Hatred: Institutional and Personal

Posted on September 4, 2003 in Immigration

I’ve been carrying on a private email discussion with a Latino correspondent regarding the MECHA smear campaign against Cruz Bustamante. In the course of this discussion, my friend shared this letter from an angry white guy:

Your damm right there is some Anti-Mexican Racism going on. I am sick and tired of supporting illegal “visitors” to my country. I am tired of my
government kissing V. Foxes ass. You sit in your tax supported ivory tower
and accuse people like me of being racist while supporting the most racist
la Rasa bunch of MECHas. If Arnold wins I have a feeling there is going to
be a whole lot of shaking going on.

I shook my head in disgust and replied to my friend: “There’s a tendency for many people to take hits at some or another “everyone”. I’ve run afoul of a clique of leftists because I don’t buy that minorities can’t be “racist”. I am willing to distinguish between institutional racism and personal racism, but these people don’t like that division because, quite frankly, they are personally racist against white people. They would scream if I called La Voz out of Whittier a bronze supremacist publication. That’s carrying it too far the other way, IMHO, but I also note that La Voz hardly affects public policy. White people clearly have the lock on institutional racism in this country and I consider white supremacy groups a greater threat to society as well as my own personal security as a dissident.

“The letter you share frightens me because it implies the institutionalization of the writer’s personal racism. And, unlike the folks at La Voz, he may actually get bits of his fantasy realized. I suspect that if Arnold gets the power he craves (I guess weight-lifting wasn’t enough for him), he won’t out and out set up a system of apartheid, but he surely won’t do anything to dismantle the elements that favor white people that presently exist. Plus I anticipate that he will continue the assault on opportunities for people of color and women.”

I think making the distinction between personal racism and institutional racism is important. Confounding the two only serves the interests of bigots. On the one hand, as I have described, there are those on the left who depend on racist and other expressions of hatred as a means of building a power base. On the other hand, there are the people on the right who do the same and what’s more have the power to impose their views on the rest of us, to maintain those elements of the status quo which actively discriminate against people without economic means in our society. The personal racism of white people is doubly important to counteract because laws are passed and enforced based on it.

The proper response, however, is not racism on the left. I do not buy that racism is just a construct of the power elite. I have parted ways with commentators who insist that this is so because ultimately, the view reinforces the status quo by giving the Center reason to fear the Left. For the sake of the people we purport to advocate on behalf of, we cannot afford to allow often self-appointed spokes-people to make any sort of racist attacks against white people or anyone else. We need not make a campaign out of this: I suggest that we simply shun such people who hold onto the false construct that only white people can be racist.

More accurately, we must say that though while people of color voice racist views, the racism of white people has more effect on our daily lives because a class dominated by white people in this country controls public opinion, political decisions, and the economy in this country. Racism is often a tool that these few use to draw the undereducated into alliance with them as they seek to solidify and strengthen an ill-gotten power base. Racism (and more) informs who they let into this upper class. In California and across the nation, white racist groups greatly outnumber racist groups fronted by other ethnicities. Yes, we should challenge Louis Farrakhan when he speaks against Jews and white people, but we must remember that to assume by extension that all African Americans hold his views is to succumb to racist thinking. White racist groups actively horde weapons and, occasionally, kill people of color and white people who disagree with them. The shouting of leftist hate groups and individuals is annoying, but as far as I see, only the right wing groups pose an active threat to human life at this time.

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Michael Totten sparked a discussion a few days back that carried over to Randy Paul’s blog. I am partly in sympathy when Michael complains about the way that some liberals automatically characterize him as a “Bush tool” when he takes exception to certain graphic images available at the anti-war.org site such as this one:

First, I want to say that I find this image powerful, gut-wrenching, and thought-provoking. Second, I am not one to characterize Michael Totten as a turncoat just because he finds it disgusting and worries if we are alienating the middle. When we jump too fast to revoke liberal credentials because of outspoken dissent within our ranks, we have surrendered to authoritarianism — which is bad regardless of whether we are on the left or on the right. I believe in a Left where both Michael and the supporters of anti-war.org can freely discuss and have differences of taste.

The Left that I live is based on a principle that I voiced at Randy’s blog which responded to Michael’s post: “The libertarian ideal that some of us on the left embrace (as opposed to the more authoritarian views that a few attempt to impose) allows for diversity. I think being a “leftist” means support for programs and lifestyles that are compassionate and liberating. There’s plenty of room for discussion about what is and isn’t compassionate and liberating.”

I unite against all authoritarians who think that they can be cruel and vulgar towards others. I stand in opposition to everyone who thinks that her or his views cannot be thoughtfully criticized by others. This has made me more enemies on the Right than on the Left, but there are a few so-called progressives out there who need to examine, rethink, and redirect the energies that power their own hatred, their own racism, their own purblindness. And I retain my right to voice views in criticism of these and still call myself a libertarian socialist. To turn the table: Anyone who declares that I cannot be a progressive, a socialist, or liberal when I criticize actions and statements by my allies that I find repugnant or alienating is the friend of those in power who would limit our expressions of dissent across the board.

Question ALL Authority, including Your Own.