Note: For the purposes of this article, any examples, concepts, and studies discussed consider black and white individuals specifically, in an effort to highlight the author’s opinion regarding the significance of reverse racism to the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Racism is a pertinent force that many BIPOC lives, and we recognise that.
#BlackLivesMatter were the words that reverberated across the world for a majority of May and June. However, as the momentum seems to be dying on social media, it is important to stay informed about the history of racism, and use transform tangible knowledge into action. Racism is a deep-rooted phenomena that requires an extensive deep-dive and analysis, as to precisely determine its problematic structure. We can only alleviate this structure if we know about its existence in the first place, and the understanding of what, who and why it is effective is a key step in dismantling it. The premise of this article is to dissect the phenomena of racism, and it’s alleged counterpart, “reverse racism”; a concept quickly popularized with the #AllLivesMatter movement started in response to #BlackLivesMatter. But does reverse racism even exist? Is discrimination and prejudice against white people considered racism?
First, let’s define racism: it’s a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. Moreover, a racist is a person who believes in racism, the doctrine that one’s own racial group is superior or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others. Reverse racism is a contradicting phenomena, and is not defined by the dictionary (one can argue that this suggests it does not exist in reality, but I digress). Here’s an individual definition from Wikipedia (so take that as you will): “Reverse racism is the concept of affirmative action and similar color conscious programs for redressing racial inequality are a form of anti-white racism. The concept is often associated with conservative social movements, and the belief that social and economic gains by Black people in the United States and elsewhere cause disadvantages for white people”.
Prejudice, on the other hand, is defined as a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. In simpler terms, it is an unfair and unreasonable opinion and feeling, especially when formed without sufficient thought or knowledge. Often, prejudice is confused with the concept of racism. It is a preconceived notion of another person, not based on reason or experience. It is often unlikely to impact people as negatively as racism. Some (but not all) are racial in nature and have racist outcomes. Extrapolating a conclusion solely from the definitions, they clearly are not the same thing.
Examples of Prejudices:
Racist Prejudices: Beliefs about the inferiority of BIPOC; racist ideas about the behavior of BIPOC. Ex: “Black people are lazy,” “Asian people are good at math.”
Sexist Prejudices: Sexist ideas about the intellectual and emotional inferiority of women were used to deprive them of the right to vote or own property for most of American history.
Ageist Prejudices: Ageism can be directed at both young and old people. For example, prejudices against young people suggest they are uninformed, ignorant or impulsive.
Ableist Prejudices: Prejudicial attitudes about people with disabilities remain common. For instance, some peole mistakenly believe that all people with disabilities have caregivers or that disabilities make people weak.
In this context, racist prejudices are crucial to understanding the reverse racism trope: this said prejudice is centred around beliefs, opinions, values that one may harbor, directly affecting their perception and actions. In such a scenario, all races can face racial prejudices: a BIPOC individual can be prejudiced about a white person, and carry out antagonist actions, limit, deter or act negatively towards the latter. Even considering the other three types of prejudices, a non-white female may harbour a sexist AND racial prejduice about a white male, or solely a sexist one. These all classify as prejudices or hurtful predispositions, that can affect white people, or rather members of all races. Racist and Ageist prejudices definitely impact white people just as much as other individuals.
Examples of Racism:
Interpersonal racism: When a person harasses, excludes, marginalises, discriminates, hates, or commits acts of violence towards another group based on their misinformation or stereotyping. Ex: social distancing and stigmatization, discrimination at work, or school, threats and harassment.
Institutional racism: Racism that operates through the policies, procedures, and practices of the institutions in our society. Ex: housing contracts, bank lending policies, racial profiling by security and law enforcement workers, use of steretyped racial caricatures by institutions: barries to employment based on race.
Structural racism: The cumulative impact of interpersonal and institutional racism within our society creates a system of structural racism. Ex: Lack of affordable healthcare and access to health food, coupled with higher exposure to toxic chemicals and other forms of pollution, job discrimination and housing segregation produces greater health problems, shorter lifespans, lower wages, and greater levels of poverty for BIPOC communities.
Decades of oppression and systemic racism fall under Category 2 and 3: institutional and structural racism. Institutional racism, prominently seen through educational, government and corporate/ for profit institutions have shown a history of racial profiling and stereotyped racial practises and policies. The United States has a history of redlining African American neighbourhoods, which was a phenomena of systemic denial of various services by government institutions, specifically for black people. For example, in the 1930s, government surveyors graded neighborhoods in 239 cities, color-coding them green for “best,” blue for “still desirable,” yellow for “definitely declining” and red for “hazardous.” The “redlined” areas were the ones local lenders discounted as credit risks, in large part because of the residents’ racial and ethnic demographics. They also took into account local amenities and home prices. Neighborhoods that were predominantly made up of African Americans, as well as Catholics, Jews and immigrants from Asia and southern Europe, were deemed undesirable. Loans in these neighborhoods were unavailable or very expensive, making it more difficult for low-income minorities to buy homes and setting the stage for the country’s persistent racial wealth gap. (more about redlining here)
While this phenomena has been abolished and is criminalised, this is just one of the many examples of systemic racism and oppression of black people, throughout US history. Even today, institutional racism within the corporate workplace won't be resolved in one news cycle. According to a survey by Fortune, half of black employees have felt racism at work, one study shows. Only 3.2% of executives and senior managers–level employees are black, and only five Fortune 500 CEOs are black.They ask for promotions and raises at about the same rate as white women, but get worse results. (more on this topic here)
The aforementioned examples of institutionalised racism are major contributors to the idea of structural racism, i.e. the cumulative impact on other abstract factors like health, nutrition, mortality and criminal rates, etc...A total of 16.6 percent of African Americans aged 18 years and over do not have a regular source of health care. Nearly half (46 percent) of nonelderly black adults who do not have insurance report having one or more chronic health conditions. African Americans experience higher incidence and mortality rates from many cancers that are amenable to early diagnosis and treatment. African-American adults with cancer are woefully underrepresented in cancer trials and are much less likely to survive prostate cancer, breast cancer, and lung cancer than their white counterparts.
