Opinion: Perspectives from readers

The decision at Pittsburgh 2011 to include the antiracism program within the intercultural transformation program has the potential to ignore the unique and particularly devastating effects of racism. While this may be a good move organizationally, I question whether it is a good move conceptually and strategically.

It is critical to understand the difference between culture and the negative expression of ethnocentrism on the one hand and race and the discriminatory aspects of racism on the other. I cringed when the group making the presentation at Pittsburgh referred to “white culture.” Thinking that groups defined by race share a culture is common but dangerous. Cultural differences within racial groups can be as great or greater than differences between groups. Race, in and of itself, has little meaning or causal impact. It is the meaning given by society to race that makes it important. It is culture that shapes how we think and behave, not race.

I think the group at the assembly meant white privilege, not white culture. Because society has given race important meanings, there are experiences people of a given race share because of their race. Whites, no matter what their social class or culture, share special privileges and power because of their race. People of color, no matter what their social class or culture, share disadvantage because of their race. These shared privileges and disadvantages often lead to different perspectives and understandings of reality. For example, many white people deny that racism exists, while many people of color experience it nearly every day. The causal factor is not race but society’s attribution of meaning to race. Peggy McIntosh defines white privilege as “an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was ‘meant’ to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible, weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks.”

Culture is a set of values, beliefs, behaviors, attitudes, practices, perspectives and meanings shared by a particular group of people. Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own culture is superior to others and the consequent discriminatory treatment of others.
Race refers to skin color and identifiable biological traits. It has no meaning apart from the meaning given by society. Racism is the negative attitudes and discriminatory treatment given a group primarily because of their race. It is related to the power the dominant group has to set definitions and social meanings. People to some extent can choose and change their culture but cannot choose or change their race.

Cultural transformation celebrates differences and emphasizes mutual understanding and appreciation at individual levels. Antiracism focuses on dismantling structural discrimination rooted in discriminatory power based on race.

It is particularly harmful to attribute cultural differences to race. Thomas Jefferson suggested that people with black skin were somehow inferior in intellect and morality to people with white skin. This belief was the rationalization that justified black chattel slavery. An “expert” has testified that blacks have tendencies toward violence.

Because race is immediately visible in ways culture is not, it often “trumps” culture in determining how people interact. A person who is black, highly educated, Pennsylvania Dutch in culture and wealthy will still experience discrimination and special treatment on the street, when applying for a loan at a bank, when choosing a place to live, at airport scanning stations, while driving, in classrooms and most everywhere else. Racism, built on power differences, systemically disadvantages people of color.

These disadvantages go beyond personal relationships and are incorporated into social and economic structure and policy. The policy of “redlining,” which banks with the support of the Federal Housing Administration used following World War II to refuse loans to areas populated by blacks, is one of the major reasons why black families have lower levels of wealth than white families today. Separate education for blacks and whites historically, and current inequalities of educational expenditures and quality related to residential areas, perpetuate differences.

It is tempting to think that the answer is to ignore race and become colorblind. Because racism operates at structural and subtle personal levels, Supreme Court justice Harry Blackman was right when he wrote: “In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way.”