Wednesday, January 15, 1997
RACE:
Covert racism
pervades U.S. society, destroying melting pot
"I have a dream my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but
by the content of their character. I have a dream today!"
August 28, 1963
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Today is one of my favorite days of the year. Not only is it the
day after my own birthday, but on Jan. 15 we remember the birth of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the highly publicized leader of the
centuries-old civil rights movement here in the United States. I
also give thanks to former President Ronald Reagan (this has to be
a first) for signing into law a national holiday recognizing this
leader, his followers, and their accomplishments which we will
celebrate on Monday. But I choose not to debate partisan politics
today and instead discuss a different subject which penetrates
every aspect of American society like no other. I speak of the
concept of "race."
Now first off, you are probably looking at my picture and saying
to yourself, "What does this @#$%! blond-haired, blue-eyed WASP
male know about ‘race?’ This guy doesn’t have a clue about what it
means to be a person of color in this country. He is probably just
another angry white male trying to justify his ancestors’
historical dominance over other people. There must be something
better to read!"
WRONG. I challenge you to read on and reflect upon the knowledge
I have gained over my lifetime and wish to share with you today.
Some will say I’m right and others will say I’m wrong, but that is
not what matters. Think about what it means to be a member of one
species  Homo Sapiens  and of one race  human
beings.
There is no such thing as "race." It simply does not exist. I
should repeat this because many do not seem to get it: "RACE" does
not exist!!
"Race" is a social and cultural construct (a human invention)
that serves a certain historical purpose: to develop and maintain
justifications for unequal relations among populations. Let me
break that down for you. Human beings have always attempted to
justify dominance over other human beings through imperial conquest
(making them conquered slaves), land ownership (having others work
your land for minimal subsistence), or by social stratification
such as a caste system like "race."
"Race" is not unique to the United States, but we relish in its
intricacies more than any society I know. For the most part,
Americans choose not to interrelate unless necessary, such as at
school, work or public places. Even in these places we choose not
to associate under many circumstances. Some say they don’t feel
comfortable. Some are fearful because of preconceived notions or
acquired prejudices through family and friends. And some are just
plain xenophobic; that is, they believe "race" truly exists and
therefore defines our society. Although "race" does not exist, what
does exist in the United States is racism  both overt and
covert.
The overbearing nature of racism has been a constant in American
society, omnipresent even as we speak today. The Three-Fifths
Compromise, counting African slaves as three-fifths of a person as
a means of apportionment for Congressional districts, was the first
of many institutional events. The Civil War (1861-65) was a war
over economics, grounded deeply in the slave system and inferiority
of Africans. Jim Crow laws (late 1800s-1954), desegregation, the
Civil Rights movement, affirmative action, unionization, as well as
many other events could and do fill volumes of books. Racism can
even be seen historically at the state level here in California, or
at the local level in the Los Angeles basin.
In California during the state Constitutional Convention of
1849, one of the most hotly debated topics was whether to let
Mexicans become citizens or not. Most of the Mexicans in Alta
California were of Spanish descent, which meant that they were as
white as the Anglo Americans. They won the fight and the first
governor of California was a former Mexican national.
Then it was the Chinese Exclusion Act in the late 1800s. You
see, once the intercontinental railroad was completed, this cheap
source of disposable labor was no longer needed, and California
already had enough Mexicans in the agricultural fields. The Chinese
moved to the cities and opened businesses which eventually competed
with the whites, so the legislature decided to restrict
immigration. Sound familiar?
The same thing happened to the Japanese with the Gentlemen’s
Agreement of 1907. Japan openly helped their citizens financially
in California and Hawaii, allowing the Japanese to rise in social
status. When the whites felt pressured, they outlawed the Japanese
as well.
And then came the Philipinos. In the early 1900s, Mexico was in
a civil war, so cheap labor from south of the border was hard to
come by. The United States had acquired (more like took over) the
Philippine Islands in the Spanish-American War of 1898 and was
using their labor to harvest the sugar cane in Hawaii. Soon the
agricultural companies brought thousands of Philipinos to
California to work the fields until they were perceived as a
threat, right about the time of the Watsonville Riots of 1924.
Mexico was stable, so the agri-businesses didn’t need the
Philipinos anymore.
Other racist events in Los Angeles and California history
include the relocation of Japanese-Americans during World War II,
the Zoot Suit Riots, racially restrictive covenants, the Watts
Riots of 1965, the extermination of Oakland’s Black Panther Party
for Self-Defense by the FBI and COINTELPRO, the infamous acts of
the LAPD, incarceration of numerous political prisoners including
former UCLA lecturer Angela Davis, the United Farm Workers battles,
the Los Angeles uprising of 1992 in which Koreans took on the brunt
of violence, the O.J. Simpson trial, and especially the current
rash of violence by skinheads. Let me give you one more example to
highlight the power of racism and its dominance.
My parents live in southwest Riverside county where racism is
more prevalent than many places these days. You have probably seen
the videos of Riverside County Sheriffs and U.S. Border Patrol
agents beating Mexican nationals. This is a daily occurrence. You
see, the area is prime agricultural land with many citrus groves
and wineries around.
The Border Patrol station, just south of Temecula and the county
line, is also closed once a week, usually on Sundays, allowing
illegal immigrants the opportunity to make it to work on Monday
morning. A few years ago, the INS even had buses lined up to take
workers home on Friday. This was happening while Gov. Pete Wilson
and others were pushing for Proposition 187. The Grand Wizard of Ku
Klux Klan on the West Coast lives on the other side of the station,
a small town named Fallbrook.
This is the epitome of Orange County white flight. This is overt
racism in the 1990s. Although this type of racism has existed since
the founding of this nation and even before that, what you and I
must deal with today is covert racism, especially now that you are
in college and have/will become a member of the educated, middle,
professional, or upper class.
Covert racism  hidden or disguised  is sometimes
called civil rights initiatives or other twisted euphemisms. This
type of racism is also apparent in our daily lives.
Why is it that the dorm cafeteria employees are all African
Americans or Latinos? Why can’t they get the higher paying jobs
with less grease and work elsewhere on campus?
Or what about the Greek system? Talk about a homogeneous
white-dominated culture. (Don’t even think about it. I used to be
president of a fraternity.)
Or that some people think racism doesn’t exist at all, yet they
can’t figure out where black people learned how to dance so
well?
Racism exists everywhere. We let racism define our first
impressions and perceptions of people leading to a usually negative
attitude. These assumptions are based on skin color, language,
clothing, accent, etc. You look around today and I can guarantee
that you will see covert racism with your own eyes and ears.
Now, you might be saying to yourself, "I hear you man, but what
can I do to be down? How can I stop the perversion? How could I
possibly help others to see the light?"
First, you need to recognize your own prejudices and
misconceptions and begin to frame your own thinking without
assuming so much about other people. You might also want to hand
your friend or even your enemy this article and say "What do you
think?"
Although it may seem that these differences are a matter of
semantics, we define ourselves and others ultimately decide our
actions. An egalitarian society, as defined in our founding
documents, should be our goal. This means achieving
multiculturalism and pluralism as well.
Personally, I like to think of American society as a big pot of
melted bars of chocolate. There is regular chocolate, chocolate
with almonds, chocolate with peanuts, chocolate with caramel,
chocolate with crisp, white chocolate, special dark chocolate, etc.
In the end, it’s all just chocolate. All of us are human beings and
we all add to the final mixture of a better society.
Live in Dr. King’s words. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous
slopes of California.