By Sam Frescoe
http://samfrescoeproject.blogspot.com/
#SamFrescoe #racism #race #hatred
“Racism has become an
overused, one size fits all, buzzword that has lost all true meaning associated
with racist behavior.” – W. Sullivan
Earlier this month I began an effort to develop a working-definition
suitable to describe racism in America: “Racism
– Old Wisdom vs New Activism”. Within that article I claimed that racism
was popular and polarizing; and then, asked the driving question of the article:
given the complexities, how does someone “wrap their mind around” a working
definition of racism? The end result included two definitions and another
question.
Definition-1: Racism is a doctrine:
a manner of thinking – Racism is a prejudicial or discriminatory set of
policies, principles, rules, or guidelines suitable for classifying human
beings according to differences, characteristics, capacities and/or abilities
inherent to particular human beings (e.g. skin color, facial form, eye shape,
genetic markers, and/or other arbitrarily features).
Definition-2: Racism is a strategy:
a method of doing – Racism represents a prejudicial or discriminatory
plan, approach, or scheme (or set of plans, approaches, or schemes) designed to
classify human beings according to differences, characteristics, capacities
and/or abilities inherent to particular human beings (e.g. skin color, facial
form, eye shape, genetic markers, and/or other arbitrarily features).
Question – “If you consider any two
people, each fully vested with natural rights and human meaning, then how can
you say one is more valuable than the other?”
After posting, and over the course of several days, the commentary
offered by readers proved to be insightful. Considering the body of comments,
the following summaries could be supported.
- There was strong agreement that racism is negative and detrimental.
- There was a sense that the derived working-definitions were too general, and more suitable to understanding xenophobia than racism.
- There was some disagreement about acceptable use of racial classification.
- There was disagreement concerning the assessment of a person’s “value.”
Taken together, it seems clear that the prior article had the
following shortfalls.
- The definition of race was incorrectly leveraged.
- The properties of culture were not sufficiently addressed.
- Intentions and motives were not made clear.
The purpose of this article is to examine these shortfalls,
and adapt prior work in order to better understand racism in America.
So What!
“There is a
perceptible shift in our National dialogue on race. We are experiencing a move
away from definitions that describe the relationships of different groups of
people to newer definitions designed to stifle discussion by negatively
characterizing discussion, dissent, or protest.” – Kevin Myles[1]
Getting Started
Legal Issues: I
intend this article to reside outside of the legal realm. While I agree that
legal considerations are important to the greater discussion, I viewed
including legal matters beyond the scope of this article.
Sources: As
before, I leveraged the following dictionary resources due to their long-standing
rigor: Dictionary.com, Google, Merriam-Webster, Oxford, and a Webster edition claiming
to be published in 1828. Additional sources are cited.
Race
What is a race of human beings? – There are two leading schools
of thought on defining race: one is by traits, the other is by genetics. Comparing
the two, it seems that the “traits” concept of race best meets the needs of a
working definition of racism. Given the assumption, I offer the following
definition of race. – Additional details are stated at the end of the article.
Race (noun) is a classification of any particular human
being as descending from a particular “pure and unmixed” stock: Black (Negro),
Red (Indian), White (Caucasian), Yellow (Mongolian), or Other (Samoyeds,
Esquimaux, and Tartars). [2]
However, there are those that disagree. For example, in
1950, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) issued a statement asserting that all humans belong to the same species
and that “race” is not a biological reality but a myth.[3]
Culture Matters
In my view, understanding culture in terms of anthropology
and characteristics does not lead me to adjust the prior working definitions of
racism; however, this understanding of culture does provide guidance for
describing racism in other meaningful ways. The anthropology definition guides
the description of the institutions of racism: doctrine and strategy. The
characteristics definition assists describing how racism is normalized and
proliferated. – Additional details are stated at the end of the article.
|
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Culture
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…as Anthropology
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…as Characteristics
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Racism is a doctrine
(a manner of thinking) |
An institution or organization defined by a set of ideas,
customs, social behaviors, attitudes, values, goals, and practices.
|
-
It’s learned
-
It’s based on symbols
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It’s shared
-
It’s patterned or integrated
-
It’s usually adaptive
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Racism is a strategy
(a method of doing) |
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Intentions & Motives
“There
is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the
troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public.
Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they
have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because
they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want
the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.”
– Booker T. Washington
In the prior article I postulated that racism in America was
popular (wanting to be accepted) and polarizing (wanting to be divisive); and
then, concluded that racism was prejudicial (harmful, detrimental, hurtful,
damaging, injurious) and discriminatory (biased, unfair, bigoted, inequitable).
The estimating question of the prior article was intended to explore this
relationship. However, given the breadth and depth of responses, I believe I
asked the wrong question.
Let’s consider a new question: what are the intentions and
motivations of actors or entities that benefit from racism?
Intent (noun) is a mental attitude
with which an individual acts, and therefore it must be inferred from
surrounding facts and circumstances. [4]
Motive is usually used to explain
why a person acted or refused to act in a certain way.[5]
In my view, evaluating such a question is potentially difficult.
This potential is compounded by the ways and means of communication, attitudes
concerning short and long-term results, and moral/value systems, just to name a
few. Therefore, when estimating intentions and motivations of others, I believe
an evaluator must keep at least two primary considerations in mind: their views
will influence their evaluation, and their views may require adjustment over
time.
Influence
In my view, the evaluator must take
special care as to not assign “intent” or “motive” unjustly. On the other hand,
prima facie matters and preponderance is meaningful. All of this to say, “Follow the evidence.”
Adjustment
In my view, it seems reasonable to
assume that seems clear and compelling today may amount to less than
preponderance tomorrow, and vice versa. Therefore, any particular evaluation
may need to be reconsidered many times prior to arriving at a satisfactory
answer.
Revisiting Racism – An Improved Working Definition
Racism is a prejudicial or discriminatory classification of
human beings according to their perceived race.
Applying “Race”
Race – A classification of any
particular human being as descending from a particular “pure and unmixed”
stock: Black (Negro), Red (Indian), White (Caucasian), Yellow (Mongolian), or Samoyeds,
Esquimaux, and Tartars. Classification is determined by assessing differences,
characteristics, capacities and/or abilities assumed to being inherent to a particular
human race (e.g. skin color, facial form, eye shape, genetic markers, and/or
other arbitrarily features).
Applying “Culture”
Racism, as a doctrine or strategy,
is institutionalized by leveraging ideas, customs, social behaviors, attitudes,
values, goals, and practices.
Racism, as a doctrine or strategy,
is culturally normalized by instruction, use of symbols, sharing, integration,
and adaptation.
Applying “Intentions and Motives”
Intent is…[6]
- A determination to perform a particular act for a specific reason; or…
A determination to act in a particular manner for a specific reason - An aim or design
- A resolution to use a certain means to reach an end.
Motive is an idea, belief, or
emotion that impels (pushes/drives, compels/obliges) a person to act in
accordance with that state of mind (feeling).
Putting It Together
Racism is a prejudicial or discriminatory classification of
human beings according to their perceived race.
- Racism classifies human beings according to differences, characteristics, capacities and/or abilities assumed to being inherent to a particular human race (e.g. skin color, facial form, eye shape, genetic markers, and/or other arbitrarily features). Classifications are black (Negro), red (Indian), white (Caucasian), yellow (Mongolian), and other.
- Racism stratifies human beings according to their perceived race.
- Racism is a doctrine, a manner of thinking, consisting of a set of policies, principles, rules, or guidelines.
- Racism is a strategy, a method of doing, comprised of a designed plan, approach, or scheme; or set of designed plans, approaches, or schemes.
- Racism is culturally institutionalized by leveraging ideas, customs, social behaviors, attitudes, values, goals, and practices.
- Racism is culturally normalized by instruction, use of symbols, sharing, and integration, and is adaptive.
- The intentions of racism are mental attitudes with which individuals act, and therefore it must be inferred from surrounding facts and circumstances.
- The motivations of racism explain why a person acts or refuses to act in a racist way.
Racism believes in devaluing (diminishing, cheapening,
reducing) human beings. Racism provides culture-based doctrines and strategies
for its own ends (aims, goals, objectives). Racism is prejudicial (harmful,
detrimental, damaging) and discriminatory (unfair, bigoted, inequitable,
intolerant). The intentions and motivations of racism are not always clear and
obvious.
