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Why Does Anti-Racism, Including Anti-Semitism, Have to Be One of The

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Why Does Anti-Racism, Including Anti-Semitism, Have to Be One of The Why does Ant i-Racism, including Anti-Semitism, have to be one of the components in a multicultural process? Isn’t it enough that we are inc lu s ive a nd d e m o c ra t ic , t ha t we va lu e d ive rs it y a nd a re c u lt u ra lly competent? If we were starting out today, without 500 years of history, we might be able to ignore Racism and anti-Semitism. However, when we come together in a multicultural environment, it is in a White, Christian-based Racism. Even if we are all included, even if we listen, value, and respect each other, and even if we focus on the challenges we face, we still need to address this ongoing legacy. Ant i-racism is the process of actively and consistently confronting racism and anti-Semitism wherever they occur. The only way to build a democratic multicultural society from a society dominated by White, Chris t ian-based Racism is through a commitment to use anti-Ra c is t analysis and action. We have seen how white people hold power in ordinary interactions and in ins t it u t io na l s e t t ing s a nd re c e ive u ne q u a l and unjust benefits from the social system. We bring this history of inequality and injustice and our training in racism assumptions of power and privilege with us wherever we go. All to often, people who are proponents of multiculturalism refuse to acknowledge or address the persistent effects of racism on our ability to create an inclusive process. Other dynamics of racism make it difficult to achieve our goals unless we focus on eliminating them. For instance, people of color and Jews carry with them varying levels of distrust, unease, and internalized racism and anti-Semitism from their prior experience. In addit io n, t he re a re m a ny le ve ls o f ins t it u t io na l ra c is m t ha t influ e nc e p a rt ic u la r situations. Unless we pay explicit attention to the specific, ongoing dynamics of racism, it will inevitably sabotage our efforts to build an inclusive, diverse, and respectful society. The first efforts to create a multicultural event, program, or staff may be greeted with great anticipation and fear by all parties. Whether it’s a new employee of color, a new policy, inclusion of new material in a program, or even one new song or book in a curriculum, pent-up feelings hoping for and fearful of change can interfere with the normal process of interaction and evaluatio n. Tha t p e rs o n, p o lic y, program, or item becomes the test of whether multiculturalism will work. The high stakes may well jeopardize the long-range prospects for successful change, as white people quickly judge something or someone as less than perfect and therefore as a failure. If we pay attention to the way that racism undermines the considered responses of both white people and people of color, we are better able to counteract its effects. A clear ant i-racist agenda can also help prevent multiculturalism from being watered down. It is possible to use our emphasis on inclusiveness to divert attention from racial issue. Concerns of gender equality, sexual orientation, physical access, or even anti-Semitism can become dominant is s u e s while t he s t ru g gle against racism is ignored. This dynamic occurs in p a rt b e c a u s e we t e nd t o t re a t a ny o t he r inc lu s io n is s u e a s a whit e is s u e . This is another manifestation of racism. Even if we disagree with, or are violently opposed to, homosexuality, for example, it is often more comfortable to talk about lesbian and gay rights if we ha ve c re a t e d a whit e c o nt e xt . We d e fine is s u e s o f d is a b ilit y, g e nd e r, class, and sexual orientation as white issues, not having to do with race. (Most of us would actually say these issues are racially neutral, but in a racist society “neutral” means not taking into account the reality of racism and therefore is a code for “white.) In trying to be so broadly inc lu s ive , we e nd u p e xc lu d ing p e o p le o f c o lo r wit h d is a b ilit ie s , wo m e n a nd lesbians of color, gay men and bisexuals of color. Without a strong and continuous focus on racism, we end up with a group of heterosexual white men and women, white lesbians, white gay men, white people with disabilities, white Jews, and some people of colo r who “re p re s e nt ” t he ir racial groupings. This setup perpetuates racism under the guise of multiculturalism. We do need to focus on complete inclusion, but we can not let that become a substitute for dealing with racism. The effects of racism will linger with us for a long time, even if we im m e d ia t e ly ins t it u t e m a s s ive c ha ng e s t o c re a t e a d e m o c ra t ic multicultural nation. Unchallenged, racism makes a mockery of our democratic values. It turns multiculturalism into the same kind of false promise that integration has been, camouflaging the continued dominance of white people in our society. A commitment to anti-racism encourages us to pay attention to the effects that racism and anti-Semitism continue to have so that we can take action against them. Un e qual distribution of wealth is a keystone of racism. We haven’t achieved much if we produce a multicultural ruling class. Our government, large corporations, and other institutions are capable of becoming multicultural while continuing to exploit the majority of us. The word “democracy” implies more than a cultural democracy where every culture is represented. We also need to make sure it includes the concept of economic democracy, that this multicultural agenda includes the goal of ending economic injustice. We have already noted how sections of the African-American, Lat ino/ a, Asian-American, and Jewish communities have been given economic opportunities in exchange for supporting the status quo. Without an economic analysis, we can continue to support inju s t ic e while a p p e a ring m u lt ic u lt u ra l. There are many ways that inattention to the distribution of wealth can subvert our efforts at democracy. For instance, we might bring only middle or upper-class people of color into the organizations we are invo lved with, and this will do little to redress the unequal participation of broad groups of poor and working-class people of color. We can become professionals, specializing in multicultural or diversity trainings, and not change the segregation in our schools, neighborhoods, and workplaces. Diversity training now supports an industry generating millions of dollars a year for professional trainers. Multiculturalism without attention to issues of wealth and power can become a form of collusion among professio na ls , both white and of color, to maintain control of the movement to end racism and to benefit themselves. Integration and Tokenism: Many People of Color have expressed concern that multiculturalism will become (or already is) a new form of integration and tokenism. Unless we are vigilant it certainly can become so. Integration is based on the belief that people of color have been segregated from the mainstream of U.S. society and need to be inc o rp o ra t e d int o it fo r fu ll p a rt ic ip a t io n. Eve n b e fo re t he Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954, the discussion about racial equality in the United States revolved around integration. I want to look at these is s u e s m o re c lo s e ly b e c a u s e t he y influ e nc e o u r e ffo rt s t o b u ild a democratic, anti-racist multiculturalism. Our belief in the importance of integration is based on the assumption that there is one mainstream, normal set of (white) values, practices, and procedures that other people can learn and adapt to. We assume that people of color want to be inc lu d e d in t he m a ins t re a m b u t ha ve p re vio u s ly been excluded because of prejudice and discrimination- racism. There is real cause for concern about the exclusion of people of color from mainstream institutions in the United States. To a great extent, people of color and white people live separately, pray separately, go to different schools, do different jobs, and socialize separately. Insofar as people of color are not only separate but unequal, this is a tragedy of inju s t ic e , a s t he Su p re m e Co u rt ru le d in 1954.
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