Racism and Dehumanization

Racism:

If you live in the United States of America or know much about the country then you know the heavy latent racism that permeates everyday life. No racism is more overt than that between those with white and black skin. For whites there is the gossip on where blacks are moving and devaluing property as they head there, for blacks there are the icy stares given when a white person seems to cross a boundary that only blacks are allowed. To deny the heavy racism between the two groups is to deny the greater overarching problem and in essence continues to propagate hate.

To the left is a random block I found. This block represents racism on both sides of the issue, and by chance the colors are more or less right. In each side of the block there are layers within the different colors and even some lighter layers on the dark side and some darker layers on the light side. This article on racism is going to attempt to pull apart just some of the multiple layers that are underlying racism and confront the complex issue without any hate making decisions. Naturally someone reading this might disagree to some things I say, I only ask that you read this article in its entirety and make use of the comments section below so we can work towards a deeper understanding. First off I’d like to explain how I’m viewing racism. I’ve heard the rumor that racism can only come from the majority rule because they have the power and minorities can’t be racist. That is ludicrous. I’m going to treat people as individuals and it’s very true that a black person can have just as much hate as a white person. We are all people, we are all capable of feeling the same emotions. Nobody will be exempt here.

Layer 1, Personal Background:The first layer I’d like to pull out of this racist cake is who I am. In America it’s impossible to have an opinion on racism without initially being judged by your color, and for better or for worse I happen to be an entirely Caucasian male which I understand quite well automatically creates scoffs of distrust the more minority a person becomes. I was born in to this world not choosing my color or my history and I take no pride in the misdeeds of others strictly because their pigment is the same color as mine. Even so, many have argued to me before, I am still a white male in a country predominantly designed for white males, and this makes it hard (or even perhaps impossible in some arguments) for me to be able to use my empathy. I’m going to go out on a limb and say you’ve never even given me the chance… so here is my chance to show you how well my empathy does work even in society that (on the outside) looks like it fits me like a glove. First - I’m not religious, and if you’re religious in America you will find society is much more welcoming to you than if you aren’t - whatever your race. In fact people are far less likely to support a non-religious person than they are any minority race. Next - I connect very little with American society, I’ve never been cliquey, I have little desire in materialism, and aside from the empty promise of liberty very little about the government appeals to me or has ever even helped me. It’s true that my outward appearance can give many racist whites a false sense of security (and has in the past unfortunately) to where they feel comfortable to spew racist remarks for virtually no reason, however I’ve lived my life to become very sensitive about even the slightest racial comments and quickly wish to disassociate myself from whatever person is acting ignorantly at the time.

Those things don’t begin to show my true understanding of racism. Though I went to nearly an all-white high school ethnic literature was heavily pressed on us. When I went to college I went to a culturally diverse school in which any race you could imagine was a common site. I also went to college for teaching English and was put through a myriad of minority literature classes. I remember the semester I took a “Minorities in Literature” class and a “Women Minorities in Literature” class. It was that semester that I learned the difference between a minority (ex. a black man) and a double minority (ex. a black woman). In fact I doubt a single semester went by where minority literature wasn’t covered in some seriously extensive fashion. These classes seriously opened myself up to perspectives in many different ways, I had to read many books over again and each time I became more well rounded. I’m naturally a supporter for the do-right underdog and learning about minority history was a way for me to understand the plight of all minorities: Native Americans, women, Hispanics, Asians and above all African Americans. In America discrimination on all levels occurred to all sorts of people but none have been more polarized than black and white racism, and I’ve found that my empathy to a cultural history of oppression was on more than one occasion taken offensively despite my knowledge and sincere thought on the subject. Though most of my life I’ve supported and lived a life of a minority thought process detesting materialism and balking at doing things just because everyone else does them, it doesn’t take away from the argument again and again coming back to me that because I look the part I must be playing the part. Personally I have no cultural history. I love my grandparents and from them down to my siblings and nieces we are very local people enjoying local foods, personalities, and cultures. The history of my family fades quickly beyond that, I have no national identity other than American and certainly no cultural identity apart from regional, even my last name derives from a country that doesn’t even exist anymore, I am a cultural blank slate. Currently I am a teacher who works in a school that is particularly about 50% black and 50% white and all of them are there for reasons that a regular school could not accommodate their needs. I learn a lot about how society raises children this way and it gives me a deep insight on the mindset of many different people.

