Whites and blacks don't speak the same language when they talk about racism
For many minorities, racism is less about overt hostility and more about bias
One sociologist calls it "racism without racists" and says "we are all in this game"
A new conversation on race can start with three phrases that often crop up
In a classic study on race, psychologists staged an experiment with two photographs that produced a surprising result.
They showed people a photograph of two white men fighting, one unarmed and another holding a knife. Then they showed another photograph, this one of a white man with a knife fighting an unarmed African-American man.
When they asked people to identify the man who was armed in the first picture, most people picked the right one. Yet when they were asked the same question about the second photo, most people – black and white – incorrectly said the black man had the knife.
Even before it was announced that a grand jury had decided not to indict a white police officer in the shooting death of an unarmed black teen in Ferguson, Missouri, leaders were calling once again for a “national conversation on race.”
But here’s why such conversations rarely go anywhere: Whites and racial minorities speak a different language when they talk about racism, scholars and psychologists say.
The knife fight experiment hints at the language gap. Some whites confine racism to intentional displays of racial hostility. It’s the Ku Klux Klan, racial slurs in public, something “bad” that people do.
But for many racial minorities, that type of racism doesn’t matter as much anymore, some scholars say. They talk more about the racism uncovered in the knife fight photos – it doesn’t wear a hood, but it causes unsuspecting people to see the world through a racially biased lens.
It’s what one Duke University sociologist calls “racism without racists.” Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, who’s written a book by that title, says it’s a new way of maintaining white domination in places like Ferguson.
“The main problem nowadays is not the folks with the hoods, but the folks dressed in suits,” says Bonilla-Silva.
“The more we assume that the problem of racism is limited to the Klan, the birthers, the tea party or to the Republican Party, the less we understand that racial domination is a collective process and we are all in this game.”
As people talk about what the grand jury’s decision in Ferguson means, Bonilla-Silva and others say it’s time for Americans to update their language on racism to reflect what it has become and not what it used to be.
The conversation can start, they say, by reflecting on three phrases that often crop up when whites and racial minorities talk about race.
‘I don’t see color’
It’s a phrase some white people invoke when a conversation turns to race. Some apply it to Ferguson. They’re not particularly troubled by the grand jury’s decision to not issue an indictment. The racial identities of Darren Wilson, the white police officer, and Michael Brown, the black man he killed, shouldn’t matter, they say. Let the legal system handle the decision without race-baiting. Justice should be colorblind.
Science has bad news, though, for anyone who claims to not see race: They’re deluding themselves, say several bias experts. A body of scientific research over the past 50 years shows that people notice not only race but gender, wealth, even weight.
When babies are as young as 3 months old, research shows they start preferring to be around people of their own race, says Howard J. Ross, author of “Everyday Bias,” which includes the story of the knife fight experiment.
Other studies confirm the power of racial bias, Ross says.
One study conducted by a Brigham Young University economics professor showed that white NBA referees call more fouls on black players, and black referees call more fouls on white players. Another study that was published in the American Journal of Sociology showed that newly released white felons experience better job hunting success than young black men with no criminal record, Ross says.
“Human beings are consistently, routinely and profoundly biased,” Ross says.
The knife fight experiment reveals that even racial minorities are not immune to racial bias, Ross says.
“The overwhelming number of people will actually experience the black man as having the knife because we’re more open to the notion of the black man having a knife than a white man, ” Ross says. “This is one of the most insidious things about bias. People may absorb these things without knowing them.”
Another famous experiment shows how racial bias can shape a person’s economic prospects.
Professors at the University of Chicago and MIT sent 5,000 fictitious resumes in response to 1,300 help wanted ads. Each resume listed identical qualifications except for one variation – some applicants had Anglo-sounding names such as “Brendan,” while others had black-sounding names such as “Jamal.” Applicants with Anglo-sounding names were 50% more likely to get calls for interviews than their black-sounding counterparts.
Most of the people who didn’t call “Jamal” were probably unaware that their decision was motivated by racial bias, says Daniel L. Ames, a UCLA researcher who has studied and written about bias.
“If you ask someone on the hiring committee, none of them are going to say they’re racially biased,” Ames says. “They’re not lying. They’re just wrong.”
