questions about racism (that you may be too scared to ask yourself)

Derrick Johnson, President of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) defines it as “systems and structures that have procedures or processes that disadvantage African Americans.”

Ben & Jerry’s owners put out a statement to their company noting: “Systemic racism persists in our schools, offices, court system, police departments, and elsewhere. Why? Think about it: when white people occupy most positions of decision-making power, people of color have a difficult time getting a fair shake, let alone getting ahead.”

Are you more of a visual learner? Check out this 5 minute video.

Dictionary.com defines white privilege as “the unearned, mostly unacknowledged social advantage white people have over other racial groups simply because they are white.”

Here’s a simple way to think of it: Have you ever been pulled over multiple times in one week, simply for driving? Have you ever been followed around a store by an employee? Your answer is more likely than not, '“no.”

Tolerance.org explains white privilege succinctly:

“Francis E. Kendall, author of Diversity in the Classroom and Understanding White Privilege: Creating Pathways to Authentic Relationships Across Race, comes close to giving us an encompassing definition: “having greater access to power and resources than people of color [in the same situation] do.” But in order to grasp what this means, it’s also important to consider how the definition of white privilege has changed over time.”

and he goes on to say,

“white privilege should be viewed as a built-in advantage, separate from one’s level of income or effort.”

In short- white privilege means that even though you likely have experienced some sort of challenge or hardship in your life, you NEVER had to face being treated differently because of the color of your skin.

Want to learn more about how white privilege impacts policing? Check out this Stanford study.

Dictionary.com defines intersectionality as:

“the theory that the overlap of various social identities, as race, gender, sexuality, and class, contributes to the specific type of systemic oppression and discrimination experienced by an individual.”

Kimberlé Crenshaw, a legal theorist on race and feminism, popularized the concept of intersectionality in regards to Black females, identifying how their experiences were different from their white counterparts at General Motors.

Read this example from Reason.com to understand better:

“Put simply, the idea is that various kinds of oppression—racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, economic inequality, and others—are simultaneously distinct from each other and inherently linked. They are distinct in the sense that they stack: A black woman suffers from two kinds of oppression (racism and sexism), whereas a white woman suffers from just one (sexism). But they are also interrelated, in that they are all forms of oppression that should be opposed with equal fervor. For instance, a feminist who isn't sufficiently worked up about the rights of the gay community is at odds with the tenets of intersectionality. She is a feminist, but she is not an intersectional feminist.”

Check out this graph to understand some of the many types of privilege that intersect:

Are there other terms you’re coming across that you’re having a hard time defining? Check out this comprehensive list of commonly used words and phrases.

If you have an iPhone, take a second to say, “Hey Siri, All Lives Matter,” and listen to the universal response. For those without an iPhone, you would hear the following:

‘All Lives matter’ is often used in response to the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter,’ but it does not represent the same concerns.’

Why is this significant, and some may think, ok to say? Is this prioritizing Black lives over everyone else? Although it may feel well-intentioned, it actually perpetuates the problem of ignorance.

In an interview Elle conducted with Professor of the History of Slavery, Olivette Otele, she notes,

“{Saying ‘All Lives Matter} as a rebuttal to the phrase 'Black lives matter', it acts to diminish and suppress the voice of Black people challenging the status quo. It mutes Black community's particular and acute sense of suffering, which can be viewed as insensitive and inappropriate at a moment when there is huge, palpable pain, as we mourn George Floyd and other similar cases.”

Rupert W. Nacoste, PhD, Navy Veteran understands what it means to identify with both sides of the argument around Colin Kaepernick kneeling at NFL games during the National Anthem.

Dr. Nacoste describes the dichotomy below;

“Us-versus-them (minimal-group) psychological motivation starts to take over and grow angry. Kaepernick is not a real American; he’s not one of us, people cry out. Well, turns out patriotism and protests are not in competition with each other. In fact, even while in the military I was engaged in protests movements.  That is why I have been offended by the attempt of some to frame Kapernick’s symbolic, peaceful protest as an insult to those of us who served this country in the military.

Even though I served in a time (1972-1976) when many in the Navy did not want black sailors like me to be able to advance in rank, I am a proud U.S. Navy veteran. While in the Navy, though, I worked against the racial discrimination of the Navy in a lot of ways. I trained and worked as a racial awareness group discussion leader.  Known for that, when I walked the base at NAS Cecil Field, I saluted officers, saluted the flag, and I also raised my arm and fist in the black power salute to other African American sailors. I say again, patriotism and protest are not in competition with each other.

Colin Kaepernick not standing for the national anthem does not offend me. In fact Kapernick’s symbolic protest reminds me of what I served to protect in America.”

To build on Dr. Nacoste’s points of awareness and protest, during an interview, Stephen A. Green of The People’s Consortium said of Kaepernick,

“He’s a modern-day Rosa Parks and Muhammad Ali all in one,” said Stephen A. Green, one of the event’s lead organizers. “When you think about what he has put on the line for himself personally, with what he could lose and what he has already gone through, that’s not [hyperbole]. He has risked a lot to elevate the issues that affect black and brown bodies in America. For our community, we can’t afford to let him be silenced.”

Merriam Webster defines a microaggression as:

“A comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group (such as a racial minority)”

Sure, but what does that actually mean? How are microaggressions present in everyday society? An article published in Psychology Today puts microaggressions into perspective, noting:

“Microaggressions are the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership. In many cases, these hidden messages may invalidate the group identity or experiential reality of target persons, demean them on a personal or group level, communicate they are lesser human beings, suggest they do not belong with the majority group, threaten and intimidate, or relegate them to inferior status and treatment.”

