Prejudice + Pretend Ignorance = Racism

Like many social scientists, I learned that prejudice + power = racism. Having power is key for determining how someone could turn their everyday bias into racism. We all have prejudices but not everyone has the power to turn it into racism. With power, one can make laws, establish structures, enact practices and procedures that benefit Whites and disadvantage BIPOC.

This classic definition of racism remains true today, especially for how structural and systemic racism get created and maintained. However, there is another kind of power being exhibited today that has become an equal catalyst for establishing and maintaining structural and systemic racism — ignorance.

For many Americans, denying, dismissing, minimizing or being ignorant of the nature of racism and its impact on American society is enough to release them from accountability for racism. If racism doesn’t exist, they cannot possibly be racist.

Even those of us who are not attorneys understand the legal principle that ignorance of the law is not a defense. American statesman and founding father Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Ignorance of the law is no excuse in any country. If it were, the laws would lose their effect, because it can be always pretended.”

So, what happens when there’s “group pretend”? What happens when a critical mass of citizens…