/ Coming to Grips with Racism Subscribe

Why is it so hard to talk about racism? Especially one’s own?

This is a question I receive and think about often, 因为我是一名非裔美国历史教授，我花了15年的时间教授和研究美国历史上的种族问题. As such, 我赞同种族主义的一个具体定义:种族主义=种族偏见+制度权力.

大多数谈论种族主义的人实际上是在谈论种族偏见——非理性的怀疑, 基于种族对一群人的仇恨或评判. We are all capable of racial prejudice. 我当然有种族偏见，包括对非裔美国人的偏见. 在美国，没有一个成年的人对有色人种没有种族偏见. Our key institutions -- including schools, courts and law enforcement, laws and policies, 新闻和娱乐媒体——都在宣扬有色人种的自卑感, especially African Americans. 想想这对有色人种的精神伤害有多大. 然而，我不能成为种族主义者，恰恰是因为作为一个黑人，我没有制度上的权力. I am not a better person: I have less power.

为了向学生解释制度权力，我以课堂为例. 我指出，作为老师，我应该是权威. For the most part, I am -- in that classroom. But say I give a white student a grade she dislikes. 一旦她把她的抱怨带出我的教室，我就不再是那个“掌权的人”了.“作为一名年轻的白人学生，她在学校的影响力超过了我作为一名受教育的专家来教她的个人影响力. 在这个直升机式教育泛滥的时代，所有的教师都很容易受到权力被剥夺的影响. Having one’s authority temporarily usurped, however, 和权威被否定是完全不同的吗.

当然，也有没有太多权力的白人个体. As a collective, however, 被称为“白人”的群体一直是美国的统治阶级. 这并不是因为白人天生就倾向于拥有权力, or deserving of power, or likely to oppress others. 他们一直是统治阶级，因为我们的国家通过经济运作, 以奴隶制度为基础的政治和社会制度, the enslavement of people designated as black. 认为这些制度中没有反黑人种族主义是不合逻辑的.

Racism can be overt, taking the form of bigotry: Donald Trump, for example, describing Mexicans as rapists, drug dealers and criminals. More often, 种族主义是一只更加狡猾的野兽:浅色连裤袜上标着“裸色”,” pinkish-beige band-aids are “flesh.这种系统性的种族主义使“白人”成为常态，而其他所有不正常的东西都是劣等的.

A more sinister example? Historically, 例如，对于穷人使用的毒品，量刑法要严厉得多, crack versus powder cocaine: same drug, different form. For many historical and societal reasons, blacks are disproportionately poor; therefore, they have suffered harsher sentencing, 这对更大的黑人社区造成了严重影响. Systemic racism is much more insidious, 因为它交织在构成我们社会的核心机构中，因此更难识别和隔离以根除.

African Americans have higher incarceration rates, higher unemployment, lower incomes, lower home and business ownership, less education, less healthcare, more disease, and lower life expectancy than whites. If you believe blacks are naturally dumb, sick, criminal, you have your answer for these discrepancies. If, however, 你拒绝用刻板印象来理解你的世界, 制度性种族主义为非裔美国人低下的社会地位提供了一个非常实际(也非常可追溯)的解释.

Here’s what many whites fail to understand. 有色人种认为你是种族主义者这一事实并不引人注目. Of course you are! How could you not be? 在美国做个白人却不做种族主义者，就像做个美国人却不使用塑料一样:这是可能的, 但这需要非常努力的工作和时刻保持警惕.

当被问到这个问题时，有色人种很快就会向白人朋友、家人、同事等保证. that they are not racist. More often than not, we are lying. Why would we lie? Reasons include: 1) we have white people in our lives that we sincerely love or care about; 2) we have to get along with white people to make our lives easier, even safer; and 3) we do not want to upset white people who have direct power over us. 你不能低估有色人种对种族主义问题放任不管的频率，以免让你——因此, us -- uncomfortable. 事实上，当白人被指责为种族主义时，很少会有好的结果. 白人只需要说:“我身体里没有种族主义的骨头,” or, “I’m sorry you interpreted it that way,” or, “You’re too sensitive,” and the discussion is over. 有色人种没有被赋予承认他们的种族主义待遇的权威或尊重——这是非常种族主义的.

当被指控种族主义时，人们往往会生气，因为他们把这误认为是对偏见的指控, of being willfully hateful. To be racist is not to be a bigot, necessarily. 偏执狂对其他种族有不合理的信仰，但也不能容忍. 换句话说:偏执=种族偏见+种族仇恨. 所有偏执狂都是种族主义者，但并非所有种族主义者都是偏执狂.

如果我们真的要根除种族主义，我们就必须放下自我. 我们必须接受我们所学到的，或者承认我们已经知道的. We must not get mad. Or, when we do get mad, we must examine why. Whites must understand that, in the United States, because of a very particular history, 他们天生就有把种族偏见变成种族主义的制度性力量. No one is born with racial prejudice; we learn it, we can unlearn it. To unlearn it, however, requires deliberate work. And, while this work has no end, we should consider it necessary, 因为我们都为种族主义造成的分裂而受苦.

布伦娜·韦恩·格里尔是研究20世纪美国种族、性别和文化的历史学家. 她在非裔美国人、商业和视觉文化史的交叉点工作. 她目前的研究重点是非洲裔美国人的政治与他们的表达行为之间的关系.

 图片来源:Hikaru Hayashi，“影子”，来自Flickr, 2005年8月4日.