What is racism?

At the heart of the racism discussion is a fundamental disagreement about what racism is and the morality of related aspects. John Metta identifies distinct group and individualistic mentalities in “I, Racist”, which is an important key.

- Whites tend to use the dictionary definition of racism, namely a belief in racial superiority or irrational discrimination on the basis of race.

So, when black people think in terms of their race and make judgments based upon race, as you say they do, white people see that as potentially racist. When people make judgments for individualistic reasons, that is, by definition, not racist, even if the side-effects are racially disparate. This extends to all races.

- Blacks tend to view racism as any negative statistical disparity against blacks.

So, if there are more blacks in prison than whites, that is racism. If black schools do worse than white schools, that is racism. If whites are richer than blacks, that is racism, etc.

If whites are not doing this to blacks intentionally (racism), then the system must be inherently oppressive against them because of their race (systemic racism). All other criteria is ancillary to the presumption that race is the controlling factor.

This reasoning does not seem to extend to all races, such as Asians, who by many metrics do better than whites. Why is that?

So when you say that “Racism is not white water fountains and the back of the bus,” that is precisely what racism is (and systemic racism in particular). It is an irrational discrimination on the basis of race and that irrationality is what makes it immoral.

And when you say that “Racism is a cop severing the spine of an innocent man,” it depends upon why the cop did that. Race is not even mentioned in that statement. Ignoring the “why” fails to distinguish between discriminating on the basis of race (immoral) vs. other rationally justifiable criteria (moral).

Furthermore, and perhaps I’m getting too deep in the weeds at this point, when black behavior is statistically different from other racial groups, such as whites or Asians, a rational bias develops that should not be considered “racist” in an immoral sense.

For example, blacks are over-represented in many athletics. Is that racist? No. Immoral racism depends upon irrational judgment on race, not simply disparity.

All oppression is not racism. Racism is a very specific kind of oppression motivated by irrational judgments on race. If we cannot agree upon such definitions, then we will only continue to misunderstand one another. And if we cannot agree upon the morality of these different cases, then we will only continue to think that the other side is morally confused.