The Language of Racism

This morning, I was listening to a fellow talking about racism on KPFA radio in Berkeley. I liked a lot of what he had to say, but he kept using the language of racism, such as referring to people of European descent as Whites, and I had to turn it off. Many commentators have pointed out that the language and labels we use shape the message we send. In my view, you cannot talk about racism without abandoning racist terminology. Even though there are probably millions of Americans who would describe themselves as members of a "White race," critical thinking demands that we point out that no such group exists outside of the racial categories of a racist society. Of course, race itself has no scientific meaning, and it is defined only by racists. For example, in apartheid South Africa, many races were recognized, Whites, Coloureds, Blacks, Asians (Japanese were considered honorary Whites for economic reasons), and quite a few other categories. The South African government had an official body whose job it was to classify people by race. In apartheid Israel, people are classified as Jews and non-Jews, and that system of classification is used to deny most rights to the indigenous Palestinian people except for those descended from Palestinian Jews.

I have commented before that White has no meaning to me in terms of my own identity. I have never heard of a place called Whiteland nor is there any ethnic identify that can be associated with Whiteness. I identify as a descendant of Eastern European Jews. It is certainly true that the American system of racism has granted me many privileges because it classifies me as White and denies those privileges to those classified as Black or Latino. So, how do we discuss this situation without accepting the terminology of racism?

In my view, we have to be very explicit in distancing ourselves from that terminology. We can certainly describe the racist system in its own terms, but we always have to distinguish the false reality described by racist terminology and the genuine reality of nationality and ethnicity. I was offended by the speaker on KPFA because, in his presentation, he described himself and others (by extension, me) as Whites with no qualification whatsoever or an explanation that White is a racist term. When one applies racist terminology to oneself, one grants power to racism and that is completely unacceptable.