher, Gary W.  Wars within a War: Controversy and Conflict over the American Civil War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009. Print.