Layer 2, Evolutionary characteristics: What we’re essentially addressing here is an evolutionary characteristic or trait. Depending on which region you travel to the environment of that region has a slow pull on a living being’s genetics and you become more readily adaptable for that particular region than others. Because of where the continents were situated, among other factors, homo sapiens ended up with very distinct regional looks and cultures. The most famous of these looks and colors is skin color. The reason black people are black is because of their prolonged exposure to the sun. Darker skin helps defend against the problems of radiation and skin cancer while white people, who were much less exposed to the sun, needed to absorb as much of it as possible when they were exposed to it. In essence a very minute difference, so minute that one letter out of a DNA code that is 3.1 billion letters strong is what determines what color skin you are going to have. It is interesting how profound of an effect that single letter has had on the history of humanity and how we look at each other.

Another fact comes in to play here: humans are an extremely visual species. This simply means that while our hearing isn’t that good, our smell is powerfully memorable but quite weak in strength, our tasting and touching are secondary functions not typically used for primary defense, our sight is our pride and joy. We explain and do almost everything visually. Fashion, dancing, driving, reading, watching tv, fighting, almost everything we do is primarily visual. Unless you are blind it is almost impossible to understand what this world would be like without our vision.

These two evolutionary aspects about humans set the stage for the racism that would inevitably ensue when the world became smaller by use of technology. People are quick to judge things they can recognize visually and that are different than themselves. And of course this occurs through all races and people throughout the world including just basic cultural differences within the same race, but to keep it simple I’m using the black-white difference as the example.

Layer 3, Civilization: Civilization plays a powerful role in any modern day issue. If interested in my background thoughts of civilization that link is a great place to start. While the Europeans did not invent civilization they were certainly the ones who learned how to exploit it most. For some people they consider this a bragging point but the honest truth is the Europeans were always claiming ownership in places they didn’t belong or weren’t welcome… and nobody likes a guy like that! The Europeans time and time again took no notice of allowing space and differences and the result was resentment from people all across the globe. The rules and customs of other cultures were rarely recognized as important as the need for unlimited wealth. Bonding and forming relationships were not top priorities for the imperialists of Europe but instead profit and exploitation at any cost was the code of the hour. Seeing as always the first rules of civilization is to secure the resources in which you can control others with, it is no surprise that other cultures more connected to needs aside from power, were sadly pushed aside. The Europeans worked hardest for the needs of themselves and did not recognize the needs of those they exploited. This is going to bring me to a break in the discussion of racism:

Dehumanization:

This is the word that shares the title of this entry with racism. Initially I entitled this entry “Racism, Bigotry, Oppression, and Dehumanization” but what I really wanted to name it is just “Dehumanization.” It strikes me as amazing that most people refuse to connect both Racism and Dehumanization. Racism is essentially in its barest form just a type of dehumanization. Dehumanization is simply refusing to acknowledge that another human- who was born like you, shits like you, breathes like you, and has emotions like you - is as human as you. This isn’t a layer, this is the actual root that all the layers have budded and grown from. If we had the ability and strength to rip this root out of the ground all of the branches (layers) of this atrocious plant would die off immediately… but Dehumanization carries a sirens song, one that has steered so many sailors of life’s vessel to the rocks and consumed their life. Civilization as we know it has been built off the backs of the dehumanized, and those who have been dehumanized have been of every race, creed, age, and innocence. All races have enslaved, there is no one angel race that has done no misdeeds. If there is a white person or black person who believes they should sit on the horse of example because of their race they deserve to be knocked off. Every continent of people has exploited and dehumanized with or without the help of another race. There is no “group” that has been exploited, only individuals. The picture to the right is just a current example of who Americans are in the process of dehumanizing now. The soldier is treating this other human as nothing more than something that should be stored on a shelf to be pulled out later for his use, depriving him of his most precious sense to show superiority. The following things are going to be about racism but they all derive from dehumanization.

