How to End Racism Peacefully

By Comrade Controversy

We can end racism peacefully. Laws and measures to punish offenders that commit violent acts including murder motivated by racism will only serve as a deterrent for such acts, but not to racism itself. Racism will continue, as will various other forms of prejudice, racial bias and stereotypes. All this can be reversed and stopped peacefully.

Before I can administer the vaccine for racism, I need to define it. Prior to defining what racism is, I have to talk about the concept of what I call a compelling natural identity. A compelling natural identity is a description of something or someone that distinguishes that object or person from others. A bus is a bus and not a big version of a car. By merely saying ‘a bus’, inevitably certain attributes of its compelling identity come to mind. One of those is size, the other is shape and another could be number of seats. There is absolutely nothing wrong with referring to a bus as a bus, or an unusually big form of transportation. Such features compellingly define it.

Race is also a compelling form of natural identity, just like age and gender are.  When you see a 2 year old, your attitude towards him or her is not the same as when you see a 27 year old. Likewise, when you see a 23 year old man and a 23 year old woman they may stimulate your senses differently depending on your persuasion and circumstances. This is because of their compelling natural identities. What is significant is that the compelling natural identities evoke associations.

And now onto what racism is. It is not, as is generally understood,  an arousal or an abiding sense of hate or disaffection towards a person based on confirming race as their compelling natural identifier. This is symptomatic racism, not actual or causal racism.  Race tends to have stronger associations as a unique identifier than age and gender. It is in that sense more polarizing. A young black male can find more in common with an older black woman, than he could, for example, with  an equally young white male. In other words, your race is your most significant identifier. When people see you it is the first thing they notice about you.

By that fact alone race carries a lot of connotations, associations and implications. Causal or real racism is therefore not about what it seems to be, that is, feelings of anger, exclusion, contempt and intolerance. It is an aggregation of associations that one group of people on average has with another group based on perceived compelling natural identifiers. Therefore, in finding a cure for racism we have to establish what are the causes of the associations with black people that manifest themselves in abhorrible racist practices, and vice versa for racism against whites. I must hasten to add that racist practices do not affect everyone. There are some members of our society that have counter associations to those negative stereotypes that cause intolerance, aggressive avoidance and even combative confrontation.

We go back in time to identify  a principle that could explain the impact of race associations. It is Darwinism and the notion of natural selection. What is important about this here is the concept of perpetuation of survival based on natural selection, and the submission that the fittest will survive and the weak will die. The demise of the weak may in fact champion the survival of the fit. Why is this important? Because this is how modern day racism is manifesting itself. Fitness to survive, on this principle at least,  is measured in terms of independence and dependence of one group on another. I wish to submit that the real cause of racism is the perception, or fact,  among racists that blacks are economically dependent directly or indirectly on whites, or the western world. Allied with this, is that blacks, as a group, cannot sustain themselves or survive the way they want to survive without depending on the cumulative equity of the white population group. This has nothing to do with hatred. It has everything to do with the construct of direct and indirect sustenance and survival against finite resources. A normal dependency ratio is calculated by adding the number of children and senior citizens and dividing the total by the active labour force. Obviously, an increase in the dependent population increases the dependency ratio. Anyone with dependents will know that they are not equal in status to the breadwinner. They are also a factor when it comes to the quality of life and affordability. While having dependents is good, it comes at some cost.  If you are a Darwinist, at some risk too.

In South Africa, 95% of the economy is controlled by the white population. And since we all depend on the economy, it is not difficult to work out that technically, in broad economic terms,  not at an individual level, every white person has 10 black dependents. In my opinion this is the main cause of racist attitudes and bigotry.

And now to the peaceful cure of racism. Black people need to become significant role players in the economy and become independent, and forge progress that all races can benefit from. We need, as blacks,  to stop trying so desperately  to fit into a Whiteman’s world. Trying to fit in entrenches racist stereotypes. We need to create our own independent world of economics. When this happens there will be no racism. Even if there is no one will care about it. Quod Erat Demonstrandum.

17 June 2020

Comrade Controversy writes in his personal capacity. Post comments below.