[lbo-talk] Bill Maher: 'The new racism is denying racism'

[Carrol Cox]

RacISM is the ideology, and does not explain anything but requires itself to
be explained. Posts in this thread have tended to confuse the ideology with
the social conditions and cultural habits that continually recreate that
ideology. The most visible conditions are the continued existence of the
'inner city' with consequent school segregation, the large proportion of
imprisoned who are black, and the continued habit of identifying persons as
black (black candidates as opposed to [white] candidates, black officers as
opposed to [white] officers, etc.). Once when I succeeded in persuading a
student that the black _race_ (a biological category) did not exist, he
slipped out of the corner by positing a "black culture." One of the
innumerable difficulties created is the falseness of the phrase, "the Black
community" in conjunction with the repeated need for the phrase. There was a
brief lbo thread on that a year or two ago.

"Fight racism" is an incorrect but unavoidable but it seems necessary
phrase. It is   incorrect because it is impossible to directly 'fight' an
ideology; one must rather fight the conditions that generate and regenerate
the ideology. (Racial profiling _causes_ rather than is caused by racism;
housing separation _causes_ rather than is caused by racism.) I think some
of the calls for a new vocabulary reflect this confusion; that is, such
calls confusedly recognize that "racism" doesn't accurately name the
conditions that cause it -- that it is an ideology and can't be directly
confronted. But it is the accurate name for the ideology and we can't get
along without it. "Obama is the first Black president." What does that mean
if "Black" names a nonexistent category (a race)? Or consider the following
hypothetical conversation.

Q: Steve really made some good points in class today.

P: Which one was Steve?

Q: That tall fellow in a blue sweater.

P: Hmm. I don't remember him.

Q: (With a sigh) -- you know, the black student in the class.

P. Oh! Him! Yes, he had some good points to make. I was impressed.

As long as such a conversation is possible, racism remains the defining
feature of "American Culture." And we can't play around with different
labels. "Students" (without further qualification) means "white students";
"working class" (without further qualification) means "white working class."

When whites use language this way they are in some important sense
exhibiting their racism, but they are nevertheless rightly indignant if they
are attacked as "racist." The contradiction in that sentence reflects the
need for the concept of _structural_ racism. It constantly generates "racist
behavior" by non-racists. Then those whites become angry at the 'unjust'
accusation. What we must fight is that structural racism of u.s. society. 

Carrol

Carrol