Layer 4, Slavery: If slavery never existed then certainly things would be a lot less intense on this planet. Unfortunately slavery is the heart that drives civilization. “Civilized” people depend so strongly on the exploitation of those who are weaker than them. When these people demand to be treated like equal individuals you will witness the true heart of civilization- it responds with venomous loathing. American slavery is one of the biggest layers of this racism cake even though it ended over a century ago. The whole idea that a group of people felt they had the right to “own” another group of people is not something the once-owned can easily forget, it isn’t just a possibility that it could happen again, it HAS happened already… what reason could a white person who was pro-slavery give to ensure a black person that it will never happen again? For many white people this is a moot point, since they have no history of enslavement there is a belief that it’s an irrational fear of those with darker skin. But the fact is white people even enslaved their own kind, and Africans enslaved their own kind as well, all cultures that have harnessed the power of civilization have exchanged their compassion for manipulation and every continent of people has taken an attempt to control civilization. The great thing about American Slavery (if there could ever be such a statement) is that it was recognized as wrong and there was an honest attempt at fixing it! Obviously many people undermined the effort but that does not mean there wasn’t great struggle on both white and black people to bring this to fruition, and that shouldn’t be forgotten. Many people today view themselves as white or black and figure there is a culture that goes with each, but what happened to the 3rd culture? The one that looked past race and connected on ideals? I find that it is increasingly hard to find that 3rd group that flourished less than a half-century ago. Slavery is wrong, but it is not something only black people have the capacity to understand… how similar are the conditions in the places where much of America’s products are created today? While the United States addressed dehumanization via slavery in their own country, proponents of civilization, wealth, and greed were busy being more clever making sure the traces to such negative human rights abuses were harder to find. Today in Asian, Africa, and South America slavery of all different kinds still exist, human trafficking is a lucrative business if you are willing to trade your compassion for manipulation.

Layer 5, Caricatures: Caricatures are a fun thing to have done at the amusement park, sure. Though I’ve never had it done I have no doubt my large nose and ears would be overly pronounced to a cartoonish degree. This is the fun with caricatures - they poke fun at peoples differences, and while this is a great voluntary exercise it has a dramatic involuntary culture. Take the overtly racist caricature to the right: big lips, yellow eyes, always happy, and subservient clothing is all what makes this an inherently hateful creation. While the character looks happy it is plain and simply just another way to not view black people as human… the only thing needed to accentuate this caricature is perhaps the character to be eating some watermelon or fried chicken… like a good slave would. Caricatures are a great way to begin dehumanizing on a humorous level, this is a way to make inherent hate seem fun and funny. It is also a way to instill fear about a group of people too. I could come up with image after image of caricatures used for manipulation and dehumanization, as they are in no short supply. Caricaturization is not just a picture, it’s a mindset, when you look at someone like a cartoon you believe you have the right to treat them like a cartoon. And what do we know about cartoons? We can do anything to them, no matter how terrible, like Wile e Coyote we can crush them and destroy them and it’s nothing less than another humorous calamity that the cartoon has to deal with… not you.