Ames says such biases are dangerous because they’re often unseen.
“Racial biases can in some ways be more destructive than overt racism because they’re harder to spot, and therefore harder to combat,” he says.
Still, some people are suspicious of focusing on the word bias. They prefer invoking the term racism because they say it leaves bruises. People claiming bias can admit they may have acted in racially insensitive ways but were unaware of their subconscious motivations.
“The idea of calling it racial bias lessens the blow,” says Crystal Moten, a history professor at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
“Do you want to lessen the blow or do you want to eradicate racism? I want to eradicate racism,” she says. “Yes I want opportunity for dialogue, but the impact of racism is killing people of color. We don’t have time to tend to the emotional wounds of others, not when violence against people of color is the national status quo.”
‘But I have black friends’
In the movie “The Godfather,” the character of Michael Corleone, played by Al Pacino, hatches an audacious plan to kill a mobster and a crooked cop who tried to kill his father. Michael’s elders scoff at his plans because they believe his judgment is clouded by anger. But in a line that would define his ruthless approach to wielding power, Michael tells them:
“It’s not personal. It’s strictly business.”
When some whites talk about racism, they think it’s only personal – what one person says or does to another. But many minorities and people who study race say racism can be impersonal, calculating, devoid of malice – such as Michael Corleone’s approach to power.
“The first thing we must stop doing is making racism a personal thing and understand that it is a system of advantage based on race,” says Doreen E. Loury, director of the Pan African Studies program at Arcadia University, near Philadelphia.
Loury says racism “permeates every facet of our societal pores.”
“It’s about more than that cop who targets a teen while ‘WWB’ (walking while black) but the system that makes it OK to not only stop him but to put him in a system that will target and limit his life chances for life,” she says.
Racial bias is so deeply engrained in people that it can manifest itself in surprising places, says Charles Gallagher, a sociologist at La Salle University in Philadelphia. He gave a hypothetical example:
“A white police officer in Ferguson may be married to a black woman and have black and Latino friends, but that doesn’t mean the officer is above racial profiling,” Gallagher says.
These old and new ways of talking about racism can be seen in how some whites and blacks perceive the events in Ferguson.
Many have already looked at them as something beyond a personal interaction between a white police officer and a young black man. They point out that two-thirds of Ferguson’s population is black, yet the mayor, police chief and five of six city council members are white – as are 50 of the 53 people in its Police Department.
Ferguson is like countless multiracial communities, they say: calm on the surface but seething with racial disparities beneath.
But those disparities are invisible to many whites, who often see themselves as victims of discrimination, writes Jamelle Bouie of Slate magazine in a recent essay, “The Gulf That Divides Us.”
“Median income among black Americans is roughly half that of white Americans. But a narrow majority of whites believe blacks earn as much money as whites, and just 37% believe that there’s a disparity between the two groups. Likewise, while 56% of blacks believe black Americans face significant discrimination, only 16% of whites agree,” he writes.
“Many whites – including many millennials – believe discrimination against whites is more prevalent than discrimination against blacks.”
But as Nicholas Kristof recently pointed out in The New York Times, the U.S. has a greater wealth gap between whites and blacks than South Africa had during apartheid.
Such racial inequities might seem invisible partly because segregated housing patterns mean that many middle- and upper-class whites live far from poor blacks.
