Race: What is RACISM?

After various different challenges, let me set clear my position on racism. After a google search of the definition of racism the above appears, to base a phronetic definition of something so complex on a dictionary definition is fickle. Using the dictionary in this way is also problematic with the inception of its very concept. (More here in this great article https://everydayfeminism.com/2015/01/reverse-oppression-cant-exist/)

Reverse racism does not exist; I cannot say this enough. All oppression is when people from a collective exert their power over another. When I’m saying power, I’m talking systematic and systemic power. That means that members of the global majority can hate white people all they want, the chances of them impacting of their life chances, the healthcare they receive, the judicial system, even abuse in the street, etc. is minimal.

What do members of the global majority face? UCAS has admitted it has more ‘work to do’ because black students are 22 times more likely to have their university applications investigated. 2675/260,550 black applicants investigated compared to 995/2,127,965 white applications. Just look at those numbers, let it digest, this is the body in charge of the gateway to university.

A black person is ‘four times more likely to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act’. It’s not that simple (other factors are in play), however, when coupled with the deaths of members of the global majority in police custody (6 out of 11 from 4/17-12/17) this isn’t looking great.

With the chair of the IPPC (police watchdog) saying ‘We need to look closely between the relationship between ethnicity and the use of force.’ Stop and search also disproportionately targets black people, to the tune of 9 times more likely to stopped and searched compared to white counterparts. Before you accuse me of making this up I have referenced some examples below.

“Young black people were more likely to be identified with ‘gang concerns’ and be considered a ‘risk to others’ on entry to custody than any other ethnic group between April 2014 and March 2016.”
Exploratory analysis of 10-17 year olds in the youth secure estate by black and other minority ethnic groups September 2017. Ministry of Justice.

This is absolutely the worst, in 2006 the Healthcare Commission published its first ever national review, which noted ‘some disadvantaged groups are more likely than others to fail to receive services. As well as the elderly, there are also inequities in provision that particularly affect people with mental health problems from black and minority ethnic communities. So do not be poor, black, old and depressed in England right now, because you’re very unlikely to get treated.’

Before I go on, I will state race is social construct, the differences in biological terms are meaningless, physical differences in skin colour have no natural associations with group differences in ability or behaviour. (Clair and Denis)

For sake of more clarity, for members of the global majority to be racist, this means that they would benefit from privilege and the societal structures of the system, looking at the articles and the lived-in experience of many, this simply is not and cannot be the case.

Cazaneve & Maddern 1999 and A Sivananden 1993 both express racism in terms of social power which stems from the competition of resources.

“Contemporary sociology considers racism as individual – and group-level processes and structures that are implicated in the reproduction of racial inequality in diffuse and often subtle ways”

Sociology of Racism. Clair and Denis

Similarly Di Angelo state ‘Although mainstream definitions of racism are typically some variation of individual “race prejudice”, which anyone of any race can have, Whiteness scholars define racism as encompassing economic, political, social, and cultural structures, actions, and beliefs that systematize and perpetuate an unequal distribution of privileges, resources and power between white people and people of colour (Hil-liard, 1992)’

With the ‘processes and structures’ implying power and privilege and ‘reproduction of racial inequality’ implying discrimination, I conclude ‘Oppression = Privilege + Discrimination’ or Racism = Power + Discrimination.

Empirically, and this is an honest challenge, I am unaware of a single case of a systemic race crime brought by the CPS to a member of the GM against a white person. A high profile case against Mustata Bahar was dropped after an incendiary tweet was unearthed, yet no charges around race were considered (see link below).

Yes, this may make you feel uncomfortable. This is a natural reaction to the challenge of a collectivist mindset. Hope this has made you think.

When I challenged, actually I was challenged to acknowledge my male lens on the world, I exhibited male fragility, however this was temporary. Hopefully this clears up the definitions of racism.

References and Further Reading