I may be a white male in a society made predominantly for white males but I myself have been a victim of caricaturization. In fact it is a daily battle I must deal with being a teacher. What do Stuart, Pee-Wee Herman, Ron Stoppable, and Lurch have in common? Certainly it’s not looks. What is similar is that these are all unreal characters and in some sense (though quite a few are done by real people) cartoons. Now depending on which student you ask I personally personify each one of these characters because I’m the spitting image of each. No, I don’t wear makeup like the first two, no I don’t talk in a goofy unreal voice… so what drives these kids to call me these things? I can assure you that my looks are nothing like any of the above characters and when I first started being associated with these cartoon characters I took it lightly, as something that obviously pleased the kids. But the more names that became attached to me the longer I worked there the more I was forced to understand why I was being called these names. It was an attempt at the students to caricaturize me so they didn’t have to look at me like a real human. You see, in my school, the students there are very emotional and sometimes they choose to act in a way that will hurt other people. To make this easier to do it’s important to not view everyone around you as equals but instead as something not real… like a cartoon maybe. Many of the men that work at my school and within the residences many of the students live in use size and intimidation as a method of control which the students are very receptive to. While I am confident in my strength and in some desperate cases had to use this strength to stop fights and protect myself from being attacked I tend to be very mild-mannered and desperately try to use size and intimidation as a final resort where only real danger is at hand.

It is the softness of my voice and my lack of forceful decisions that was the root of these caricatures about myself. And aside from the Lurch caricature of me the other 3 names have been created and propagated by mostly the black population within the school (Lurch was confined to two white students). Some of the more disrespectful students would start bringing up these names when they wanted to assert their power. After a reasonable request such as asking a student to not rummage through staff personal items I might get a response like “Like I’m going to listen to your Ron-Stoppable looking ass.” It was these cartoon characters the students were using to attempt to dehumanize me, and I was astonished that it more-often-than-not came from the culture that had been caricaturized for so long in this country. Ignorance at times even becomes a bragging point.

Layer 6, Emasculation and Feminization: If there is one thing racist whites and blacks can agree upon it’s that they both hate gay people. Gay people are the lowliest form of humans there are on this Earth. White culture constantly portrays gay people as effeminate, flippy, fashionable, lispy, and flaming. Black culture is constantly using homosexuality as the ultimate insult especially in the highly regarded mainstream rap. Completely leaving out the studies that show a correlation between homosexuality and homophobia it’s important to realize that the reason these cultures use this stuff is because it is yet another attempt at dehumanizing people. While there are progressive groups promoting equal treatment of people no matter their color or gender, pop-culture from both black and white society constantly parade their viewpoint of how women aren’t quite as equal as the men, whatever race. This is why my teacher in college educated me about double-minorities. A black woman not only has to deal with the prejudices of racist whites, she also has to deal with the desire for power by black males who follow the sole popular black culture. BET (a black-owned entertainment company sold to white Viacom) makes no serious attempt at viewing women with respect and only feed the blinding, intoxicating drink of power to black males promoting time and time again the emasculation of other men as the sole road to financial and sexual success. A serious inquiry as to why and how this culture functions this way is found in a documentary known as Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes that I strongly suggest watching for a much deeper understanding of how emasculation and feminization plays a huge role in the black pop-culture. And indeed the Stuart image that many of the black students attempted to begin to portray on me was for these very reasons found within that documentary. While I’m not gay the fact that I refuse to let the drunken desire for power run my life leaves me open to this type of dehumanization. Immediately I realized what the attempt at calling me Stuart was doing and I addressed it immediately. I do not speak effeminately but I do speak softly, I don’t threaten but instead encourage positive behaviors… to the students they saw it as either all or nothing- I either needed to try and be the most powerful or I needed to play the role of bitch. Everyday I stress there are more positive and equal options in life and yet this isn’t encouraged by either black or white pop culture so it’s an uphill battle the whole way. However many are appreciative of my fairness.