"Wazungu na weusi hawazungumzi lugha moja wanapozungumza juu ya ubaguzi wa rangi kwa watu wengi wa jamii ndogo, ubaguzi wa rangi ni kidogo kuhusu uhasama wazi na zaidi juu ya upendeleo, mwanasosholojia mmoja anauita ""ubaguzi wa rangi bila ubaguzi wa rangi"" na anasema ""sisi sote tuko katika mchezo huu.""" Waliwaonyesha watu picha ya wanaume wawili weupe wakipigana, mmoja bila silaha na mwingine akiwa na kisu. Picha nyingine ilionyesha mtu mweupe akiwa na kisu akipigana na mtu mweusi asiye na silaha. Wakati walipoulizwa kutambua mtu aliyepigwa risasi kwenye picha ya kwanza, wengi walichagua yule aliye sahihi. Hata hivyo walipoulizwa swali hilohilo kuhusu picha ya pili, watu wengi - weusi na weupe - walisema kimakosa kwamba mtu mweusi alikuwa na kisu. Hata kabla ya kutangazwa kwamba baraza la mahakama kuu lilikuwa limeamua kutomshtaki afisa mweupe wa polisi kwa mauaji ya kijana mweusi asiye na silaha huko Ferguson, Missouri, viongozi walikuwa wakitoa wito tena kwa "mazungumzo ya kitaifa juu ya jamii." Jaribio la kupigana kwa visu linaonyesha pengo la lugha. Wazungu fulani huona ubaguzi wa rangi kuwa tu maonyesho ya kimakusudi ya uadui wa rangi. Ni Ku Klux Klan, matusi ya rangi hadharani, kitu "mbaya" ambacho watu hufanya. Lakini kwa watu wengi wa jamii ndogo, aina hiyo ya ubaguzi wa rangi haijalishi tena, wasomi fulani wasema. Wanazungumza zaidi juu ya ubaguzi wa rangi uliofunuliwa katika picha za mapigano ya kisu - havalii kofia, lakini husababisha watu wasio na shaka kuona ulimwengu kupitia lensi ya ubaguzi wa rangi. "Mtaalamu mmoja wa jamii wa Chuo Kikuu cha Duke anasema kuwa ""rasism without racists"" ni njia mpya ya kudumisha utawala wa wazungu katika maeneo kama Ferguson." "Tatizo kuu leo si watu wenye kofia, bali watu waliovalia suti", anasema Bonilla-Silva. """Kama tunavyofikiria kuwa tatizo la ubaguzi wa rangi ni la Klans, wa birthright, wa Tea Party au wa chama cha Republican, ndivyo tunavyoelewa kuwa utawala wa rangi ni mchakato wa pamoja na sisi sote tuko katika mchezo huu,"" alisema Bonilla-Silva, ambaye pia ni mwanasheria wa jimbo la Virginia." "Wanasema, ""Mazungumzo yanaweza kuanza kwa kufikiria maneno matatu ambayo mara nyingi hutokea wakati wazungu na watu wa makabila madogo wanapoongea juu ya jamii.""" "Sioni rangi" Ni usemi ambao watu weupe fulani hutumia wakati mazungumzo yanapogeuka kuwa ya rangi. Wengine wanamwita Ferguson. Wao si hasa wasiwasi na uamuzi wa baraza kubwa la mahakama ya kutotoa hati ya mashtaka. Utambulisho wa kikabila wa Darren Wilson, afisa mweupe wa polisi, na Michael Brown, mtu mweusi aliyemwua, haupaswi kuwa na maana, wanasema. Acha mfumo wa kisheria utunze uamuzi bila ubaguzi wa rangi. Haki inapaswa kuwa na upofu wa rangi. Hata hivyo, sayansi ina habari mbaya kwa yeyote anayedai kwamba haoni jamii: Wanajiudhi wenyewe, wasema wataalamu kadhaa wa upendeleo. Utafiti wa kisayansi uliofanywa katika miaka 50 iliyopita unaonyesha kwamba watu huona si jamii tu bali pia jinsia, utajiri, na hata uzito. "Wakati watoto wanapoanza umri wa miezi mitatu, utafiti unaonyesha kwamba wanaanza kupendelea kuwa karibu na watu wa jamii yao,"" anasema Howard J. Ross, mwandishi wa kitabu ""Everyday Bias,"" ambacho kinajumuisha hadithi ya jaribio la kupigana