It is common today, particularly in the United States, to hear that we live in a post-racist society. Some express this point by proclaiming that, as a society, we are now ‘colorblind’. What this suggests is that, whatever problems we have had in dealing with race and racism in the past, we are no longer still plagued by such problems. This paper will argue that nothing could be further from the truth. In one sense, racism is even more of a problem than it has ever been—the reason being that, while many of the overt manifestations of racism have disappeared, or are kept secret from the public, the same underlying disenfranchisement and ill-treatment remains. And precisely because the manifestations and forms of ill-treatment are no longer overt, it is more difficult than it used to be to identify and properly respond to them.
A brief treatment of the history of race relations in the United States is a useful place to begin. Even before slavery was an established and accepted practice in the South, African-Americans (or blacks: I will use these expressions interchangeably) were treated poorly. They were paid virtually nothing for back-breaking work over long work days. While this was of little concern to white elites that made money from employing these blacks, it was of concern to the black poor—as well as to the white poor. The elites, including some of the founding fathers of the country, recognized that if they were to retain their power and wealth, a way would have to be found to separate the poor whites from the poor blacks. If this was not done, then the poor would have too much social and political power, and would threaten the position and wealth of the elites (Alexander, 23; cf. Jordan).
Use your promo and get a custom paper on
"The Effects of Racism on Minorities".
Slavery was actually formally adopted to accomplish precisely this. By enslaving blacks, the elites sent the message to poor whites that they were at least not the lowest possible social class. They may have been poor, but at least they were free. In this way, the powerful elites established a precedent that persists even today: poor whites define their condition against African-Americans—and so great is their enmity that they will vote against their own economic interests so long as it prevents blacks from leaving their ‘proper place’.
After the abolition of slavery, the condition of blacks did not improve much. In fact, in many cases it was even worse. This was partly because there were few socio-economic mechanisms in place to help freed slaves to find homes and employment. But it was also because abolition created a white backlash of resentment. The same phenomenon recurred after the Reconstructionist period, with the advent of Jim Crow laws (Kousser; Wynes). Wealthy, conservative elites again faced the problem of protecting their interests from poor voters. Again they found a way to divide the white from the black poor. This time it was accomplished through the use of ‘Jim Crow’ laws. Again the poor whites were pacified. While they may be poor, at least they could sit at the front of the bus.
After the repeal of most of the Jim Crow laws, wealthy elites again had to face the fact that there were many more poor people than there were of them; and the United States is supposed to be a democracy. In theory, therefore, the poor could unite and revolt against the elites, forcing a redistribution of wealth that threatened elite interests. All of this was happening around the late 1970s and early 1980s. In an incredibly bad stroke of luck, the rate of violent crime began to rise around the same time. The elites saw their opportunity, and they took it. The new solution to the problem of ensuring that poor people did not vote them out of office was the ‘War on Crime’. Through legislation that allowed police departments to enforce draconian laws—particularly drug laws—in predominantly African-American neighborhoods, the elites were able to solve their problem once again (Provine; Tonry).
There were two prongs to the new strategy. First, as many black people—mostly young black men—would be arrested and imprisoned as possible. This ensured that most poor blacks would not be able to vote. Second, the ignorant white public was convinced through various subtle propaganda measures that a dangerous wave of black crime threatened their safety. So again the elites got what they needed: blacks were largely unable to vote (either because they were incarcerated; or because they had been convicted of felonies; or because local voting restrictions were designed to prevent them from voting); and poor whites, terrified of what they perceived as ‘black crime’, voted Republican because the Republicans seemed to offer tougher policies on crime. The strategy was made even more effective by the fact that most poor whites are uneducated, and the uneducated are more likely to be antecedently racist.
Fast-forward to today. Little has changed, except that the ‘War on Terror’ has largely supplanted the ‘War on Crime’ and ‘War on Drugs’. As was made clear in the previous Presidential election, there are still large groups of conservative citizens who try everything they can think of to keep blacks and other minorities from voting—this despite the fact that the rate of voter fraud is so low that it could never have any chance of influencing the results of an actual election. While American society has today little tolerance for overt and explicit racist pronouncements or acts, in other respects we are today where we were in respect of race relations thirty years ago. White law enforcement officers routinely murder unarmed black people, and face no consequences (Brewer and Heitzeg). Our prisons are overflowing with black non-violent drug offenders. In short, for a society that is post-racist we have an astonishing number of very serious race-related problems.
- Alexander, Michelle. The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. The New Press, 2012.
- Brewer, Rose M., and Nancy A. Heitzeg. “The racialization of crime and punishment: Criminal justice, color-blind racism, and the political economy of the prison industrial complex.” American Behavioral Scientist 51.5 (2008): 625-644.
- Jordan, Winthrop D. “Modern tensions and the origins of American slavery.” The Journal of Southern History 28.1 (1962): 18-30.
- Kousser, J. Morgan. “Jim Crow Laws.” Dictionary of American History 4 (2003): 479-480.
- Provine, Doris Marie. Unequal under law: Race in the war on drugs. University of Chicago Press, 2008.
- Tonry, Michael. “Race and the War on Drugs.” University of Chicago Legal Forum. Vol. 1994. No. 1. 2015.
- Wynes, Charles E. “The Evolution of Jim Crow Laws in Twentieth Century Virginia.” Phylon (1960-) 28.4 (1967): 416-425.
