Identifying the racist
Black men die an average of seven years earlier than white men. Native Americans are five times more likely to contract diabetes than the rest of the U.S. population. Fifty-five percent of blacks live 5 years after diagnosed with cancer compared to 65 percent of whites. Black infant mortality is three times greater than that for whites.
African American girls are more than three times more likely than white girls to show signs of puberty by age 8. Almost 900,000 African Americans would not have died during the 1990s if they received the same treatment as whites.
None of these inequities are due to genetic factors – they are the effects of disparities in income, access to medical care, residential segregation and discrimination.
In light of these inequities, which are evidence of racism, who are the racists? In order to answer this, we have to define which actions are racist. When we determine this, we should have a better idea of who the culprit is.
I think we can agree that a racist is someone who supports racism. Since racism is so engrained in this society, anything we do that does not actively fight it is maintaining the status quo and supporting racism. Racism has to be actively fought because inaction will not save the lives of those who die unjustly because of differential treatment.
You may be thinking, that would mean that everyone’s racist because the majority of our actions aren’t going against racism. I am saying that everyone is racist, but only to the extent that we are not actively fighting the status quo. If the aggregate of all our actions best explains to current condition, then it is more accurate.
But it’s not accurate because it groups everyone with the prejudiced bigots and there are important differences. There may be differences between those who actively try to increase the inequalities and those who allow them to persist, and we may want to change what we call ourselves to a less direct term, but the fact remains that we are perpetuating racism. This fact makes it more likely to get us to stand up and do something about it.
If you claim you are not responsible for the racial inequities that exist, instead saying we need to find the “real racists” that we can point our fingers to and who are responsible for the current realities, you need look no longer. You don’t even have to leave your home. Just head to the mirror and point away. If you feel as uncomfortable with calling yourself racist as I do, it’s about time you take a stand.
Cyrus Azizi President, Alpha Kappa Delta: International Sociology Honor Society, CMU Chapter
