America's Race Problem

Why we cannot move forward being enslaved by language.

June 27, 2023 at 1:41 pm | Posted in African American, American Bigotry, American history, anglo saxons, Bigotry in America, biological races, black inferiority, discrimination, Disrespect, ethnic stereotypes, Ethnicity in America, European American, identity, justice, language, Prejudice, public education, racism, Slavery, social conditioning, U. S. Census, white supremacy | 6 Comments
Tags: ACLU, African Americans, Ashley Montagu, black, Confronting Myths, current-events, ethnicity, European Americans, John H. Standfield, NAACP, Prejudice, race, SPLC, white

One of the challenging questions that has long plagued people working to overcome ethic bigotry in America is how long will the organizations like the NAACP, ACLU, SPLC and others that are in the forefront of fighting for justice will come to the realization that what they have been doing for all these years is not fighting the cause of what is called racism, but the effects of it. Every day we can see, read, and hear about some non-European ethnic citizen being discriminated against or abused in America and often we hear about some civil rights organization taking the case to court and winning a judgment on that case. We might say that the win is a small victory, but the battle has not been touched because nothing has been done to eliminate the so-called racism.

Organizations like those mentioned above have been fighting what they consider a battle against racism. Yet, what do they have to show for their efforts? Yes, some small battles have been won, but those victories did not interrupt the continuance of racism because the battles were focused on the effects of racism, not racism itself. Also, racism cannot be eliminated using the language of the enslavers.

One of the primary reasons for the continued existence of racism is our acceptance of the language of race without challenge or question. Our language was developed to insure the protection and promotion of the myth of European (white) supremacy. Because we have been conditioned to accept the language without question, we continue to enslave ourselves to the deliberate confusion caused by it. The cause of the confusion began with the invention of the word race to represent a subspecies of Homo sapiens. No subspecies of Homo sapiens exist and the word race has no fixed definition, so why are we still using it in our everyday language along with all its derivatives when we have no idea of its meaning? We know what its intended interpretations are, yet we do not question them.

Concerning the removal of the word race, John H. Stanfield II, noted that “…adjectives such as black and white would no longer be used. Race as a myth is a distorting variable that convolutes and in other ways distracts attention from the variables that really matter in understanding how and why human beings think, act, and develop as they do.” Unfortunately, the words black and white have become so acceptable and common that no one seems to realize that they are pejorative and demeaning to both groups. When colors are used to identify ethnic groups, a disservice is done to the integrity and character of the groups. Yet, we hear them employed daily with no regard to the negative implications contained in the usage.

Our language allows us to use race and its derivatives as though no harm is being done to our sense of identity as part of the human family. Every time the words black and white are used, they establish a sense of unity, and separation, discrimination, and manipulation of one group towards the other. Society has been conditioned to view white as superior to black, so whenever either word is used to identify a people, the social conditioning automatically surfaces. The language will not permit race and the myth of European supremacy to lose its prevalence because society does not realize that the language is the glue that keeps the citizens in the dark.

For example, many African Americans love the word black because of the meaning and significance it has to them and their experience in America. However, what they do not realize is that the use of the word black reinforces the myth of European supremacy. Black is an adjective that proceeds race, as in black race, and therefore, supports the concept of white superiority which protects and promotes European supremacy. Proponents of European supremacy enjoy using and observing African Americans use and clinging to the word black because they know that the system of mentally enslaving the non-European ethnic groups is working. They also view the use of black as a social game in which they demean the proposed African American value of the word by interjecting colors of white, and blue to counter phrases like “Black Lives Matter,” with “White Lives Matter,” and “Blue Lives Matter.”

The fact that the government and society persist in using race as a legitimate word even through they know it is bogus is underscored by Ashley Montagu when he stated that “The idea of race was, in fact, the deliberate creation of an exploiting class seeking to maintain and defend its privileges against what was profitably regarded as an inferior social caste.” He added that “Ever since the commencement of the slave trade there had been those who had attempted to justify their conduct in it [race] by denying the slave the status of humanity.” What we know is that the word race and all its derivatives are biased terms that view the people belonging to a so-called race as inferior and even less than human for the purpose of exploiting them.

If the organizations and individuals fighting the battle of ethnic bigotry want to have a positive effect in eliminating the element of race, they can begin by avoiding the use of the language of race. How does one go about avoiding the language of race? Julian Huxley in 1941, offered the suggestion that “it would be highly desirable if we could banish the question-begging term ‘race’ from all discussions of human affairs and substitute the noncommittal phrase ‘ethnic group.’” The term ‘ethnic group’ retains the culturally diverse uniqueness of the variety of Homo sapiens while dismissing any concept of biological and genetic differences. When the term “race” is eliminated from the language all its derivatives will force a change in how we think, talk, and act about ourselves and others. For example, we will recognize the challenge in biased phrases like “mixed races,” as well as the popular, but erroneous, phrase “human race.”

Once we realize the positive effects of these small changes in the language, we will also begin to understand how the language is used to keep us enslaved, and how we are able to free ourselves from the devastating effects it has had on us and our society. Who knows, we might even get the government to release its hold on stupidity regarding “race.”

Note: If you enjoy my blogs, please check out my latest book: It’s About Time: Losing Control of European Supremacy (amazon.com)