The Definition of Racism - Literature review Example

Racism (Ticket to Exile) 24 April Introduction Racism still stalks the land today despite all the progress made since previous decades, from the 1950s to 1960s up to now. The Civil Rights Movement may have belonged to a past era but the fact is that racism is still very much around us. An only difference is it is no longer as overt as before but still repeated enough to cause big differences between whites and blacks in America and elsewhere, enough differences to impact black lives significantly. CUNY Prof. Wachtel is largely correct in saying that racism is still the biggest issue in our society today. This paper discusses some of the reasons why racism still persists today despite all the progress made from the previous decades. In this connection, two scholarly works are viewed and compared critically with each other and with another wonderful book, a memoir of a poet who grew up in the Jim Crow South during the Depression Era and how it affected his life. In particular, the subject of racism is viewed from different lenses, from being seen on a personal level to the political discussions that accompanied the changing discourse about racism in this country and how national policies were shaped by this discourse on a sensitive topic. Prof. Wachtel puts forward the postulate racism exists because people are talking past each other by using the guilt-ridden word of racism in social discourse. He said it puts people immediately on the defensive and meaningful dialogue is short-circuited. This is a clear case of cultural insensitivity and he asserts people misunderstand each other due to a meaningful dialogue being cut short and many important issues are left unsaid which could have bridged the gap (Wachtel 23). His work is more practical than the work of Fredrickson as Wachtel advocated for concrete steps to eliminate racism like using different words other than racism. Discussion Perhaps a short look back at history will put things in a better perspective. The racism issue in America centered mainly on the discrimination perpetrated against the black minority but it is easy to overlook that racism was once not confined to black people only. The work of Prof. Fredrickson is more abstract compared to Prof. Wachtels work because it discussed the concepts behind racial policies. Additionally, Wachtels work is grounded more on the present circumstances of racism while Fredricksons is more on the historical aspects of racism. In his seminal work, Prof. George M. Fredrickson pointed out how racial prejudices were applied against white people. In particular, he cited how whiteness was a shade of many variations too, such that there was overt discrimination against the Irish, the Jews and Italians. In earlier centuries, being white connotes the highest levels in society if one belongs to a very specific social class such as those belonging only to the white Anglo-Saxon Protestant groups or WASP. Fredricksons is more scholarly and analytical in the way he presented his ideas but that of Wachtel is more of the narrative style, describing how racism manifests itself through bias, discrimination, stereotyping and prejudice. By this, I do not mean Wachtels work is less analytical but his book dealt more with racism as experienced first hand by black peole and all other races being discriminated against. Wachtel is much closer to Miller than Fredrickson. Fredrickson talked about racism in a general way while Wachtels work is much more specific. An example of this was what happened when successive immigrants from the poorer parts of Europe were discriminated by white Anglo-Saxon majority already in America. An example of this overt act of racism were the attempts to somehow slow down waves of Irish immigration because they happened to be fervent Catholics (Fredrickson 636). The instances were mass migrations from southern and eastern Europe that required quotas (ibid. 634). The work of Wachtel saw racism as an event played out in the daily lives of the blacks. Prof. Fredrickson in his book gave a detailed analysis of racial relations in America by taking a historical perspective which he categorized into four models: ethnic hierarchy, one- way assimilation, cultural pluralism and group separatism. The evolution of the ideas on how group ethnic relations in America changed over time is also a testament to their failure to help resolve the persistent problem of racism. However, this remarkable book is quite useful when we need some background information on how race relations changed over time due to some prevailing philosophical and political constructs which might have appeared expedient. The ideas he presented were logical observations going back over several years in the history of America from its earliest waves of migrations. He used simple laymans language to illustrate how various groups having political power in America tried to deal with the issue of racism using various ideas but unfortunately, none of these esoteric ideas seemed to work. In his book, his style was more analytical by just recounting how the body politic coped with the cultural and ethnic diversity of America. His style was in some ways judgmental but the book is still a monumental academic work. The four models he conceptualized and presented in his work explained logically why racism persists while Wachtels appealed more to emotions. The first model (hierarchical) largely explains why racism was applied also to certain groups of whites who