[JohnnyB]

Originally Posted by White Out 403

The idea that racism is about result and not intention stems from dumb virtue signalling. It's a horrible idea. Pretending that it intention doesn't matter is a dangerous idea.

Unsurprisingly, the guy who refuses to show any evidence that he actually knows what people are talking about on the topic of systemic racism shows up to dismiss the conversation he doesn't understand as nothing but “virtue signaling”.

Care to actually give a substantive response that shows you at least know what people are talking about this time? Or will you again claim you don't have time for that and then slip out the back door?

Here is some info from the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre. Maybe you use this as a starting point to join the conversation and say what you disagree with and why.

http://www.aclrc.com/racism-and-power

What is racism?

Spoiler!

Defining "RACISM": The Power Factor
In our experience, anti-racism education is a (rewarding and transformative) process that involves integrating an analysis of history and systemic/institutional processes with personal and particular, and often-emotional experience.

As you introduce ways of understanding racism, for example, you are likely to be asked a number of questions based on participants' particular experiences, incidents, locations, and perspectives; you are very likely to find that white participants will be very anxious to show that they are not racist, or do not "mean" to be. (See our sections on Intentionality and Individual and Systemic Racism; See our definition of Systemic Racism). You may be asked questions such as the following:

"If I notice someone's skin colour is different from mine, is that racist?"

"Can people of colour and Indigenous people be racist towards white people?"

"What if I didn't mean to be racist? Is it still racism?"

Understanding that power is the primary feature of racism is key.

An effective, brief definition of racism that works very well as a visual aid, and focal point for discussion, is this:

Racism = Racial Prejudice + Power

By Racial Prejudice we mean: a set of discriminatory or derogatory attitudes based on assumptions deriving from perceptions about race/skin colour.

Despite discourses to the contrary—we live in a society that is structured as a hierarchy. (See our definitions of Colour-Blindness/ Colour Evasion and Democratic/Liberal Racism). An expression of racial prejudice (in words and/or actions) always originates from somewhere on this hierarchy, and is directed at someone/a group in another location on the hierarchy.

By Power we mean: the authority granted through social structures and conventions—possibly supported by force or the threat of force—and access to means of communications and resources, to reinforce racial prejudice, regardless of the falsity of the underlying prejudiced assumption. Basically, all power is relational, and the different relationships either reinforce or disrupt one another.

The importance of the concept of power to anti-racism is clear: racism cannot be understood without understanding that power is not only an individual relationship but a cultural one, and that power relationships are shifting constantly. Regardless of the type of power, including socially-imbued power, all can be used malignantly and intentionally. However, this need not be the case as individuals within a culture may benefit from power of which they are unaware.

Racism:

occurs when an expression of Racial Prejudice emerges from a more powerful/privileged location in the hierarchy, and is directed at an individual/group in a less powerful/privileged location;

occurs where the target of the prejudice has less power than the perpetrator;

is top-down;

is an exercise of power;

refers not only to social attitudes towards non-dominant ethnic and racial groups but also to social structures and actions which oppress, exclude, limit and discriminate against such individuals and groups. Such social attitudes originate in and rationalize discriminatory treatment;

can be seen in discriminatory laws, residential segregation, poor health care, inferior education, unequal economic opportunity and the exclusion and distortion of the perspectives of non-dominant Canadians in cultural institutions (Thomas, 1987);

refers to “a system in which one group of people exercises power over another on the basis of skin colour; an implicit or explicit set of beliefs, erroneous assumptions, and actions based on an ideology of the inherent superiority of one racial group over another, and evident in organizational or institutional structures and programs as well as in individual thought or behaviour patterns (Henry & Tator, 2006, p. 352).

Racism = Racial Prejudice + Power
In our experience, the above definition elicits a number of comments, frequently revolving around specific incidents and sorting through whether or not a specific act constitutes "racial prejudice" or "racism." Often, white people will want to argue that they too can be the victims of racism, or that a specific action was not racist (or even prejudiced) because it was not intended to be racist or prejudiced. Below are some questions/comments that can arise relating to Racism = Racial Prejudice + Power:

"I've heard/been the target of stereotypes about white people isn't that reverse racism?

