There is clearly still widespread disparity between whites and blacks in the U.S. If racism is "over," and all legal barriers to blacks have been removed, why is there such a profound difference between white and black incomes and opportunities? Some say this will just take some time to work out: blacks are still feeling the effects of years of oppression. Some state without hesitation that black culture is lazy, and even violent and criminal, and that they are simply mooching off the system. Many people believe that the "American Dream" is equally available to blacks and whites, and one's success or failure has entirely to do with one's effort, despite skin color.
The Missing Factor: White Privilege
There is a significant missing factor in all of this, however. Whites did not subjugate blacks because they were bored; they did so because it provided socioeconomic advantage. While legal barriers have been removed, cultural perceptions and expectations, rooted in a racist culture, cannot be legislated away.
To put it more succinctly, if black disadvantage is still in play and will take some time to work out, then white advantage is also still in play; but many whites fail to acknowledge this very basic fact. Many whites are unaware that society favors them over people of minority groups in the U.S., despite legislated equity. White norms are tacitly accepted as what is truly "normal" and "regular" and "American."
Dysconscious Racism
Joyce E. King has called this lack of consciousness of white privilege "dysconscious racism:"
"Dysconsciousness is an uncritical habit of mind (including perceptions, attitudes, assumptions, and beliefs) that justifies inequity and exploitation by accepting the existing order of things as given…. Dysconscious racism is a form of racism that tacitly accepts dominant White norms and privileges." (King 133)
These tacit assumptions lead to some very harmful conclusions. Whites legitimize themselves with the Grand Narrative of the American Dream, the myth of meritocracy, i.e., that if you just work hard enough, you'll achieve the your dreams, and if you fail, it's because you didn't work hard enough. The obvious corollary to this is that anyone who does not achieve the American Dream must be lazy. If an entire group of people fail to achieve the American Dream, it must be that the whole race of people, or the majority of them, are lazy. Take "white privilege" out of the picture, and racist conclusions immediately fall into place, even if one is not particularly prejudiced.
Race is a Social Construct
Instead of being something that is inherent to human nature, “Race” is a social construct. To illustrate the point, note what Kenneth Roberts wrote in 1922:
"The American nation was founded and developed by the Nordic race, but if a few more million members of the Alpine, Mediterranean and Semitic races are poured among us, the result must inevitably be a hybrid race of people as worthless and futile as the good-for-nothing mongrels of Central America and Southeastern Europe." (Roberts, in Brodkin 25).
Roberts is referring to ethnic groups now included in the “white” category, who less than a hundred years ago were not “white” enough.
The conversation is a lot more complex than simply observing who's achieving, who's not, and making conclusions based on statistics. Race constructions and racism have always been about power and privilege, not about prejudice. Factor these out of the discussion, and racism will be silently perpetuated, despite the societal rejection of prejudice.
References
Joyce E. King. "Dysconscious Racism" in The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 60, No. 2 (Spring, 1991), pp. 133-146.
Karen Brodkin, How Jews Became White Folks. Rutgers University Press, 1999.
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