Abstract
“Racism” as prejudice and discrimination came after races were posited and racism was practiced. Racism occurs in discourse (speech, gesture, symbols) and in action. Hearts-and-minds racism pertains to deliberate individual action. Racist hate crimes are a classic, broadly despised example of racist action, but racist action is more widespread than hate crimes that require immediate racist motives. Institutional racism affects millions and may lack individual intent. Still, its victims, such as poor nonwhite school children and minorities incarcerated for minor crimes or crimes they did not commit, may be harmed as much or more than with racist intent. Implicit racism includes white privilege, micro-aggression, and epistemic injustice.
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Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions
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1.
What are the advantages to free speech when racist hate speech is permitted? What are some arguments against it?
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2.
Can people who belong to groups that have experienced racism themselves be racist? Explain what is meant by “racism” if they can or cannot be racists.
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3.
How is postjudice different from prejudice?
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4.
Does the prosecution of hate crimes in the United States accomplish the deterrence of racism? Why or why not?
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5.
How is the US prison system a system of institutional racism?
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6.
What are some claims or arguments that the US K-12 educational system is, or is not, a system of institutional racism? What is your assessment?
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7.
Give some examples of micro-aggression from your own experience.
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8.
Does the idea of white privilege trivialize the violation of rights of nonwhites?
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9.
Is epistemic injustice real injustice in your view?
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10.
Compare the wrongs of individual racism with institutional racism, in general or theoretical terms.
Glossary
- colorblindness
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—perspective that a person is unaware of racial differences effects of on minorities.
- discrimination
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—harmful action against others based on their race.
- hearts-and-minds racism (HMR)
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—racism of individuals.
- micro-aggression
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—speech or behavior experienced by members of racial or ethnic minority groups as indirect or covert prejudice or discrimination.
- postjudice
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—an attitude of judging people based on their race, because members of that same race perpetrated racist harms in the past.
- prejudice
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—negative beliefs about others based on their race.
- racism
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—prejudice and discrimination practiced by individuals or embedded in institutional practices.
- white privilege
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—benefits to whites of living in a society with a history and present practice of racism against nonwhites.
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Zack, N. (2018). Racism and Neo-racisms. In: Philosophy of Race. Palgrave Philosophy Today. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78729-9_7
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