The Hidden Racism

This past week my department hosted a workshop on white fragility and anti-racism for a good number of diverse faculty and staff who were interested in the topic. Although emotionally charged and intellectually challenging, we must continue to address the pervasive role racism plays in the world. Even as a black woman who has been doing diversity work for much of my professional career, I walked away with a few heightened revelations. This week I’ll share one of the revelations that is foremost in my thinking since that day. It’s not new, but it is worth highlighting because of a recent work-related event.

At the forefront of my thinking is the hidden nature of how racism operates to undermine the lives and livelihood of people of color. Most people do not think of themselves as racist. They will never don a white sheet and hood to march with the KKK. In fact, to their credit, most people like to think of themselves as fair-minded and open to others. They don’t go around using derogatory terms to describe their Latina co-worker. They don’t ban the black male staff member they hired from attending the all staff lunch. They don’t relegate students of color to seating in the back of the classroom. But racism is at work in subtle ways that make it difficult to fight because it is operating under cover of darkness and often without the perpetrator being fully aware of what she is doing.

What I’ve experienced and observed is that we have all been inflected with the unconscious belief that what’s white is not only right, but normal, is the standard for what is best, and rightfully belongs in authority. When we bring that underlying system of thought to work or to a classroom, we put non-white students, staff members, and faculty members in the position of having to prove and protect themselves every minute of the day. There is no assumption of competence or worthiness, let alone excellence. In fact, there is an undercurrent of resentment and scrutiny that whites are not subject to. Any word or action by non-whites is often construed as below (white) standards or (white) norms and is taken as confirmation that the person of color is somehow lacking or doesn’t belong. And worse, persons of color are subject to push back if they dare to question or provide constructive feedback to students, colleagues, or subordinates. Much of this happens completely outside the awareness of the perpetrators,

I’ve watched my entire life how people of color are not given the same benefit of the doubt as their white counterparts when a mistake is made. One need not look further than how President Obama was treated as compared to President Trump. Even still, a person of color who demonstrates excellence is considered an “exception”. And sadly, accusations made against people of color by students or colleagues are taken on face value because they confirm the unconscious stereotypes of those in leadership.

I just learned that I am again the victim of a harmful and unsubstantiated accusation that I had no idea about until recently. A white colleague was spreading a negative insinuation about me that people took to be true without ever investigating or even asking me about it. These same people who listened to this frivolous claim and believed it also smile and say hello to me everyday. They may even give me a hug. But now I know that some of them acted against me based on the complaint of this ambitious white colleague who unwittingly fed into existing negative stereotypes about black women. Too much racism operates in the dark when people in power do not even question this systematic undermining of people of color. I’m aware that too many people of color, like me, are having their careers and reputations ambushed in this way.

The reality is that not only white people, but all people, need to challenge our standards of excellence and normal. Is white skin and European features really the highest standard of beauty? Is white leadership the only acceptable leadership? Is white really right or best? It’s also time that we throw out the false claim that some people are inherently smarter and possess greater moral character than others based on their race. Science has proven these notions to be false, but our subconscious has not caught on. We have to consciously remind ourselves that every colleague, faculty member, leader, and student possesses their own individual intellectual and moral strengths and weaknesses, disconnected from their race. It’s not easy to do, but it is possible, and it is necessary if we want to stop these hidden forms of racism from destroying lives and limiting our collective human potential.