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Racialism is a term used to describe the belief in the existence and importance of racial categories, in themselves often disputed. The term is often used approvingly by white supremacist organizations and movements such as Christian Identity,[1] Aryan Nations[2], the American Nazi Party[3], and White Aryan Resistance[4]. As used by these organizations, the term has connotations of emphasizing the modernity of these organizations compared to more backward-looking groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, and of portraying white supremacism as being simply the white analog of black civil rights struggles. For example, former Klan leader David Duke's National Association for the Advancement of White People seeks to portray itself as the white counterpart of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Within separatist identity politics, the term may be intended to portray an emphasis on the perceived social and cultural differences between races. Separatists may say that they do not view themselves as superior to – and do not exhibit hatred towards – other races, but only believe in separation between races. (See white separatism and black separatism.) The Rastafari and other organisations for black nationalism advocate a strong sense of racial pride and Renaissance. However, black separatist organizations do not normally use the term racialist to refer to themselves.[5]

Racialists often cite purportedly scientific works such as Race, Evolution and Behavior by J. Philippe Rushton, IQ and the Wealth of Nations by Richard Lynn, and The Bell Curve by R.J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray. Rushton's work in particular is sometimes referred to by opponents as "racist", and is regarded by David Suzuki and others as pseudoscience or as containing errors.[6]

Human rights and racism in the real world

File:Hitler-car.jpg
Hitler's Nazi Germany is seen by some as the result of racialism.

Two unpopular examples of racist regimes were Nazi Germany and Apartheid South Africa.

These include affirmative action, racial quotas and reverse discrimination. These policies are said to attempt to correct inequalities and are sometimes referred to as "positive discrimination".

Racialism and the valuation of human worth

Due to its primarily British origins, its past use, and its current infrequent use, racialism is generally viewed as a less offensive term than racism. Before the notion of racial equality became ideologically dominant in the latter half of the 20th century, one could be considered a non-racist (i.e. without antipathy) racialist.

"Racism" implies a presumption of racial superiority and a harmful intent, whereas advocates of positive racial differences use the word "racialism" to indicate a strong interest in matters of race without the presumption of superiority or the desire to cause harm to others. Their focus rather is on racial pride, identity politics, and/or racial segregation. Organisations such as NAAWP insist on these distinctions and vehemently oppose state-sponsored racism.

The relationship between the two concepts is expressed at length by Kwame Anthony Appiah in his book "In my fathers house":

"the view – which I shall call racialism – that there are heritable characteristics, possessed by members of our species, which allow us to divide them into a small set of races, in such a way that all the members of these races share certain traits and tendencies with each other that they do not share with members of any other race. These traits and tendencies characteristic of a race constitute, on the racialist view, a sort of racial essence; it is part of the content of racialism that the essential heritable characteristics of the 'Races of Man' account for more than the visible morphological characteristics – skin color, hair type, facial features – on the basis of which we make our informal classifications. Racialism is at the heart of nineteenth-century attempts to develop a science of racial difference, but it appears to have been believed by others – like Hegel, before then, and Crummell and many Africans since – who have had no interest in developing scientific theories.
Racialism is not, in itself, a doctrine that must be dangerous, even if the racial essence is thought to entail moral and intellectual dispositions. Provided positive moral qualities are distributed across the races, each can be respected, can have its 'separate but equal' place."[7]

W. E. B. DuBois

File:DuboisWEB.jpg
W. E. B. DuBois

W.E.B. DuBois argues that racialism is the philosophical belief that differences between the races exist, be it biological, social, psychological, or in the realm of the "soul". He then goes on to argue that racism is using this belief to push forward the argument that one's particular race is superior to the others.

Therefore, Dubois separates the conditions of racism from racism itself. (Anthony Kwame Appiah summarises Dubois' position in his book In my father's house, chapter 3.) Racialism in this view is a value-neutral philosophy, while racism is a value-charged ideology.

Molefi Kete Asante criticises DuBois for this very racialism in "The Afrocentric Idea".

Identity politics

Within identity politics, many groups have emphasised their own race and the importance of racial differences, whether they be cultural, economic, biological or political.

The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, and similar organisations, advocate the welfare of a specific ethnicity without a harmful intent towards others.

"While Mandela, like the others, is clearly not racist, he also must be counted as racialist, because his struggle against apartheid was predicated on the race-based solidarity of those who were enslaved, based on race, under the system of apartheid: you cannot fight racism without introducing race as a predicate of your action. So Malcolm and Mandela, both, have to be counted racialist." (Grisso, Africans Unbound Magazine[8])

See also

Notes

  1. ^ http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2004/09/militias-march-on.html, retrieved August 18, 2005.
  2. ^ Approving uses of the term were found on http://aryan-nations.org, retrieved August 18, 2005.
  3. ^ Approving uses of the term were found on http://americannaziparty.com, retrieved August 18, 2005.
  4. ^ Approving uses of the term were found on http://resist.com, retrieved August 18, 2005.
  5. ^ For example, an August 18, 2005 Google search of the Nation of Islam web site at http://noi.org returned many hits for "racism," but none for "racialism."
  6. ^ http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-75-663-3727/science_technology/david_suzuki/clip5, retrieved August 18, 2005.

References

  • Molefi Kete Asante (1998) The Afrocentric Idea - ISBN 156639595X
  • Paul C. Taylor (2000) - Appiah's Uncompleted Argument: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Reality of Race. (philosopher K. Anthony Appiah) : An article from: Social Theory and Practice ISBN B0008HB770
  • Kwame Anthony Appiah (1993) - In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture - ISBN 0195068521
  • Reggie White's Speech before the Wisconsin State Assembly (click 778)
  • Sanneh, Kelefa "After the Beginning Again: The Afrocentric Ordeal" Transition - Issue 87 (Volume 10, Number 3), 2001, pp. 66-89
  • Kennedy, Paul and Nicholls Anthony (eds.) Nationalist and racialist movements in Britain and Germany before 1914 (Saint Antony's College Press, 1981).
  • Dobratz, Betty A. "White power, white pride!": The white separatist movement in the United States (Twayne Publishers, NY, 1997).
  • Melvern, Linda. Conspiracy to murder: The Rwanda genocide (Verso, London, 2004).
  • Snyder, Louis L. The Idea of Racialism: Meaning and History. (Princeton, NJ, 1962).
  • Stokes, Geoffrey (ed.). The Politics of Identity in Australia. See: John Kane, "Racialism and democracy" (Cambrdige University Press, 1997).
  • Arter, David. "Black Faces in the Blond Crowd: Populist Racialism in Scandinavia", Parliamentary Affairs, July 1992, vol. 45:3, pp. 357-372.
  • Odocha O. Race and racialism in scientific research and publication in the Journal of the National Medical Association. (National Library of Medicine, 2000).
  • Zubaida, Sami (ed.). Race and Racialism (Tavistock, London, 1970).
  • Racial Identity, the Apartheid State, and the Limits of Political Mobilization and Democratic Reform in South Africa: The Case of the University of the Western (Teachers College, Columbia University, 2003).
  • Thompson, Walter Thomas. James Anthony Froude on Nation and Empire: A Study in Victorian Racialism (Taylor & Francis, London, 1998).
  • UNESCO General Conference. Declaration of Fundamental Principles concerning the Contribution of the Mass Media to Strengthening Peace and International Understanding, to the Promotion of Human Rights and to Countering Racialism, Apartheid and Incitement to War (University of Hawaii, 1978).
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