Layer 7, Government: Most white people in the United States are from European descent and carry the successes of civilization on their shoulders as a form of pride. Winners and Champions they tout and see only the good aspects of civilization including government and law. Any that have opposed it were crushed long ago and in the wake only compliant obedient white people were born and raised. Those who deviated could find sympathizers and places to survive but were largely outnumbered by the obedient civilized class. Black Americans were raised to see a different side of civilization. Generally coming from tribal roots they’ve carried a curse with them when entering the other dimension of the civilized… they know they came from a place where they once belonged and were not a subservient group. The rules and laws that were forced upon them on their dump-off in America were not their own and while the intentions of the founding fathers only seemed sincere Black Americans did not ask to be brought to this country and used as slaves. This brings a natural and fair distrust of government that has resonated to modern times. Blacks, just like whites, have the ability to teach culture and for generations it was taught that white people have a history of using manipulation over compassion. This has many documented sources, especially with Native Americans, that we just don’t have the time to get in to right now. So a strong driving mentality of the black community was to distrust white people and their system of government. I will be the first to say that was a smart action to take but it does not solve the problem of dehumanization this causes. There is a common black mentality that it’s okay to exploit white people in any way necessary because certain white people have exploited their race in the past and even currently (though admittedly far less). This has resulted in scams, robberies, muggings, and theft. Homicide rates are much higher in the black community. When I train hopped to Cleveland my white friend and I found ourselves in a black neighborhood that was over 80 blocks long. Two separate guys came up to us and tried to sell us weed, people would stop talking when we passed and stare, after we passed snickering and guffawing followed. Eventually we got jumped by 4 teenagers, prepared we only gave up about $3.75. Looking back I’m not resentful, mainly because they didn’t leave any permanent damage or take anything good, but I understand it’s sadly part of the culture. When we were being tailed by them it was exactly like the way one of my students described his first time getting jumped. This is what our inner cities are becoming, it isn’t something that can be argued as a positive thing at all, people need to get legally active, of all races, on ways that people will agree that can address these problems. The result otherwise is the white population has the ability to reinforce their own racism by calling black people criminals and perpetual welfare-dependents and start racial profiling. This creates an environment where people of their own race feel the need to cover for negative deeds done by others within their race, even if they don’t know them personally, because they fear the action will make the whole race look bad. In this regard many guilty of dehumanizing (in both races) end up getting some sort of defense by their own race thusly indoctrinating our children to think dehumanizing actions are acceptable under certain social conditions.

Layer 8, The Black double standard: There is a strong argument among black people that nigger is an okay word to say so long as it’s said with a slight accent and the “-er” isn’t as strong, this makes the end sound like it ends in an “-a”. However Nigga derives directly from the word Nigger, a word used to dehumanize blacks during and after the times of slavery by racist white people. This astounds me almost as much as black people embracing the religion of their oppressors. So the argument goes a black person is allowed to say “nigga” to another black person because a black person isn’t going to enslave another black person. Nigga is so widely used it is equivalent to the white words “dude” and “man.” I’ve been called a nigga, in fact, everyone in my school has been called a nigga by some black student. There are even some white students who are allowed to say it because their culture is obviously black-influenced. However if you aren’t influenced by black pop culture there is a non-verbal agreement that you won’t say any form of the word even if you yourself are being called it. This is a case where a teacher and a student ended up with very strong feelings because of the use of the word. It is an interesting point to ponder that such a derogatory word is so culturally accepted within the black community and taboo within the white community. A change on this can only come from within the black subcultures and many have spoken out against it, even attempting to bury it. But pop-culturally the word is heavily rooted in the black community.

The next black double standard that makes it hard for there to be cross-cultural connections between blacks and whites is the ability for blacks to make all-black groups. While there have been many whites who would like nothing more than to create a white-only group it is viewed as racist forcing whites to accept blacks among their ranks while blacks can cleanly cut the whites out of their own lives if they so choose. This is true for fraternities and powerful groups such as the NAACP, where simply the 1-in-3-billion difference disqualifies you from promoting equality and unity. Affirmative action is another way in which a white person can feel oppressed by a black person, especially if the white person has never oppressed a black person in his or her life. There is even the Black Entertainment Television channel, while racist whites scoff at the idea and desire their own channel, I’m here to say that it shouldn’t be about what color your skin is to unite yourself with other people. If you believe in equality and freedom for all… then make an equality and freedom for all channel. Certainly BET is not that channel so much as it is a derogatory, materialistic, and disrespectful towards women channel, and I know many black people that would be ashamed to claim that is their entertainment.

