More insidious than racism

I hereby announce that I am not a racist, either. It’s a characteristic President Trump and I seem share.

To me, “racists” are people who adhere to “racism” as an ideology; that is, to a more or less consistent and coherent body of beliefs that make sense of something they experience and want to understand in the world.

I know for a fact that I do not hold to a racist ideology (or to a racist theology for that matter).  Consistency and coherency do not seem to be important to Mr. Trump, so I seriously doubt he adheres to racist ideology. Therefore, I am willing to believe that neither of us is a racist.

If only that ended the conversation. But it doesn’t.

Not being racists ideologically does not mean neither of us engages in racist behavior, holds racist attitudes, or thinks racist thoughts. At any moment we can and I suspect both do make judgments about people and situations based upon the color of of their skin. We both no doubt reach conclusions about situations and events based upon the skin color of those involved.

I confess to this implicit racism on my part. I have worked to eliminate it from my world view since I first became aware of it, and I try to deal with it when I see it in myself. It’s a life-long struggle, and I often fail.

Only Mr. Trump knows how he reacts inside himself to people of color. We may be nearly 100% sure he does react differently to them than to white people because prejudice and racism are part of the DNA of our shared American history and culture. It is likely that the only dishonest reaction is to claim to have none.

Plus Mr. Trump and I, as white American males, are recipients of untold benefits simply from being born as white American males. The advantages of white racism, as well as of other aspects of who we are, are built into us by birth, in differing measures of course depending upon our particular circumstances.

But focusing on skin color alone, who can argue that whites are not generally in advantaged positions from birth in this nation, as around much of the world? Not to understand this privilege, and not to see how much we and our descendants depend upon its continuation is to turn a blind eye to reality.

Our real challenge as whites is not to be able to claim that we am not racists but to become “anti-racists.” If we stop at denying our racism, and remain ignorant of and indifferent to the pervasive nature of racism deep within us and fundamental to our social and political structures, we are complicit in the ongoing corrosive effects of racism among us. Too often it’s costly and unsettling to speak against racism when it is expressed, to risk our own advantage when the racism within which we thrive is challenged. So, we are silent when we should speak, and passive when we should be active.

The convenient thing about real racists is that their words identify them, and make them easy targets. But we – Mr. Trump and I and perhaps you, too – we are not racists, so leave us alone and let our ignorance and indifference and silence shield us from the hard truth.