were deemed not worthy of citizenship by virtue of some inferior or other undesirable qualities similar to the exclusion suffered by the natives and blacks. This was a result of widely prevailing ideas about social Darwinism, eugenics and scientific racism (the last being totally without any scientific basis at all). The next model was of assimilation that assumed a single and stable American culture that is decidedly European (albeit English) to which other minorities must integrate. The Civil Rights Movement did achieve some forms of success but the truth is that the effects of four centuries of white supremacy rule (ibid. 635) is still very much around although it is no longer government-enforced as before. The third model expounded by Fredrickson expanded on the previous model by minor alterations in its conceptual idea. Cultural pluralism realized the difficulty in forcing groups to abandon their cultural identities as a price for assimilation and so deviated instead into an idea that it is alright to retain cultural diversity after all. This resulted from a growing movement towards post-modernism in which every accepted notion was being rejected. It simply meant Western ideas, beliefs, norms and culture do not constitute in any way the human experience. The last model of American ethnic relations is group separatism which is highly impractical as it borders on the dangerous ideas of secession at worst or fragmentation of the American society at best. The work of Prof. Fredrickson is very helpful to any student trying to study the way racism evolved in this country, from white discriminating against fellow whites, to finally discriminating against blacks, then Asians and now Hispanics. In this perverse pecking order, those who were discriminated against in the past are now committing the same acts of racism against the newer wave of immigrants. His book gives any reader a helpful insight into how a supposedly free nation imposes its will on the vulnerable groups of society. In contrast, the work of Prof. Wachtel is very incisive and this is not surprising at all since he is a world-renowned psychoanalyst. Two important points he raised was that using an emotion-laden word like racism has lost its shock value and not constructive anymore in any manner to help solve this problem of discrimination and the expansion of that words usages had now somehow changed its true meaning denoting inhumanity and even violence. Racism is no longer something that people vehemently object to and more ominously, they no longer feel strongly about guilt if white people are called racists. There was an erosion in the value of the words racism and racist in a real sense. The expansion in usages gave birth to term of new complexity that is institutional racism which now denotes a more hideous form of poisons or toxicity like indifference by the great majority among white people. As Wachtel pointed out, the expansion of racism into the terminology of institutional racism somehow demeans the role of motivation and attitudes in racial prejudices. It obscures or confuses the pain when victims of discrimination experience its effects first hand on a very personal level as that is what racism is about. Prof. Wachtels work centered more on how the racism is felt by people on a more personal level rather than in the abstract. Anyone reading his work will come to the conclusion how painful racism can be when experienced by blacks on a personal level like getting only a fraction of a white mans pay. This pain was the entire message of Adam Miller who grew up in the Jim Crow South. His life changed remarkably from one minor indiscretion and this big change was due to the racist policies in existence at that time. The work of Prof. Fredrickson is useful when discussing the racial policies of this country as it struggled to make sense with the various waves of immigration and tried finding ways to somehow make all ethnicities to live in harmony. It can said Wachtels work is much closer to Adam Millers book Ticket to Exile talking about racism as it views the subject on the personal (concrete in terms of experiencing it daily) rather than just in the abstract (political). Fredricksons work was never at a personal level and racism is a subject that might be hard to understand for anybody except blacks who can caddy their golf games but cannot play golf. Conclusion Prof. Wachtel asserts the greater crime being committed today against black people is not racism but indifference. Individualism plays a large part in perpetuating racism by making a claim blacks are now largely responsible for their own fate with the new opportunities now available. Racism is a very personal issue and not only an abstract political discussion when it is experienced firsthand like what happened when Miller was not paid for delivering some ice one summer to his white neighbor (153). Millers youthful indiscretion sent him on a one-way ticket to exile with his future very uncertain. Both their works shared a closer view on racism. Works Cited Fredrickson, George M. Models of American Ethnic Relations: A Historical Perspective. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999. Print. Miller, Adam David. Ticket to Exile: A Memoir. Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books, 2007. Print. Wachtel, Paul L. “Talking about Racism: How our Dialogue Gets Short-Circuited.” in Race in the Mind of America: Breaking the Vicious Circle Between Blacks and Whites. New York, NY: Routledge, 1999. Print. Read More