When someone says, "even IF true",
they are obviously NOT agreeing with you.
They are trying to make a point outside of what you just claimed.
Are Blacks More Racist Than Whites? Most Americans Say Yes
- Thread starter mudwhistle
- Start date
- Status
When someone says, "even IF true",
they are obviously NOT agreeing with you.
They are trying to make a point outside of what you just claimed.
JoeMoma
Platinum Member
- Nov 22, 2014
- 22,972
- 10,699
- 950
That is a nice checklist of things that have been fixed. It should be celebrated that blacks and whites came together to fix them.
NewsVine_Mariyam
Platinum Member
Language of Closet Racism
Language of Closet Racism: An Illustration
by Paul Gorski
Any person who has grown up in the American public school system has been educated to hold racial prejudices. To illustrate this point, ask any child to tell you about the first date in history he or she remembers learning: "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue." What happened in 1492? "Christopher Columbus discovered America." Did he? The history books I prefer to read have informed me that people were actually already here. Remember, the people who would eventually be driven from their sacred lands, forced to surrender their native tongue and customs, and "American-ize"? The result of children learning such "facts" is a depreciation of an entire people--in this case, Native Americans.
So the American education system (with strong reinforcement from the media) has bred a nation of what I will call "closet racists." Closet racists are unaware of their prejudices. They have learned from text books presented to them by people who are supposedly knowledgeable enough to choose the best possible materials. They are trained, or more precisely, coerced into believing in "the system." If a child were to question a teacher's assertion that "Columbus discovered America," it is more likely that the child would be chastised for showing disrespect than the possibility of the teacher initiating a discussion on the discrepancy. A closet racist is defined, then, as simply a person with racial prejudices who is unaware of those prejudices as such, usually because he or she has never been afforded the opportunity to discuss racial prejudices as such.
The question arising from this assertion is clear: Where is the evidence of this nation of so-called "closet racists?" What links them? What are their characteristics?
The answer, emerging from years of experience facilitating conversations on race issues, interviewing specific cases, and participating in a variety of cultural diversity workshops, is equally clear: language. Closet racists share a distinct and surprisingly easily detectable language when observed in a discussion about race or racism. The intention of this paper is to explore this language through the case study of Jen, a third year college student who participated in Multicultural Education, a class designed to help students find, face, and battle their own prejudices. In order to analyze Jen's closet racist language, interviews were conducted and reaction papers written at the end of each class were collected and analyzed.
Based loosely on research conducted for a Master's Thesis completed four months ago, though more focused, this paper will refer to data, analysis, and conclusions from that thesis. The lack of citations from other scholarly sources reflects the lack of material available concerning the language of race issues and unaware racists.
Who Are Closet Racists?
Though everyone who has experienced the American education system is in some degree a closet racist, certain people, and indeed, certain groups, tend to portray the characteristics more than others. At the most basic level, people who have experienced consistent racial discrimination tend to be less assignable the label of closet racist. Such people have, through their personal experiences with discrimination, been afforded opportunities to discuss race issues. As Kim, an African-American student in a Multicultural Education class during Spring semester, 1995 explained,
I live these issues every day. I can't escape them anywhere: stores, classes, the gym. Three, four, five things happen everyday to remind me that, no matter what white people believe, there is still a ton of prejudice out there. It reminds me to think about the things I do and say, and the prejudices I have.
In short, closet racism is a continuum. Those with the least exposure to racial issues fall toward the high end. Experience suggests that those falling on this end are usually "white," or "European-Americans," while "African-Americans" fall toward the low end. So-called "middle-man minorities" tend to be spread between the extremes.
Jen, a white woman, was chosen for the case study because her sheltered home-life and general unaware-ness of race issues have served as catalysts in her formation as a high-end closet racist. An admittedly extreme case, and for that reason purposively chosen, Jen illustrates clearly the language patterns of a closet racist.
The Three Strands of the Language of Closet Racism
Three language indicators of closet racism are evident across the continuum. These are what I refer to as "strands" because, when woven together, they form the language web of closet racists. Again, strength of language and degree of racist attitudes change dramatically across the continuum, and as a result, these strands, or indicators are more readily observable in certain individuals and groups than in others. They include fear, unaware-ness, and dis-ownership.
Consider the following excerpt taken from Jen's reaction paper from the first class meeting of Multicultural Education:
The idea of political correctness with the black race astounds me. I found it extremely interesting that some blacks in our class prefer to be called African American. In all of my classes...I have felt like I was stepping on egg shells as to not offend the blacks in my class. I am honestly glad it is not that big of an issue to my fellow classmates--it promotes a more comfortable, genuine environment for me to be totally honest and carefree.
Jen reflected each strand of the language of closet racism within this short passage. These strands can be un-woven as follows:
1. fear: "I have felt like I was stepping on egg shells as to not offend blacks in my classes..."
2. unaware-ness: "I found it extremely interesting that some blacks in our class prefer to be called African American."
3. dis-ownership: "I am honestly glad it is not that big of an issue to my fellow classmates."
Some would argue that Jen's statements as pulled apart above are arbitrary, or taken out of context. But as we consider a year's worth of interviews and written reactions, and as we discuss each strand separately, a language pattern--the language of a closet racist--undeniably emerges.
Fear
We consider fear first, because it is, on the surface, the most surprising strand to find in the language. If closet racists do not consider themselves racists, then why would they show fear in discussing race issues? In the most simple terms, closet racists do not want other people to consider them racist, either. This is why white people developed "political correctness." The idea was to develop a system in which everyone knew what to say in order to allow everyone to avoid, as Jen mentioned, "walking on egg shells."
Fear also becomes the catalyst for many closet racists' decisions on what information to offer (and likewise, what not to offer) during a discussion of race issues. As Jen explained in her second reaction paper:
I was apprehensive to tell my group that my prejudice experience was within my family. I thought they would think that because my grandfather and father were racist, that I am as well--I thought they would dislike me.
She tended to elevate this apprehensive-ness during interviews, sometimes to the point of censoring herself. In one particular case, as she discussed the racial make-up of her hometown, her fear emerged quite blatantly:
...and where I'm from there were two different types of black...there were...I don't want to say this. Is it all right if I say this?...
Her fear was clear, especially as she continued, deciding, in fact, to "say this":
Blacks and *******, that's how it was defined where I'm from. There were no ******* at my school, they were all black, no *******. The ******* were at [James Monroe], and that's just how it was, and we knew that.
Jen feared being labeled a racist. Again, it is important to note that she did not consider herself a racist, which leads us to the second strand or indicator: unaware-ness.
Unaware-ness
Closet racists are unaware on several levels, illustrations for which can be found in language patterns. On the first level, as emphasized above, they are unaware of racial issues as racial issues. (How many white people insisted that race was never an "issue" in the O.J. Simpson trial?) Illustrating this point, Jen, in her first interview suggested that at her high school, "there was not any sort of black/white issues or anything like that." She made this statement minutes before offering her story about the "two different types of black." In between the two statements she related stories of "some Ku Klux Klan there," "crosses burning, and stuff like that." But nonetheless, just as she did not label herself as a racist, she was unaware that the very issues she discussed were very racial in nature, and as such she did not label those issues in terms of race, either.
On another level, Jen failed to see the racial prejudice as such in the language of others. For example, she defended her grandmother: "...my grandmother on my Mom's side is not prejudice..." But as she continued, Jen, in her unawareness, all but labeled her grandmother a racist:
...but she refers to black people as 'colored.' Like when we have a Christmas party every year and Mark, a guy who lives around the corner from me, came to the party...and was the only black person there and she was like...'Who was that colored boy there?' She doesn't refer to him as 'Mark,' always 'that colored boy.'
On a third level, while Jen could sometimes point out racial prejudice in other places, she was quick to distance herself from that prejudice, as if she was somehow shielded from its permeation. In this sense, Jen was unaware of racism as it exists at the institutional level. Like many closet racists, Jen believed that racism could be found "here, there, and there," but that, in the correct circumstances, racism could be completely avoided. Again, this naivete could be recognized in her language, as in the following passage in which she compared her high school to the "other public high school" in her hometown:
James Monroe was a predominantly black school, and the only white people that did go to school there were wealthy, and so there was like the wealthy and then there was African- Americans. There was a huge line between them, but there wasn't anything like that where I was.
This passage leads directly into the third strand of the language of closet racism.
Dis-ownership
Closet racists tend to avoid owning their views on race. They often point to other groups, using terms such as "they," or "those people," instead of refering to themselves. In the previous passage, Jen clearly utilized the language of dis-ownership, thus assessing blame to others. "There was a huge line between them.." "I thought they would dislike me."
Closet racists, in avoiding using "I" and "me" statements in discussions of race issues avoid accepting the responsibility for their perspectives, and in many cases, prejudices. Recent articles in the Cavalier Daily about so-called self-segragation at the University of Virginia have been drowned in this language. White columnists posed questions such as "Why do the African-American students sit together at lunch, congregate at the 'black bus stop,'" etc? "Why do they have organizations like the Black Student Alliance?" In shifting the responsibility to "the African-American students," the columnists dodged the intimidating possibility of accepting equal responsibility for the separation.
The Result of Closet Racism
As is most clearly illustrated by the dis-ownership strand of the language of closet racism, closet racists will observe other groups segragating themselves, and suddenly race becomes an issue. But, for example, white students fail to notice that white students do not approach tables filled with African-American students during lunch. And white students clearly have congregation spots (i.e. Rugby Road).
The attractiveness--even if it exists at a subconscious level--of closet racism to those who retain it is that if one never labels himself or herself a racist, then (s)he is free from the obligation of doing something about it. For Jen and many others, closet racism becomes routine, easy, and comfortable. With blinders on their eyes, and the shield of manipulated language in their repertoire, closet racists can live a full life never confronting their own prejudices.
