Welcome friends!
My work has been a little crazy recently but it looks like I finally have a moment to pontificate so I thought I’d celebrate by going way outside my comfort zone and saying a few words about that most fraught of American cultural issues: racism. Now I’m sure there are all sorts of interesting issues involving race relations in the US: does racism exist, how prevalent is it, what causes it, what are its effects, what should we do about it, etc. And of course anything involving race is sure to be contentious given our racial diversity and rather checkered history in that respect. (I guess it’s no big secret that for the first hundred years or so of our country’s existence the economy of a large swath of it relied on slave labor, and you can double that if you want to include the period before we gained our national independence. I always have to laugh when I hear conservatives getting all mushy about the so-called founding fathers. Wise old men my ass. Well, let me amend that. I suppose they were actually pretty wise about some things, but they were apparently pretty clueless about some other things. Sort of like anyone else, I suppose. Anyway, one hundred and fifty years after the Civil War officially did away with slavery in the US and fifty years after the civil rights movement did away with some of the more obvious residual effects we’re still working through that little gift from the past.) However, to return to the point, I thought that since I haven’t said a word about any racial issues to date I’d just start with a very general and rather philosophical discussion of what I think we’re talking about when we discuss racism. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of opportunity to bring up more specific issues some other time.
So let me get into my own views on the whole racism issue. First of all, I think we have to start off with some idea of what we mean by “race.” Now the definition of a race seems to me to be entirely a matter of convention, which is to say, I think a race can be whatever we define it to be. Humans obviously have all manner of inherited genetic characteristics depending on the environment in which their ancient ancestors spent most of their time and some of those genetic characteristics involve superficial physical differences such as hair color and shape, eye color and shape, skin color, body build, and what have you. If you want to group some people together according to some of these inherited physical characteristics and say they belong to the same “race” be my guest. However, a couple of points to keep in mind. First, my understanding is that whatever observable characteristics you have in mind make up a very, very small percentage of the total genetic material of any given human being. Basically, we all share 99.9 percent (or whatever, I’m just saying a very high percentage) of our genetic material, so talking about race can very easily lead to a tail wagging the dog sort of situation. Second, I think we need to keep in mind a race is simply a collection of individuals sharing certain selected genetic characteristics. That’s all. A race isn’t an actual entity that thinks things or does things. You can talk about an individual doing something. You can talk about a group of people doing something, although if you’re conscientious you’ll probably want to start taking into account differences among the members of the group. You can even talk about a community of people doing something, although in that case there are liable to be some very large differences in what any given member of that community is thinking or doing. But the idea of an entire race thinking or doing something is just ridiculous. People of a particular race might very well be living in entirely different countries, talking different languages, belonging to different cultures, and so on. They aren’t getting together over a glass of beer somewhere and deciding to do things.
OK, so now we know what we’re talking about when we talk about race, let me just say I don’t think any mention of race necessarily implies one is a “racist.” For example, I think medical researchers have discovered one’s likelihood of developing certain medical conditions depends in part on one’s genetic susceptibility to that condition, which in some cases is related to the same genetically inheritable traits that are associated with one’s appearance and hence typically get implicated in discussions of race. For example, I believe they’ve found “black” people are at relatively greater risk for hypertension than “white” people. That’s not racism. That’s just the way it is.
