In the never-ending battle of Conservatives vs. Liberals, a new tension has emerged in recent years. White Conservatives find themselves baffled as they are given the label of “racist,” even if they’ve done nothing to indicate prejudice or hatred toward any race. The accusation immediately throws up their defenses as they get angry at being accused about something they haven’t done. Yet what many struggle to understand is that the word “racist” is being used with a very different definition than history has used it.
The goal of this article isn’t to argue against the new usage of the term “racist,” but instead to help people understand how the word is being used so they can have more meaningful discussions with others. By understanding what someone means when they say all white people are racist, we can get beyond superficial arguments and dig deeper into why someone may believe that.
How I learned the term
I recently finished two books. One is Faultlines by Voddie Baucham, which primarily explores the social justice movement and the church from a biblical perspective (as well as from a black man’s perspective). It’s one I’d highly recommend.
However, it creates an incomplete and imbalanced picture if we only listen to people who say things we’re more likely to agree with. There’s great value in hearing both sides of an argument and seeking to understand what leads people to a particular truth. After all, these are very real people with an entire worldview that guides their lives and shapes their belief systems.
To that end, I’m starting to work through some of the core literature that people on the “other side” are reading. One of those is White Fragility by Robin Diangelo. While the book is far from a core academic text, it’s one that has exploded in popularity and has been shaping the discussion of race and racism for many people. And it’s in this book that Diangelo offers a redefinition of racism which caused an “Aha!” moment as I finally understood why discussions about race have left me so confused.
Since most of my readers may never be exposed to books like this, I thought it would be helpful to try and explain the word “racist” from this point of view.
Racist by birth
Before I get into this, I know I need to make it clear that this isn’t my personal belief. The things I’m about to say are likely to create a knee-jerk reaction of discouragement, exasperation, or outrage. I’m simply trying to explain something that many people may misunderstand if they haven’t tried to objectively learn about the beliefs of people they don’t agree with. Or, at the very least, I’m explaining it to the best of my own understanding.
If I had to summarize what I think people mean by “racist” in a sentence, it would go something like this:
White people are racist because they’re born into a world where their skin color gives their group a more favorable or advantageous life experience.
In other words, a white person is racist simply because their skin color doesn’t inherently make things more difficult for their group in Western culture. Most people assume racism has to do with our chosen words, actions, or beliefs, but that’s not at all what people mean when they say it today. Racism isn’t a choice we make, but a state of being.
According to this worldview, we participate in racism whether we know it or not. White skin grants people a certain element of power because they are more likely to get jobs, peacefully interact with police (or never interact with them at all), and be treated well in many of their pursuits. White people also have an imbalanced amount of power because the most powerful institutions of education, politics, finance, and business are controlled by groups who are overwhelmingly white.
All of this works together to create a world where white people have the power, and I think that would also imply that white people therefore have the moral obligation to use that power to create opportunities for non-whites to succeed and to fight against the current structure that enables this racism.
Clarifications and final thoughts
I had a lot of questions pop up when I tried to better understand this viewpoint, and I’m sure others trying to wrap their head around this re-defining of a word have questions as well. I won’t pretend I can fully explain this worldview, but I think these clarifications can help us find a more fair understanding of it:
- This definition of racism doesn’t mean all white people will always have a better life than colored people. Whites can still face discrimination, live a difficult life, or be treated poorly if they’re a minority in their individual setting. Racism means that white people, as a group, have better opportunities, greater advantages, and an unfair level of power in our culture.
- There is a difference between racism and racial prejudice. Racial prejudice is what people have classically understood to be racism – the intentional decision by an individual to dislike or mistreat a person based on skin color.
- All white people are racist, and only white people can be racist (at least in our culture). This is because only white people have the power to boost other white people or oppress other races. Other races can be prejudiced, but that’s different. Thus, as Diangelo points out, there isn’t a single white person who can say “I’m not racist because ______” because racism isn’t about our beliefs or actions.
- Racism is assumed, and how we react is evidence that it exists. If you acknowledge it exists by this definition, you’ll admit you’re racist and do something about it. If you reject that it exists, or refuse to do something about it, it’s also a sign of racism because you are either privileged enough to be blind to it, fearful of losing your power, or you’re taking part in a culture of white supremacy by neglecting those who don’t have power.
- The impression I got, at least from White Fragility, is that the goal today isn’t equality in power, because it’s impossible under our current power structure. Instead, the goal is for white people to use their power to give opportunities to those who are oppressed. Years ago it may have been about equality, but today the important thing is empowerment.
- There’s likely no end to racism in our lifetime. Everything about Western culture must change at a fundamental level before we can say that racism is declining.
- An imperfect comparison that helped me is that racism is like Original Sin. All human beings have inherited Adam’s sin guilt (see Psalm 51:5 or Romans 5:12). We still make our individual sin choices, but we also have condemnation that is baked into us simply because we’re human. Similarly, all white people are born racist because they are born white, but it’s up to them whether they choose to be racially prejudiced or use their inherited power to help those who have little or no power.
So when people say “all white people are racist,” this seems to be what they mean. It’s not that all white people hate black people, but that all white people live in a world where their lives will be significantly better than their colored peers. Even if they don’t realize it, most white people have probably had a very different set of life experiences simply because of their skin color. A colored person born in their circumstances would be unlikely to have those exact same experiences because they would grow up under a system that favors white people and oppresses those who aren’t white.
Of course, whether all this is true or not is an entirely different discussion. However, as I end this article, I hope it’s a discussion that’s easier to have now that we can better see how two groups are using the same term in very different ways. We don’t have to agree with the term, but we can at least get beyond arguing about its definition. Understanding that it’s being used to condemn what someone is, not what they’ve done, may let people get past defensiveness so they can better engage with the beliefs at the root of this worldview.
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(As a final note of empathy for those who still feel frustrated at how this word has undergone such a radical transformation: My thought throughout Diangelo’s book was “I really do wish that whoever started redefining the term ‘racist’ would have just created a new term.” Someone who is an -ist, by any other definition, is someone who chooses to take part in a particular practice or belief system. Historically, a racist is someone who believes in some form of racial superiority or actively practices racial prejudice. As we’ve seen, redefining this term in our current culture has only driven people further apart and made meaningful conversations all the more difficult.)
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