LIFE IN AMERICA

'AiMERICANS ARE engaged in awar over a word: racism." Thusbegan Charies M. Blow in a July

..2010 op-ed piece in The New YoiicTimes. The article, "Obama's 'Race' War," didnot slow the debate, whicb continued through the2010 elections and into the new Congress withthe election of Tea Party candidates who draggeddiscrimination, immigration, and even "birttier"issues into another year.

Blow repx)rted four months later that there al-so exists on the American political scene a "sen-timent that the current racial discontent is beingfueled by a black liberal grievance industry thatrefuses to acknowledge racial progress, acceptpersonal responsibility, or acknowledge its ownracial transgressions." He cites Harvard Univer-sity, University of Washington, and Universityof Virginia data to note that racial prejudice is atwo-way street In tests taken between 2000 and2006, three-quarters of whites were found tohave implicit pro-white/anti-black feelings while40% of blacks possess a pro-black/anti-whitebias. Self-reporting in an ABC News poll in2009, 34% of whites admitted fo "some feelingsof racial prejudice" while 38%; of blacks admit-ted the same. This seems to be the way we are.

However, neither racial discrimination noreven racial prejudice is the same as racism. Dis-crimination involves treatment as well as difter-entiation, and even may be perceived as a cor-rective discrimination, as is the case of affirma-tive action policies around the globe. Prejudicemostly is directed at separation, not perpetuatingadvantage.

Racism is the most perverse of the attributesof six;ial f)ehavior related to race. Racism is thepractice of diflerentiating on an assumption ofsuperior and inferior biological traits that can berecognized in physical characteristics, especiallyskin color. In the common usage, racism is a de-fensive reaction from those who have, not fiomfhose who do not In the vast majority of globalcireumstances, it is an expression of lighter-skin-ned peoples toward the darker skinned. Whilethere are cire-umstances of "reverse discrimina-tion," there are few cases of "reverse racism"that would involve remaining in an interior eco-nomic or social power situation and fewer stillof reversing completely a pxiwer hierarehy. (Zim-babwe perhaps being one of them, althoughwhites still have extensive economic powerthere.)

Racism issues have taken on near epidemicproportions in the U.S. since the presidentialcampaign of Barack Obama and more sincehis subsequent election, with racism, discrimi-nation, and prejudice all being thrown into themix. Demonstrators have shown up at healthcare town halls and rallies with signs picturingPres. Obama as a witch doctor or with placardsstating tiiat "TTie Zoo Has an African [Lion]and the White House Has a Lyin' African."

Two years after the election, "birther" contin-gents keep px)pping up claiming that Obamawas bom in Kenya not Hawaii, contrary to sig-nificant evidence that says otherwise, or that hismother was not legally an American, or an

BY LLEWELLYN D. HOWELL

Race IS not going away, but it cannotbe allowed to divide an ostensibly

equal rights nation between white andblack or between white and brown. "

adult or that he had dual citizenship. The birtherlist goes on. Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, TeaParty protesters, and other right wing commen-tators bring race to the fore at every opportunity.One survey in early 2010 showed that nearlyone-quarter of Americans thought Barack Oba-ma was a Muslim, despite all evidence to thecontrary during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Affirmative action policies continue to be chal-lenged and even civil rights and immigrationlegislation are being pushed toward a choppingblock. Would all this be occurring if Obama hadRussian, Jewish, or Asian heritage'?

Discrimination and profiling are as embed-ded in society tcxiay as they were in the days ofcivil rights activism and before. This is not just

62 USA TODAY • MARCH 2011

because of Pres. Obama's skin color. altiioughtiie darkness of his skin has generated much oftiie frenzy. Ironically, he actually is half whiteand was raised in a white culture.

Race and color also have been at the fore-front of tiie immigration issue, especially as ithas surfaced in Arizona SB IO7(). a state billthat would make an effort to close tiie border

witii Mexico as well as generate some form ofprofiling in order for local police to identifypossible "illegal immigrants," which, in Ari-zona automatically implies tiiat tiie individualsare Mexican or Central American, with readilyidentifiable color, features, and stature. A Fed-eral judge has held tiiat tiie profiling portions oftiie bill possibly are unconstitutional and tiiey

have been stayed temporarily, but the debateover tiie bill continues to be heated and tiie ar-guments will go on.