Now I can’t think of any prima facie case why other physical, mental, or psychological characteristics might not also be related to race in the same way. I remember a few years back some researcher on human intelligence published a paper suggesting a genetic component to IQ. I think he claimed to have found some small difference in the average test scores of people from different races. I’m not sure I can remember al the details but I think on his racial average IQ scale he had Asians, then whites, then blacks. (Yeah, I know Asia is actually a location, not a color, but I’m just following American convention. I suppose to be consistent we should talk about Asians, Europeans, and Africans, or maybe about blacks, whites, and some other color, maybe tans. Well, I guess at one time people in the US associated Asians with the color yellow so we could go with that, but it seems a little far fetched to me. Anyway, I’ve never seen a yellow colored Asian person and I’ve met quite a few people of Asian descent. Actually, I guess even tan wouldn’t really work very well. I’ve seen some pretty pale Asians and some pretty swarthy white people. And don’t even get me started on the red American Indian / Native American classification.) Anyway, to get back to my story, I recall at the time there was this huge uproar that the guy must be a racist. Now I can’t comment on whether his research was any good or whether the data showed what he thought it showed but I have to say the hysterical tenor of the criticism set me a little on edge. I mean, it’s essentially a scientific issue and we can’t be so precious that we can’t talk about science. Along the same lines, I think I also read somewhere that aggression might have a racial component. Heck, I suppose all kinds of things might have a genetic component and thus be related to race in some way.
However, a few points, if I may. First, I think one has to keep an eye on the actual differences we’re talking about. I seem to recall that the IQ study, for example, was finding some pretty small differences in the average IQ score of different racial groups. Indeed, it wasn’t at all obvious to me what practical implications, if any, followed from those differences. One can’t get so hung up on the issue of whether there are any detectable differences at all that one forgets to consider the issue of the practical significance of any such differences. Second, when you think about the practical implications of this type of study you also have to think about the issue of interpersonal variation. For example, I’m quite sure the study I mentioned earlier did not imply every Asian was smarter than every white person and so on. That’s obviously not the case. So one has to be a little careful with these types of studies when one is drawing out the implications for individuals. Third, the normative or value issue of what we should do, if anything, in response to these types of differences between the races, if indeed they exist, is an entirely different issue from the scientific issue of whether those differences exist in the first place. For example, the fact we can find these types of differences between races, if we can find them, would not imply one race is more laudable in some global sense than another race. In the IQ example, I suppose smart is good in some contexts, but smart isn’t the be all and end all of human values, is it? Some smart people are also lazy, sneaky, mean, dishonest, egotistical, selfish, shallow, and who knows what else. There are plenty of other traits that are important as well, so even ignoring the other issues I’ve already mentioned, trying to decide which genetic makeup is best in some global normative sense is clearly a fool’s game. And even if you came up with what you personally considered the optimal mix of characteristics and you did manage to relate it race I think you would find determining the ethical ramifications of such a ranking quite problematic as well.
So that’s what I think is not racism even though it involves talking about race and probably makes some people think of racism. So what do I think actually is racism? Well, to me racism involves making some of the errors in thinking about race I’ve just been talking about. That is to say, racism to me is a word describing ignorance in the context of thinking about race. Again, I don’t think simply talking about race necessarily makes one a racist; however, talking about race in certain asinine ways does. So just to give some examples, I think one type of racism is when one imagines “races” as active agents that are thinking things and doing things. Another type of racism fails to acknowledge the practical significance of the typically minute differences between racial averages or the much larger interpersonal variation among individuals of different races. (Hey, I’m from race X, I’m special. Yeah, you’re special, but not in the way you think.) Another type of racism latches onto particular genetic traits and tries to exaggerate their normative significance to conclude a given race is better in some global normative sense than another race. Another type of racism tries to draw unjustified value judgements and dubious ethical propositions from racial differences.
Then let me just comment briefly on the distinction between race and culture. Now I’ve noted that in the US when people think they’re talking about race they’re often actually talking about local cultures. These are easy to confuse because when you have a high degree of racial segregation as we still do in the US (I mean voluntary, not legally mandated as was the case in the past), it’s quite easy for people of different races to form local communities with somewhat distinctive cultures. However, a discussion of these local cultures isn’t really about race, per se, because the characteristics one associates with people from one local culture wouldn’t necessary apply to people from that same race but a different local culture. So, for example, if you’re talking about some type of general American black culture based on the totality of our troubled history of race relations in this country (which I think is about as big a local culture related to race that it would even make sense to contemplate talking about), then you should keep in mind that whatever cultural characteristics you’re talking about would be entirely foreign to, say, an African of the same race. In other words, if you really mean to talk about race then fine, talk about race. But if you actually have in mind a local culture related to race then don’t talk about race, talk about local cultures.
