[emphasis added by me]
I have some questions with this line of reasoning. How does one define 'position of power'? For example, the CEO of my company, a man I greatly admire, is a man of African decent, and his skin has more melanin than mine. He has sat on numerous presidential committees and is internationally regarded. If he told me I could no longer work for our company because I am white and he doesn't want any more white people to work for him, is that racist? Can we reasonably argue that this man does not have a position of power in our society? Does Barrack Obama have power? What about Spike Lee? Michael Jordan? Kanye West? How about Sundar Pichai? Or George Takei? Or Yo-Yo Ma? None of them have power in society? Or is it that they do have power, but can't be racist because the group we assign them to doesn't have power?
What about people of 'mixed' race, whatever that means, can they be racist? How do we define race, anyway? And is division of humans into specific races meaningful, predictive, and good for society?
I have a lot of questions, and I ask them in good faith. This is not meant to be rhetorical, even though I imagine one can tell where I stand on that last question.
And PS, I imagine you moderators have been shifting uncomfortably in your chairs as this thread rolls on and were probably happy it has lied dormant for a few days. But if we think this is an important topic, might as well see it through.
TEO is correct, and I thank him for his answer!
How does one define 'position of power'? For example, the CEO of my company, a man I greatly admire, is a man of African decent, and his skin has more melanin than mine. He has sat on numerous presidential committees and is internationally regarded. If he told me I could no longer work for our company because I am white and he doesn't want any more white people to work for him, is that racist?
1. You are speaking of individuals, whereas racism is systemic and pervasive in all elements of American society. Has been since the founding. There are people of color who break through it, and they are the exceptions to the norm. We are a nation of ~320 million people and yet we can count the black people in power easily.
2. If a corporate leader terminated someone due to their race, and no other reason, that is both racist and illegal.
Can we reasonably argue that this man does not have a position of power in our society? Does Barrack Obama have power? What about Spike Lee? Michael Jordan? Kanye West? How about Sundar Pichai? Or George Takei? Or Yo-Yo Ma? None of them have power in society? Or is it that they do have power, but can't be racist because the group we assign them to doesn't have power?
1. George Takei was interned in a prison camp during World War Two due to his ethnicity. Let's all ponder that for a moment.
2. Of course there are powerful individuals of color in American society, but they are the exceptions, not the norm. There have been exactly nine black senators since 1900. Three Native Americans.
3. I'm sorry, what's your question? Is it that American society has no institutional racism because a man who was interned in a prison camp has a large Twitter following and black entertainers sell records? Barack Obama was replaced by a man who denied the unquestionable fact that he was born in Hawaii.
What about people of 'mixed' race, whatever that means, can they be racist?
1. All Americans see the world in terms of race. Race infuses every element of American society, always, for everyone, whether we realize it or not.
How do we define race, anyway?
My name is Brian Glenn, and anyone who knows that name knows that I have Irish heritage. But I have less Irish heritage than Barack Hussein Obama does. You just listed him as black. Somewhere in that fact lies the answer to your question.
And is division of humans into specific races meaningful, predictive, and good for society?
1. Whether it is good or bad is immaterial if one refuses first to acknowledge the fact that America, we all, consciously or not, divide people by the skin color.
You see, hikerbrian, this is the point: you speak as though
individuals are racist or not. It is productive, I believe, to start with the fact that every element of our society is racially infused. It isn't that some people burn with hatred and others do not; it is that all Americans, all the time, sort people by their skin color, and that after four centuries, our institutions are so racially informed that we remain segregated, spatially and socially, to this very day.
Brian