The July 2010 incident where conservativeblogger Andrew Breitbiirt created a heavily edit-ed video implying racism on tiie part i)f USDAemployee Shiriey ShcnxxJ again has raised thespecter of ongoing racial division in tiiis cotintry.Attempting to counter arguments about racismamong Tea Party participants. Breitbart involvedthe NAACP (where Sherrod spoke in Marchabout her own evolution in racial attitudes) andthe Obama Administration (which pressured herto resign) in kicking this homets' nest in Aineri-can society with a falsehixxJ about Shemxl. Bre-itbart and Fox News commentators instituted adebate about reverse racism, completely tumingaround tiie hi.storic definition of tiie term racism.

The issue now has gone to court with Sher-rod suing Breitbart for defamation of characterFar more important ;ire Breitbart's continuedefforts to stimulate racial antagonism in a far-reaching blog on behalf of a small minority ontiie right. Alter 235 years of racial division intiie country, progress on resolving race rela-tions seems stunted and retrogressive.

Issues of racism are not, of course, tiie ex-clusive domain of tiie U.S., nor are tiiey a lega-cy of slavery. Race hierarchies and conflictsexist throughout history and across every conti-nent. Africa is rife with racial division, so areEurope, the Middle East, China, and LatinAmerica. Malaysia has strtiggled for the last4(X) years witii racial sectarianism and contin-ues today to have divisions and hierarchiesamong Malay. Chinese, Indians, and others.

The worid is separated into races and skincolors, whether we like it or not Other criteria oforganization—stich as religion, aspects of cul-ture, languages, and politics—all enter into defi-nitions of the intemational .scxial environment,but none are as important as race and color Theissue of race and race di.scrimination gets moreattention in the U.S. bccaase color identificationeasily can result in contagion and there is a me-dia that can be appealed to and that feeds on it.

The term racism has become an tindelinedepithet in the U.S. Race is a biological term,having to do witii physical appearance. AutiiorMichael Levin—Why Race Matters: Race Dif-ferences mid What They Mean—pegs race toassumptions about itncestral origins and, then,intellectual capabilities. In the immediate, prac-tical sen.se, race is about recognition and group-ing, not about 10 or culture. There is an interre-lationship between how people appear and theircultures and behaviors, whetiier there shotild beor not. This linkage is alxxit etiinicity. not race.The IQ question needs to be set aside complete-ly since it is not uselul in the context of tiiepractice of racism in the U.S.

Stereotyping is an ordinary human ability tosimplify, just as we use norms or averages todescribe natural and scxiological phenomena. Amean score is intended to enable forecasting but"the average age," for example, still is stereo-typing. Humans ase race this way.

Despite the fact that, biologically, race in-

USA TODAY • MARCH 2011 63

LIFE IN AMERICA

eludes fadal and body feattjres. the nature of hair,brain characteristics, and even blood attributesand disease vulnerabilities, race for most humansis what we see. It is skin color first It then is haircolor and type; eye color, shape of lips. eyes, andcheekbones; Ixxly size; and stature. Htiman be-ings, of course, go beyond the physical fea-tures—in identifying themselves and others. Fa-eial hair for men; clothing of every type; hairstyles, including hair dyes; and decorations thatare intended to be visible to others in identifyingthem (turbans, crosses, earrings, tattoos, etc.)—but physical feattires arc the most visible and themost indelible.

Racism is a reflection of the use of race toform not only separation, but hierarchy. Light-skinned are higher up in the hierarchy than dark-skinned. In China, for instance, this puts HanChinese (in their eyes at least) at a superior levelto Tibetans. In Malaysia, the Chinese placethemselves at a higher level than Indians orMalays. Throughout Latin America, Mestizosarc at a higher level than the darker-skinned In-dian populations.

Such prejudices (culturally ingrained dis-crimination and hierarchy) are a fiinction of thehuman condition, that will expand, rather thancontract as population grows and competitionfor resources and simple space compounds.This contention integrates racial distance, com-munications, and culttire theories, while draw-ing on theories put forth by sociologist EmoryBogardus on social, ethnic, and racial distanceand those of political scientist Karl Deutsch onhuman communications and the establishmentof community.

Communication theory, as it deals with race,asserts that the senses and the brain coordinatein cognition, but eyesight is the most powerfulsource of information about potential threats.Another individual's color (face) can be seen atgreat distance before other attributes can be de-termined (religion, political party, ethnic group,even sex) and becomes the primary discrimi-nating characteristic in the human community.These discriminations primarily are defensive.That is. they determine who is "in-group" andwho is "out-group."

Social distance theory argues that humancommunities are natural mechanisms for de-fense and are organized in concentric circlesaround the individual, beginning with immedi-ate family and emanating outward in decreas-ingly familiar ranks. Those circles arc deter-mined on the basis of the immediately recog-nizable (motber and infant family) and leamedsupport and threat the latter being establishedon the basis of cognitive capabilities. Samenessof color is one element of this determination ofcommunity, but human hierarchy has had forthousands of years and across all societies aranking of light to dark. Racism, it appears, isimbedded deeply in human society.

