Racism and Privilege

“The sense-of-life emotion which, in Europe, makes people uncertain, malleable, and easy to rule, is unknown in America: fundamental guilt. No one, so far, has been able to infect America with that contemptible feeling”  - Ayn Rand essay “Don’t Let It Go”,  1971

The term “racism” has a precise meaning. It is a doctrine that one race is inherently biologically superior or inferior to others or another and derivatively a program or ideology based on that doctrine. These days it is used carelessly to refer to bigoted or prejudiced behavior or even anything that a hypersensitive “person of color” chooses to be offended by. That is wrong, and it is not mere pedantry to insist it is. Ordinary bigotry consists of judging and treating people based on the race or ethnic group to which they belong.  Racial prejudice is the act of assuming that a person of a given race will behave in a way one thinks many in that race do rather  than evaluating him or her as an individual. The distinctions are important. Prejudice and bigotry are bad enough, but actual racism is worse and more dangerous.  It gave us the Jim Crow era in the south. In an extreme form it can lead to Auschwitz.

The term” privilege” also has an exact meaning. It means a particular benefit, advantage or favor granted, usually in some official way,  to a person or persons which is not bestowed on the population at large.  It is quite different from benefits a person might enjoy from  his own behavior or the ordinary events and accidents of life  - things  such as general good health, determination, good parents,  a strong and reliable character, helpful mentors, a willingness to work hard and plan ahead, and so on.

The term “systemic” too has an exact meaning. It means common to a system and its structure throughout  - as opposed to something localized - and affecting it throughout. Something systemic is different from something frequent or even widespread.

Taken literally the notion of systemic racism in the United States is absurd. There are a few racists out there – the pathetic losers who dress up as Klansmen or Nazis,  some of the 1619 crowd on the left, Louis Farrakhan,  and some others.  However they are of insignificant influence and certainly do not infect the entire population.  Even if people talking about systemic racism really mean systemic anti-black racial discrimination, one has to ask which systems?  Governments, universities, corporations, and non-profit organizations typically have rules and policies which are either neutral or favoring black people rather than discriminating against them. People in the traditional media usually  protectively hold (non-conservative) black people to lower standards than others and often avoid criticizing them for even egregious behavior.

  The obvious possible exception people are likely to think of would be the police. The behavior of cops toward black people  varies from place  to place and from cop to cop.  There seems to be nothing systemic or systematic about it.  However there are bigoted officers , and law abiding black men often receive undeserved attention.  Since September 11, 2001 some things in this country have gone too far in the direction of trusting and giving power and leeway to people in law enforcement at all levels of government, and reforms are needed. Citizens need to be vigilant  in keeping  the behavior of the police under proper control, and people in some places have done a poor job of it.

As to privilege, for the last few decades this country has had explicit, mandated black privilege in the form of affirmative action quotas for hiring and promotion in government and corporations, race based set asides and subsidies, quotas and lower admission standards at universities, and other programs and activities.  A white person in the Jim Crow south had privilege. White people today do not.

The corruption of language makes discussion and clear thought more difficult. When done intentionally, it is also a warning sign that those doing it are up to something. It this case it is fairly clear what.