In fact, if the assertion holds up that white people tend to be toward the high end of the closet racist continuum, then the result of closet racism is clear. The phenomenon of closet racism is yet another catalyst in the cycle of discrimination experienced by racial minorities in America since the conception of this nation. Only individuals have the power to change themselves. In the socio-political structure in this country, it stands to reason that those in power will at all costs attempt to retain that power. In "coming out of the closet," labeling their prejudices as such, owning those prejudices, thus placing on their shoulders the responsibility to address those prejudices, those in power fear the loss of their comfortable seat atop the nations's socio-political hierarchy. The status quo is maintained.
So how, then, is the study of the language of closet racism useful? Sometimes people I've labeled as closet racists want to change themselves. Jen was one such person. The study of the language she used when discussing race (and other multicultural) issues, and how this language changed, helped me understand the stages she experienced on her trek toward race awareness and appreciation.
Valuable further study concerning the language of closet racism would include the metamorphosis of the language as an individual becomes more aware, thus working toward the lower end of the closet racism continuum. Also, further study is necessary in addressing the meshing of the strands, and the meanings that derive from such meshing.
Last edited:
- Moderator
- #1,404
Depending on how one interprets history
There is nothing for me to "lose" here. It's an anonymous forum, frequented by a majority of people like YOU that I am elated to NOT KNOW personally.
In a few cases, there are some here who make sense.
Your warped perception of what is "vile" versus what is not, in a setting like this is childish and resembles the logic of a 10 year old, who failed the 5th grade.
It is an indisputable fact that in a forum called "Race Relations" even the most benign and innocuous individual will at some point in time be referred to as a "Racist".
You are quick on the trigger to accuse others of "race baiting" and in turn have no moral compass regarding some of what you have stated. And when you do get called out, you throw a whiny bitch tantrum.
If you can't understand that, and accept that by visiting this forum you WILL be subject to what everyone else here experiences, you're a damn fool.
You are not unique or above anyone else who posts here.
But you appear to believe that you are.
That makes you delusional.
Last edited:
NewsVine_Mariyam
Platinum Member
Children in school were not educated to hold racial prejudices. They learned about Christopher Columbus, that did not put anything racial into their (our) minds.
Language of Closet Racism
Language of Closet Racism: An Illustration
by Paul Gorski
Any person who has grown up in the American public school system has been educated to hold racial prejudices. To illustrate this point, ask any child to tell you about the first date in history he or she remembers learning: "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue." What happened in 1492? "Christopher Columbus discovered America." Did he? The history books I prefer to read have informed me that people were actually already here. Remember, the people who would eventually be driven from their sacred lands, forced to surrender their native tongue and customs, and "American-ize"? The result of children learning such "facts" is a depreciation of an entire people--in this case, Native Americans.
So the American education system (with strong reinforcement from the media) has bred a nation of what I will call "closet racists." Closet racists are unaware of their prejudices. They have learned from text books presented to them by people who are supposedly knowledgeable enough to choose the best possible materials. They are trained, or more precisely, coerced into believing in "the system." If a child were to question a teacher's assertion that "Columbus discovered America," it is more likely that the child would be chastised for showing disrespect than the possibility of the teacher initiating a discussion on the discrepancy. A closet racist is defined, then, as simply a person with racial prejudices who is unaware of those prejudices as such, usually because he or she has never been afforded the opportunity to discuss racial prejudices as such.
The question arising from this assertion is clear: Where is the evidence of this nation of so-called "closet racists?" What links them? What are their characteristics?
The answer, emerging from years of experience facilitating conversations on race issues, interviewing specific cases, and participating in a variety of cultural diversity workshops, is equally clear: language. Closet racists share a distinct and surprisingly easily detectable language when observed in a discussion about race or racism. The intention of this paper is to explore this language through the case study of Jen, a third year college student who participated in Multicultural Education, a class designed to help students find, face, and battle their own prejudices. In order to analyze Jen's closet racist language, interviews were conducted and reaction papers written at the end of each class were collected and analyzed.
Based loosely on research conducted for a Master's Thesis completed four months ago, though more focused, this paper will refer to data, analysis, and conclusions from that thesis. The lack of citations from other scholarly sources reflects the lack of material available concerning the language of race issues and unaware racists.
Who Are Closet Racists?
Though everyone who has experienced the American education system is in some degree a closet racist, certain people, and indeed, certain groups, tend to portray the characteristics more than others. At the most basic level, people who have experienced consistent racial discrimination tend to be less assignable the label of closet racist. Such people have, through their personal experiences with discrimination, been afforded opportunities to discuss race issues. As Kim, an African-American student in a Multicultural Education class during Spring semester, 1995 explained,
I live these issues every day. I can't escape them anywhere: stores, classes, the gym. Three, four, five things happen everyday to remind me that, no matter what white people believe, there is still a ton of prejudice out there. It reminds me to think about the things I do and say, and the prejudices I have.
In short, closet racism is a continuum. Those with the least exposure to racial issues fall toward the high end. Experience suggests that those falling on this end are usually "white," or "European-Americans," while "African-Americans" fall toward the low end. So-called "middle-man minorities" tend to be spread between the extremes.
Jen, a white woman, was chosen for the case study because her sheltered home-life and general unaware-ness of race issues have served as catalysts in her formation as a high-end closet racist. An admittedly extreme case, and for that reason purposively chosen, Jen illustrates clearly the language patterns of a closet racist.
The Three Strands of the Language of Closet Racism
Three language indicators of closet racism are evident across the continuum. These are what I refer to as "strands" because, when woven together, they form the language web of closet racists. Again, strength of language and degree of racist attitudes change dramatically across the continuum, and as a result, these strands, or indicators are more readily observable in certain individuals and groups than in others. They include fear, unaware-ness, and dis-ownership.
Consider the following excerpt taken from Jen's reaction paper from the first class meeting of Multicultural Education:
The idea of political correctness with the black race astounds me. I found it extremely interesting that some blacks in our class prefer to be called African American. In all of my classes...I have felt like I was stepping on egg shells as to not offend the blacks in my class. I am honestly glad it is not that big of an issue to my fellow classmates--it promotes a more comfortable, genuine environment for me to be totally honest and carefree.
Jen reflected each strand of the language of closet racism within this short passage. These strands can be un-woven as follows:
1. fear: "I have felt like I was stepping on egg shells as to not offend blacks in my classes..."
2. unaware-ness: "I found it extremely interesting that some blacks in our class prefer to be called African American."
3. dis-ownership: "I am honestly glad it is not that big of an issue to my fellow classmates."
Some would argue that Jen's statements as pulled apart above are arbitrary, or taken out of context. But as we consider a year's worth of interviews and written reactions, and as we discuss each strand separately, a language pattern--the language of a closet racist--undeniably emerges.
Fear
We consider fear first, because it is, on the surface, the most surprising strand to find in the language. If closet racists do not consider themselves racists, then why would they show fear in discussing race issues? In the most simple terms, closet racists do not want other people to consider them racist, either. This is why white people developed "political correctness." The idea was to develop a system in which everyone knew what to say in order to allow everyone to avoid, as Jen mentioned, "walking on egg shells."
Fear also becomes the catalyst for many closet racists' decisions on what information to offer (and likewise, what not to offer) during a discussion of race issues. As Jen explained in her second reaction paper:
I was apprehensive to tell my group that my prejudice experience was within my family. I thought they would think that because my grandfather and father were racist, that I am as well--I thought they would dislike me.
She tended to elevate this apprehensive-ness during interviews, sometimes to the point of censoring herself. In one particular case, as she discussed the racial make-up of her hometown, her fear emerged quite blatantly:
...and where I'm from there were two different types of black...there were...I don't want to say this. Is it all right if I say this?...
Her fear was clear, especially as she continued, deciding, in fact, to "say this":
Blacks and *******, that's how it was defined where I'm from. There were no ******* at my school, they were all black, no *******. The ******* were at [James Monroe], and that's just how it was, and we knew that.
Jen feared being labeled a racist. Again, it is important to note that she did not consider herself a racist, which leads us to the second strand or indicator: unaware-ness.
Unaware-ness
Closet racists are unaware on several levels, illustrations for which can be found in language patterns. On the first level, as emphasized above, they are unaware of racial issues as racial issues. (How many white people insisted that race was never an "issue" in the O.J. Simpson trial?) Illustrating this point, Jen, in her first interview suggested that at her high school, "there was not any sort of black/white issues or anything like that." She made this statement minutes before offering her story about the "two different types of black." In between the two statements she related stories of "some Ku Klux Klan there," "crosses burning, and stuff like that." But nonetheless, just as she did not label herself as a racist, she was unaware that the very issues she discussed were very racial in nature, and as such she did not label those issues in terms of race, either.
On another level, Jen failed to see the racial prejudice as such in the language of others. For example, she defended her grandmother: "...my grandmother on my Mom's side is not prejudice..." But as she continued, Jen, in her unawareness, all but labeled her grandmother a racist:
...but she refers to black people as 'colored.' Like when we have a Christmas party every year and Mark, a guy who lives around the corner from me, came to the party...and was the only black person there and she was like...'Who was that colored boy there?' She doesn't refer to him as 'Mark,' always 'that colored boy.'
On a third level, while Jen could sometimes point out racial prejudice in other places, she was quick to distance herself from that prejudice, as if she was somehow shielded from its permeation. In this sense, Jen was unaware of racism as it exists at the institutional level. Like many closet racists, Jen believed that racism could be found "here, there, and there," but that, in the correct circumstances, racism could be completely avoided. Again, this naivete could be recognized in her language, as in the following passage in which she compared her high school to the "other public high school" in her hometown:
James Monroe was a predominantly black school, and the only white people that did go to school there were wealthy, and so there was like the wealthy and then there was African- Americans. There was a huge line between them, but there wasn't anything like that where I was.
This passage leads directly into the third strand of the language of closet racism.
Dis-ownership
Closet racists tend to avoid owning their views on race. They often point to other groups, using terms such as "they," or "those people," instead of refering to themselves. In the previous passage, Jen clearly utilized the language of dis-ownership, thus assessing blame to others. "There was a huge line between them.." "I thought they would dislike me."