Can we stop being racist, or being preju-diced on the basis of color, or discriminating?We are bombarded constantiy by advocates ofracial justice witb claims that we shotild. mustand can—to little effect The argument posed

in these terms, essentially is that we becomecolorblind.

In Are We Bom Racist?, Susan Fiske cites theresearcb case by New York University psychol-ogist Elizabeth Phelps and her colleagues onneural responses to yearbook photographs."When white men in their sttidy briefly saw pic-tures of unfamiliar black male faces, their brainactivity spiked in a region known as the amyg-dala which is involved in the feeling.s of vigi-lance generally, and the fear response specifical-ly; the amygdala lights up when we encounterpeople or events we judge tiireatening." Sheadds that "several other labs, including my own.have uncovered a similar link between amyg-dala activity and wbite people's perception ofblack faces." Other studies cited in her rcsearchfound similar reactions for whites, but not blacks,thus diminishing the validity of arguments aboutreverse racism.

Four decades ago. the Harvard Universitypolitical scientist Karl Deutsch made this argu-ment about discrimination in a communicationscontext; as innate tools, he argued, the five hu-man senses—eyesight, hearing, smell, touch,and taste—are employed to separate friendsfixim enemies. Of these, touch and taste are theleast used because they are utilized in such closequarters. It will be too late to save you from thedagger.

The ability to discriminateSome groups develop their sense of smell

more than others and can distinguish betweenbody odors. Hearing involves such things asmachinery sounds, gunfire and explosions, andvoiee communications, sometimes amplified.While all of these may help in distinguishingan enemy, discrimination depends mosUy onvoice communications. The verbal a)ntent of acommunication, as well as language, grammarand word usage, accent pitch, timber, and toneimmediately set people together or apart.

Yet hearing only can become a discriminat-ing ability wben distance is minimal, especiallyfor the voiee. Eyesight, Deutsch said, is themost powerful discriminator. We can see facialcolors a half-mile away, especially if the skin islight versus dark. It is the first line of defense.This is so in every society, no matter what skincolors are prevalent in that society, including insub-Saharan African countries.

In Social Distance (1959). sociologist Em-ory Bogardus presented a culmination of morethan four decades of research into what hecalled "the degree of sympathetic understand-ing that functions between person and person,between person and group, and between groupand group." Bogardus charted the mettic sœialdistances between "loved ones" (at tbe closestend) and "enemies" (at the far end). He appliedthis instrtiment throughout the U.S. and his stu-dents administered it around the globe.

In 1967. Bogardus focused in on relationsamong racial groups in A Forty Year RacialDistance Study, With an initial survey in 1926.Bogardus stirveyed the American population

four times, with a concluding study in 1966.Looking at the scores from his total samples, in-cluding African-Americans (Negroes), scoresfrom the mostiy white respondents put Negroesand other dark-skinned groups at the bottom ofthe scale consistentiy across that time span.

In his questionnaire. Bogardus spaced sevenquestions on a continuum. At the first point inhis neamess scale (posed in Westem societies).Bogardus placed "Would marry into group,"then "Would have as close fiiends" (these are re-versed in some Islamic societies). Third was"Would have as next d(X)r neighbors." an impor-tant consideration in physically defended vil-lages and communities. The .statements rangeddown to "Would debar from my nation." Eachstatement poses its own understanding of howsociety is constructed. TTie "next door neigh-bors" statement especially is interesting as popu-lation expansion and migration across nation-state borders bas come to characterize sœietaldevelopment In the U.S.. ethnic (and oftenracial) boundaries have endured in cities andsuburbs, down to racially defined real estatefirnis and agents, as well as language definitionsof territory (and not jtist 'Se babia español' butalso 'English spoken here') and vernacularnewspapers. Bogardus' social distance and ra-cial distance is translated into physical distancebetween homes (where we go and close our-selves in when it is dark).

Race and racism are such .sensitive issuesthat it is difficult to have honest conversationsabout them. What discussions do exist are mostoften framed as questions of morality. As Boga-rdus. Deutsch. Fiske. and others have aigued.race is about defensive community. Racismelearly includes an element of empowermentof superiority of lighter-skinned petiples overdarker-skinned.

