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 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".[ when? ] [13] Mahfoud Bennoune expressed a similar opinion, writing in 1975 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'." [14] Interviewed in 2018, former American white supremacist Adrianne Black said that her father had, when recruiting people into white nationalism, sought those who would "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

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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