kwa kisu." Ross anasema kwamba uchunguzi mwingine unathibitisha nguvu ya upendeleo wa rangi. Utafiti uliofanywa na profesa wa uchumi wa Chuo Kikuu cha Brigham Young ulionyesha kuwa waamuzi weupe wa NBA wanatoa makosa zaidi kwa wachezaji weusi, na waamuzi weusi wanatoa makosa zaidi kwa wachezaji weupe. "Utafiti mwingine uliochapishwa katika jarida la American Journal of Sociology ulionyesha kwamba wahalifu weupe waliofunguliwa hivi karibuni wana mafanikio zaidi ya kutafuta kazi kuliko vijana weusi wasio na rekodi ya uhalifu. """ "Watu ni thabiti, mara kwa mara na kwa kina upendeleo", Ross anasema. Jaribio la kupigana kwa visu linafunua kwamba hata watu wa jamii ndogo-ndogo hawawezi kuepukwa na ubaguzi wa rangi, anasema Ross. "Idadi kubwa ya watu kwa kweli watamwona mtu mweusi akiwa na kisu kwa sababu sisi ni wazi zaidi kwa dhana ya mtu mweusi kuwa na kisu kuliko mtu mweupe", Ross anasema. <unk>Hii ni mojawapo ya mambo yenye hila zaidi kuhusu upendeleo. Watu wanaweza kufyonza mambo haya bila kuyajua. <unk> Jaribio jingine maarufu linaonyesha jinsi ubaguzi wa rangi unaweza kuunda matarajio ya kiuchumi ya mtu. Chuo Kikuu cha Chicago na MIT viliwasilisha CV za bandia 5,000 kwa majibu ya matangazo 1,300 ya kutafuta msaada. Kila resume iliorodhesha sifa sawa isipokuwa tofauti moja - baadhi ya waombaji walikuwa na majina ya sauti ya Kiingereza kama vile "Brendan", wakati wengine walikuwa na majina ya sauti nyeusi kama vile "Jamal." "Watu wengi ambao hawakumwita ""Jamal"" labda hawakujua kwamba uamuzi wao ulichochewa na upendeleo wa rangi, ""anasema Daniel L. Ames, mtafiti wa UCLA ambaye amesoma na kuandika juu ya upendeleo." "Ikiwa utauliza mtu yeyote katika kamati ya kuajiri, hakuna yeyote kati yao atakayesema kwamba wao ni wenye upendeleo wa kikabila", anasema Ames. Hawawadanganya. Wao ni tu makosa. Ames anasema upendeleo kama huo ni hatari kwa sababu wao ni mara nyingi unseen. "Upendeleo wa rangi unaweza kwa njia fulani kuwa mbaya zaidi kuliko ubaguzi wa rangi waziwazi kwa sababu ni vigumu kugundua, na kwa hiyo ni vigumu kupambana nao", anasema. Hata hivyo, watu fulani wanatilia shaka wazo la kutumia neno upendeleo. Wao hupendelea kutumia neno ubaguzi wa rangi kwa sababu wanasema unawaacha majeraha. Watu wanaodai kuwa na upendeleo wanaweza kukubali kwamba huenda walifanya mambo kwa njia zisizo za kiadili lakini hawakujua nia zao za chini ya fahamu. "Wazo la kuiita upendeleo wa rangi hupunguza pigo hilo", asema Crystal Moten, profesa wa historia katika Chuo cha Dickinson huko Carlisle, Pennsylvania. <unk>Je, unataka kupunguza pigo au unataka kuondoa ubaguzi wa rangi? Nataka kuondoa ubaguzi wa rangi, "anasema. <unk>Ndiyo nataka fursa ya mazungumzo, lakini athari ya ubaguzi wa rangi ni kuua watu wa rangi. "Hakuna wakati wa kushughulikia majeraha ya hisia za wengine, sio wakati vurugu dhidi ya watu wenye rangi ni hali ya kitaifa. ""Lakini nina marafiki weusi"" Katika filamu ya ""The Godfather,"" tabia ya Michael Corleone, alicheza na Al Pacino, hatches mpango wa ujasiri wa kuua gangster na polisi crooked ambaye alijaribu kuua baba yake." Wazee wa Michael hucheka mipango yake kwa sababu wanaamini kwamba hukumu yake imefunikwa na hasira. Lakini katika mstari ambao ungefafanua mbinu