There are people who object to some of the methodology of this particular survey. I don't really care about those objections because they don't really affect the point I'm trying to make here.
White Republicans will often point to the fact that the KKK and other Southern racists used to vote with Democrats back before the Civil Rights movement. The unspoken part of this argument is "Democrats are racist, therefore Republicans are not racist."
1/6
In a similar vein, white Democrats will point at the explicit racism of modern Republicans. The unspoken part of this argument is "Republicans are racist, therefore Democrats are not racist."
First, we are all participating in a culture/society that is inherently racist, and constantly flooding us with nonverbal racist ideas. The notion that any of us can be truly free of racist premises underlying our decisions is delusional. In that context, I'm not even sure what "not racist" means.
2/6
But more importantly, I don't understand why so many white people (I'm half-white) seem to think that proving someone else to be racist somehow proves that you yourself are not racist.
Proving that someone else is X cannot prove that you are not(X).
That's not how truth works.
That's not how logic works.
Please stop embarrassing yourselves with this flaccid logic.
I think part of the problem is that too many think that racism is a binary thing…
3/6
Either you are burning crosses in people's yards while dressed in Nazi uniforms, or else you are 100% "not racist" (again, whatever that's supposed to mean given our society).
I think a lot of white people define racism this way to let themselves off the hook. To insinuate that they are not influenced by racist thinking.
Black jurors in America are more likely to vote to convict Black defendants. Do you think those Black jurors are being consciously racist against Black defendants?
4/6
Of course, they aren't being consciously racist against themselves. Like everyone else, their brains have been infected with the bad premises that our culture/society keeps pushing on us all in nonverbal ways. No one is immune from this crap.
Further, I hope that the graphs in the first post show that racism is very much a non-binary thing. It's not discrete. It's not quantized. It's on a sliding scale from more racist to less racist.
5/6
But above all else, white people, please stop thinking you can prove yourself "not racist" by proving that someone else is racist.
That's not how logic works.
And to quote Ibram X. Kendi (who leads an academic group that studies racism) "I'm not even sure what 'not racist' is supposed to mean."
6/6
@tofugolem Like the song says “everyone’s a little bit racist.”
