In Which White People Learn a New Language
The first time someone told me “only white people can be racist”, I was stunned. I was a sophomore in college, a 20-year-old political science major, and a white male who’d grown up in Eugene, Oregon, a city known both for being solidly liberal and for being full of other white people. I saw myself as firmly on the side of good, devoid of any serious prejudices towards other people, educated and intelligent. I knew a lot. But, like so many white people in that same position, I was still operating in a state of profound ignorance.
Good intentions and a desire to be kind to people will only get you so far. Today, white people across the United States of America are still locked in a struggle to understand the worlds that people of color live in, the words they use to describe their experiences and our role in combating bigotry both visible and invisible. You don’t have to look far to see how the struggle is going; naked white supremacy has crept back into the White House, massive injustices are still baked into our systems of government and criminal justice and even good-hearted, well-meaning people keep finding themselves unable to discuss matters of race and power and oppression in a meaningful, helpful way. It’s a mess, and that’s even before you put race to the side and look instead at issues of sexual orientation, gender identity, religious intolerance and a host of other problems.
So what does any of this have to do with a young college student’s rejection of the idea that “only white people can be racist”? Simply put, that young college student rejected a new and troubling idea far too quickly, and he did so because he didn’t fully understand the language that was spoken to him. If the people of the world are ever to truly come together, and if white people are ever going to be able to fight against oppression and its poisonous effects, white people all need to understand what we’re being told.
I rejected the idea that “only white people can be racist” because all my life I operated under a specific definition of racism. “Racism”, to me, was the mistreatment of a group of people based only off of the color of their skin, or some other physical irrelevance. It is an expression of “racism” to think that all Latino or Latina people are lazy, or to enact policies that prevent people from China from immigrating to the United States, or to label all white people as violently homophobic. I was not alone in using this definition, of course. Merriam-Webster defines “racism” as “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race”. This was also the way that the people I grew up around thought of racism, and so it is the definition that I, and so many people like me, learned and internalized. Using this definition, of course, people other than whites can be racist. All that is required is a belief, and anyone can believe.
Thankfully for me, it wasn’t long after first hearing “only white people can be racist” that I heard the rest of the context that makes the statement work. “Racism” in this case is defined as “prejudice plus power”, something that can only come into being when someone holds bigoted ideas and has the power to act on them. When a person doesn’t have power, all they can be is prejudiced. While bad, prejudice on its own lacks much of the threat of racism. A prejudiced person holds reprehensible beliefs, and might speak or act against people because of them. A racist person holds reprehensible beliefs and has the ability to cause real harm because they possess power.
The final piece of the puzzle is the assertion that white people possess power that people of color do not, meaning that white people can be racist but the most a person of color can ever be is prejudiced. With this context, I was able to understand the statement that had once seemed so bizarre. Today, it is a statement that I accept, and in my own conversations I differentiate between racism and prejudice in the same way.
What’s the point? There are many, and the first is that learning about race and prejudice (and racism) requires that you, my theoretical white reader, have to learn a new language. Sometimes you can’t understand a concept if you don’t adjust your vocabulary to cope. And this new language is often want to take words that you think you know and use them differently. Sometimes this is merely confusing, but it can often be a challenge for a host of reasons.
You might read through my explanation of the phrase “only white people can be racist”, or otherwise learn the details, and you might still question the phrase because you disagree with the underlying premise. After all, not all white people have power, and not all people of color are prevented from having it. This line of reasoning can lead in two directions. You might reject the idea out of hand, or you might attempt to come up with a more refined way of putting it, one that’s not quite so far-reaching and indiscriminate.
Generally speaking there is nothing wrong with critically examining a new idea that you are exposed to. Not every idea is a good one. Some are flawed, or just plain wrong. But remember, in this case you’re learning a new language. If you’ve got this far, you’ve already seen how contextualizing word choice can lead to a greater understanding. If you reject the idea that power is an exclusive possession of white people, that’s all well and good. But are you certain you know what the definition of “power” is in this case? What if, like “racism”, power has a different and more nuanced meaning in this language? You must realize that this is only the very start of an exploration of the entire language that we’re even now struggling to learn the basics of. You can’t learn a single phrase in French, take issue with the logic of a word in that sentence and push it aside as broken and unusable. You’ve got to learn more French for things to start making complete sense. “Only white people can be racist” is nonsense without knowing what “racist” means, and “racist” is nonsense without understanding power and the way it permeates society and gives advantage to white people whether they know it or not, and whether they want it to or not. Don’t stop now, fellow traveler. We’re just getting started.
As for refining the phrase, the inherent danger is that you’ll get so caught up in crafting the perfect series of words that you will miss the meaning behind them. The point of saying “only white people can be racist” isn’t to engage in a clever thought experiment, or to make white people feel bad. It’s to demonstrate that when wrongheaded ideas fueled by hate, fear and an overwhelming sense of superiority mix with the ability to reach out and have an impact on other people and their lives, harm and horror follow. Sure, maybe “white people can’t be victims of racism” is a little more accurate, but at this point we’re just being pedantic and while we’re doing that people of color are struggling under harsh burdens and being subjected to cruelty and misery just because of the way they look or where they or their ancestors were born. Quibbling about word choice becomes a way of deflecting the problem. Look at the words in question, understand the meaning and the truth behind them, and let that be enough. “Only white people can be racist” is a phrase with a purpose, and it is the purpose that matters.
One last thought: by this point you might be asking “why do we need to puzzle through all of this ourselves? Can’t we get some experts to give us all the meaning and context at once?” If you can take advantage of the knowledge of others, by all means do so. I’d never have gotten this far if it weren’t for smart, caring people who gave me context and meaning. Just remember two things. First, as the student it is your responsibility to grapple with this topic. Don’t expect to be spoon-fed. Be willing to stretch your thinking, be exposed to difficult and frightening ideas and carry on regardless. And second, sometimes you get exposed to a new thought and no one is willing or able to help you to understand. Don’t let that stop you, and don’t take it out on anyone else. There is a world of learning out there, books and articles and speeches that can help you learn. At the end of the day it is not the responsibility of people of color to bring you up to speed. It’s your responsibility to start learning the language.