yake isiyo na huruma ya kutumia nguvu, Michael anawaambia: "Si jambo la kibinafsi. Ni <unk> biashara kabisa. <unk> Wakati baadhi ya wazungu kuzungumza juu ya ubaguzi wa rangi, wao kufikiri ni <unk> tu binafsi <unk> nini mtu mmoja anasema au hufanya kwa mwingine. Lakini wachache wengi na watu ambao hujifunza jamii wanasema ubaguzi wa rangi unaweza kuwa wa kibinafsi, wa kuhesabu, usio na uovu - kama vile mbinu ya Michael Corleone ya kupata nguvu. "Kitu cha kwanza lazima tuache kufanya ubaguzi wa rangi kuwa jambo la kibinafsi na tuelewe kwamba ni mfumo wa faida unaotegemea jamii,"" anasema Doreen E. Loury, mkurugenzi wa programu ya Mafunzo ya Afrika katika Chuo Kikuu cha Arcadia, karibu na Philadelphia." "Lowry anasema ubaguzi wa rangi ""unaingia katika kila sehemu ya jamii yetu"" na ""ni zaidi ya polisi ambaye huwekea lengo kijana wakati wa WWB, lakini mfumo ambao hufanya iwe sawa sio kumzuia tu bali kumweka katika mfumo ambao utawekea lengo na kupunguza nafasi zake za maisha.""" """Ubaguzi wa rangi ni jambo la kawaida sana katika jamii ya watu, na linaweza kutokea katika maeneo ya kushangaza,"" anasema Charles Gallagher, mwanasayansi wa jamii katika Chuo Kikuu cha La Salle huko Philadelphia." "Alipendekeza mfano wa ""mshtakiwa mweupe wa polisi huko Ferguson anaweza kuwa ameolewa na mwanamke mweusi na kuwa na marafiki weusi na wa Kilatino, lakini hiyo haimaanishi kwamba afisa huyo yuko juu ya upendeleo wa rangi,"" Gallagher anasema." Njia hizi za zamani na mpya za kuzungumza juu ya ubaguzi wa rangi zinaweza kuonekana katika jinsi baadhi ya wazungu na weusi wanavyoona matukio huko Ferguson. "Wengi wameona kuwa ni ""mambo zaidi ya mwingiliano wa kibinafsi kati ya afisa wa polisi mweupe na kijana mweusi.""" "Watu watatu kati ya watu wa Ferguson ni weusi, lakini meya, mkuu wa polisi na watano kati ya sita wa baraza la jiji ni weupe, kama vile watu 50 kati ya 53 katika Idara ya Polisi.""" Ferguson ni kama jamii nyingi za rangi nyingi, wanasema: utulivu juu ya uso lakini kupasuka na tofauti za rangi chini. "Hata hivyo, ""mashindano hayo hayaonekani kwa wazungu wengi, ambao mara nyingi hujiona kuwa waathirika wa ubaguzi,"" anaandika Jamelle Bouie wa jarida la Slate katika insha ya hivi karibuni, ""The Gulf That Divides Us"" (The Gulf That Divides Us) ""Mashirika ya mapato ya wastani kati ya Wamarekani weusi ni karibu nusu ya Wamarekani weupe." Lakini idadi ndogo ya wazungu wanaamini kuwa weusi wanapata pesa nyingi kama wazungu, na 37% tu wanaamini kwamba kuna tofauti kati ya makundi hayo mawili. "Kwa mfano, wakati 56% ya weusi wanaamini kuwa Wamarekani weusi wanakabiliwa na ubaguzi mkubwa, ni 16% tu ya wazungu wanaokubaliana na maoni hayo. """ "Wazungu wengi, ikiwa ni pamoja na millennials wengi, wanaamini ubaguzi dhidi ya wazungu ni wa kawaida zaidi kuliko ubaguzi dhidi ya weusi, lakini kama Nicholas Kristof hivi karibuni alionyesha katika The New York Times, Marekani ina pengo kubwa la utajiri kati ya wazungu na weusi kuliko Afrika Kusini ilikuwa na wakati wa ubaguzi wa rangi. """ "Unyanyasaji huo wa rangi ya rangi unaonekana kuwa ""usioonekana"" kwa sababu ya makazi ya watu wa jamii tofauti, na kwa sababu wazungu wengi wa tabaka la kati na la juu wanaishi mbali na weusi maskini."