"Can people of colour and Indigenous people be racist towards white people?"

"I didn't know."

"I didn't ‘mean' to be prejudiced/racist, therefore it isn't racism."

"It was just a personal opinion."

"I was just doing my job and following procedure."

Forms of racism

Spoiler!

Forms of Racism
Individual and Systemic Racism
"It was just a personal opinion."
"I was just doing my job, and following procedure."
"Anyone can apply for that job."
"Anyone can play hockey or take music lessons in this city."

Racism occurs between individuals, on an interpersonal level, and is embedded in organizations and institutions through their policies, procedures and practices. In general, it may seem easier to recognize individual or interpersonal acts of racism: a slur made, a person ignored in a social or work setting, an act of violence. However, "individual" racism is not created in a vacuum but instead emerges from a society's foundational beliefs and "ways" of seeing/doing things, and is manifested in organizations, institutions, and systems (including education). Below are some useful definitions:

Individual Racism refers to an individual's racist assumptions, beliefs or behaviours and is "a form of racial discrimination that stems from conscious and unconscious, personal prejudice" (Henry & Tator, 2006, p. 329). Individual Racism is connected to/learned from broader socio-economic histories and processes and is supported and reinforced by systemic racism.

Because we live in such a culture of individualism (and with the privilege of freedom of speech), some people argue that their statements/ideas are not racist because they are just "personal opinion." Here, it is important to point out how individualism functions to erase hierarchies of power, and to connect unrecognized personal ideologies to larger racial or systemic ones. (That is, individualism can be used as a defensive reaction.) This is why it is crucial to understand systemic racism and how it operates.

Systemic Racism includes the policies and practices entrenched in established institutions, which result in the exclusion or promotion of designated groups. It differs from overt discrimination in that no individual intent is necessary. (Toronto Mayor's Committee on Community and Race Relations. Race Relations: Myths and Facts)

It manifests itself in two ways:

institutional racism: racial discrimination that derives from individuals carrying out the dictates of others who are prejudiced or of a prejudiced society

structural racism: inequalities rooted in the system-wide operation of a society that excludes substantial numbers of members of particular groups from significant participation in major social institutions. (Henry & Tator, 2006, p. 352)

Some forms of systemic racism may be more explicit or easier (for some) to identify than others: the Indian Residential School System in Canada; Jim Crow Laws in the US; the exclusion of African-American golfers from elite, private golf courses in the US; the way that "universal suffrage" did not include Indigenous North American women (nor did Indigenous men receive the vote until 1960, unless they gave up their status/identity as Indigenous).

Some Canadian examples of systemic racism include: the 1885 Head Tax, the 1923 Exclusion Act, the 1897 Female Refugee Act, passed in Ontario, which criminalized 'immoral' and 'incorrigible' acts conducted by women if they were found to be pregnant out of wedlock or drunk in public.

Other forms or manifestations of systemic racism may not be as readily obvious to some, usually those privileged by the system. Click here to see three more examples of systemic racism.

Fortunately, individuals can be anti-racist within, and despite, systems and institutions that are systemically racist.

"I didn't know. I didn't mean to be prejudiced/racist, therefore it isn't racism."

Spoiler!

In discussions about the definition of racism, white people will frequently argue that a particular statement or action does not constitute racism because racism was not intended. As noted elsewhere, in Human Rights law and anti-racism education, intentionality is irrelevant. It is the effect/impact of the action on the target person/group that is to be considered and takes precedence.

In addition, people may argue that they had never been taught the correct or appropriate information—"I didn't know"—and therefore they cannot be racist. However, while their statement may be factually correct, ignorance does not justify racism or mitigate the effects of their actions; it can be another form of defensiveness. To assist individuals in identifying "what they know or do not know," a number of Learning Actions have been designed to address Knowledge Gaps.