Origins of Racism

     Recent events, from the "outing" of a white woman who claimed to be black to a self-proclaimed white supremacists' murder of 9 black Americans, highlight again that the existence of Racism is clearly a major issue in our country. But, I believe, a broader view reveals that a kind of racism underlies every war, every conflict going on in the world.
     "Us against them" involves the defining of two different groups, which further requires highlighting specific differences to create the distinction. You're Black, I am White, You're Jewish, I am Christian, You're Hutu, I'm Tutsi. You're Shia, I'm Sunni. These distinctions are not important facts so much as they are ways of establishing claims of power over others. These claims are, essentially, economic.
     Humans like to talk about the Animal Kingdom and forget that we are animals too. Looking at "animal behavior" ought to help us understand ourselves better. Animals struggle for survival. They claim territory in order to have control over the resources in that territory that are necessary for their survival. The more scarce the resources, the higher the vigilance grows. Other animals that live in their territory are experienced either as threatening or non-threatening. They are then attacked or basically ignored. Being able to make that distinction is important to survival. Xenophobia is rooted in this primal, instinctual ability. When something foreign is noted, defenses go up. In the "animal kingdom", observation is heightened, and soon the "invader" is labeled dangerous or benign. Until that label is clear, there is an unease and a distrust.
     The problem in human beings is that the ability to make those important distinctions is controlled by unconscious or at least unexamined thoughts and beliefs. This often prevents objective observation. Instead, selective observation, observations that reflect internal needs, result. This is what "scapegoating" is about. For example, in post-World War I Germany, economic recovery was slow or non-existent. (This resulted in the Marshall Plan after World War II.) Jews were labeled as the cause of the failure to recover. Jews were labeled, then attacked. That Jews practiced a different set of religious observances became an easy way of making distinctions. Then, selective observation provided enough "proof" of threat to support the idea. It was a convenient "solution" to a difficult problem. Few, it seems, asked: "Is that true?" Truth didn't matter; a solution had been found.
     Another level of this behavior is the human need to know "Why" or "What", to have an explanation of why something is happening, or what that something is. Note the relief many people express when they know the diagnosis of even a serious condition. "At least now I know." Rational observation and the asking of difficult questions are often supplanted by a quick answer. Once a scapegoat is targeted, the relief of "knowing" stifles any questioning. There is a kind of "Ah Ha" moment that alters perception. From that point on, observation merely supports the "solution". Questioning would return us to a state of anxiety.
      Racism is, I believe, a major "solution" to the complex questions that confront us. We think: "Ah Ha! Those people are the cause of my or 'our' problems. We get rid of them, and we will be fine." Racism begins with a sense of being threatened, leading to the anxiety of difference, and quickly moves to making the perceived "difference" part of the solution.
     In the public school across the street from my church, I noticed that children of different ethnicities grouped together. We feel comfortable with "our own kind". And, as the adolescent need to identify and establish one's self grows, part of that identity comes from defining over against others, both racially and "strong vs. weak". Bullying is, essentially, a way of trying to feel powerful by attacking those who seem weak. And then, retaliation is an attempt by the "weak" or marinalized to regain a sense of power. One only has to look at the "profile" of many of those who attack school children to see this process in action.
     If what I say here is true, then the solution to racism isn't just laws. It is looking at the root causes and trying to change them. So the question is: "Why do people, both individuals and groups, feel weak and vulnerable in the first place." Even human animals don't attack when they don't feel threatened. So what is the threat?
     Fundamentally the threat is to my survival. But for humans now, especially as far as racism is concerned, that threat is primarily the perceived threat to "my economic survival." I have been involved with Haiti since the 2010 earthquake. I lived there, surrounded by Haitians, for a year and a half. From studying the issues facing Haiti, I have come to understand that economics is the whole issue, everywhere. Being in Haiti, and being retired so I didn't have work to distract me, I could observe, read, listen, ask questions. Haiti was a microcosm. And for that I am grateful. I will use Haiti as an example of the global problem.
     When available resources are scarce, people clamor for control over those available resources to ensure survival. And in deep poverty, there is a kind of narcissism that is rampant. I NEED TO SURVIVE, and I will do what ever it takes. I can't afford to think about others. The interesting thing is, in most cases, neither of those observed realities are true in broad terms. In Haiti, there is not a shortage of resources so much as there is a hording of resources and a manipulation of access which makes the experience of scarcity seem real. Take garment factories. Thousands of skilled woman work 12 hour shifts 6 days a week to bring home, maybe, $18 a week. They are paid so little because the American companies (for example) can make huge profits from these women's labor. Google "Where are clothes for Joseph A Banks made?" Answer: HAITI
     There are attempts now to set up factories where the women are paid a decent wage and given other benefits, where the clothes are sold at a low profit. But when there is an attempt to raise the minimum wage in Haiti, the corporate buyers, like Hanes, threaten to go elsewhere. The bad working conditions in factories around the world are less the fault of the factory owners than the high profit margins demanded by American and other companies. So, it is the gathering of resources by the already rich and powerful that create the apparent scarcity of resources. (The real question here is: "Why do some CEOs need to make such huge profits?" Or, "Why do stockholders keep demanding more returns from their investments?")
     Around the world, most conflicts are between groups, often identified in ethnic or religious terms, fighting for claim over resources. And even worse, those groups are funded by nations who want control over the resources and over the people in the country who might claim the resources for themselves. China controls much of the oil in Africa. America fights wars to try to control the oil in the middle east. Read "The Tenth Parallel" by Eliza Griswald. In both places, the people who live on top of these resources get little or no benefit from them. The Taliban and ISIS both are really fighting for economic control, in addition to control over woman (who are, in strangely Freudian terms, also experienced as a threat to "manly" survival). Fundamentalist Christianity is really about justifying making large sums of money from people who believe that God will make them prosper. (A fascinating observation: I met several young people whose ambition was to become a pastor of a church. That not only puts them on "God's side" when/if god decides to act, it is also a good way of making a living. Most pastors I saw were better off economically then their church members. What I noticed was that the pastors drove to church is smoked-glass SUV's while most of the parishioners arrived on foot or by Tap-Tap - converted pick-up trucks with wooden benches.)
     And scapegoating is rampant. How many natural disasters are blamed on God's anger over non-believers. Or, for example, condemning a particular group by stating that they are the reason for "the problem".  Abortion is a big problem for churches because it threatens the supply of new infant (and ultimately pledging) parishioners, and, again, anxiety of the "power of the feminine". Now, it is also a rallying cry for people who are angry that the government spends "their money" on such activities. "We can lower my taxes if we spend less on the poor."
     Again in Haiti, in the summer of 2013, a group of pastors started preaching that the reason God hasn't helped Haiti was because there were homosexuals in Haiti. Congregations went out from the churches and attacked people who were believed to be homosexual, or who just happened to live in "homosexual areas". 47 people were killed in one afternoon. Rather than working to change the economic system, pastors have found ways to benefit from people's desperation. It is all economic. And, I believe, the solution to racism is economic.
    Few, if any, rich or even comfortable people go on shooting rampages. Do any people who feel steeled and empowered in a community resort to attacking others? There is a shortage of employment (mostly engendered by high profit margins of corporations, leading to out-sourcing especially to countries where poverty is still rampant) which creates a class of people who are labeled "the poor" and then attacked because they are perceived as the reason for taxes being "high". Because these "poor" are already the marginalized - black, Hispanic, Latino etc. - they become a group which demonstrates "proof" of the "truth" of "racial" distinctions. In our history, we took the best lands and resources from the indigenous peoples who were already here. We took away their spirituality, made them Christian, thus taking away their sense of meaning and dignity. And then we labeled them as lazy alcoholics.
     Find ways to empower people, give them dignity, allow them to work for a living wage; find ways to give children a sense of belonging as they grow through the difficult challenges of adolescence, teach parents to empower their children in ways that aren't about competition. Help children get excited about LIFE instead of video games, which are really "Us vs. Them". Where does the fascination with "Survivor" TV come from? Would a show where people work together to survive on an island together have any viewing audience? Even video games and "Reality TV" are economic issues.
     I think you get the point. Now, let's discuss more deeply and develop insight and work for solutions.