Closet racists, in avoiding using "I" and "me" statements in discussions of race issues avoid accepting the responsibility for their perspectives, and in many cases, prejudices. Recent articles in the Cavalier Daily about so-called self-segragation at the University of Virginia have been drowned in this language. White columnists posed questions such as "Why do the African-American students sit together at lunch, congregate at the 'black bus stop,'" etc? "Why do they have organizations like the Black Student Alliance?" In shifting the responsibility to "the African-American students," the columnists dodged the intimidating possibility of accepting equal responsibility for the separation.
The Result of Closet Racism
As is most clearly illustrated by the dis-ownership strand of the language of closet racism, closet racists will observe other groups segragating themselves, and suddenly race becomes an issue. But, for example, white students fail to notice that white students do not approach tables filled with African-American students during lunch. And white students clearly have congregation spots (i.e. Rugby Road).
The attractiveness--even if it exists at a subconscious level--of closet racism to those who retain it is that if one never labels himself or herself a racist, then (s)he is free from the obligation of doing something about it. For Jen and many others, closet racism becomes routine, easy, and comfortable. With blinders on their eyes, and the shield of manipulated language in their repertoire, closet racists can live a full life never confronting their own prejudices.
In fact, if the assertion holds up that white people tend to be toward the high end of the closet racist continuum, then the result of closet racism is clear. The phenomenon of closet racism is yet another catalyst in the cycle of discrimination experienced by racial minorities in America since the conception of this nation. Only individuals have the power to change themselves. In the socio-political structure in this country, it stands to reason that those in power will at all costs attempt to retain that power. In "coming out of the closet," labeling their prejudices as such, owning those prejudices, thus placing on their shoulders the responsibility to address those prejudices, those in power fear the loss of their comfortable seat atop the nations's socio-political hierarchy. The status quo is maintained.
So how, then, is the study of the language of closet racism useful? Sometimes people I've labeled as closet racists want to change themselves. Jen was one such person. The study of the language she used when discussing race (and other multicultural) issues, and how this language changed, helped me understand the stages she experienced on her trek toward race awareness and appreciation.
Valuable further study concerning the language of closet racism would include the metamorphosis of the language as an individual becomes more aware, thus working toward the lower end of the closet racism continuum. Also, further study is necessary in addressing the meshing of the strands, and the meanings that derive from such meshing.
- Moderator
- #1,407
Children in school were not educated to hold racial prejudices. They learned about Christopher Columbus, that did not put anything racial into their (our) minds.
Language of Closet Racism
Language of Closet Racism: An Illustration
by Paul Gorski
Any person who has grown up in the American public school system has been educated to hold racial prejudices. To illustrate this point, ask any child to tell you about the first date in history he or she remembers learning: "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue." What happened in 1492? "Christopher Columbus discovered America." Did he? The history books I prefer to read have informed me that people were actually already here. Remember, the people who would eventually be driven from their sacred lands, forced to surrender their native tongue and customs, and "American-ize"? The result of children learning such "facts" is a depreciation of an entire people--in this case, Native Americans.
So the American education system (with strong reinforcement from the media) has bred a nation of what I will call "closet racists." Closet racists are unaware of their prejudices. They have learned from text books presented to them by people who are supposedly knowledgeable enough to choose the best possible materials. They are trained, or more precisely, coerced into believing in "the system." If a child were to question a teacher's assertion that "Columbus discovered America," it is more likely that the child would be chastised for showing disrespect than the possibility of the teacher initiating a discussion on the discrepancy. A closet racist is defined, then, as simply a person with racial prejudices who is unaware of those prejudices as such, usually because he or she has never been afforded the opportunity to discuss racial prejudices as such.
The question arising from this assertion is clear: Where is the evidence of this nation of so-called "closet racists?" What links them? What are their characteristics?
The answer, emerging from years of experience facilitating conversations on race issues, interviewing specific cases, and participating in a variety of cultural diversity workshops, is equally clear: language. Closet racists share a distinct and surprisingly easily detectable language when observed in a discussion about race or racism. The intention of this paper is to explore this language through the case study of Jen, a third year college student who participated in Multicultural Education, a class designed to help students find, face, and battle their own prejudices. In order to analyze Jen's closet racist language, interviews were conducted and reaction papers written at the end of each class were collected and analyzed.
Based loosely on research conducted for a Master's Thesis completed four months ago, though more focused, this paper will refer to data, analysis, and conclusions from that thesis. The lack of citations from other scholarly sources reflects the lack of material available concerning the language of race issues and unaware racists.
Who Are Closet Racists?
Though everyone who has experienced the American education system is in some degree a closet racist, certain people, and indeed, certain groups, tend to portray the characteristics more than others. At the most basic level, people who have experienced consistent racial discrimination tend to be less assignable the label of closet racist. Such people have, through their personal experiences with discrimination, been afforded opportunities to discuss race issues. As Kim, an African-American student in a Multicultural Education class during Spring semester, 1995 explained,
I live these issues every day. I can't escape them anywhere: stores, classes, the gym. Three, four, five things happen everyday to remind me that, no matter what white people believe, there is still a ton of prejudice out there. It reminds me to think about the things I do and say, and the prejudices I have.
In short, closet racism is a continuum. Those with the least exposure to racial issues fall toward the high end. Experience suggests that those falling on this end are usually "white," or "European-Americans," while "African-Americans" fall toward the low end. So-called "middle-man minorities" tend to be spread between the extremes.
Jen, a white woman, was chosen for the case study because her sheltered home-life and general unaware-ness of race issues have served as catalysts in her formation as a high-end closet racist. An admittedly extreme case, and for that reason purposively chosen, Jen illustrates clearly the language patterns of a closet racist.
The Three Strands of the Language of Closet Racism
Three language indicators of closet racism are evident across the continuum. These are what I refer to as "strands" because, when woven together, they form the language web of closet racists. Again, strength of language and degree of racist attitudes change dramatically across the continuum, and as a result, these strands, or indicators are more readily observable in certain individuals and groups than in others. They include fear, unaware-ness, and dis-ownership.
Consider the following excerpt taken from Jen's reaction paper from the first class meeting of Multicultural Education:
The idea of political correctness with the black race astounds me. I found it extremely interesting that some blacks in our class prefer to be called African American. In all of my classes...I have felt like I was stepping on egg shells as to not offend the blacks in my class. I am honestly glad it is not that big of an issue to my fellow classmates--it promotes a more comfortable, genuine environment for me to be totally honest and carefree.
Jen reflected each strand of the language of closet racism within this short passage. These strands can be un-woven as follows:
1. fear: "I have felt like I was stepping on egg shells as to not offend blacks in my classes..."
2. unaware-ness: "I found it extremely interesting that some blacks in our class prefer to be called African American."
3. dis-ownership: "I am honestly glad it is not that big of an issue to my fellow classmates."
Some would argue that Jen's statements as pulled apart above are arbitrary, or taken out of context. But as we consider a year's worth of interviews and written reactions, and as we discuss each strand separately, a language pattern--the language of a closet racist--undeniably emerges.
Fear
We consider fear first, because it is, on the surface, the most surprising strand to find in the language. If closet racists do not consider themselves racists, then why would they show fear in discussing race issues? In the most simple terms, closet racists do not want other people to consider them racist, either. This is why white people developed "political correctness." The idea was to develop a system in which everyone knew what to say in order to allow everyone to avoid, as Jen mentioned, "walking on egg shells."
Fear also becomes the catalyst for many closet racists' decisions on what information to offer (and likewise, what not to offer) during a discussion of race issues. As Jen explained in her second reaction paper:
I was apprehensive to tell my group that my prejudice experience was within my family. I thought they would think that because my grandfather and father were racist, that I am as well--I thought they would dislike me.
She tended to elevate this apprehensive-ness during interviews, sometimes to the point of censoring herself. In one particular case, as she discussed the racial make-up of her hometown, her fear emerged quite blatantly:
...and where I'm from there were two different types of black...there were...I don't want to say this. Is it all right if I say this?...
Her fear was clear, especially as she continued, deciding, in fact, to "say this":
Blacks and *******, that's how it was defined where I'm from. There were no ******* at my school, they were all black, no *******. The ******* were at [James Monroe], and that's just how it was, and we knew that.
Jen feared being labeled a racist. Again, it is important to note that she did not consider herself a racist, which leads us to the second strand or indicator: unaware-ness.
Unaware-ness
Closet racists are unaware on several levels, illustrations for which can be found in language patterns. On the first level, as emphasized above, they are unaware of racial issues as racial issues. (How many white people insisted that race was never an "issue" in the O.J. Simpson trial?) Illustrating this point, Jen, in her first interview suggested that at her high school, "there was not any sort of black/white issues or anything like that." She made this statement minutes before offering her story about the "two different types of black." In between the two statements she related stories of "some Ku Klux Klan there," "crosses burning, and stuff like that." But nonetheless, just as she did not label herself as a racist, she was unaware that the very issues she discussed were very racial in nature, and as such she did not label those issues in terms of race, either.
On another level, Jen failed to see the racial prejudice as such in the language of others. For example, she defended her grandmother: "...my grandmother on my Mom's side is not prejudice..." But as she continued, Jen, in her unawareness, all but labeled her grandmother a racist:
...but she refers to black people as 'colored.' Like when we have a Christmas party every year and Mark, a guy who lives around the corner from me, came to the party...and was the only black person there and she was like...'Who was that colored boy there?' She doesn't refer to him as 'Mark,' always 'that colored boy.'
On a third level, while Jen could sometimes point out racial prejudice in other places, she was quick to distance herself from that prejudice, as if she was somehow shielded from its permeation. In this sense, Jen was unaware of racism as it exists at the institutional level. Like many closet racists, Jen believed that racism could be found "here, there, and there," but that, in the correct circumstances, racism could be completely avoided. Again, this naivete could be recognized in her language, as in the following passage in which she compared her high school to the "other public high school" in her hometown:
James Monroe was a predominantly black school, and the only white people that did go to school there were wealthy, and so there was like the wealthy and then there was African- Americans. There was a huge line between them, but there wasn't anything like that where I was.
This passage leads directly into the third strand of the language of closet racism.
Dis-ownership
Closet racists tend to avoid owning their views on race. They often point to other groups, using terms such as "they," or "those people," instead of refering to themselves. In the previous passage, Jen clearly utilized the language of dis-ownership, thus assessing blame to others. "There was a huge line between them.." "I thought they would dislike me."
