"End Racism?" Wrong

 

“End Racism?” Wrong

Peter Schultz

 

            The signs say “End Racism,” but that’s wrong. They should read “End Race,” because racism is a byproduct of the idea that human beings should be categorized, divided up into different “races.” They shouldn’t be. The concept of race is a complete construction, a complete fabrication, a figment of our imaginations, as the differences between those designated “whites” and those designated “blacks” are for all practical purposes non-existent.

 

            Any attempt to end racism, if not accompanied by an end to race thinking, will not only fail but it will fortify racism, make it stronger because such attempts imply that race is real. In other words, having made up a way to categorize human beings by race, then we set about to solve a problem we have created and that can only exist if racial categorizations make sense, are real. But because race isn’t real, if it isn’t constantly reinforced it will disappear, as it does when human beings are living in communities together without a history of being categorized by race. As has been said, “There are no black people in Africa!”

 

            All of the current focus on ending racism merely serves to reinforce the idea that human beings are significantly different racially because some are “black” and others are “white.” The idea of race is fortified and then people wonder, “Gee, why is there so much racism around?” Racism follows race as night follows day. Once you embrace the idea of race, the result is racism, as should be obvious. There might be “good racism,” that is, helping the “black race,” or there might be bad racism, that is, dehumanizing the “black race.” You’ll probably discover, however, that you have both kinds of racism. But good or bad, it is still racism. And it won’t go away until the idea of race goes away.