How To Read Race and Racism

Preliminaries To Any Possible Treatment of Racism¹

1. An Experiment

Slow down the film on race and racism in the U.S. and ask does anyone know what anyone else means when they utter the words ‘race’ and ‘racism’?

Bring ten people together from various backgrounds and ask them to define racism and race. My wager is you will get many, if not ten different responses.

So the question becomes at what point can we homogenize these heterogeneous definitions of race and racism while being respectful of difference.

Yes, I am envisaging a place where, at the limit, a white supremacist and a member of antifa could begin to speak to each other without the communication devolving into insult, aggression, then silence.

But I am also seeking to respond to the question: How can people speak of the same thing without becoming paranoiac? Without thinking they must submit themselves to a racial group, dogma, guru, tyrant, expert, or religious authority.

First response: There is a minimal acquiescence necessary, not to people, groups, history, or nations, but…