While the notion of defensive communitycan be understcxxl readily, what about the notionof superiority of white skin, or Fiske's citation offear-inducing black skin? As in Bogardus'study, in virtually every scx;iety the racial rank-ing runs from light to dark. Why is this? Whenwe talk about racism in tbe U.S.. we alwaysseem to be talking about what whites think aboutblacks. In trying to overcome racism, we talkabout a problem in the minds of white pa)ple.about how white people (including Latinos andAsians) see black skin and automatically makenegative asstimptions.

My own research on race has carried mefrom New York to Florida from Hawaii to Ari-zona and places in between. Tben on to AsiaEurope. Central America the Middle East andAfrica I have gotten to know people well fromeach of these comers of the worid. I systemati-cally have surveyed Southeast Asians, withmore than 2,500 respondents in five countries,over an 18-year time frame about ethnic andracial attitudes. Over an even longer time peri-od I systematically have questioned Americansabout this issue. What I found is that nonblackpeople everywhere have deep set negative feel-ings about black skin. Even about just darkerskin.

64 USA TODAY • MARCH 2011

Whites in die U.S, detour around black maleson die street especially when they are in groups.The modvadon is fear. It also is the case thatChinese from die north of China, the lighter-skinned, make negadve assumpdons about dark-er-skinned Chinese from die soudi of die œun-try, as well as even more negadve assumpdonsabout Africans or American blacks or Malays.Thais diink black people are "scary." Lighter,Mediterranean-skinned Indians from the northol India tre;it die darker peoples from the southof India widi disdiiin. Northem Europeans lookdown on the Mediterranean types, Arabs sdllenslave black Afric;ms (take a close look at racerelations in Sudan), and African-Americanshave a color ctxie that puts the lighter-skinnedamong diem (especially women) in some moredesirable category.

There also arc deep-set positive feelingsabout whites ;ind their light skin. "Blondes havemore fun"—although it was not the Nazis whoemhedded diis diinking in Westerners and dierest of the world. This concept existed in Amer-ican thinking, at least, well before die rise ofAdolf Hitler and abides quite separately fromNadonal Swialism tcxiay. Women mosdy, butalso many men, dye dieir hair blonde, or justdie ends of dieir hair. Few—very few—dyedieir hair black, especially not blondes. Dairkdyes are just to hide gray, not hlonde.

The use of black-and-white to connote some-thing about die inner being is common in myth-ology worldwide and its corollaries exist in 21st-century thinking iuid behavior. Think about it fora moment. In die Middle Ages, diere were whiteknights (g(xxl) and black knights (bad). The badguy in American Westerns wore a black hat,rode a black borse, and often black clothing,while die gixxl guy wore white. Brides wearwhite, expressing virginity and purity. That iseveiywhere tcxlay. Black witches are evil; whitewitches are g(xxl. You only have to watch "TheWizard of Oz" to be reminded of diis.

In Malay, the phrase sangat hitam (thewords separately mean "very" and "black")translate in the vemacular (not literally) as "ug-ly." In Thai, die term "jai dahm" literally is"black heart" but translates as "bad," "unkind,"or even "evil." Putdng die concepts of skin col-or together with tlie gtxxl-bad dichotomy is thecommon Thai phrase pieuw dalmi, jai dahm("black skin, black heart"). The phrase says lit-dc about Thais or Thailand; it does speak aboutdie nature of humanity.

Chinese women work construcdon in Asia.When diey do, working outside all day, dieywear long-sleeved shirts, long pants, gloves,and a headcover diat includes a cone shaped vi-sor covering dieir laces. Why? To keep die sunolf, not the dust and dirt. Dark skin in Asia isugly skin. Eun)peans and Americans like to tan,but virtually no one else. Asians think they arecrazy. In Cambodia, young girls historicallyhave been restricted to dieir homes, somedmesto llicir i\K)nis with no windows, undl they areof marrying age. This is to ensure die lightnessof their skin and therefore their attracdvenessand prospects for a good marriage.

In English, we have "black bumor," "blackops," and "black sheep." In China, a negadvetum in die stock market goes into die "black."There are a diousand more examples of die sep-aradon of white and black, in every region andin every race and edinic group, into posidve andnegadve, good and bad, life and deadi, heaven-ly and evil. These divisions precede colonialismand the rise of the Europeans. They are farmore deeply set in die division between whitesand blacks diat we see in die U.S. today; dieyare much more finely honed dian diis, into gra-dadons of light brown and darker brown. Thecolor categories are reinforeed by religions andcaste systems.

