Racism is a Scam
Modern American racism was deliberately manufactured to keep poor whites from joining up with enslaved people to overthrow the colonial-era owning class.
Howard Zinn’s important book A People’s History of the United States tells the story, right up front in the first 40 pages of his massive book.
In the beginning of chapter 2, titled Drawing the Color Line, Zinn asks: How did racism against people of color begin in the US? What does the historical record show?
You may find it hard to believe but racism was actively cultivated as a strategy for protecting the interests of the wealthy.
Zinn writes, “there is evidence that where whites and blacks found themselves with common problems, common work, common enemy in their master, they behaved toward one another as equals.” He quotes Kenneth Stampp, a historian with a specialty in studying slavery, who noted that in the 1600s black and white servants were “remarkably unconcerned about the visible physical differences.”
Zinn quotes another prominent historian, Edmund Morgan, who wrote that white indentured servants commonly faced the same harsh treatment as black slaves, saying “There are hints that the two despised groups initially saw each other as sharing the same predicament. It was common, for example, for servants and slaves to run away together, steal hogs together, get drunk together. It was not uncommon for them to make love together.”
This kind of open fraternization was perceived as a huge threat to the owning class. Zinn writes, “Only one fear was greater than the fear of black rebellion in the new American colonies. That was the fear that discontented whites would join black slaves to overthrow the existing order.”
This is the reason it was necessary to pass laws to drive white and black folks apart. The Virginia colony passed a law in 1661 that said “in case any English servant shall run away in company of any Negroes” he would be sentenced to extra years of service to the slave owner. Another law passed in 1691 forbid white people from intermarriage with anyone having African or Native American heritage, “bond or free.” Obviously such laws would have been unnecessary if feelings of racial superiority were already commonplace. They weren’t. Racism had to be created.
Racism depends on hierarchy, one group over another. The effort to build the status of white servants over black slaves was intentional. In 1705 another law was passed by the Virginia Assembly “requiring masters to provide white servants whose indenture time was up with ten bushels of corn, 30 shillings, and a gun, while women servants were to get 15 bushels of corn and 40 shillings. Also, the newly freed servants were to get 50 acres of land.”
As you can see, there was a logic behind the establishment of racism in the US. As Zinn says, the reasons were “historical” not “natural.” At this point we have lived through generations of refinement that make modern racism seem like it’s been around forever. It has not.
If it is possible to see how racism between black, white, and Native Americans was originally contrived it becomes possible to imagine moving past it, healing these wounds. Why did the owning class want to stop whites and blacks from seeing one another as equals? Because they were scared of having people with less team up against the few at the top who owned everything.
We call it “divide and conquer.” It’s about the oldest trick in the book going back to Sun Tzu and it is still being used to this day. Right now ICE is being deployed to divide and conquer. Race is still used to make whites feel superior and keep them separated from their fellow working class to this day.
The key to getting out of this situation is to resist this dynamic. There is actually only one race, the human race. And if we can start seeing one another as human beings rather than black and brown and white folks, material conditions will improve for everyone.
How do you do that?
One technique I have used to recover from my own racist impulses is very simple. Appreciate the beauty and innocence of other people’s children. Human beings have a natural impulse to feel protective of babies. Look at the faces of children who are different from you and realize: This is how we all begin. We are all a blank slate when we are born. We don’t know how to speak. We don’t know how to walk. We don’t know prejudice when we are born.
Look into these sweet little faces and see yourself. Look at these faces and remember that any negative assumptions you might have about others because of their race or social status were learned. Look at these precious little humans and remember that every human life has value, especially to a parent. Go further, imagine a situation where that child needed you to step up and care for them. Remember that you were once helpless like that. Envision adopting that child as your own and loving them as if they were your own natural born child.
If you can start doing that, you can start seeing adult humans in a similar way, with sympathy and kindness. We all start out the same way.
Racial hierarchy, created by the owning class, made it possible to enslave people and keep them in bondage until they died. Racial hierarchy, invented by white landowners, made it possible to steal land and wipe out entire First Nations populations. Racial hierarchy, today, provides a rationale for Israelis to steal land and wipe out Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.
Reject racial hierarchy. Racism was deliberately manufactured to protect class interests. Racism still exists to protect class interests. The most powerful thing you can do is overcome racist conditioning against other working class people like yourself. See others as allies not enemies.
If we stay divided the only people who benefit are the rich. If we join together anything becomes possible.
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