From: Drew Robertson
Columbus
There seems to be an increasing number of calls in our community for civil discussions on sensitive matters such as race, class, gender, equity and justice. These are often framed as invitations to “an honest conversation” on this or that matter. Typically, though, these conversations begin in the middle, on the apparent assumption that everyone involved agrees on the meanings of the basic terms under consideration. That assumption is almost certainly mistaken, and the result is more likely to be mutual frustration and dismay than harmony and understanding.
As an overture to better dialogue, then, I ask that its advocates answer basic questions before proceeding. For example, what, precisely, do you mean by “race?” What do you mean by “racism?” Do your interlocutors agree? Fruitful discussion can only begin when the answer to this last question is an unequivocal yes.
When I studied anthropology as an undergraduate, the teaching was that there is no biological reality to the notion of race among human beings. We are all of one species and that’s that. I recently learned that the American Anthropological Association still holds this view, and I myself prefer not to speak in terms of race (though avoiding it is nearly impossible in contemporary discourse).
On the above view race is not biological but social, that is “socially constructed.” How many non-specialists agree?
Findings in modern genetics provide some reason to think that there is, after all, a biological basis for race. Geneticists are well aware of the incendiary nature of such material, and so they speak of “ancestry markers” and “clines” rather than “race.”
Which view, the biological or the social, is under consideration? Are there others? Do we all agree?
The term “racism” is equally confused. Sometimes it means simply the belief that races exist among humans. More commonly it refers to the belief that one race is superior to others, or that one is inferior. Note that this understanding seems to assume the first, that is that races do exist.
Lately the political left has attempted to define racism as “prejudice plus power.” Leftists go on to argue that only whites have power and therefore only they can exhibit “racism.”
These various views carry very different implications. Again I ask which, if any, of them is under discussion? Do we all agree on a single understanding when we speak on this delicate matter?
I have focused here on only two terms. Similar dissections could be undertaken on other knotty concepts such as class, gender, equity, and justice. Do let us have conversations on these matters, and let us begin at the beginning.
