I am clearly in the first camp of the definition. I understand the political reasons behind the R2 definition, but I think it is wrong to allow the second definition to enter our language as it waters down the first, which is serious.
Racism was largely a European invention to justify dominating people of other races by implying a degree of “racial superiority”. Obviously, Hitler expressed this view when he declared Germans were somehow the “master race” which gave them the authority to rule over all others… not just minorities but Slavic whites. But biologically speaking racial differences are relatively minor and ethnic differences even less so. Biological mutations perpetuated through natural selection based on environmental factors are behind racial differences and local environmental factors account for most ethnic differences. In effect they represent adaptive behaviors not qualitative differences. I see no benefit to expanding the definition of the racism at a time race is beginning to “disappear” in this country to encompass every variation of skin color and cultural difference.
MLK
I am a fan of MLK and his dream speech. It describes my family. White man marries Asian wife. Oldest child, son, marries African girl from Zimbabwe, second oldest child, daughter lives with Haitian man of African Hispanic descent. Third oldest child, daughter marries white guy. Next two daughters time will tell. Obviously, skin color not only does not define how we see people, but nothing captures this reality more than when my grandson was surprised to learn in third grade, that he was African American (it was February and the class was studying African American history and what it meant that when someone said they were African American). Even more interesting before he learned he was African American, he complained he wasn’t! Bottom line, only one in six is “pure white”.
Forecasts suggest by 2050 mixed race babies will represent the largest group of newborns and “pure’ white children a significant but growing minority of newborns. In some states this transition has already occurred. As a friend of mine jokes… we are “fucking” our way to racial equality by eliminating “race” which because of technology no longer is important in the natural selection process biologically speaking.
Among my conservative friends only one is married to a white woman, the rest are married to minorities. California is a pretty good picture into the future when it comes to race composition. It is also why most of my friends do not see “race” as a political issue instead most see the conflict between assimilated citizens and those not fully assimilated.
Malcolm X
I am not a fan of Malcolm X. Who felt “equality” would only occur when every racial group shared power on some equitable basis. Identity politics was at the core of his concept of equality. He rejected the idea that races would merge and so power had to be divided up based on skin color so that every group had a place at the table. The problem historically with this “tribal” view of race is that it ultimately ends with various tribes forming alliances competing for power (like Democrats and Republicans who each attempt to enlist various “identity groups” to their banner) until one establishes itself as dominant. Shared power based on identity politics is inherently unstable and flawed even if it can work in the short term.
Also inherent in Malcolm X’s beliefs is the use of violence to force “shared power”. But once violence is embraced, there is no guarantee it will work to force “shared” power, since it can be used to deny equal rights and to enforce discrimination. As such the “by any means necessary” slogan of Malcolm X that has been embraced by the progressive left can and will end badly. The same slogan is embraced by “racists” and other fringe radical groups like Antifa and the Nation of Islam.
Changing alliances
Most importantly, the whole R2 definition is a fleeting one. When my Dad was young the division was far more between protestants and Catholics than between races. That was largely ended by the time JFK was elected.
Then the conflict arose between African Americans and whites during my youth. The election of a man descended from slave owners on his mother’s side and Africans on his father’s side, Barrack Obama, signaled as much as anything the beginning of the end of this tension.
Confusing assimilation with racism is problematic. This is why so many successful African Americans reject the R2 definition, since it does not apply to them. They have succeeded not in a “white man’s world” but in America… America will continue to be dominated by fully assimilated Americans even as their racial composition changes over time as well as their religious affiliation.