Looking for more visual explanations? Black students at Harvard put together a photo series detailing microaggressions they experience in everyday situations:

Beverly Daniel Tatum makes it very clear why having Black people in your life doesn’t automatically make your anti-racist:

“Why it’s offensive: This statement equates racism with prejudice. Prejudice is an attitude based on stereotypes. Racism entails the policies and practices that uphold ideas of white people as superior and black people as inferior.

You may not be racially prejudiced, but knowing black people doesn’t keep you from engaging in discriminatory behavior or failing to challenge racist practices.

What to say: “Saying I can’t be racist is denying the larger social context in which all of us are living. It’s not about our individual intentions [or biases]. It’s about our collective work,” Helsel said. “So even if we have the best of intentions, as long as we’re supporting racist policies and ideas that undergird those policies, all of us can be racist.”

According to the Constitutional Rights Foundation, reparations are defined as:

“a sort of compensation for the free labor blacks were forced to render during 250 years of slavery.”

Robert Johnson (America’s first Black Billionaire who sold BET to Viacom in 2001) knows that reparations given to descendants of American slaves would aid in giving Black people a more equal standing in society saying,

“reparations {are} the “affirmative action program of all time,” Johnson said they would send the signal that white Americans acknowledge “damages that are owed” for the unequal playing field created by slavery and the decades since with a “wealth transfer to white Americans away from African Americans.”

Rashawn Ray and Andre M. Perry make significantly valid arguments in their piece titled “Why we need reparations for Black America,” where they note how deeply the disparities of Black people are:

Today, the average white family has roughly 10 times the amount of wealth as the average Black family. White college graduates have over seven times more wealth than Black college graduates. Making the American Dream an equitable reality demands the same U.S. government that denied wealth to Blacks restore that deferred wealth through reparations to their descendants in the form of individual cash payments in the amount that will close the Black-white racial wealth divide. Additionally, reparations should come in the form of wealth-building opportunities that address racial disparities in education, housing, and business ownership.

And This excerpt from a worthwhile read by Ta-Nehisi Coates puts the inequities Black families have faced for generations at center stage, saying:

“In Chicago and across the country, whites looking to achieve the American dream could rely on a legitimate credit system backed by the government. Blacks were herded into the sights of unscrupulous lenders who took them for money and for sport. “It was like people who like to go out and shoot lions in Africa. It was the same thrill,” a housing attorney told the historian Beryl Satter in her 2009 book, Family Properties. “The thrill of the chase and the kill.”

The kill was profitable. At the time of his death, Lou Fushanis owned more than 600 properties, many of them in North Lawndale, and his estate was estimated to be worth $3 million. He’d made much of this money by exploiting the frustrated hopes of black migrants like Clyde Ross. During this period, according to one estimate, 85 percent of all black home buyers who bought in Chicago bought on contract. “If anybody who is well established in this business in Chicago doesn’t earn $100,000 a year,” a contract seller told The Saturday Evening Post in 1962, “he is loafing.””

TL;DR: take some time to read through and reflect on the above information. Your privilege is showing.

As you can imagine, some longstanding companies were operational during the era of slavery, and they benefitted in various ways. The ACLU identifies some specific companies that should consider paying reparations to the Black community including:

• Companies that sold life insurance policies on the lives of enslaved persons, such as Aetna, New York Life, and AIG. Financial gains were accrued by the predecessor banks of financial giants like J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank of America. 

• Others with documented ties to slavery included railroads like Norfolk Southern, CSX, Union Pacific, and Canadian National. 

• Newspaper publishers that assisted in the capture of runaway persons include Knight Rider, Tribune, E.W. Scripps, and Gannett.

• The financial backers of many of the country’s top universities were wealthy slave owners, and it has been disclosed that the reason Georgetown University stands today is because the Jesuits who ran the college used profits from the sale of Black people to continue its operation.

The Chicago Lawyers’ Community for Civil Rights notes some immediate and impactful changes that could be made:

“Specific and practical suggestions by advocates like N’COBRA include scholarship funds, textbooks for educational institutions, the development of historical monuments, first-time home buyer programs, and economic development efforts devoted to communities where slave-descended African Americans predominate. These proposals target specific areas where people of color were not given the same opportunities or access as White people.” 

Reparations would be a huge undertaking, both in terms of time and money. Because of this, there is often a lot of resistance to distribute payments. Although a ton of work, in the past, we have seen reparations paid out to groups of people, such as:

• “The 1988 Civil Liberties Act authorized the payment of $20,000 to each Japanese-American detention-camp survivor, a trust fund to be used to educate Americans about the suffering of the Japanese-Americans, a formal apology from the U.S. government, and a pardon for all those convicted of resisting detention camp incarceration.” - ACLU

• “Survivors of torture by Chicago police received an unprecedented compensatory package based on a reparations ordinance passed by the Chicago City Council in 2015.” - ACLU

• “In 2013, North Carolina became the first state in the country to pass a law intended to compensate the surviving victims among the 7,600 people who were sterilized under a decades-long eugenics program. The victims were largely poor, disabled or African-American. State lawmakers set up a $10 million fund to compensate them.” - The New York Times

• In 1923, the primarily black town of Rosewood on the Gulf Coast of Florida was destroyed in a race riot that, by official counts, killed at least six black residents and two whites (though some descendants of the town's residents have claimed many more were killed and dumped in mass graves). In 1994, the state of Florida agreed to a reparations package worth around $3.36 million in 2014 dollars, of which $2.4 million today would be set aside to compensate the 11 or so remaining survivors of the incident, $800,000 to compensate those who were forced to flee the town, and $160,000 would go to college scholarships primarily aimed at descendants. - Vox