I generally don't question the intentions antiracists who define racism as "prejudice plus power," and stipulate that all whites, and only whites have prejudices and power, and are therefore all "racists" and that persons of color cannot be racist. However, I do question the effectiveness of the tactics that flow from that conception of racism.
I am for individual action and collective action (through the government and otherwise) to fight racism. I don't agree that people who want to perpetuate racism will always be able to frustrate all efforts to end racism through legislation and law enforcement. That's why I take issue with counterposing "antiracism" in a generic sense (eliminating racial privilege associated with an ideology of racial supremacy) to desegregation, understood as an approach to fighting racism that involves governmental action to equalize access to jobs, housing, education, etc. The reason why governmental action has produced so little change is that people who have the greatest influence over what the government does to combat racism are also those who have the most to gain by not seriously combating racial discrimination in housing, employment, education, etc. White folks who want to get around government solutions to white supremacy have been able to do so because there has only been token enforcement of fair employment laws, almost no enforcement of fair housing laws, except through private action, and mostly token efforts in other arenas. In my opinion, there were significant advances toward racial equality in the public schools from the late 1960's to the late 80's, and significant reverses since then. Most blacks in Minneapolis (and a majority of blacks in most of the burbs) are denied access to a quality, college preparatory education that is accessible to a majority of whites in the state of Minnesota. See my latest pamphlet "Flight from Equality" Until you change the situation described above, you are not going to make a lot of progress toward eliminating systematic, race-base discrimination. The persistence of systemic discrimination in turn helps to reinforce racism (the belief that one race is superior to another and discrimination inspired by that belief). My brand of antiracism includes advocating and agitating for changes on that level as well as trying to advance the cause through direct action by myself and / or with others. Since federally mandated affirmative-action-in-employment programs were introduced, participating employers have generally followed a strategy of minimal compliance. The affirmative action programs that I know something about require an employer to take steps to attract job applicants from protected classes, and a failure to hire a certain percentage of those job applicants is prima facia evidence of illegal discrimination that can lead to a loss of government contracts. However, that so-call hiring quota is so low that it is generally possible for employers to meet the "quota" for hiring blacks and still pass over many qualified black applicants in favor of less qualified whites. In order to achieve more than token enforcement of fair hiring laws there must be a program in place designed to detect and prosecute employers who engage in illegal, discriminatory hiring practices in a fairly systematic way. As far as I know, the most effective method involves the use of job survey teams comparable to the survey teams used by the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to detect illegal discrimination in the housing market. HUD has found widespread discrimination in the housing market, but there have been very few occasions where HUD has taken anyone to court. -Doug Mann, King Field Author of "Flight from Equality: School Reform in the US since 1983" REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
