Instinct and Racism

Racism is rooted in instincts none of us can change. But we can choose to change that which informs the instincts.

The following is a column I wrote for a (now defunct) independent newspaper in Jackson Mississippi, called “Planet Weekly”. I originally wrote this in 2005. If I wrote it today, I would no doubt write it differently, but the message would essentially be the same.

One thing not specifically addressed in this column is systemic, or institutional, racism. But all such systems are built on a foundation of individual racism, so their destruction is most readily and thoroughly effectuated by the mitigation of individual racism. And this column addresses that mitigation.

I am a racist.

I frequently have thoughts and feelings that arise unbidden; prejudices that inform me about people I’ve never met.  These prejudices are based on various categories that the people appear to satisfy, whether racial, ethnic, cultural, economic, or otherwise.   Each of these categories is connected to a specific set of stereotypes, and these stereotypes are broadcast viscerally through me when these individuals cross my path.

This, in itself, is not racist.  Racism is volitional, and thus far all I have described are merely reflexive impulses.  When I am racist (or sexist, or any-ist) is when I choose, uncritically, to allow these impulses to dictate my subsequent thoughts and actions.  Very often I don’t choose to do this.  But sometimes I do.

I use the qualifier “uncritically” for a reason.  This innate tendency to generate prejudices is not in and of itself an undesirable trait.  It arises from basic survival instincts that we all carry with us.  From the time we are born, we are conditioned to seek patterns and to group things into various sets, some of which we avoid as dangerous, some of which we embrace as advantageous.  This is why you only have to touch one stove to learn that any stove can burn you.

With regard to prejudices about other people, these instincts are informed, not only by our personal experience, but also by the society we belong to.  This societal influence is more complicated, because each particular social unit has its own set of corporate prejudices that serve to secure the best position for itself in society as a whole.

So, we have an instinctive tendency to group people into “safe” and “unsafe” categories.  But we need information to determine who is safe and who is unsafe, and this information is supplied to us by our intuition, our experience, and by the influence of our family and our peers.

In many circumstances, this information is valid and useful in our lives.  After all, these prejudices are rooted in basic survival instincts, and as such it would be unwise to disregard them entirely.  For example, women are often instructed to trust their instincts concerning suspicious men, in order to minimize the chances of becoming victims of sexual assault. 

So, what does all this mean?  If prejudices are designed to keep us safe, and if they have proven useful in many situations, then why should we not rely on them in every instance?  Why should we not choose to be racist, without any apology?

Well, you can, if you choose to.  Many do.  If safety, security and comfort are your highest aim, if you have no interest in associating with or learning about people that are different from yourself, if your fear of the unknown always trumps your desire to grow, then racism is just the thing for you.

But I think this choice diminishes us.  As human animals, we have a set of basic instincts that influence us throughout our lives.  But a significant part of what it is to be a human being is learning to exercise choice independently of our instincts.  They are useful, but we don’t cede to them the seat of power.

With regard to people of other races and cultures, we often find that we carry within us prejudices that paint a monolithic picture of who they are, without any attention to their complexity.  Since we tend to be isolated from them, having at most peripheral contact, our sources of information consist in sweeping generalizations, very often biased toward the negative.  Therefore, much of the information that populates our prejudices is wrong, or at the very least woefully incomplete. 

But even if we could be certain that we are properly informed about the tendencies associated with a particular race or culture, this does nothing to tell us about the individuals within that group.  Any reliance on these tendencies for specific information about someone is fundamentally irrational, since the variation within each race or culture is so great as to render generalization useless.  It is like deciding that all trees are just like the maple tree in your front yard, simply because they all happen to have the same color leaves.

So I choose to be a human being. I choose to grow.  I have instinctive prejudices that clamor for my attention.  I don’t feel guilty about them; this does no one any good.  I just leave them be: they will change of themselves in time, as my direct experience of individuals of other races and cultures expands.  I try to give the people I meet along the way the opportunity to define for themselves who they are, for better or for worse.  I look them in the eye. I shake their hands.  I get to know them.

I am not a racist.