Racial Discrimination
We all think we know what race is.
We all think we understand racism, and we believe we are not really like that.
So, why talk about it?
In general, scientists now agree that what we call “race” is not a valid biological categorisation of humans. Via geographic population analysis and extensive genetic studies, including recent findings from the Human Genome Project, they have concluded that the differences and similarities among us are far more complex than what we see and recognise, and are generally driven by very long-term (ie 100’s of thousands of years) adaptations to local conditions. Skin colour and aspects of body morphology and all the rest are part of what makes each of us similar to some in a group as well as what makes us different.
(Have any here tried the National Geographic’s Human Gene project? The results can be quite surprising!)
So if science has determined that race isn’t a useful category, what’s up?
We all see people with various characteristics and easily identify most of them with a particular inheritance group and consider them “different”, no matter what the science says about ABO blood groups or sickle cells genes or lactose intolerance. We all in our everyday lives separate people by “race”. It’s a psychological and social response to our perceptions. And it has enormous consequences for our relationships with people. People are often harmed by this in both subtle ways and in overt life-changing ways.
Our responses are very often UNCONSCIOUS. As put by Interlandi in one of my resources: “It’s not just the gap between what we think and what we say. It’s the gap between what we think and what we THINK we think. Discrepancies between our conscious and subconscious impede our capacity for impartial judgment and our ability to recognise that impediment, even when it’s smacking us in the face!”. Many psychological studies have shown how strong are our unconscious (and likely very ancient) tendencies to bias, even though we believe that we ourselves are “not prejudiced”. You may not believe me. Read the references.
Studies even in multicultural Canada show that whites (or even people with “white-sounding” names!) have more chance of being hired, all other factors equal, than those of minority groups. This week on the radio a man described being street-checked without cause as a “normal” experience for black males in Nova Scotia. The racism experienced by indigenous people in Canada is often appalling: homeless indigenous men dropped off outside of town to freeze to death, the delay in investigation for missing and murdered indigenous women, the lack of clean water on many reserves — these are all RECENT examples. We cannot claim that our history of racism is all past and gone.
So what can we do now? We know that these tendencies are often unconscious and subtle, and that good people very often don’t see them in themselves. But there is also evidence that we can learn to do better. Again, see the references; I’m not making this up.
We need to be continually vigilant. We must monitor our own thoughts, words and actions. We must try to speak up or intervene when we see or hear discrimination. Support and promote changes in institutional and political policies and processes.
Understand the problem, it is all of us!
But be hopeful!
References for Racism topic:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/race-is-a-social-construct-scientists-argue/
(The original article in Science is behind a paywall, and the link in the SciAm article is incorrect.
Here is the correct link for keeners: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/351/6273/564 Be warned, Science is a much more difficult journal to read than SciAm! Scientific American is a great source for summaries/overviews of recent research in a more reader-friendly format, and many of the shorter items, including blogs, are available free online.)
An older “2 sides” discussion:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/does-race-exist.html
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/what-drives-subconscious-racial-prejudice/
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/how-to-overcome-unconscious-bias/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-flexibility-of-racial-bias/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/cracks-in-the-narrative-confronting-the-harsh-truths-of-racism-in-canada/article32070545/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/the-persistence-of-racism-09-01-12/
Cultural Diversity, Mental Health and Psychiatry. The Struggel against Racism. Suman Fernando. 2003, Brunner-Routledge. Moncton Public Library
Race and Racism, Bernard Boxill, editor. Oxford Readings in Philosophy. 2001, Oxford Press At Moncton Public Library
Healing. A Journal of Tolerance and Understanding. Muhammad Ali, 1996 Moncton Public Library
Bonus:
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/news-blog/how-harvard-students-perceive-redne/
Other resources to consider:
Conscience For Change. Martin Luther King, Jr. Massey Lecture 1967 Anansi Press
Ta-Nehisi Coates. Between the World and Me. 2015. Moncton Public Library
Hate Crimes. Jennifer Bussey, editor, 2007 History of Issues Series. Moncton Public Library
Racism Hayley Mitchell Haugen, editor, 2008 Social Issues Firsthand Series. Moncton Public Library
Nigger. Randal Kennedy. 2002. Moncton Public Library
Ultimate African Heritage Quiz. Maritime edition. 2008 Craig Marshall Smith. Moncton Public Library
Discrimination. Lauri S. Friedman, ed. 2008 Issues That Concern You Series. Moncton Public Library
Racism Explained to My Daughter. Tahar Ben Jelloun. 1999 Moncton Public Library