Now when it comes to talking about local cultures related to race many of the same issues that pertain to talking about race also apply. So let’s talk through this quickly. As with race, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to talk about local cultures. If you can identify a local culture and you don’t like certain elements of it then by all means talk about it. There are plenty of local cultures I don’t like and avoid like the proverbial plague. However, you have to keep an eye on certain errors in thinking that can lead to racism or whatever the equivalent would be when applied to local cultures (local culturalism?). So, first of all, one shouldn’t imagine that just because everyone in some local culture is of race X every person of race X therefore belongs to that local culture. Do you actually even know what defines the local culture you have in mind? Because if you think it’s just race then you’ve probably missed the mark. Second, you should have in mind the actual size and practical significance of whatever differences you perceive in local cultures. Maybe you think a certain local culture predisposes those who belong to it to criminal activity. Well, how prevalent is criminal activity in that local culture and how different is that from other local cultures? Are you looking at a small difference between different cultures and blowing it up in your mind to monumental proportions? Third, you have to consider interpersonal variation within local cultures. Are you treating everyone from culture X as a criminal and everyone from culture Y as an upstanding citizen even though plenty of people from culture X are upstanding citizens and plenty of people from culture Y are criminals? That would hardly be fair, would it?
Well, let’s just end with a humorous black and white example because I know how amusing that can be. (Joking, joking. I’m sure plenty of people will find my little attempt at humor patronizing, irritating, racist, and who knows what else, but I started talking about racism and I’m going to finish it come hell or high water.) OK, so let’s say you’re a white man living in a small town in Kansas. Just kidding, it can be wherever. But especially someplace like Kansas. You see a black man walking through your yard. You’re more concerned than if you had seen a white man walking through your yard. Are you a racist? Not necessarily. I suppose in some local communities the odds that a black man is a criminal are probably at least slightly higher than the odds that a white man is a criminal. (Of course in other communities the opposite may well be true.) Now you’ve seen a lot of young black kids on the corner listening to rap music, selling drugs, and occasionally shooting one another, so you know all about local black culture. This guy is older and dressed differently but what’s the difference? OK, now you’re getting into racist territory. You may know something about the culture of the black kids selling drugs on the corner but do you know anything about the local culture of this particular black man? Well, you think to yourself, I read all the scientific magazines and I know black people are genetically more aggressive than white people so most likely this guy is getting ready to crash through my front window and attack me at any moment. Well, that would probably belong in the racist category. I suppose there could be some genetic component to aggression, which would suggest it could be related to race, but if there is such a connection then the differences are likely to be insignificant in any practical sense and swamped by interpersonal variation. In this example, it would certainly not establish that the guy is probably getting ready to crash through your front window although it might establish the probability of the guy doing so is marginally higher than of someone of another race doing so. You decide to take preemptive action so you run into the yard and whack the guy on the head with a stick. Now you’re definitely in racist territory. Again, even if there were differences in the probabilities of people of different races being up to no good in this particular scenario the vast majority of black men walking through your yard would be most likely just trying to get to the other side, so the odds would be you just ran up and whacked an innocent man on the head, which is against our cultural mores of individual responsibility and innocent until proven guilty. You get arrested. When you get out of jail you’re so irritated at the black race for walking through your yard and selling drugs on the corner that as soon as you get out you take a plane to Africa and punch the first black person you see on the nose. Now you’ve actually broken the crazy racist meter. The guy you punched doesn’t understand a word you’re saying and even after finding a translator has no idea what you’re even talking about.
Well, that’s it: my amusing exposition of what I think qualifies as racism and what I think does not. It wasn’t all that amusing, you say? A little irritating more like? I understand. I promise I won’t talk about race again for a long time, so take a deep breath and try to relax.