Closet racists, in avoiding using "I" and "me" statements in discussions of race issues avoid accepting the responsibility for their perspectives, and in many cases, prejudices. Recent articles in the Cavalier Daily about so-called self-segragation at the University of Virginia have been drowned in this language. White columnists posed questions such as "Why do the African-American students sit together at lunch, congregate at the 'black bus stop,'" etc? "Why do they have organizations like the Black Student Alliance?" In shifting the responsibility to "the African-American students," the columnists dodged the intimidating possibility of accepting equal responsibility for the separation.
The Result of Closet Racism
As is most clearly illustrated by the dis-ownership strand of the language of closet racism, closet racists will observe other groups segragating themselves, and suddenly race becomes an issue. But, for example, white students fail to notice that white students do not approach tables filled with African-American students during lunch. And white students clearly have congregation spots (i.e. Rugby Road).
The attractiveness--even if it exists at a subconscious level--of closet racism to those who retain it is that if one never labels himself or herself a racist, then (s)he is free from the obligation of doing something about it. For Jen and many others, closet racism becomes routine, easy, and comfortable. With blinders on their eyes, and the shield of manipulated language in their repertoire, closet racists can live a full life never confronting their own prejudices.
In fact, if the assertion holds up that white people tend to be toward the high end of the closet racist continuum, then the result of closet racism is clear. The phenomenon of closet racism is yet another catalyst in the cycle of discrimination experienced by racial minorities in America since the conception of this nation. Only individuals have the power to change themselves. In the socio-political structure in this country, it stands to reason that those in power will at all costs attempt to retain that power. In "coming out of the closet," labeling their prejudices as such, owning those prejudices, thus placing on their shoulders the responsibility to address those prejudices, those in power fear the loss of their comfortable seat atop the nations's socio-political hierarchy. The status quo is maintained.
So how, then, is the study of the language of closet racism useful? Sometimes people I've labeled as closet racists want to change themselves. Jen was one such person. The study of the language she used when discussing race (and other multicultural) issues, and how this language changed, helped me understand the stages she experienced on her trek toward race awareness and appreciation.
Valuable further study concerning the language of closet racism would include the metamorphosis of the language as an individual becomes more aware, thus working toward the lower end of the closet racism continuum. Also, further study is necessary in addressing the meshing of the strands, and the meanings that derive from such meshing.
Actually they did. I was bussed to a predominately white middle school in the 60"s and encountered everything from apathetic, racist teachers, who assumed that I was inferior, in spite of being an advanced honor society student at my previous school.
To white boys in gym class who were actually taught that black people had tails.
Maybe because the town I was raised in didn't have many black students when I went to school in the 60's. I think there were only two black students in high school and one was my best friend. Race really wasnt an issue when I grew up. The teachers didn't discuss race. I guess it was textbook learning.Children in school were not educated to hold racial prejudices. They learned about Christopher Columbus, that did not put anything racial into their (our) minds.
Language of Closet Racism
Language of Closet Racism: An Illustration
by Paul Gorski
Any person who has grown up in the American public school system has been educated to hold racial prejudices. To illustrate this point, ask any child to tell you about the first date in history he or she remembers learning: "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue." What happened in 1492? "Christopher Columbus discovered America." Did he? The history books I prefer to read have informed me that people were actually already here. Remember, the people who would eventually be driven from their sacred lands, forced to surrender their native tongue and customs, and "American-ize"? The result of children learning such "facts" is a depreciation of an entire people--in this case, Native Americans.
So the American education system (with strong reinforcement from the media) has bred a nation of what I will call "closet racists." Closet racists are unaware of their prejudices. They have learned from text books presented to them by people who are supposedly knowledgeable enough to choose the best possible materials. They are trained, or more precisely, coerced into believing in "the system." If a child were to question a teacher's assertion that "Columbus discovered America," it is more likely that the child would be chastised for showing disrespect than the possibility of the teacher initiating a discussion on the discrepancy. A closet racist is defined, then, as simply a person with racial prejudices who is unaware of those prejudices as such, usually because he or she has never been afforded the opportunity to discuss racial prejudices as such.
The question arising from this assertion is clear: Where is the evidence of this nation of so-called "closet racists?" What links them? What are their characteristics?
The answer, emerging from years of experience facilitating conversations on race issues, interviewing specific cases, and participating in a variety of cultural diversity workshops, is equally clear: language. Closet racists share a distinct and surprisingly easily detectable language when observed in a discussion about race or racism. The intention of this paper is to explore this language through the case study of Jen, a third year college student who participated in Multicultural Education, a class designed to help students find, face, and battle their own prejudices. In order to analyze Jen's closet racist language, interviews were conducted and reaction papers written at the end of each class were collected and analyzed.
Based loosely on research conducted for a Master's Thesis completed four months ago, though more focused, this paper will refer to data, analysis, and conclusions from that thesis. The lack of citations from other scholarly sources reflects the lack of material available concerning the language of race issues and unaware racists.
Who Are Closet Racists?
Though everyone who has experienced the American education system is in some degree a closet racist, certain people, and indeed, certain groups, tend to portray the characteristics more than others. At the most basic level, people who have experienced consistent racial discrimination tend to be less assignable the label of closet racist. Such people have, through their personal experiences with discrimination, been afforded opportunities to discuss race issues. As Kim, an African-American student in a Multicultural Education class during Spring semester, 1995 explained,
I live these issues every day. I can't escape them anywhere: stores, classes, the gym. Three, four, five things happen everyday to remind me that, no matter what white people believe, there is still a ton of prejudice out there. It reminds me to think about the things I do and say, and the prejudices I have.
In short, closet racism is a continuum. Those with the least exposure to racial issues fall toward the high end. Experience suggests that those falling on this end are usually "white," or "European-Americans," while "African-Americans" fall toward the low end. So-called "middle-man minorities" tend to be spread between the extremes.
Jen, a white woman, was chosen for the case study because her sheltered home-life and general unaware-ness of race issues have served as catalysts in her formation as a high-end closet racist. An admittedly extreme case, and for that reason purposively chosen, Jen illustrates clearly the language patterns of a closet racist.
The Three Strands of the Language of Closet Racism
Three language indicators of closet racism are evident across the continuum. These are what I refer to as "strands" because, when woven together, they form the language web of closet racists. Again, strength of language and degree of racist attitudes change dramatically across the continuum, and as a result, these strands, or indicators are more readily observable in certain individuals and groups than in others. They include fear, unaware-ness, and dis-ownership.
Consider the following excerpt taken from Jen's reaction paper from the first class meeting of Multicultural Education:
The idea of political correctness with the black race astounds me. I found it extremely interesting that some blacks in our class prefer to be called African American. In all of my classes...I have felt like I was stepping on egg shells as to not offend the blacks in my class. I am honestly glad it is not that big of an issue to my fellow classmates--it promotes a more comfortable, genuine environment for me to be totally honest and carefree.
Jen reflected each strand of the language of closet racism within this short passage. These strands can be un-woven as follows:
1. fear: "I have felt like I was stepping on egg shells as to not offend blacks in my classes..."
2. unaware-ness: "I found it extremely interesting that some blacks in our class prefer to be called African American."
3. dis-ownership: "I am honestly glad it is not that big of an issue to my fellow classmates."
Some would argue that Jen's statements as pulled apart above are arbitrary, or taken out of context. But as we consider a year's worth of interviews and written reactions, and as we discuss each strand separately, a language pattern--the language of a closet racist--undeniably emerges.
Fear
We consider fear first, because it is, on the surface, the most surprising strand to find in the language. If closet racists do not consider themselves racists, then why would they show fear in discussing race issues? In the most simple terms, closet racists do not want other people to consider them racist, either. This is why white people developed "political correctness." The idea was to develop a system in which everyone knew what to say in order to allow everyone to avoid, as Jen mentioned, "walking on egg shells."
Fear also becomes the catalyst for many closet racists' decisions on what information to offer (and likewise, what not to offer) during a discussion of race issues. As Jen explained in her second reaction paper:
I was apprehensive to tell my group that my prejudice experience was within my family. I thought they would think that because my grandfather and father were racist, that I am as well--I thought they would dislike me.
She tended to elevate this apprehensive-ness during interviews, sometimes to the point of censoring herself. In one particular case, as she discussed the racial make-up of her hometown, her fear emerged quite blatantly:
...and where I'm from there were two different types of black...there were...I don't want to say this. Is it all right if I say this?...
Her fear was clear, especially as she continued, deciding, in fact, to "say this":
Blacks and *******, that's how it was defined where I'm from. There were no ******* at my school, they were all black, no *******. The ******* were at [James Monroe], and that's just how it was, and we knew that.
Jen feared being labeled a racist. Again, it is important to note that she did not consider herself a racist, which leads us to the second strand or indicator: unaware-ness.
Unaware-ness
Closet racists are unaware on several levels, illustrations for which can be found in language patterns. On the first level, as emphasized above, they are unaware of racial issues as racial issues. (How many white people insisted that race was never an "issue" in the O.J. Simpson trial?) Illustrating this point, Jen, in her first interview suggested that at her high school, "there was not any sort of black/white issues or anything like that." She made this statement minutes before offering her story about the "two different types of black." In between the two statements she related stories of "some Ku Klux Klan there," "crosses burning, and stuff like that." But nonetheless, just as she did not label herself as a racist, she was unaware that the very issues she discussed were very racial in nature, and as such she did not label those issues in terms of race, either.
On another level, Jen failed to see the racial prejudice as such in the language of others. For example, she defended her grandmother: "...my grandmother on my Mom's side is not prejudice..." But as she continued, Jen, in her unawareness, all but labeled her grandmother a racist:
...but she refers to black people as 'colored.' Like when we have a Christmas party every year and Mark, a guy who lives around the corner from me, came to the party...and was the only black person there and she was like...'Who was that colored boy there?' She doesn't refer to him as 'Mark,' always 'that colored boy.'