The last double standard I want to cover here is the fact that even if one or more of your parents are white, if your skin is still dark everyone considers you black. This is a belief readily accepted on both sides of the coin. While there was a time where Africans and Europeans shared this country together with very little mixture today there are millions of people that are definitely part white but are considered black. And these are from consensual relationships, there have been hundreds of thousands of interracial couples that have created children. These were consensual acts by people who were able to look past the skin-color difference. These people have had both black and white ancestors so they aren’t black, they’re mixed. Much of the black we see in America today isn’t the ebony beauty of the sub-Saharan region but is a combination of tolerance and acceptance between cultures. There is no reason why these people who have bonded the blood of these two polarized groups should strictly be claimed by only one of them. Yet this is a subject that is not even considered being discussed. People are either black or not, there is a lot of pressure within the black community to keep a community together strictly based on color and not on a belief or culture. This is inherently hurting America because it makes white racists more bitter and makes those who want to connect bridges between races feel not included.

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Are these all the layers that are out there? Hell no. But this is a good start I’d say. Blacks or whites should be allowed in any group, no matter the cause, and while it is hard to point out underlying racism in a group we should have the ability to rally together, take control of our own lives, and insist on honest people running our lives. Instead we choose to back dishonest people because it’s “better than nothing.” This happens to anybody who embraces civilization and materialism regardless of race, and the means through which we get the fruits of these things is via dehumanization, which bloomed a putrid racism plant as a well as a thick forest of fascism, oppression, and bigotry vegetation. Essentially this problem is either going to keep going or start to become solved because of you, the person reading this. Are you going to address the issue and collaborate with others on ideals or do you prefer a race-oriented society where deep mistrust and hate permeate everything?

I don’t like racism, in fact I detest it, and I have spent a lot of my life feeling ill-equipped to understand prejudice which has been propagated by the institutions I’ve learned from as well as minority cultures that insist a white person couldn’t possibly understand oppression like a minority. But the truth is if you live your life for your ideals and not for materialistic gain then brother or sister we are both being oppressed very much right now. Either play the game or or get crushed. I certainly know famous rappers in music videos with asses, cash, rims, and jewelry don’t understand the oppression I’m feeling by trying to live my life as an ideal (as best I can, I’m not saying I don’t make mistakes, but certainly mainstream rappers are not learning the evils of glut very quickly) so I’m saying it’s possible that I know what it’s like to be looked at like I didn’t belong and it’s not something special that solely black people can lay claim to. This started out as a battle for ideals, and it has seemingly lost focus in the very group that was brave enough to address it and overcome it and not lie down to the oppressors.

Perhaps they weren’t looking at the right thing. The oppressors aren’t white - they’re anybody who’d rather take $1 than help someone out or to treat someone respectfully. In the movie Barbershop, for one example, Lester Wallace is a black dehumanizer while Calvin, the main character, is someone who puts people before profit. Next time you see a person of a different race and you see them as an equal to you, you can connect to them on any level you wish because, in fact, you are equal. Let’s stop dehumanizing and remove those in power who think dehumanizing is a positive aspect no matter what the race. And let’s maybe give it a chance to say that we’re all humans and yes, even if you haven’t gone through exactly what I have, we can still use empathy of our own situations to understand as best we can. If you take offense to anything in this article I strongly suggest to comment, I wouldn’t doubt that I’ve worded something incorrectly or was vague or unclear on an idea or even that I made a mistake somewhere… but the fact is I want to open the debate on racism on why we’ve let it control our lives for so long, and I want it to end with everybody getting what they want (unless all you want is power over others).