but I am not convinced it was a case of racism. And I am DEFINITELY convinced that the shooting of the guy in Atlanta was emphatically NOT racism. It would be nice if people stopped letting CNN and MSNBC think for them.
You have succinctly summarized the problem in the US (and the world). The problem is the definition of “racism.”
Most people would say “I’m not racist.” meaning that they have never intentionally discriminated against someone of a different ethnic group. They have never denied someone a job, paid them less, refused service in a restaurant, denied their children the right to attend the local school, etc. And they could be absolutely right. But this does
NOT mean they are not racist. What it means it that they are not explicitly racist. A good thing, but not at all the end of the story.
But there is another type of racism, implicit racism. And in that sense, we are ALL racists. We prefer our own ethnic group (or even sub-group–proud to be English, but even prouder to be from Liverpool). This is natural and not evil in itself. And you can easily test your implicit racism: who would you want to move in next to you? Who would you want your daughter to marry? Who would you want your boss to be at work? And if you were a policeman, would you be equally likely to shoot a black man or a white man in the back? And if you pretend you wouldn’t care about any of these things, I invite you to take a well known implicit bias test:
Take a Test There are many tests–on page two select the “race” test, and if you want to go further, the “skin tone” test.
Now if you deny you are implicitly racist (or use the word “biased” rather than “racist”) that is a huge problem. Because now you will use your “gut” or “intuition” to make decisions. But what you are really doing is allowing implicit racism to make those decisions. You have two equally qualified candidates for promotion: one black, one white. Your gut tells you to promote the white one. And, of course, vice versa: if you are black, your gut would tell you to promote the black one. And so on. And politically and economically it leads to what we see today: How many non-whites were in Eisenhower’s cabinet? How many major corporations have non-white CEOs or board members? This is implicit racism at work.
So if we all are implicit racists, what can we do? The first thing to do is acknowledge it. The second thing to do is make adjustments where necessary. You have two equal candidates for promotions, one white and one black? Find an objective way to choose one–an objective test of the main skill they would need on the job. Or simply flip a coin (they’re equally qualified, remember). Where possible eliminate any racial identity–for example, in reading resumes for a job, have an assistant make copies with the names removed and simply number them 1, 2, 3, etc. But whatever you do, you need to make a conscious effort.