On a third level, while Jen could sometimes point out racial prejudice in other places, she was quick to distance herself from that prejudice, as if she was somehow shielded from its permeation. In this sense, Jen was unaware of racism as it exists at the institutional level. Like many closet racists, Jen believed that racism could be found "here, there, and there," but that, in the correct circumstances, racism could be completely avoided. Again, this naivete could be recognized in her language, as in the following passage in which she compared her high school to the "other public high school" in her hometown:
James Monroe was a predominantly black school, and the only white people that did go to school there were wealthy, and so there was like the wealthy and then there was African- Americans. There was a huge line between them, but there wasn't anything like that where I was.
This passage leads directly into the third strand of the language of closet racism.
Dis-ownership
Closet racists tend to avoid owning their views on race. They often point to other groups, using terms such as "they," or "those people," instead of refering to themselves. In the previous passage, Jen clearly utilized the language of dis-ownership, thus assessing blame to others. "There was a huge line between them.." "I thought they would dislike me."
Closet racists, in avoiding using "I" and "me" statements in discussions of race issues avoid accepting the responsibility for their perspectives, and in many cases, prejudices. Recent articles in the Cavalier Daily about so-called self-segragation at the University of Virginia have been drowned in this language. White columnists posed questions such as "Why do the African-American students sit together at lunch, congregate at the 'black bus stop,'" etc? "Why do they have organizations like the Black Student Alliance?" In shifting the responsibility to "the African-American students," the columnists dodged the intimidating possibility of accepting equal responsibility for the separation.
The Result of Closet Racism
As is most clearly illustrated by the dis-ownership strand of the language of closet racism, closet racists will observe other groups segragating themselves, and suddenly race becomes an issue. But, for example, white students fail to notice that white students do not approach tables filled with African-American students during lunch. And white students clearly have congregation spots (i.e. Rugby Road).
The attractiveness--even if it exists at a subconscious level--of closet racism to those who retain it is that if one never labels himself or herself a racist, then (s)he is free from the obligation of doing something about it. For Jen and many others, closet racism becomes routine, easy, and comfortable. With blinders on their eyes, and the shield of manipulated language in their repertoire, closet racists can live a full life never confronting their own prejudices.
In fact, if the assertion holds up that white people tend to be toward the high end of the closet racist continuum, then the result of closet racism is clear. The phenomenon of closet racism is yet another catalyst in the cycle of discrimination experienced by racial minorities in America since the conception of this nation. Only individuals have the power to change themselves. In the socio-political structure in this country, it stands to reason that those in power will at all costs attempt to retain that power. In "coming out of the closet," labeling their prejudices as such, owning those prejudices, thus placing on their shoulders the responsibility to address those prejudices, those in power fear the loss of their comfortable seat atop the nations's socio-political hierarchy. The status quo is maintained.
So how, then, is the study of the language of closet racism useful? Sometimes people I've labeled as closet racists want to change themselves. Jen was one such person. The study of the language she used when discussing race (and other multicultural) issues, and how this language changed, helped me understand the stages she experienced on her trek toward race awareness and appreciation.
Valuable further study concerning the language of closet racism would include the metamorphosis of the language as an individual becomes more aware, thus working toward the lower end of the closet racism continuum. Also, further study is necessary in addressing the meshing of the strands, and the meanings that derive from such meshing.
Actually they did. I was bussed to a predominately white middle school in the 60"s and encountered everything from apathetic, racist teachers, who assumed that I was inferior, in spite of being an advanced honor society student at my previous school.
To white boys in gym class who were actually taught that black people had tails.
Language of Closet Racism
Language of Closet Racism: An Illustration
by Paul Gorski
Any person who has grown up in the American public school system has been educated to hold racial prejudices. To illustrate this point, ask any child to tell you about the first date in history he or she remembers learning: "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue." What happened in 1492? "Christopher Columbus discovered America." Did he? The history books I prefer to read have informed me that people were actually already here. Remember, the people who would eventually be driven from their sacred lands, forced to surrender their native tongue and customs, and "American-ize"? The result of children learning such "facts" is a depreciation of an entire people--in this case, Native Americans.
That's a pretty weak justification to smear the entire population of public school educated Americans.
Columbus did discover the Americas. NO one in the Old World knew they were here, until Columbus found them and reported back.
NOTHING about that in any way diminishes the Indians or anything about them.
Paul Gorski is an asshole for smearing most of America as racist based on such weak shit.
...
I got to here and was done with this asshole.
beagle9
Diamond Member
- Nov 28, 2011
- 43,987
- 16,365
- 2,250
Learn what, and by whom will they be learning from ?? Are you appointing yourself as the teacher that will teach white racist how not to be white racist ?? LOL..
Good luck with that... Heck I'll tell you what, go do a test run on the black racist first. They'll have you thinking about bleaching your skin white when they get done with you, and they'd have you so dang mad because they would be telling you that you have sold them out on top of it all, but all you were trying to do is enlighten them on how to not be a racist right, just like those mean ole white racist are you would tell them that they don't have to be........ You would find out that trying to change any racist black or white would be an up hill climb you might not want to climb, so just keep whining and crying about it all, while the rest of the civilized people get on with their lives.
No freebies today, so forget about it. It's over.
Wonder when Kanye will be bleaching his skin white ?? He can join Steve Harvey, and they can bleach out together. LOL
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Sure there is. You made an argument that your friend was justified in calling me a vile insult for no reason.
You lost that argument. You lose.
That this is an anonymous forum, doesn't change that. That it won't change your life, doesn't change that.
Nothing about my statement implies real significant harm to you.
Yet, you took a stupid stance, and you lost.
In our society, "racist" is a very serious insult. Careers, lives are ruined by being labeled as such, whether the accusation is true or not.
To deny that it is a vile insult, is absurd.
Only because assholes like to call people names. Nothing I have said in this thread justifies calling me such a name, and I have demonstrated that, by challenging your friend to back it up, and her utter failure to do so.
I am quick to call people on race baiting. It is a real problem in our society, and assholes who do it, need to be called on their shit.
My morals are fine.
ANd that's just an ass trying to minimizing my proper response to asses being asses.
Your lie is rejected.
I'm well aware that the world if full of lefty race baiting assholes, and I enjoy that on this site I get to call them on their bullshit.
My arguments stand on their own merits or don't. That you feel a need to attack me personally, shows that my arguments are such that you cannot refute them.
Nope. Nothing I have said supports that stupid claim.
Said the man that thinks that not answering a question is reason to call someone racist.
beagle9
Diamond Member
- Nov 28, 2011
- 43,987
- 16,365
- 2,250
Are there more than me and you in this OP posting ? Following different people's opinions might prompt an opinion based on something someone said, so if you missed something sorry. Keep up.. lol
I get called racist. Nowhere have I even hinted that I am, because I am not.
NewsVine_Mariyam
Platinum Member
Is that the presumption?
- Moderator
- #1,415
You are a ridiculous drama queen. If your idea of a "vile insult" is being called a racist on a "race relations" message board you are a fool just as you were accurately called.
There are no winners or losers here, and if in your little mind, there are, then that makes you look even more foolish, and hypersensitive than you actually are, if thats possible.
You got called a racist, and to a number of people here, you appear to be.
Name one person who post here who has not been called a racist, quite a few have been by none other than you.
And if you continue to post here, you will be called one again.
Get over it. You aren't special.
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- Banned
- #1,416
Yes and they are historically irrelevant... considering the fact that blacks started the slave trade and we are not talking about holding them accountable.
Oddly, black people don't care about the racist countries of the world with North Korea at 98 + percent one people, China is 98 + percent Han Chinese, Japanese (which calls itself the most racist nation on earth with about 97 percent or so Japanese. No way. How about Zimbabwe with 99.7 percent black?
The black extremists make much ado about Freedom, but in reality they hate the concept. They've made that clear to me.
- Banned
- #1,417
Children in school were not educated to hold racial prejudices. They learned about Christopher Columbus, that did not put anything racial into their (our) minds.
Language of Closet Racism
Language of Closet Racism: An Illustration
by Paul Gorski
Any person who has grown up in the American public school system has been educated to hold racial prejudices. To illustrate this point, ask any child to tell you about the first date in history he or she remembers learning: "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue." What happened in 1492? "Christopher Columbus discovered America." Did he? The history books I prefer to read have informed me that people were actually already here. Remember, the people who would eventually be driven from their sacred lands, forced to surrender their native tongue and customs, and "American-ize"? The result of children learning such "facts" is a depreciation of an entire people--in this case, Native Americans.
So the American education system (with strong reinforcement from the media) has bred a nation of what I will call "closet racists." Closet racists are unaware of their prejudices. They have learned from text books presented to them by people who are supposedly knowledgeable enough to choose the best possible materials. They are trained, or more precisely, coerced into believing in "the system." If a child were to question a teacher's assertion that "Columbus discovered America," it is more likely that the child would be chastised for showing disrespect than the possibility of the teacher initiating a discussion on the discrepancy. A closet racist is defined, then, as simply a person with racial prejudices who is unaware of those prejudices as such, usually because he or she has never been afforded the opportunity to discuss racial prejudices as such.
The question arising from this assertion is clear: Where is the evidence of this nation of so-called "closet racists?" What links them? What are their characteristics?
The answer, emerging from years of experience facilitating conversations on race issues, interviewing specific cases, and participating in a variety of cultural diversity workshops, is equally clear: language. Closet racists share a distinct and surprisingly easily detectable language when observed in a discussion about race or racism. The intention of this paper is to explore this language through the case study of Jen, a third year college student who participated in Multicultural Education, a class designed to help students find, face, and battle their own prejudices. In order to analyze Jen's closet racist language, interviews were conducted and reaction papers written at the end of each class were collected and analyzed.
Based loosely on research conducted for a Master's Thesis completed four months ago, though more focused, this paper will refer to data, analysis, and conclusions from that thesis. The lack of citations from other scholarly sources reflects the lack of material available concerning the language of race issues and unaware racists.
Who Are Closet Racists?