These examples may belabor die point, but itis important to emphasize diat race and colorprejudices exist in every society. It certainly isnot unique to the U.S., as Americans (blacksand whites) and others often portray it to be.The color spectnam in die racial-color hierarchynins from light to dark, from white at die top toblack at the bottom. This dieory argues thatracism is set much more deeply in biology andpsychology than in sociology or polidcs. It is setin die human psyche, in die fear of die dark, indie dread of the unknown. It is a much morediflicult que.sdon to answer and respond to thanone which aigues diat racial prejudice resides insimple history—diat is, it is not a leftover of dieslave trade.

Babies do it, too?Because of social sensidvity and polidcal cor-

rectness, diere are few studies diat probe innateracial prejudice. An excepdon is the report byPo Bronson and Ashley Merryman, "See BabyDiscriminate," published in die September 2009Newsweek and dieir 2007 book NurtureShock.Their analysis is built around a 2(X)6 applicadonof a "Racial Atdtude Measure" by Biigitte Vit-tnip at die Children's Research Lab at die Uni-versity of Texas. Vittrup's experiment kxiked forinherent negadve racial idendficadon in a con-trol group and provided opdons for parents to at-tempt to eliminate prejudicial options in theirchildren. This latter effort failed. That is, evenwhen parents tried to control dieir children's en-vÍR)nment to prevent die infusion of racial dis-crimination, they could not. The studies alsofound diat white babies as young as six monthsold already have begun to discriminate amongskin colors, and negadvely toward blacks. It ap-parenUy is impossible to be, like cable televi-sion's mock news commentator Stephen Col-bert pretends, colorblind

A member of an audience where I spoke acouple of years ago responded to diis diesis bysaying diat she did not want to believe it be-cause it would make die dilemma of racism un-solvable. However, die problem has not beenresolved by epidiets, accusadons, or charges. Itcannot be solved in court. In fact, problemswidi racial idendty and infusions of racism intopolitics and social organization have, if any-thing, expanded in recent years. A poll pub-lished in the Arizona Republic in the wake of

die passage of SB 1070 and subsequent courtacdons, tlnds diat by a 48% to 34% count Ari-zonans believe diat Ladnos are more likely tobe discriminated against compared widi non-Ladnos as a result of SB 1070 debate. Anecdo-tal evidence gives strong support to diis view,even diough a substandal majority of Arizonanssupported die bill.

The challenge is to deal widi die problem indie U.S. civil rigbts context, and to see die mat-ter as a global and pervasive condidon diat willhave to be dealt widi dirough educadon and socializadon in all sociedes. What c;ui be done inthe U.S.?—several things that will not be easy.First of all, American diought leaders have totake an acdve posidon, widi both right ;uid leftreducing the incendiary rhetoric that unitesracial antagonisms widi guns. This is not a Sec-ond Amendment issue. Both die "piiliticallycorrect' and emodonal right wingers have avoid-ed addressing die nature of racism and it.s ori-gias. If racial division is innate, as VitUiip's studysuggests, incendiary shouting by cable televi-sion talk show hosts will not resolve die situa-tion.

Second, if die problems are innate, psycho-logical and social modificadons in human diink-ing have to be started somewhere. The logicalanswer is in die sch(X)ls. There is a reason forpublic schools; they arc a part of the accultura-don process—in what is taught about each odierand in the opportunity to mix ;uid .s(xialize. Thisis not an argument for "ethnic studies" inschcxils. In fact it is die opposite. Edinic studiesprograms diat arc populated only by studentstrom die ethnic group being studied (for whatev-er reason) do not resolve diis problem, onlyheighten it or even exaggerate it.

Injusdce is not die issue. The issue is how toexpand die social parameters diat encompassour groups and expand die use of senses odierdian sight diat we use in establishing satety cir-cles. Fiske also reports diat aidiough "peoplewho exhibit more prejudiced atdtudes or behav-iors sbow more amygdala response (direat orfear]... whites' amygdalae do not go olf to fa-mous black faces. Likewise, dieir brains growaccustomed lo new black laces after repeatedexposure." Simple exposure as well as arguingfor aflirmadve acdon and integradon can be asoludon, at least in part.

TTiere is, possibly, litde diat can be done toaddress diis problem, as die questioner in myaudience proclaimed. At die moment diough,nodiing is being done about it, while polideiansand die media play die issue for what it is worthin pushing side-taking on diis and odier issues.That has to stop. Race is not going away, but itcannot be allowed to divide an ostensibly equalrights nadon between white and black or be-tween white and brown. *

Llewellyn D. Howell, former Intemational Af-fairs editor o/USA Tiiday andprofe.ssor emer-itus of international management at the Tlnin-derhird School of Global Management, Glen-dale, Ariz., is the author mut editor of severalbooks.

USA TODAY • MARCH 2011 65

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