Lastly, we have interpersonal racism, which is commonly seen through the heartbreaking murders of black people by the police or white individuals (black on black violence is proven to be less harmful than white on black violence: read more about this here). Breonna Taylor, George Flyod, Atatiana Jefferson, Aura Roser, Stephen Clark are just a few examples from the thousands killed in 2020 alone. Other instances of interpersonal racism include assault against black individuals specifically due to ethnicity: this is radically different from racial prejudice.
Some individuals simplify racism as one group not liking another, and think "racist" and "prejudiced" are interchangeable. But racism is a concept that operates on both an individual and institutional level.
At its core, racism is a system in which a dominant race benefits off the oppression of others -- whether they want to or not. We don't live in a society where every racial group has equal power, status, and opportunity. Yes, white people all over the world and throughout history have experienced atrocities like slavery and persecution. But in the very specific context of American history, white people have not been enslaved, colonized, or forced to segregate on the scale that black people have. They do not face housing or job discrimination, police brutality, poverty, or incarceration at the level that black people do. This is not to say that they do not experience things like poverty and police brutality at all. But again, not on the same scale -- not even close. That is the reality of racism.
What’s astounding about the reverse racism argument is the way in which it reveals some racists’ deep need to deny the idea of having any privilege. Rather than acknowledging the realities of how people of color deal with racism, white racists do mental and hypothetical cartwheels in order to justify these injustices.
While many white people face racial prejudice, the inherent struggle that systemic and structural racism presents, and this disparate unbalance of power critical of black people doesn’t compare to prejudice. Racism requires a power structure that the party who believes they are superior is in a position to oppress the parties they consider inferior, famously seen through the history of slaves and how black America came to be. The inherent idea of racism is a history of oppression and a system that has redundantly marginalised an entire community, whereas prejudice is individual opinions, ideas, that misconstrued perception and affect behavior towards the considered person.
Let me clarify: Black or BIPOC prejudice towards white people is definitely not okay, but statistically it doesn't affect or isn't detrimental to white people as this dominant force of racism is. Black people are more likely to be killed by police, and twice as likely to be killed (than any other race) while unarmed. In fact, new research provides evidence that white Americans do not experience racial trauma. “We generally found that white Americans did not experience racial trauma. When whites did report negative racial incidents, they tended to be vicarious experiences, where they were not the intended targets, such as witnessing a person of color experiences racism, or violating racial rules (ex: Getting lost in a Black neighborhood and being told an individual is in the wrong area). These incidents rarely had a significant and adverse impact on psychological functioning.” - study author Veronica E. Johnson, an assistant professor at City University of New York. In her study, 145 white males completed a psychological assessment known as the Race-Based Traumatic Stress Symptom Scale. The participants were asked to describe three of the most memorable experiences of racism that had occurred in their lives. Thus, on a structural level, black racial prejudice does not affect the rights of white people, yet racism continues to affect black people.
Since racism inherently symbolises the belief that race is equated with being superior to others, or creating an unequal distribution of power on the basis of race, it isn’t focused on white people, given the evident privilege, redlining, police brutality and discrimination that has occurred over generations. I think there’s a fine line between racial prejudice and inherent racism. That’s the key distinction between racism and prejudice.
When people make fun of one’s race, skin color, or evidently modify their own actions towards somebody due to the latter’s race, this encompasses of racial prejudice. Racial prejudice is extremely common, and affects ALL races: a white person can be made fun of, belittled, prejudiced against due to these ideals and opinions that we hold. However, since racism inherently symbolises the belief that race is equated with being superior to others, or creating an unequal distribution of power on the basis of race, it isn’t focused on white people, given the evident privilege, redlining, police brutality and discrimination that has occurred over generations. I think there’s a fine line between racial prejudice and inherent racism. That’s the key distinction between racism and prejudice.
In my opinion, before considering whether a white person has experience reverse racism, asking yourself the following questions (as crafted by Worku Nida, and expert in sociocultural anthropology):
When is the last time Black people and people of color forced white people to work on plantations?
When was the last time Black people and people of color subjected white folks to lynching?
When was the last time Black people and people of color excluded white folks from having access to the middle-class opportunities?
How many Black presidents have we had? How many native American presidents have we had? How many Hispanic?
It is important to be mindful of the fact that racism doesn’t solely exist in America, and so using the term reverse racism pertains to a specific region of the world, rendering it somewhat obsolete. The reason many suggest that it doesn't affect white people is that racism is specifically backed by the way a state is set up, that controls societal reality (The narrative is controlled by a eurocentric history of imperialism and colonialism). To reiterate, while I recognise that some white people (especially those in lower socioeconomic classes) undergo struggles that mirror those of black people, the inherent difference between race, and racial prejudice is the systemic racism that is encompassed. Racism is simply racism, whether it be against any race. And if you think about it, reverse racism would actually bring balance to society, as it would suggest that this unequal distribution of power we currently have is fixed.
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