Though everyone who has experienced the American education system is in some degree a closet racist, certain people, and indeed, certain groups, tend to portray the characteristics more than others. At the most basic level, people who have experienced consistent racial discrimination tend to be less assignable the label of closet racist. Such people have, through their personal experiences with discrimination, been afforded opportunities to discuss race issues. As Kim, an African-American student in a Multicultural Education class during Spring semester, 1995 explained,
I live these issues every day. I can't escape them anywhere: stores, classes, the gym. Three, four, five things happen everyday to remind me that, no matter what white people believe, there is still a ton of prejudice out there. It reminds me to think about the things I do and say, and the prejudices I have.
In short, closet racism is a continuum. Those with the least exposure to racial issues fall toward the high end. Experience suggests that those falling on this end are usually "white," or "European-Americans," while "African-Americans" fall toward the low end. So-called "middle-man minorities" tend to be spread between the extremes.
Jen, a white woman, was chosen for the case study because her sheltered home-life and general unaware-ness of race issues have served as catalysts in her formation as a high-end closet racist. An admittedly extreme case, and for that reason purposively chosen, Jen illustrates clearly the language patterns of a closet racist.
The Three Strands of the Language of Closet Racism
Three language indicators of closet racism are evident across the continuum. These are what I refer to as "strands" because, when woven together, they form the language web of closet racists. Again, strength of language and degree of racist attitudes change dramatically across the continuum, and as a result, these strands, or indicators are more readily observable in certain individuals and groups than in others. They include fear, unaware-ness, and dis-ownership.
Consider the following excerpt taken from Jen's reaction paper from the first class meeting of Multicultural Education:
The idea of political correctness with the black race astounds me. I found it extremely interesting that some blacks in our class prefer to be called African American. In all of my classes...I have felt like I was stepping on egg shells as to not offend the blacks in my class. I am honestly glad it is not that big of an issue to my fellow classmates--it promotes a more comfortable, genuine environment for me to be totally honest and carefree.
Jen reflected each strand of the language of closet racism within this short passage. These strands can be un-woven as follows:
1. fear: "I have felt like I was stepping on egg shells as to not offend blacks in my classes..."
2. unaware-ness: "I found it extremely interesting that some blacks in our class prefer to be called African American."
3. dis-ownership: "I am honestly glad it is not that big of an issue to my fellow classmates."
Some would argue that Jen's statements as pulled apart above are arbitrary, or taken out of context. But as we consider a year's worth of interviews and written reactions, and as we discuss each strand separately, a language pattern--the language of a closet racist--undeniably emerges.
Fear
We consider fear first, because it is, on the surface, the most surprising strand to find in the language. If closet racists do not consider themselves racists, then why would they show fear in discussing race issues? In the most simple terms, closet racists do not want other people to consider them racist, either. This is why white people developed "political correctness." The idea was to develop a system in which everyone knew what to say in order to allow everyone to avoid, as Jen mentioned, "walking on egg shells."
Fear also becomes the catalyst for many closet racists' decisions on what information to offer (and likewise, what not to offer) during a discussion of race issues. As Jen explained in her second reaction paper:
I was apprehensive to tell my group that my prejudice experience was within my family. I thought they would think that because my grandfather and father were racist, that I am as well--I thought they would dislike me.
She tended to elevate this apprehensive-ness during interviews, sometimes to the point of censoring herself. In one particular case, as she discussed the racial make-up of her hometown, her fear emerged quite blatantly:
...and where I'm from there were two different types of black...there were...I don't want to say this. Is it all right if I say this?...
Her fear was clear, especially as she continued, deciding, in fact, to "say this":
Blacks and *******, that's how it was defined where I'm from. There were no ******* at my school, they were all black, no *******. The ******* were at [James Monroe], and that's just how it was, and we knew that.
Jen feared being labeled a racist. Again, it is important to note that she did not consider herself a racist, which leads us to the second strand or indicator: unaware-ness.
Unaware-ness
Closet racists are unaware on several levels, illustrations for which can be found in language patterns. On the first level, as emphasized above, they are unaware of racial issues as racial issues. (How many white people insisted that race was never an "issue" in the O.J. Simpson trial?) Illustrating this point, Jen, in her first interview suggested that at her high school, "there was not any sort of black/white issues or anything like that." She made this statement minutes before offering her story about the "two different types of black." In between the two statements she related stories of "some Ku Klux Klan there," "crosses burning, and stuff like that." But nonetheless, just as she did not label herself as a racist, she was unaware that the very issues she discussed were very racial in nature, and as such she did not label those issues in terms of race, either.
On another level, Jen failed to see the racial prejudice as such in the language of others. For example, she defended her grandmother: "...my grandmother on my Mom's side is not prejudice..." But as she continued, Jen, in her unawareness, all but labeled her grandmother a racist:
...but she refers to black people as 'colored.' Like when we have a Christmas party every year and Mark, a guy who lives around the corner from me, came to the party...and was the only black person there and she was like...'Who was that colored boy there?' She doesn't refer to him as 'Mark,' always 'that colored boy.'
On a third level, while Jen could sometimes point out racial prejudice in other places, she was quick to distance herself from that prejudice, as if she was somehow shielded from its permeation. In this sense, Jen was unaware of racism as it exists at the institutional level. Like many closet racists, Jen believed that racism could be found "here, there, and there," but that, in the correct circumstances, racism could be completely avoided. Again, this naivete could be recognized in her language, as in the following passage in which she compared her high school to the "other public high school" in her hometown:
James Monroe was a predominantly black school, and the only white people that did go to school there were wealthy, and so there was like the wealthy and then there was African- Americans. There was a huge line between them, but there wasn't anything like that where I was.
This passage leads directly into the third strand of the language of closet racism.
Dis-ownership
Closet racists tend to avoid owning their views on race. They often point to other groups, using terms such as "they," or "those people," instead of refering to themselves. In the previous passage, Jen clearly utilized the language of dis-ownership, thus assessing blame to others. "There was a huge line between them.." "I thought they would dislike me."
Closet racists, in avoiding using "I" and "me" statements in discussions of race issues avoid accepting the responsibility for their perspectives, and in many cases, prejudices. Recent articles in the Cavalier Daily about so-called self-segragation at the University of Virginia have been drowned in this language. White columnists posed questions such as "Why do the African-American students sit together at lunch, congregate at the 'black bus stop,'" etc? "Why do they have organizations like the Black Student Alliance?" In shifting the responsibility to "the African-American students," the columnists dodged the intimidating possibility of accepting equal responsibility for the separation.
The Result of Closet Racism
As is most clearly illustrated by the dis-ownership strand of the language of closet racism, closet racists will observe other groups segragating themselves, and suddenly race becomes an issue. But, for example, white students fail to notice that white students do not approach tables filled with African-American students during lunch. And white students clearly have congregation spots (i.e. Rugby Road).
The attractiveness--even if it exists at a subconscious level--of closet racism to those who retain it is that if one never labels himself or herself a racist, then (s)he is free from the obligation of doing something about it. For Jen and many others, closet racism becomes routine, easy, and comfortable. With blinders on their eyes, and the shield of manipulated language in their repertoire, closet racists can live a full life never confronting their own prejudices.
In fact, if the assertion holds up that white people tend to be toward the high end of the closet racist continuum, then the result of closet racism is clear. The phenomenon of closet racism is yet another catalyst in the cycle of discrimination experienced by racial minorities in America since the conception of this nation. Only individuals have the power to change themselves. In the socio-political structure in this country, it stands to reason that those in power will at all costs attempt to retain that power. In "coming out of the closet," labeling their prejudices as such, owning those prejudices, thus placing on their shoulders the responsibility to address those prejudices, those in power fear the loss of their comfortable seat atop the nations's socio-political hierarchy. The status quo is maintained.
So how, then, is the study of the language of closet racism useful? Sometimes people I've labeled as closet racists want to change themselves. Jen was one such person. The study of the language she used when discussing race (and other multicultural) issues, and how this language changed, helped me understand the stages she experienced on her trek toward race awareness and appreciation.
Valuable further study concerning the language of closet racism would include the metamorphosis of the language as an individual becomes more aware, thus working toward the lower end of the closet racism continuum. Also, further study is necessary in addressing the meshing of the strands, and the meanings that derive from such meshing.
Actually they did. I was bussed to a predominately white middle school in the 60"s and encountered everything from apathetic, racist teachers, who assumed that I was inferior, in spite of being an advanced honor society student at my previous school.
To white boys in gym class who were actually taught that black people had tails.
This thing is, knowing your ABCs by your senior year was not that great of an achievement even in the 1960s.
- Moderator
- #1,418
Ive been called the same, but Ive never implied that any race is superior to another.
- Moderator
- #1,419
Children in school were not educated to hold racial prejudices. They learned about Christopher Columbus, that did not put anything racial into their (our) minds.
Language of Closet Racism
Language of Closet Racism: An Illustration
by Paul Gorski
Any person who has grown up in the American public school system has been educated to hold racial prejudices. To illustrate this point, ask any child to tell you about the first date in history he or she remembers learning: "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue." What happened in 1492? "Christopher Columbus discovered America." Did he? The history books I prefer to read have informed me that people were actually already here. Remember, the people who would eventually be driven from their sacred lands, forced to surrender their native tongue and customs, and "American-ize"? The result of children learning such "facts" is a depreciation of an entire people--in this case, Native Americans.
So the American education system (with strong reinforcement from the media) has bred a nation of what I will call "closet racists." Closet racists are unaware of their prejudices. They have learned from text books presented to them by people who are supposedly knowledgeable enough to choose the best possible materials. They are trained, or more precisely, coerced into believing in "the system." If a child were to question a teacher's assertion that "Columbus discovered America," it is more likely that the child would be chastised for showing disrespect than the possibility of the teacher initiating a discussion on the discrepancy. A closet racist is defined, then, as simply a person with racial prejudices who is unaware of those prejudices as such, usually because he or she has never been afforded the opportunity to discuss racial prejudices as such.
The question arising from this assertion is clear: Where is the evidence of this nation of so-called "closet racists?" What links them? What are their characteristics?
