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What Is the Conservative Response to Racism?
Usually when I hear liberals talk about racism it’s in terms of institutions and communities. American “institutions” are structured with a racist bias, the white “community” is prejudiced against the black “community” — sweeping statements like that. Like most conservatives, I’m skeptical of that model. I’ve never seen evidence that any American institution has an inherently pro-white bias, nor that whites in America have a unified negative opinion of minorities.
Rather, whenever I see a list of complaints about white privilege, about the prejudices minorities face and whites don’t, the convincing examples focus on individual encounters. A particular hotel clerk who made a disparaging remark, a particular cop who pulled you over for no reason. Those examples don’t prove that all hotel clerks and cops are part of an anti-black or anti-Latino complex; they aren’t struggles against a nameless, faceless “institution.” They’re encounters with specific people who hold racist attitudes. So sure, racism exists in America. It just seems to be on an individual level.
What is the conservative response to that? I mean, we’re all up in arms about people on the street calling Jews dirty names. What about people on the street who call blacks and Latinos dirty names? That’s real too.
President Obama and his entourage want us to seek “racial reconciliation,” as if representatives from two sides could sit down and have a friendly powwow to erase centuries of bad feelings. The problem’s more complicated, because the problem — wherever it exists — is individual. And of course, we know that it cuts both ways.
Do we have an individual solution to meet the individual problem? Does this issue, in your opinion, even need a solution? Why or why not? If so, what steps might be taken (perhaps by the government, but probably not) to address racist attitudes? I have heard many conservatives say that Obama could have done a lot to address racial issues during his presidency, but fell down on the job. What do you think he should have done?
Published in General
Of course not. It’s football season!
Yes, there is racism, but the vast majority of whites want it to go away. Few whites see themselves as racist, and have little tolerance for racism. The very idea of being a racist is abhorrent to most whites, the absolute worst thing a person can be. Do you really think Republicans would have flirted with Keyes or Cain if they didn’t desperately want people to believe they aren’t racist?
No question there are unconscious vestiges of racism that influence everyone, but there is no ground to be gained by calling people racist for that. Just as blacks always have the N word hanging over their head, whites have the R word and we avoid engaging with blacks on the issue of race if we suspect (and we usually do) that we are going to be called racist.
Survival dictated humans recognize those who are like us and those who are not on an instinctual level, and it takes work, and always will, to overcome that. And that also means there will likely always be some residual influence of race on our behavior. We need to recognize that and make peace with it to move on from it.
Just so y’all know, Simon PMed his deleted comment to me. I agree completely with what he said and I see no reason why it should have been redacted in its entirety.
Avoiding the truth, however uncomfortable, will do nothing to promote healthy dialogue on the issue of race.
I really like Aaron Miller’s comments (#2). When I get to know someone on an individual basis, racial and cultural stereotypes evaporate away and I build a relationship with that person based on personal characteristics. I lived in Miami for many years. It is multi-racial and multi-cultural. I had friends of all colors and backgrounds. I also met jerks of all colors and backgrounds.
Stereotypes do exist and they exist for a reason. We avoid approaching an uncaged Lion because it might eat us. Similarly, we avoid high-crime areas for good reason. The fact that those areas are often ghettos made up of blacks or other minorities is not my fault. The stereotype of a street gang thug who hurts people is more cultural than racial these days. There are many Latin gangs that ruin neighborhoods, for example. If I see someone who dresses and acts like a street thug, I am going to be cautious and suspicious because it is prudent. Leaders in those communities should be asking why that is and looking for solutions rather than claiming they are victims of a vast conspiracy.
Cheerleaders: The other white meat.
Okay, testing the waters here:
This is in reference to:
Also, what is it with Brazilians and buttocks? I know they’requite proud of them, but why? Moreover, why does Cosmo, purveyor of cheap sex tips to middle-class white women,disapprove?
Aaaaand I’m back from paging through all 29 of those. There are a few butterfaces in that group. It won’t last, with a girl like that, sadly–eventually she’s going to put two and two together and figure out why you always want to hit it from behind. But all in all, what you have there is a pretty good argument for the mixing of the races. That’s some hybrid vigor on display there, and I don’t mean a Prius. My anaconda don’t want none unless you got buns, Hon.
When black people adopt the majority culture, i.e., speak standard English, do their best in school, eschew criminal behavior, dress and act appropriately, the racism they experience is minimized.
To the extent that blacks self-segregate (e.g., in university dining halls), engage in anti-social and inappropriate behavior, and blame “racism” for all their problems, the more actual racism they will encounter.
One bit of evidence of this is the fact that white students often relate to African university students better than they relate to African-American students. Often, white students have more cultural affinity with Africans, who speak standard (if accented) English, genuinely want to succeed at their studies, are interested in making white friends, and don’t engage in above-average levels of anti-social or criminal behavior.
Another bit of evidence: the love that liberal white people had for Barack Obama in 2008. As Joe Biden memorably put it: “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”
What should Obama have done differently; that’s easy. In every racial issue he picked sides and always the same side. He had a unique and gloriuos opportunity to truly be the first post-racial president but he squandered it to pander to the left’s grievance industry.
This is a good question.
I think racism gives leftism a huge amount of cover. Problems that should be attributed to failed left-wing policies get blamed on minorities instead. I grew up knowing that Detroit was a decaying city, and also that it was mostly black. The conventional wisdom (whispered quietly) was that the Detroit was failing because of the black people. I considered myself a liberal, so the idea that it was failing because of liberal policies didn’t occur to me. I didn’t like the racist explanation, but I didn’t know of an alternative.
It was when I became conservative that I could fully discard the racial explanation for racial differences in crime, joblessness, etc. If one race has greater levels of family breakdown than another race, they will have greater rates of crime, dropping out of school, etc. If black people had the levels of fatherlessness that they do, but somehow did not have increased crimes rates, etc, that would be truly remarkable.