Systemic Racism Is More Than Hate

James Whitfield
Kirkland, WA
January 2021

Many Americans associate the Civil Rights movement with leaders who proposed love and non-violence as the antidote to racism.  In response, it makes sense that many of us equate racism with hatred.

Racism, says this conventional wisdom, flows from the hate-filled hearts of racists.

One consequence of this racism-as-hate construct is that people presume their behavior won’t reinforce racism if they simply communicate their good intentions. As if waving a magic wand, they suppose any pain or harm they might have caused disappears once they explain their virtuous motives. I have even heard people admit they may have harmed someone due to lack of understanding, insensitivity, or stereotyping—but they insist their actions had nothing to do with racism. Like an incantation, they intone they could not possibly be complicit in racism because they don’t have hate in their heart.

If we were to eliminate hate would racism disappear?

Advancing racial equity and racial reconciliation requires challenging the ways we typically think about things. In our work, we have found it useful to invite people to consider several key concepts as we work together to overcome the status quo. These are just a few.

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Consideration #1: Define Racism as Systemic

The definition of Racism we use in our work is “the interplay of people, relationships, and rules leading to adverse conditions for Communities of Color compared to White communities - occurring within the context of racialized historical and cultural conditions.” This definition moves racism beyond the realm of individual persons exercising hateful intentions to address the ways that laws, institutions, and cultural expectations reinforce ongoing harm to Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC) in the United States.

Consideration #2: Bigotry is not exactly the same as racism

Hating or disliking someone because they are categorized in a particular social group is called bigotry. Unfortunately, humans are bigots about all sorts of things. For instance, people can be bigoted against others due to their height, political affiliation, or, yes, race. People can harbor racial bigotry against any racial category—even their own. Because bigotry is an internal assessment, it is possible not to demonstrate it openly. Bigots can be nice to people they dislike.

Consideration #3: Racial supremacy is connected to, but not exactly the same as, racism.

Believing that one's race is superior to someone else's is similar to bigotry because it is an internal assessment of the external world, and it may be associated with explicit action or not. Anyone of any background can perceive their racial category as superior to another, or even supreme compared to all others.

Unlike bigotry, actions rooted in racial supremacy are not always expressions of hatred. For instance, a White person may desire to help BIPOC, but be acting out of a belief that the plight of BIPOC is due to their inherent inferiority to White people. The old idea of the "White Man's Burden" to civilize peoples was most certainly taken up as a sincere cause by some. For example, a White teacher choosing to work in an urban school to teach children of Color how to better themselves (in this instance, "better" implicitly means being more like the teacher) can be motivated by a sense of White Supremacy. The same sense of supremacy can motivate White people to move into and gentrify traditionally Black neighborhoods, with completely positive intentions for their new neighbors.  Of course, racial supremacy can also motivate explicitly negative actions like hurling slurs, unnecessarily calling the police, and bombing churches.

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The point of these considerations is to contemplate ways that bigotry and internalized racial superiority contribute to—but are not exactly the same as—systemic racism. Therefore, they require different responses. Bigotry and racial superiority relate to individuals and their internal assessments, while racism is an interplay of persons, relationships, and rules. Ending hatred and promoting love is a noble response to bigotry and racial superiority, but it falls short of redirecting the laws, institutions, and cultural expectations that perpetuate racism.

Beliefs and intentions of individual people—even individuals who act on their beliefs—are not the totality of what perpetuates racism today. Defining racism as hate-filled individuals and reducing the battle to overcome racism to love vs. hate, is not enough. We must also address the rules that create negative outcomes for Communities of Color compared to their White counterparts.

Put simply, the rules in the United States today harm BIPOC. Therefore, doing nothing about these rules perpetuates racism. This is one of the core concepts of "anti-racism." Anyone who does not intervene to upend the current negative outcomes is complicit with (or contributing to) systemic racism.  Only by actively standing against racism is someone "not racist."

Unquestionably, eliminating hate would be a great contribution to our world. But it would not eliminate racism. To use love as the antidote to racism requires more than eliminating hate. A loving response means addressing racism through structured and sustained work to reimagine and redirect the rules that currently create barriers and injustice.

Choosing to partner with one another in equitable relationship in order to systematically overcome the status quo is more powerful than any magician's wand.

That is the love yesterday's Civil Rights leaders call us all into today.