Why This Blog

     There is a lot going on these days that ought to be provoking deep thinking in all of us. As I think about poverty, mass killings, issues of race, social inequality, economic inequality, etc., I hope others are also having thoughts of varying degrees of wisdom. Maybe we can share thoughts, share perspectives, and reach a higher level of awareness. One of the major problems I see in the world is the illusion of separation. Individuals, communities, corporations, states, countries, and tribes all choose and act as if they are the center and all the other entities are in competition. The mentality of "Survival of the fittest" has come to mean that "my survival" is all that is important.
     Before the dawn of individual consciousness, species had survival instincts. If random trait changes didn't result in one species' survival, that species ceased to exist. Balances between various species' struggle for survival created both a balance of power and, in some cases, an inter-dependency. Life thrived and evolved.
     Something major changed when one species began to be able to think, plan, and eventually plot ways to gain a dominance that altered the system of checks and balances in the eco-system. "Survival of the fittest" shifted to "Survival of the cleverest". To be a bit simplistic, our present world situation is the result of the evolution of consciousness to the point where Egotism conquers.
     What I hope for here is that thinking individuals can share thoughts, perspectives, and maybe insights that can move the evolution of consciousness forward so that more of us can choose more consciously for the benefit of both all members of our species and the planet we live on and need for survival. Being clever isn't a bad thing. Let's use our intelligence to create new systems that don't exploit others but that enhance others and ourselves.