Recovering From Our National Addiction to Racism

Fr. Jon Connor, D. Min., Ph.D.

American has once again erupted in racially based demonstrations that periodically and predictably arise when injustice and frustrations bubble over the rim of the caldron that has been percolating in America since its inception.  From the subjugation and genocide of the indigenous North American people to the wholesale slave trafficking of African people to the illegal and unjust interment of American citizens of Japanese to the current interment of Latino immigrants, the American ethos is rife with racial enmity.

For a faithful believer, this situation can only be characterized as sinful.  Sin being the separation of humans from their Creator, and by extension the Creators creations (i.e. human beings).  In fact, Jim Wallis, clergyman, writer, and publisher of Sojourners magazine, says that “racism is America’s Original Sin”.

Racism and “racist” are terms that are bandied about without much understanding of their true meanings.  I would like to take a moment to clarify, from a sociological perspective what these terms mean and the ramifications therein:

The Racism/Xenophobia Model

Terms Defined

Prejudice: To have a prejudgment or preconceived opinion about something that is not based on objective fact or one’s personal experience.

Bigotry: To actively, aggressively (and perhaps violently) promote one’s prejudices to the point of hatred and unreasonableness.

Discrimination: To actively deny status, power, privilege, or prestige to another based on one’s particular brand of bigotry.

Xenophobia: The fear and/or hatred of strangers, foreigners or “the others”.

Racism: The BELIEF and activity to promote one’s own race and to deny status, power, privilege, or prestige to another based on solely and completely on race. (N.B. by extension, this definition also applies to the other “isms” such as sexism, ageism, etc.)

From a sociological perspective, racism and xenophobia are the most similar and we will use those dynamics as interchangeable.

The Model

An example would be helpful. Let us say an individual believes that African-Americans do not maintain their homes and drive down property values in a neighborhood. This individual happens to be a banker, and his belief is “institutionalized” into his banks policy (a concept called “redlining”). As a result of these policies, African-Americans are unable to get mortgages or home improvement loans. They are then unable to move into better housing or repair/update their current dwelling. The resulting decay/deterioration of the housing stock becomes less desirable and slum like thereby becoming Cultural Racism reinforcing the original Individual racist belief.

One of the disclaimers that is often heard is the statement “I’m not a racist”. That may well be a true statement on the part of any given individual, however, to the extent that one subscribes to the Cultural aspect of racism and benefits from that construct, one is stilled painted with a brush that was dipped into the racist paint can.

In order to understand privilege, it will be helpful to examine another sociological model. I refer to this model as the Dominant Culture Paradigm or DCP.

Understanding Privilege

• Members of the DCP are unaware of it.
• It’s “just the way things are”.
• Instructs & informs both conscious and unconscious behavior and beliefs.
• As with most paradigms, blinds one from seeing things differently.

What Sort of Information Gets Filtered?

• Age
• Gender
• Race
• Religion
• National Origin
• Disability
• Sexual Orientation
  

DCP vis-à-vis “The Differents”

What this schema attempts to depict is that those individuals who are within the DCP are the one’s with “privilege”. So, an English speaking, 40ish, white, Christian male, get’s an advantage within our society and even a “free pass”, i.e. affirmative action for jobs, schooling, promotions etc. As I stated earlier, they are unaware of this advantage and perceive life as “just the way things are”. It is much like living on Earth in that we never think about gravity as a force in our lives. If we are transported to an environment of zero gravity, we become very aware of that issue.
Those who are the “Differents” are constantly aware of the metaphoric gravity and must work against this edge in order to be a fully functioning member of the society.

So as believers we are called to acknowledge our brokenness and our sins of both commission AND omission. I passionately believe that America is addicted to racism, much like an alcoholic or junkie is addicted to their drug of choice. I believe that the 12 Step approach is a needed and viable solution to the racial quagmire that exists in our society.
I therefore propose that ALL believers begin this Program immediately and without further deal. Our lives and our world have become unmanageable:

Twelve Step Recovery from Racism

1. We admitted we were powerless over Racism–that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of our Racist selves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our Racist wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these Racist defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our Racist shortcomings
8. Made a list of persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all (Enslaved Africans; Native American genocide; Chinese Exclusion; Japanese Internment Camp victims and all these groups descendants to name some of the most obvious).
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
    

And the Final 12th Step
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to Racists and to practice these principles in all our affairs.