The answer, emerging from years of experience facilitating conversations on race issues, interviewing specific cases, and participating in a variety of cultural diversity workshops, is equally clear: language. Closet racists share a distinct and surprisingly easily detectable language when observed in a discussion about race or racism. The intention of this paper is to explore this language through the case study of Jen, a third year college student who participated in Multicultural Education, a class designed to help students find, face, and battle their own prejudices. In order to analyze Jen's closet racist language, interviews were conducted and reaction papers written at the end of each class were collected and analyzed.
Based loosely on research conducted for a Master's Thesis completed four months ago, though more focused, this paper will refer to data, analysis, and conclusions from that thesis. The lack of citations from other scholarly sources reflects the lack of material available concerning the language of race issues and unaware racists.
Who Are Closet Racists?
Though everyone who has experienced the American education system is in some degree a closet racist, certain people, and indeed, certain groups, tend to portray the characteristics more than others. At the most basic level, people who have experienced consistent racial discrimination tend to be less assignable the label of closet racist. Such people have, through their personal experiences with discrimination, been afforded opportunities to discuss race issues. As Kim, an African-American student in a Multicultural Education class during Spring semester, 1995 explained,
I live these issues every day. I can't escape them anywhere: stores, classes, the gym. Three, four, five things happen everyday to remind me that, no matter what white people believe, there is still a ton of prejudice out there. It reminds me to think about the things I do and say, and the prejudices I have.
In short, closet racism is a continuum. Those with the least exposure to racial issues fall toward the high end. Experience suggests that those falling on this end are usually "white," or "European-Americans," while "African-Americans" fall toward the low end. So-called "middle-man minorities" tend to be spread between the extremes.
Jen, a white woman, was chosen for the case study because her sheltered home-life and general unaware-ness of race issues have served as catalysts in her formation as a high-end closet racist. An admittedly extreme case, and for that reason purposively chosen, Jen illustrates clearly the language patterns of a closet racist.
The Three Strands of the Language of Closet Racism
Three language indicators of closet racism are evident across the continuum. These are what I refer to as "strands" because, when woven together, they form the language web of closet racists. Again, strength of language and degree of racist attitudes change dramatically across the continuum, and as a result, these strands, or indicators are more readily observable in certain individuals and groups than in others. They include fear, unaware-ness, and dis-ownership.
Consider the following excerpt taken from Jen's reaction paper from the first class meeting of Multicultural Education:
The idea of political correctness with the black race astounds me. I found it extremely interesting that some blacks in our class prefer to be called African American. In all of my classes...I have felt like I was stepping on egg shells as to not offend the blacks in my class. I am honestly glad it is not that big of an issue to my fellow classmates--it promotes a more comfortable, genuine environment for me to be totally honest and carefree.
Jen reflected each strand of the language of closet racism within this short passage. These strands can be un-woven as follows:
1. fear: "I have felt like I was stepping on egg shells as to not offend blacks in my classes..."
2. unaware-ness: "I found it extremely interesting that some blacks in our class prefer to be called African American."
3. dis-ownership: "I am honestly glad it is not that big of an issue to my fellow classmates."
Some would argue that Jen's statements as pulled apart above are arbitrary, or taken out of context. But as we consider a year's worth of interviews and written reactions, and as we discuss each strand separately, a language pattern--the language of a closet racist--undeniably emerges.
Fear
We consider fear first, because it is, on the surface, the most surprising strand to find in the language. If closet racists do not consider themselves racists, then why would they show fear in discussing race issues? In the most simple terms, closet racists do not want other people to consider them racist, either. This is why white people developed "political correctness." The idea was to develop a system in which everyone knew what to say in order to allow everyone to avoid, as Jen mentioned, "walking on egg shells."
Fear also becomes the catalyst for many closet racists' decisions on what information to offer (and likewise, what not to offer) during a discussion of race issues. As Jen explained in her second reaction paper:
I was apprehensive to tell my group that my prejudice experience was within my family. I thought they would think that because my grandfather and father were racist, that I am as well--I thought they would dislike me.
She tended to elevate this apprehensive-ness during interviews, sometimes to the point of censoring herself. In one particular case, as she discussed the racial make-up of her hometown, her fear emerged quite blatantly:
...and where I'm from there were two different types of black...there were...I don't want to say this. Is it all right if I say this?...
Her fear was clear, especially as she continued, deciding, in fact, to "say this":
Blacks and *******, that's how it was defined where I'm from. There were no ******* at my school, they were all black, no *******. The ******* were at [James Monroe], and that's just how it was, and we knew that.
Jen feared being labeled a racist. Again, it is important to note that she did not consider herself a racist, which leads us to the second strand or indicator: unaware-ness.
Unaware-ness
Closet racists are unaware on several levels, illustrations for which can be found in language patterns. On the first level, as emphasized above, they are unaware of racial issues as racial issues. (How many white people insisted that race was never an "issue" in the O.J. Simpson trial?) Illustrating this point, Jen, in her first interview suggested that at her high school, "there was not any sort of black/white issues or anything like that." She made this statement minutes before offering her story about the "two different types of black." In between the two statements she related stories of "some Ku Klux Klan there," "crosses burning, and stuff like that." But nonetheless, just as she did not label herself as a racist, she was unaware that the very issues she discussed were very racial in nature, and as such she did not label those issues in terms of race, either.
On another level, Jen failed to see the racial prejudice as such in the language of others. For example, she defended her grandmother: "...my grandmother on my Mom's side is not prejudice..." But as she continued, Jen, in her unawareness, all but labeled her grandmother a racist:
...but she refers to black people as 'colored.' Like when we have a Christmas party every year and Mark, a guy who lives around the corner from me, came to the party...and was the only black person there and she was like...'Who was that colored boy there?' She doesn't refer to him as 'Mark,' always 'that colored boy.'
On a third level, while Jen could sometimes point out racial prejudice in other places, she was quick to distance herself from that prejudice, as if she was somehow shielded from its permeation. In this sense, Jen was unaware of racism as it exists at the institutional level. Like many closet racists, Jen believed that racism could be found "here, there, and there," but that, in the correct circumstances, racism could be completely avoided. Again, this naivete could be recognized in her language, as in the following passage in which she compared her high school to the "other public high school" in her hometown:
James Monroe was a predominantly black school, and the only white people that did go to school there were wealthy, and so there was like the wealthy and then there was African- Americans. There was a huge line between them, but there wasn't anything like that where I was.
This passage leads directly into the third strand of the language of closet racism.
Dis-ownership
Closet racists tend to avoid owning their views on race. They often point to other groups, using terms such as "they," or "those people," instead of refering to themselves. In the previous passage, Jen clearly utilized the language of dis-ownership, thus assessing blame to others. "There was a huge line between them.." "I thought they would dislike me."
Closet racists, in avoiding using "I" and "me" statements in discussions of race issues avoid accepting the responsibility for their perspectives, and in many cases, prejudices. Recent articles in the Cavalier Daily about so-called self-segragation at the University of Virginia have been drowned in this language. White columnists posed questions such as "Why do the African-American students sit together at lunch, congregate at the 'black bus stop,'" etc? "Why do they have organizations like the Black Student Alliance?" In shifting the responsibility to "the African-American students," the columnists dodged the intimidating possibility of accepting equal responsibility for the separation.
The Result of Closet Racism
As is most clearly illustrated by the dis-ownership strand of the language of closet racism, closet racists will observe other groups segragating themselves, and suddenly race becomes an issue. But, for example, white students fail to notice that white students do not approach tables filled with African-American students during lunch. And white students clearly have congregation spots (i.e. Rugby Road).
The attractiveness--even if it exists at a subconscious level--of closet racism to those who retain it is that if one never labels himself or herself a racist, then (s)he is free from the obligation of doing something about it. For Jen and many others, closet racism becomes routine, easy, and comfortable. With blinders on their eyes, and the shield of manipulated language in their repertoire, closet racists can live a full life never confronting their own prejudices.
In fact, if the assertion holds up that white people tend to be toward the high end of the closet racist continuum, then the result of closet racism is clear. The phenomenon of closet racism is yet another catalyst in the cycle of discrimination experienced by racial minorities in America since the conception of this nation. Only individuals have the power to change themselves. In the socio-political structure in this country, it stands to reason that those in power will at all costs attempt to retain that power. In "coming out of the closet," labeling their prejudices as such, owning those prejudices, thus placing on their shoulders the responsibility to address those prejudices, those in power fear the loss of their comfortable seat atop the nations's socio-political hierarchy. The status quo is maintained.
So how, then, is the study of the language of closet racism useful? Sometimes people I've labeled as closet racists want to change themselves. Jen was one such person. The study of the language she used when discussing race (and other multicultural) issues, and how this language changed, helped me understand the stages she experienced on her trek toward race awareness and appreciation.
Valuable further study concerning the language of closet racism would include the metamorphosis of the language as an individual becomes more aware, thus working toward the lower end of the closet racism continuum. Also, further study is necessary in addressing the meshing of the strands, and the meanings that derive from such meshing.
Actually they did. I was bussed to a predominately white middle school in the 60"s and encountered everything from apathetic, racist teachers, who assumed that I was inferior, in spite of being an advanced honor society student at my previous school.
To white boys in gym class who were actually taught that black people had tails.
This thing is, knowing your ABCs by your senior year was not that great of an achievement even in the 1960s.
I agree. Was that the case with you?
- Banned
- #1,420
Children in school were not educated to hold racial prejudices. They learned about Christopher Columbus, that did not put anything racial into their (our) minds.
Language of Closet Racism
Language of Closet Racism: An Illustration
by Paul Gorski
Any person who has grown up in the American public school system has been educated to hold racial prejudices. To illustrate this point, ask any child to tell you about the first date in history he or she remembers learning: "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue." What happened in 1492? "Christopher Columbus discovered America." Did he? The history books I prefer to read have informed me that people were actually already here. Remember, the people who would eventually be driven from their sacred lands, forced to surrender their native tongue and customs, and "American-ize"? The result of children learning such "facts" is a depreciation of an entire people--in this case, Native Americans.
