I'm not racist, but...

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I'm not racist, but... is a phrase that often precedes a racist argument and provides a "veneer of political correctness". [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Interpretations

The phrase has been described as "hypocritical" and "apologetic". Eduardo Bonilla-Silva and Tyrone Forman argued that it is used by "the new racists, all the nice Whites". [4] [5] [6] Alana Lentin, in a op-ed for ABC, cited the phrase as an example of "how denying racism reproduces its violence". [7] Deutsche Welle's Torsten Landsberg and Rachel Stewart wrote that the refrain is "usually followed by an opinion that belies at best ignorance and at worst a deep-seated prejudice or even racially fueled hatred". [8] Ibram X. Kendi felt that its usage is an ineffective means of combating racism. [9]

Frequency

"I oppose them, mainly because, I am not a racist but because I think you should have the best person for the job". [4]

Response in a survey of students' opinions on affirmative action.

Baugh (1991) found that when people were asked why the term African-American should or should not be used, many respondents prefaced their answers with "I'm not racist, but...". [10] Brown (2006) found that that the phrase was often used by Lancastrian interviewees who were concerned about the influx of racial minorities. [11] Simon Goodman of Coventry University wrote that the phrase encapsulates "a major feature of talk about immigration" in Britain: "the repeated denial that opposition to it is racist". [12]

Edwy Plenel ascribed the saying to the "average Frenchman". Mahfoud Bennoune expressed a similar opinion, exclaiming that "The typical French racist attitude is expressed in this manner, 'I'm not racist, but I find that the Algerians are the rabble that must be expelled; the syphilis that arises like arrows'." [13] [14] Former American white supremacist Derek Black said they sought to recruit people who "start a sentence by saying, 'I'm not racist, but.' And if they've said that, they're almost there". [15]

The Irish Times' Donald Clarke wrote that Halle Bailey's casting in The Little Mermaid "reveal[ed] the usual unconvincing qualification". [16] The Twitter account YesYoureRacist seeks to condemn "casual racism on Twitter" and "retweet[s] everyday users who say: 'I'm not racist but ...' followed by something, well, racist". [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

Racism is discrimination and prejudice against people based on their race or ethnicity. Racism can be present in social actions, practices, or political systems that support the expression of prejudice or aversion in discriminatory practices. The ideology underlying racist practices often assumes that humans can be subdivided into distinct groups that are different in their social behavior and innate capacities and that can be ranked as inferior or superior. Racist ideology can become manifest in many aspects of social life. Associated social actions may include nativism, xenophobia, otherness, segregation, hierarchical ranking, supremacism, and related social phenomena. Racism refers to violation of racial equality based on equal opportunities or based on equality of outcomes for different races or ethnicities, also called substantive equality.

Racial color blindness refers to the belief that a person's race or ethnicity should not influence their legal or social treatment in society.

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Self-censorship is the act of censoring or classifying one's own discourse. This is done out of fear of, or deference to, the sensibilities or preferences of others and often without overt pressure from any specific party or institution of authority. Self-censorship is often practiced by film producers, film directors, publishers, news anchors, journalists, musicians, and other kinds of authors including individuals who use social media.

In politics, a dog whistle is the use of coded or suggestive language in political messaging to garner support from a particular group without provoking opposition. The concept is named after ultrasonic dog whistles, which are audible to dogs but not humans. Dog whistles use language that appears normal to the majority but communicates specific things to intended audiences. They are generally used to convey messages on issues likely to provoke controversy without attracting negative attention.

Critical race theory (CRT) is an academic field focused on the relationships between social conceptions of race and ethnicity, social and political laws, and mass media. CRT also considers racism to be systemic in various laws and rules, not based only on individuals' prejudices. The word critical in the name is an academic reference to critical theory rather than criticizing or blaming individuals.

Covert racism is a form of racial discrimination that is disguised and subtle, rather than public or obvious. Concealed in the fabric of society, covert racism discriminates against individuals through often evasive or seemingly passive methods. Covert, racially biased decisions are often hidden or rationalized with an explanation that society is more willing to accept. These racial biases cause a variety of problems that serve to empower the suppressors while diminishing the rights and powers of the oppressed. Covert racism often works subliminally, and much of the discrimination is done subconsciously.

Reverse racism, sometimes referred to as reverse discrimination, is the concept that affirmative action and similar color-conscious programs for redressing racial inequality are forms of anti-white racism. The concept is often associated with conservative social movements, and reflects a belief that social and economic gains by Black people and other people of color cause disadvantages for white people.