Going Forward – A Solution
Racism is stupidity compounded by hate. – I find no reason
to alter my original opinion concerning racism. If the United States is to be a
nation of freedom-loving people, then racism must be made impotent. Removal of
racism from our political and government institutions should be a priority.
“We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and
the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are
instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these
ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute
new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its
powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety
and Happiness.” – Declaration of Independence, Paragraph-2
Thank you. – Sam Frescoe
© 2017 – SamFrescoeProject.Blogspot.com
– All Rights Reserved
Traits
An ethnological approach is to compare and contrast the characteristics
of various peoples and the relationships between those peoples. It seems
commonly understood that this approach identifies five distinct races of human
beings. It seems to be accepted that these races are “as they appear in their
pure and unmixed condition.”[7]
- Black (Negro)
- Red (Indian)
- White (Caucasian)
- Yellow (Mongolian)
- Samoyeds, Esquimaux, and Tartars
Genetics
The premise of the genetics approach is that “modern
biological concepts of race can be implemented objectively with molecular
genetic data through hypothesis-testing.”[8]
This approach rejects the notion that culture-based definitions of race are
adequate to classify the human beings as a whole; and, argues that “there are
no objective criteria for choosing one adaptive trait over another to define
race. As a consequence, adaptive traits do not define races in humans.” [9] In other words, “Humans have much genetic
diversity, but the vast majority of this diversity reflects individual
uniqueness and not race.” [10]
Culture
Culture (noun) has many definitions. However, given the
constraints of this piece, I am limiting to discussion to definitions that
could categorized as “anthropology.” In keeping with prior practice, I examined
a number of modern dictionaries. Four sources were consulted: Dictionary.com,
Google, Merriam-Webster, and Oxford. For a historical understanding of the
term, I consulted the Webster 1828.
Anthropology [11],[12],[13],[14]:
Culture seems to allow categorization and description of civilizations and
societies. Common traits seem to be the following: an encompassing set of
ideas, customs, social behaviors, attitudes, values, goals, and practices
shared among a set of human beings; a categorical description of an institution
or organization of human beings.
Historical Definitions:
- Culture (n): The application of labor or other means to improve good qualities in, or growth; as the culture of the mind; the culture of virtue. [15]
- Anthropology (n): A discourse upon human nature; the natural history or physiology of the human species. [16]
Historical Perspective: Culture is "that complex whole
which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other
capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." – E.B.
Tylor, Anthropologist, the founder of cultural anthropology. [17]
Characteristics: [18]
- Culture is learned
- Culture is based on symbols
- Culture is shared
- Culture is patterned or integrated
- Culture is usually adaptive
[1] Kevin
Myles. “Racism vs Race-ism: The changing language of race in America”. Daily
Kos. Published 22 Apr 2009. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/4/22/723329/-
(accessed 170115)
[2] The Five
Human Races. http://chestofbooks.com/reference/A-Library-Of-Wonders-And-Curiosities/The-Five-Human-Races.html#ixzz4WvZEzaeU
(accessed 170126)
[3] Robert
Wald Sussman. “There is no Such Thing as Race”. Newsweek. 08 Nov 2014. http://www.newsweek.com/there-no-such-thing-race-283123
(accessed 170126)
[7] The Five
Human Races. http://chestofbooks.com/reference/A-Library-Of-Wonders-And-Curiosities/The-Five-Human-Races.html#ixzz4WvZEzaeU
(accessed 170126)
[8] Alan R.
Templeton. Biological Races in Humans. US National Library of Medicine.
National Institutes of Health. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3737365/
(accessed 170126)
[9] Alan R.
Templeton. Biological Races in Humans. US National Library of Medicine.
National Institutes of Health. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3737365/
(accessed 170126)
[10] Alan R.
Templeton. Biological Races in Humans. US National Library of Medicine.
National Institutes of Health. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3737365/
(accessed 170126)
[16] Anthropology,
Webster 1828. http://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/Anthropology
(accessed 170123)
[17] Tylor,
E.B. (1974) [1871]. Primitive culture: researches into the development of
mythology, philosophy, religion, art, and custom. New York: Gordon Press. ISBN
978-0-87968-091-6.
[18] Chapter
9: The Characteristics of Culture. http://home.earthlink.net/~youngturck/Chapter8.htm
(accessed 170126)
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