The Most Harmful Racists Are The Ones Who Think They’re Not Racists At All
What A Lot Of White People Actually Think About Black People
By David Grace (www.DavidGraceAuthor.com)
They Say That Discrimination Is A Thing Of The Past
A few times I’ve had a white person (BTW I’m a white male) say that a black person claiming discrimination is merely playing the race card or the victim card to cover for their own inadequacies.
They say that the reason the black person didn’t get the job or the apartment or whatever almost never had something to do with discrimination, that the real reason is that they just weren’t good enough, and that their claim of racism is nothing more than a phony excuse, a scam to blame others for their own failings.
If their opinion is challenged they usually say something like, “Oh, come on. There isn’t any widespread discrimination any more.” Maybe they add, “The Civil War was over a hundred and fifty years ago. They need to get over it.”
It’s All Their Own Fault
Sometimes these white people will continue with something like, “If they would only stay in school and stop having out-of-wedlock babies and taking drugs they wouldn’t have these problems.”
Sometimes, if the white person in question is really feeling talkative, they’ll ramble on with something like, “The real problem is that those people don’t want to work hard” or “Those people just aren’t as smart [as white people].”
I’ve been thinking about this “There isn’t any wide-spread discrimination anymore” idea and I asked myself, “What do white people really think about black people?”
What A Lot Of White People Really Think
Well, all white people aren’t the same so, I amended the question to “What do a lot of white people really think about black people?”
What’s “a lot”? 20%? 35%? 50%. I don’t know.
My guess is between 20% and 35% on average depending on where you live. Mississippi is going to be different from Connecticut.
So, for the purposes of this column, when I say “a lot of white people” I’m going to go with a 25% nationwide average but clearly that’s just a guess.
The Dog Whistle Is More Common Than The Bullhorn
I don’t often hear blatant racist statements like “White people are genetically smarter than black people” or “White people are a more genetically advanced species than black people,” probably because I don’t generally listen to people like David Duke or Iowa Congressman Steve King.
Most of the time, white people’s racism is of the “dog whistle” variety — it’s code where the words say one thing, but which other racists recognize as meaning something else.
Some people think that Trump’s tag line “Make America Great Again” is just a slogan, but a lot of white people translate it to “Make America White Again” meaning “We need to stop catering to black and brown people. They’re mostly losers sucking up our tax dollars and getting a free ride. We’re going to get rid of food stamps and Medicaid and we won’t let any more of them into the country.”
Gestures Instead Of Words
Dog whistles can be gestures as well as words.
There’s scene in an NYPD Blue episode where Andy Sipowicz is talking to Vince Gotelli, one of the old-time night-shift detectives.
Believing that Sipowicz is as racist as he is, Gotelli wants to say something about a black person and not be overheard so he runs the palm of his hand down in front of his face. Andy doesn’t understand and Gotelli says something like, “You know, shades” and he again runs his palm in front of his face in a gesture supposed to signify people with dark skin, “behind a shade.”
A lot of white people flat out believe that black people aren’t as smart, hard working, decent or honest as white people. To then, that’s just a fact, but they hesitate to say it out loud. Instead they express this opinion in different subtle but significant ways.
Subtle Discrimination
Who You Hire
Suppose one of these white people is looking for a new primary-care doctor. You read them the website particulars on two candidates, Walter Hawkins, Iowa State University Medical School and Robert Phillips, Yale University Medical School. Hawkins has five years experience and Phillips is the deputy head of the department with ten years on the job.
Naturally, they pick Phillips, but then they get a look at the candidates’ pictures and discover that Phillips is black and Hawkins is white. Suddenly, Hawkins is their guy.
“Why?” you ask, “Because he’s white?”
“No,” they’ll tell you. “I just think he looks more like a real doctor.” Or, “He seems nicer.” Or, “He looks like someone who knows what he’s doing.”
They aren’t going to tell you that the real reason they switched from Phillips to Hawkins is that they think that black people are less intelligent than white people; they think that Phillips must have gotten into Yale on a quota, and that people helped him and covered for him because he was black, because, in their mind, how else could a black man graduate from Yale Medical School?
No, they won’t say that out loud, unless they think that you’re just like them. But they absolutely believe that black people just plain aren’t as smart as white people and that a black man couldn’t possibly be a really top-notch doctor.
And they will look you right in the eye and tell you that they aren’t a racist.
“I don’t have anything against anybody,” they will insist. And they would think that was true.
Who You Rent To
Take two resumes, identical in every way except that the picture of Robert Phillips on one of them is of a white man and on the other he’s a black man. Now, have Mr. Phillips apply to rent 100 AirBNBs as a white man and 100 as a black man.
