I teach my rhetoric and popular culture seminar by working through a series of concepts on one day and then applying those concepts to an example or series of examples the next day. Over the last couple of days, we’ve been talking about race and culture. After introducing some critical race studies and whiteness studies concepts, I usually then have the class work through a few Lenny Bruce bits that were the basis of a chapter I wrote with Chad Nelson. Since I’m pretty familiar with the arguments in the chapter (having written them), I use the lesson as a chance to give my students a peek behind the curtain into my critical process.
This semester, I’ve supplemented the discussion with Eric King Watts’ essay, “Postracial Fantasies, Zombies, and Blackness.” I intended to use Watts’ critique of the zombie Obama shooting targets as a text to work through on day two (along with the Lenny Bruce bits), but, to my surprise, the theoretical conversation about postracism paid more dividends then the case study (not that Watt’s criticism is somehow less valuable than his lit review. Quite the contrary, it’s really good. My pedagogical skill was the problem, not the criticism).
Of note, Watts—following Coates and Dyson—emphasizes the idea that postracial discourses (denials of race and racism… think, “I don’t see race”) often work by creating a logical progression from race to racism. That is, because race is a thing so too is racism. Or, the social construction of race creates racism. This is a pretty common way of thinking about race and leads it to an apparently simple solution: if we just stop talking about race then racism will wither on the vine. If we stop creating categories then we will stop treating people like shit. Would that it was so. For some reason, even though I encounter legions of bright-eyed undergraduates who insist that they “don’t even think about race” or “don’t see color” racism is still evident (see, for instance, any newsmedia website comment section… or your TwitFaceGram feed).
The reality, and Watts demonstrates this clearly, is the other way around: racism begets race. The social construction of race was always carried out at the behest of racism (and colonialism, classism, etc.). The concept race supports the structures of racism. Without racism, we wouldn’t need race (and make no mistake, culture needs race).[1] Without racism, race would lose both its oppressive capacity and its potential to help critics understand racism (and culture). Without racism, race would be empty, meaningless, and, essentially, unnecessary.
I’m struck by this remarkably simple, conceptual reversal because it solves the problem of the “personal racist” that comes up whenever I discuss race with my students. The “personal racist” is a lot like the “personal Jesus”—the one who you invite into your heart to solve all of the problems of sin (as though the divine requires an invitation—we tend to think pretty highly of ourselves, eh?). Unlike the “personal Jesus,” the “personal racist” is the Klansman in your heart that you’ve expelled because, surely, you aren’t a racist (if you were, you’d have invited that bastard in, burnt a cross on your neighbor’s lawn, and joined a militia on the Southern Border, right?).
The problem, for me, is that because folks have clearly disavowed their “personal racist” they often fail to see the complexities of racism and race in contemporary culture (see also, me; I fail in this very same way all the time). The “personal racist” puts race before racism by internalizing racism as a personal, individual problem rather than a societal, cultural problem that affects not just me (personally), but all of us together.
I can either challenge, support, or accept racism. Disavowing my “personal racist,” doesn’t challenge racism, at least not at the cultural/societal level. Instead, challenging my “personal racist” permits me to feel good about my relationship to the racism that persists all around me that I have accepted (and allows me to ignore my complacence). It’s only when I forget about my self-serving “personal racist” for a minute that I can start to see how racism is keeping me from myself, my culture, and my neighbor.
Not being (a) racist isn’t good enough and it never was. We must be anti-racist. The only choice is to challenge racism.
My colleagues of color and fellow scholars of race know this already. I haven’t said anything new here, but I’m still coming to grips with my complacence. Feel free to join me.