So the American education system (with strong reinforcement from the media) has bred a nation of what I will call "closet racists." Closet racists are unaware of their prejudices. They have learned from text books presented to them by people who are supposedly knowledgeable enough to choose the best possible materials. They are trained, or more precisely, coerced into believing in "the system." If a child were to question a teacher's assertion that "Columbus discovered America," it is more likely that the child would be chastised for showing disrespect than the possibility of the teacher initiating a discussion on the discrepancy. A closet racist is defined, then, as simply a person with racial prejudices who is unaware of those prejudices as such, usually because he or she has never been afforded the opportunity to discuss racial prejudices as such.
The question arising from this assertion is clear: Where is the evidence of this nation of so-called "closet racists?" What links them? What are their characteristics?
The answer, emerging from years of experience facilitating conversations on race issues, interviewing specific cases, and participating in a variety of cultural diversity workshops, is equally clear: language. Closet racists share a distinct and surprisingly easily detectable language when observed in a discussion about race or racism. The intention of this paper is to explore this language through the case study of Jen, a third year college student who participated in Multicultural Education, a class designed to help students find, face, and battle their own prejudices. In order to analyze Jen's closet racist language, interviews were conducted and reaction papers written at the end of each class were collected and analyzed.
Based loosely on research conducted for a Master's Thesis completed four months ago, though more focused, this paper will refer to data, analysis, and conclusions from that thesis. The lack of citations from other scholarly sources reflects the lack of material available concerning the language of race issues and unaware racists.
Who Are Closet Racists?
Though everyone who has experienced the American education system is in some degree a closet racist, certain people, and indeed, certain groups, tend to portray the characteristics more than others. At the most basic level, people who have experienced consistent racial discrimination tend to be less assignable the label of closet racist. Such people have, through their personal experiences with discrimination, been afforded opportunities to discuss race issues. As Kim, an African-American student in a Multicultural Education class during Spring semester, 1995 explained,
I live these issues every day. I can't escape them anywhere: stores, classes, the gym. Three, four, five things happen everyday to remind me that, no matter what white people believe, there is still a ton of prejudice out there. It reminds me to think about the things I do and say, and the prejudices I have.
In short, closet racism is a continuum. Those with the least exposure to racial issues fall toward the high end. Experience suggests that those falling on this end are usually "white," or "European-Americans," while "African-Americans" fall toward the low end. So-called "middle-man minorities" tend to be spread between the extremes.
Jen, a white woman, was chosen for the case study because her sheltered home-life and general unaware-ness of race issues have served as catalysts in her formation as a high-end closet racist. An admittedly extreme case, and for that reason purposively chosen, Jen illustrates clearly the language patterns of a closet racist.
The Three Strands of the Language of Closet Racism
Three language indicators of closet racism are evident across the continuum. These are what I refer to as "strands" because, when woven together, they form the language web of closet racists. Again, strength of language and degree of racist attitudes change dramatically across the continuum, and as a result, these strands, or indicators are more readily observable in certain individuals and groups than in others. They include fear, unaware-ness, and dis-ownership.
Consider the following excerpt taken from Jen's reaction paper from the first class meeting of Multicultural Education:
The idea of political correctness with the black race astounds me. I found it extremely interesting that some blacks in our class prefer to be called African American. In all of my classes...I have felt like I was stepping on egg shells as to not offend the blacks in my class. I am honestly glad it is not that big of an issue to my fellow classmates--it promotes a more comfortable, genuine environment for me to be totally honest and carefree.
Jen reflected each strand of the language of closet racism within this short passage. These strands can be un-woven as follows:
1. fear: "I have felt like I was stepping on egg shells as to not offend blacks in my classes..."
2. unaware-ness: "I found it extremely interesting that some blacks in our class prefer to be called African American."
3. dis-ownership: "I am honestly glad it is not that big of an issue to my fellow classmates."
Some would argue that Jen's statements as pulled apart above are arbitrary, or taken out of context. But as we consider a year's worth of interviews and written reactions, and as we discuss each strand separately, a language pattern--the language of a closet racist--undeniably emerges.
Fear
We consider fear first, because it is, on the surface, the most surprising strand to find in the language. If closet racists do not consider themselves racists, then why would they show fear in discussing race issues? In the most simple terms, closet racists do not want other people to consider them racist, either. This is why white people developed "political correctness." The idea was to develop a system in which everyone knew what to say in order to allow everyone to avoid, as Jen mentioned, "walking on egg shells."
Fear also becomes the catalyst for many closet racists' decisions on what information to offer (and likewise, what not to offer) during a discussion of race issues. As Jen explained in her second reaction paper:
I was apprehensive to tell my group that my prejudice experience was within my family. I thought they would think that because my grandfather and father were racist, that I am as well--I thought they would dislike me.
She tended to elevate this apprehensive-ness during interviews, sometimes to the point of censoring herself. In one particular case, as she discussed the racial make-up of her hometown, her fear emerged quite blatantly:
...and where I'm from there were two different types of black...there were...I don't want to say this. Is it all right if I say this?...
Her fear was clear, especially as she continued, deciding, in fact, to "say this":
Blacks and *******, that's how it was defined where I'm from. There were no ******* at my school, they were all black, no *******. The ******* were at [James Monroe], and that's just how it was, and we knew that.
Jen feared being labeled a racist. Again, it is important to note that she did not consider herself a racist, which leads us to the second strand or indicator: unaware-ness.
Unaware-ness
Closet racists are unaware on several levels, illustrations for which can be found in language patterns. On the first level, as emphasized above, they are unaware of racial issues as racial issues. (How many white people insisted that race was never an "issue" in the O.J. Simpson trial?) Illustrating this point, Jen, in her first interview suggested that at her high school, "there was not any sort of black/white issues or anything like that." She made this statement minutes before offering her story about the "two different types of black." In between the two statements she related stories of "some Ku Klux Klan there," "crosses burning, and stuff like that." But nonetheless, just as she did not label herself as a racist, she was unaware that the very issues she discussed were very racial in nature, and as such she did not label those issues in terms of race, either.
On another level, Jen failed to see the racial prejudice as such in the language of others. For example, she defended her grandmother: "...my grandmother on my Mom's side is not prejudice..." But as she continued, Jen, in her unawareness, all but labeled her grandmother a racist:
...but she refers to black people as 'colored.' Like when we have a Christmas party every year and Mark, a guy who lives around the corner from me, came to the party...and was the only black person there and she was like...'Who was that colored boy there?' She doesn't refer to him as 'Mark,' always 'that colored boy.'
On a third level, while Jen could sometimes point out racial prejudice in other places, she was quick to distance herself from that prejudice, as if she was somehow shielded from its permeation. In this sense, Jen was unaware of racism as it exists at the institutional level. Like many closet racists, Jen believed that racism could be found "here, there, and there," but that, in the correct circumstances, racism could be completely avoided. Again, this naivete could be recognized in her language, as in the following passage in which she compared her high school to the "other public high school" in her hometown:
James Monroe was a predominantly black school, and the only white people that did go to school there were wealthy, and so there was like the wealthy and then there was African- Americans. There was a huge line between them, but there wasn't anything like that where I was.
This passage leads directly into the third strand of the language of closet racism.
Dis-ownership
Closet racists tend to avoid owning their views on race. They often point to other groups, using terms such as "they," or "those people," instead of refering to themselves. In the previous passage, Jen clearly utilized the language of dis-ownership, thus assessing blame to others. "There was a huge line between them.." "I thought they would dislike me."
Closet racists, in avoiding using "I" and "me" statements in discussions of race issues avoid accepting the responsibility for their perspectives, and in many cases, prejudices. Recent articles in the Cavalier Daily about so-called self-segragation at the University of Virginia have been drowned in this language. White columnists posed questions such as "Why do the African-American students sit together at lunch, congregate at the 'black bus stop,'" etc? "Why do they have organizations like the Black Student Alliance?" In shifting the responsibility to "the African-American students," the columnists dodged the intimidating possibility of accepting equal responsibility for the separation.
The Result of Closet Racism
As is most clearly illustrated by the dis-ownership strand of the language of closet racism, closet racists will observe other groups segragating themselves, and suddenly race becomes an issue. But, for example, white students fail to notice that white students do not approach tables filled with African-American students during lunch. And white students clearly have congregation spots (i.e. Rugby Road).
The attractiveness--even if it exists at a subconscious level--of closet racism to those who retain it is that if one never labels himself or herself a racist, then (s)he is free from the obligation of doing something about it. For Jen and many others, closet racism becomes routine, easy, and comfortable. With blinders on their eyes, and the shield of manipulated language in their repertoire, closet racists can live a full life never confronting their own prejudices.
In fact, if the assertion holds up that white people tend to be toward the high end of the closet racist continuum, then the result of closet racism is clear. The phenomenon of closet racism is yet another catalyst in the cycle of discrimination experienced by racial minorities in America since the conception of this nation. Only individuals have the power to change themselves. In the socio-political structure in this country, it stands to reason that those in power will at all costs attempt to retain that power. In "coming out of the closet," labeling their prejudices as such, owning those prejudices, thus placing on their shoulders the responsibility to address those prejudices, those in power fear the loss of their comfortable seat atop the nations's socio-political hierarchy. The status quo is maintained.
So how, then, is the study of the language of closet racism useful? Sometimes people I've labeled as closet racists want to change themselves. Jen was one such person. The study of the language she used when discussing race (and other multicultural) issues, and how this language changed, helped me understand the stages she experienced on her trek toward race awareness and appreciation.
Valuable further study concerning the language of closet racism would include the metamorphosis of the language as an individual becomes more aware, thus working toward the lower end of the closet racism continuum. Also, further study is necessary in addressing the meshing of the strands, and the meanings that derive from such meshing.
Actually they did. I was bussed to a predominately white middle school in the 60"s and encountered everything from apathetic, racist teachers, who assumed that I was inferior, in spite of being an advanced honor society student at my previous school.
To white boys in gym class who were actually taught that black people had tails.
This thing is, knowing your ABCs by your senior year was not that great of an achievement even in the 1960s.
I agree. Was that the case with you?
You didn't you know your ABCs before your senior year and I hadn't learned how to properly kiss your ass in order to hold my own opinion was equal how?
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