Lost in the rhetoric of racism

The recent public flare up over racism is troubling -- not only because it reminds me that racism is alive in America, but also because people seem to be saying that racism is the main source of all our problems. This is an oversimplification I believe will cause more problems than it can solve.

Oversimplifications in general are dangerous because it leads people not to the truth, but to dogma and prejudice such as all white people are evil oppressors, and all black people are victims. Oppression, genocide and exploitation are not the exclusive acts of white people. Throughout human history, people of all color have oppressed and slaughtered people of all color.

I suppose that oversimplification is a natural tendency of humans and serves a utilitarian purpose for those who do not want to think very much about the issues. But if I were to oversimplify the human condition, I would cast us in a battle between the haves and have-nots, and not in a battle between races. Racism , religious and cultural supremacy serves as justifications for oppression, but I don't think they are the main causes. After all, you have to have the means to oppress people.

Another oversimplification I might make is to look at who I am and then blame everyone else. I identify myself primarily as a woman. Therefore, men of all races and economic backgrounds are my oppressors. In a way, this is true. A pack of men, no matter what race, terrifies me. I also have a reactionary feeling that rich men, of all races, rule the world and thereby oppress me. It is hard for me to imagine that any woman of any color would believe that racism is a more fundamental problem than sexism. But then maybe that is because I am white, whatever that means.

It also bothers me to hear people on our campus claiming in essence that white people are responsible for our country's history of slavery and oppression. I am not an oppressor by any direct or indirect actions and my family were never slave owners. Quite the contrary: One side of my family fled here from Russia during the communist revolution, barely escaping the slaughter of emigrant Germans. The other side of my family was brought to America as indentured servants in the 17th century. We were part of the white slave trade from England that helped settle both America and Australia.

I do not mean to belittle the seriousness of racism in America or the suffering that black people have endured in this country. I just think that our problems are much more complex than black vs. white or good vs. evil. And until we try to understand them as such, we will be lost struggling over the symptoms of the disease rather than combating the disease straight on.

[ Golden Gater Online October 31, 1995 ]

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