Internalized racism is a form of internalized oppression, defined by sociologist Karen D. Pyke as the "internalization of racial oppression by the racially subordinated." In her study The Psychology of Racism, Robin Nicole Johnson emphasizes that internalized racism involves both "conscious and unconscious acceptance of a racial hierarchy in which a presumed superior race are consistently ranked above other races. These definitions encompass a wide range of instances, including, but not limited to, belief in negative stereotypes, adaptations to cultural standards, and thinking that supports the status quo.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gunther Kress</span> British academic (1940–2019)

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The Racial Contract is a book by the Jamaican philosopher Charles W. Mills in which he shows that, although it is conventional to represent the social contract moral and political theories of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Immanuel Kant as neutral with respect to race and ethnicity, in actuality, the philosophers understood them to regulate only relations between whites; in relation to non-whites, these philosophers helped to create a "racial contract", which in both formal and informal ways permitted whites to oppress and exploit non-whites and validate their own moral ideals in dealing with non-whites. Because in contemporary political philosophy, white philosophers take their own white privilege for granted, they don't recognize that white supremacy is a political system, and so in their developments of ideal, moral and political theory never consider actual practice. Mills proposes to develop a non-ideal theory "to explain and expose the inequities of the actual nonideal policy and to help us see through the theories and moral justifications offered in defense of them." Using it as a central concept, "the notion of a Racial Contract might be more revealing of the real character of the world we are living in, and the corresponding historical deficiencies of its normative theories and practices, than the raceless notions currently dominant in political theory." The book has been translated into various languages.

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References

  1. ↑ Hill, Jane H. (1998). "Language, Race, and White Public Space". American Anthropologist. 100 (3): 680–689. doi: 10.1525/aa.1998.100.3.680 . ISSN   0002-7294. JSTOR   682046.
  2. ↑ Harris, Kate Lockwood; Palazzolo, Kellie E; Savage, Matthew W (2012). "'I'm not sexist, but...': How ideological dilemmas reinforce sexism in talk about intimate partner violence". Discourse & Society. 23 (6): 643–656. doi:10.1177/0957926512455382. ISSN   0957-9265. JSTOR   43496418. S2CID   144765339.
  3. ↑ Every, Danielle; Augoustions, Martha (2007). "Constructions of racism in the Australian parliamentary debates on asylum seekers". Discourse & Society. 18 (4): 411–436. doi:10.1177/0957926507077427. ISSN   0957-9265. JSTOR   42889138. S2CID   145223804.
  4. 1 2 Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo; Forman, Tyrone (2000). ""I am not a racist but ...": mapping White college students' racial ideology in the USA". Discourse & Society. 11 (1): 50–85. doi:10.1177/0957926500011001003. ISSN   0957-9265. JSTOR   42888295. S2CID   145683232.
  5. ↑ Wright, Michelle M. (2003). "Others-from-within from without: Afro-German Subject Formation and the Challenge of a Counter-Discourse". Callaloo. 26 (2): 296–305. doi:10.1353/cal.2003.0065. ISSN   0161-2492. JSTOR   3300854. S2CID   143466555.
  6. ↑ Thorleifsson, Cathrine Moe (2017). "Peripheral Nationhood: Negotiating Israeliness from the Margins of the State". Anthropological Quarterly. 90 (1): 83–106. doi:10.1353/anq.2017.0003. ISSN   0003-5491. JSTOR   44246137. S2CID   151689809.
  7. ↑ Lentin, Alana (2017-10-19). "'I'm Not Racist, but ...': How Denying Racism Reproduces Its Violence". ABC . Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  8. ↑ Landsberg, Torsten; Stewart, Rachel (July 7, 2018). "Rap against racism: 'I'm not a Nazi, but...'". Deutsche Welle . Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  9. ↑ Nawaz, Amma (2020-07-08). "How anti-racism is a treatment for the 'cancer' of racism". PBS . Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  10. ↑ Baugh, John (1991). "The Politicization of Changing Terms of Self-Reference among American Slave Descendants". American Speech. 66 (2): 133–146. doi:10.2307/455882. ISSN   0003-1283. JSTOR   455882.
  11. ↑ Brown, Cynthia (2006). "Moving on: Reflections on Oral History and Migrant Communities in Britain". Oral History. 34 (1): 69–80. ISSN   0143-0955. JSTOR   40179846.
  12. ↑ Goodman, Simon (March 11, 2016). "Is it really not racist to oppose immigration?". The Conversation . Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  13. ↑ Sarkar, Salil (1985). "The Charms of Socialism". Economic and Political Weekly. 20 (12): 494–495. ISSN   0012-9976. JSTOR   4374198.
  14. ↑ Bennoune, Mahfoud (1975). "Maghribin Workers in France". MERIP Reports (34): 1–30. doi:10.2307/3011470. ISSN   0047-7265. JSTOR   3011470.
  15. ↑ Gross, Terry (September 24, 2018). "How A Rising Star Of White Nationalism Broke Free From The Movement". NPR . Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  16. ↑ Clarke, Donald (July 5, 2019). "Halle Bailey's casting as the Little Mermaid drove internet racists nuts. Or did it?". The Irish Times . Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  17. ↑ Domonoske, Camila (August 14, 2017). "On The Internet, Everyone Knows 'You're Racist': Twitter Account IDs Marchers". NPR . Retrieved 2021-06-30.
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