So Elisabeth, if tribalism is an excuse invented by Europe to engage in racism, why did it dominate Europe for thousands of years… with various tribes all of the same racial and ethnic origins constantly at war. Why was it such a critical component of the Zulu wars against their neighboring tribes. What about the various inter tribal wars between Native American groups… one of the more fascinating to me being the history of how the tribes that formed the Iroquois nation fought and defeated the other confederation of Native American tribes arrayed against them. Then of course, tribal warfare dominated Japan for hundreds of years as various clans fought each other for dominance. So tribal warfare is inherent in human behavior and has been found as far back as recorded history.

So let me clarify and correct what I think you meant. People have always been aware of skin color as one component of tribal identification. As far back as recorded history there are writings that identify various tribes based on physical traits. So what I think you meant to say was the use of race to justify modern European imperialism was obviously a European invention in much the same way Islam was used to justify imperialism by the Arabs where they spread out from Arabia to conquer as far as Spain to the west and Indonesia to the east. If spreading Islam was the only purpose, then they would have sent missionaries instead of armies. So using race or religion to justify military aggression is nothing new or unique to Europe.

Racial identity is subset of tribalism. In general, most people self identify as belonging to a “tribe” (the most common exception are people that see themselves as “bi racial”, “bi cultural”, etc. In fact, our government even today requires we self identify on applications (something that really offends my bi racial daughters and bi racial grandchildren). Bottom line, tribal identification is basic to human behavior…

Racism is a specific response to tribes whose skin color differs from your own. But when my wife’s family was upset that she was marrying a white man, it was not because of European racism, but rather Chinese racism. So again, racism is not unique to white people.

Whether you use race, religion, culture or any other reason to wage war on other people at the end of the day it is a from of inter tribal conflict. Where the truth in your statement lies, was beginning in the late 1400s, Europe had through constant inter tribal warfare begun to consolidate into “nation” states. Concurrent with this advances in technology freed up thousands and eventually hundreds of thousands of males capable of serving in the military which combined with superior military technology that resulted from the arms race between European tribes constantly at war led to nations with large armies and advanced military technologies.

This inter tribal warfare became so fierce, that in the Thirty Years War more than 30% of everyone living in those parts where the wars were raged had died. Whole town and villages were gone. The horror of this war led to the idea that future wars had to be justified on “moral” grounds. And so the concept of “just wars” came into existence. War had to be justified or they were immoral.

And that is when racism became a tool of imperialism. And this is what you are referring to. By claiming superiority based on skin color, white tribes (nations at this time) could justify their wars against non white tribes on the basis that they were bringing European religion, culture, and “civilization” to these “heathen tribes”. In effect, like the Arabs, they were conquering other tribes for their own good.

But even when race was not used to justify war, Europeans found other justifications… the Napoleonic Wars were fought all across Europe and justified by France as liberating people from the monarchies they were under.

Now here is where you are both right and wrong concerning the use of the word “race”. Biologically speaking we are all one race. The differences are to small to justify the “term” race as it applies to the biological differences between the sociological use of the term “race”. But again, it is not a “white” problem. You need to spend some time talking with Chinese from China. Chinese go beyond just racism and believe Chinese stand at the top of the “human” race. This self identification as being superior is also common in Japan. In India, under their religious beliefs marrying a white person means that your “social caste” drops to untouchable. A status you can never escape.

Simply said racism is not a uniquely “white issue”, saying that tells me you have spent little time in other countries with strong racial views towards people of other skin color including white people. Understanding that “racism” has strong tribal associations, is the first step towards confronting racism. Short term, laws that discourage racism do much more to combat racism that political platforms that than encourage racial identity politics.

When Biden’s says “you ain’t black if you don’t vote for me”, that is the epitome of racism. When an African American calls a conservative African American an “Uncle Tom” that is just as racist by suggesting skin color should define one’s political and economic views.

Since humans are “tribal” will never defeat tribalism, but we can work to try to build a more inclusive “tribe” that does not use “race” as a defining characteristic. But it starts with ending the “self identifying” racial identity politics going on in this country.