11 Myths and Truths About Racism in America
1. Racism is a problem of the past.This is probably the most damaging misconception out there, so I'll start with it:
We often get taught in grade school about racism as if it's "all fixed." We're fed a diet of history lessons about the Emancipation Proclamation, voting rights granted to black men, and a handful of Martin Luther King Jr. speeches, and we generally come away with an impression of "Mission Accomplished: Well Done, America!"
I suppose we should be grateful that schools teach what they do. I mean, it is well-intentioned...but it's also rather a lot of wishful thinking.
The realities of racism are more nuanced, more subtle, and more deeply affecting to more people than we are generally led to believe.
2. The word "racism" refers to conscious attitudes of racial hatred and superiority, like those held by members of the KKK.
The word "racism" actually refers to ANY attitude of superiority, hatred, OR essentialism based upon differences in ethnic ancestry, conscious or unconscious. Though most of us are now agreed that racism is a "bad thing," we also have to admit to ourselves that racist attitudes are still deeply woven into the fabric of our society and into the ways our cultures teach us to think about and treat our fellow human beings, whether we agree with them or not.
3. "Racism" means black people.
While people tend to hold this attitude subconsciously, it's nonetheless very true that we tend to forget that racial prejudice, stereotyping and oppression is a major problem for all non-whites in Western society.
4. "Black" refers to the skin color of people of African descent.
While this is largely true today, the origin of the term "black" in the context of racism originally (circa the 1800's) referred to a social class of races which included some who are now considered white (such as Irish and Jewish). Likewise, the term "white" sometimes referred to more than just caucasians, and both labels were an indicator of caste. Guess who got to be on top...
5. If we ignore racism, it will go away.
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