You will find a significantly higher rejection rate for the black Mr. Phillips than the white Mr. Phillips.
A Harvard Business School study (Racial Discrimination in the Sharing Economy: Evidence from a Field Experiment) found that people whose names are perceived to likely be black find it 16 percent harder than whites to book lodging on Airbnb. They found that some Airbnb hosts would rather their properties remained vacant than rent them to a black guest.
Personally, I think that Airbnb applications with actual pictures showing black versus white guests (as opposed to hosts merely inferring race from the applicant’s last name) would have black rejection rate differentials much higher than 16%.
I’m sure you would find the same thing in tests for renting an apartment or applying for a job interview.
A lot of white landlords and employers will decide that while the white Mr. Phillips looks like a wonderful candidate, the black Mr. Phillips somehow just doesn’t measure up.
“I’m not a racist,” they will swear to you. And believe it.
The Stereotype Racist Pictures That Pop Into Their Heads
I wrote a column about the little stereotype pictures that pop in our heads when we hear a word or phrase e.g. “Las Vegas” or “Wedding.”
For a lot of white people the words “black man” will pop up a picture of a person selling drugs on an urban street corner or a manual laborer pushing a mop or a junkie passed out in an alley or a pimp covered in bracelets and gold chains.
You think I’m making this up?
Racism Masquerading As ‘Just Being Careful’
- Why do you think a white woman tried bar a black tenant from his own apartment building?
Because in her mind a black man could not possibly earn enough money to be able to afford a luxury apartment. She was convinced that he must be a criminal who was there to steal, that he couldn’t possible belong there.
- Why do you think two white security guards kicked a black man out of the lobby of the Double Tree Hotel where he was a registered guest?
Because they were sure that he must have been a pimp or a drug dealer or a homeless person who intended to sleep in the lobby.
In their minds a black man couldn’t possibly afford to stay in a nice hotel because when they see a black man the pictures that pop in their little heads are of pimps, drug dealers, drug addicts, homeless people and raggedy poor people.
- A black, female Yale University graduate student fell asleep in her dorm’s common room and a white, female student called the police with the complaint: “There’s somebody here who is where they’re not supposed to be.”
Why did she think that? Because in her mind black people couldn’t possibly belong in a Yale University dorm.
- In Indianapolis a white, female off-duty police officer and a white, female apartment-house manager evicted a black tenant from the complex’s swimming pool even though the manager knew he was a tenant and he had the key to his apartment with him.
- In Memphis, a white manager of an apartment complex called the police on a black tenant for wearing socks in the pool.
- In North Carolina, a white man demanded identification from a black woman at a private community pool and called the police when she refused.
- In South Carolina, a white woman attacked a 15-year-old black boy at a neighborhood pool, telling him and his friends that they had to “get out.”
This is just the tip of the iceberg. These incidents go on and on and on.
Why A Lot Of White People Assume A Black Person Doesn’t Belong Around Them
All of these people saw a black person in a place they thought a black person “didn’t belong.” Why did they think that a black person didn’t belong there?
Because they thought that black people were too poor to qualify to be in such a nice place. Or because they thought that black people were likely dirty, lazy, dangerous or criminal and they didn’t want “people like that” around them.
My opinion is that few of these white people would admit to being a racist any more than the white person who wouldn’t accept a Yale-educated black doctor or a white homeowner who wouldn’t accept a black person as an Airbnb guest wouldn’t admit that they were racists.
- They would just say that they were being careful because unknown black people are more dangerous or untrustworthy than unknown white people.
- They would tell you that they just wanted to protect their property and white tenants are generally more law abiding, careful and drug free than black tenants.
- They would say that they just wanted to keep out trespassers, and because most black people can’t afford the nice places used by white people, they were more likely to be trespassers.
- They would just tell you that they wanted the best professionals they could get and white doctors are, of course, smarter and better than black doctors.
Yes, You Are A Racist
Then they would look you straight in the eye and solemnly tell you, “I’m not a racist. I’m just being careful because black people really aren’t as smart, honest, trustworthy, law abiding, clean, and decent as white people. That’s just a fact. Recognizing that fact doesn’t make me a racist.”
Yes, it does, it really does.
So, don’t tell me there isn’t widespread discrimination in America.
It’s just gone underground. It’s language is just now more often spoken in code and with winks and nods.
But it’s there all the same in every little, bigoted picture that pops into a lot of white people’s heads whenever they see a black man who is someplace they’re sure he doesn’t belong.
— David Grace (www.DavidGraceAuthor.com)
