Anti-Racism

Macroeconomics is easy to write about. Racism is not.

Luckily, I have some good friends who have introduced me to the concept of anti-racism. I read a book by Judy Picoult called small great things. I recently read pieces by Jonathan Kanter and Ben Danielson.

No, it doesn’t make me an expert. But it’s enough to get me thinking. You are my friends and I like to share my thinking with you. Even if it is not macro.

Anti-racism is a new term to me. It simply means that you no longer are willing to put up with racism. I don’t consider myself a racist but then most of us don’t. Anti-racism makes you a little more action-oriented. It means when you come across a racist action you don’t sit quietly – it means you confront it.

Confronting it does not mean you have to punch someone or embarrass a person in front of others. Being anti-racist means you do it in your own way. I will probably never walk in a parade, carry a sign, or shout slogans, but I can find ways to speak with people or to write about what I see and hear. That’s my way. You might prefer to take part in public activities or maybe you want to fight with those advancing racism. Each should find their way – but anti-racism implies you find some way that is compatible with your personality and knowledge.

Why take on anti-racism? Why not let other people do it? My answer to that is that there is still much to do so that black* people feel as natural and comfortable as white people in going about their business. Talk to a black friend about that. His experience is not the same as yours.

Sure, much has changed since I was a boy growing up in Miami. Or much has changed since I graduated from Georgia Tech in Atlanta. I recall that Lester Maddox, before he became Governor of Georgia, owned a restaurant in Atlanta. He became famous for giving axe handles to his white patrons to use against any black people who tried to eat in his barbq restaurant. Much has changed since blacks sat in the back of buses.

Even more has changed at workplaces where we find more black persons working side by side with white colleagues. But it doesn’t take much effort to find vast differences in the ways whites and blacks live. A residual blanket of racism lies almost everywhere we care to look. Even if it is simply the numbers. When you go into a restaurant, a bar or Wendys, most of the people are just like you, white. That’s not prejudice but it does speak to the different ways we experience life.

I used to think to myself that if I did it and Russell Wilson did it, then why can’t more blacks do it? I grew up Jewish in a time when Jews were not loved much more than blacks. I got myself educated and I played by all the rules and everything turned out fine. 

But this is self-deception. I had two parents who were perfect parents. No they weren’t high income, but they came from traditions and families that passed down success traits. They did not come from dangerous neighborhoods and they did not teach us to shy away from white people. They did not teach us to be afraid that because of our skin color we might be suspected or accused of things we didn’t do.

Some like to use the term white privilege and I used to recoil at that. I used to hate the term institutional racism. But those reactions come from one who has always benefited from being white. Of course, I didn’t want to admit that I was advantaged. And sure, I had to work hard to get into and get out of Georgia Tech. But that’s not the point. It is not so much that I gained an advantage. It is more that so many other people were left out of that. In comparison to what many blacks were facing, my achievements were a walk in the park. Call it institutional racism or call it white privilege or call it black prejudice, what matters is that there exists a tilted field.

Maybe it isn’t tilted as much as before but it is still tilted. And that’s why we can’t sit on our hands. When an artist roughs in a landscape, she draws the big picture. After that takes form, she can work on the details of the ducks and the geese on the pond. We have drawn the landscape of a more equal society; now we need to address all the remaining details.

It will be hard for a government to do that and that is what I find so compelling about anti-racism. It says that each of us can play a part. Like in the famous whack-a-mole game – when we see something pop up, we whack it to the ground. A few years of racial whack-a-mole, we might make some headway.

A personal note to end on. Sometimes my friends note or joke that my move to Seattle has changed me. In economics terms, I always considered myself a moderate or a conservative. But never was I conservative when it came to race. Marge and Sonny Davidson, my parents, wouldn’t have it. I tried to raise my children that way too. But I am tired of telling people I am not a racist because it doesn’t mean anything. Today I see the point. Not being a racist isn't enough. Being anti-racist means that I will do what I can to work against racism around me. I hope you will too.

*I use the term black people here and I realize that term might not be the best way to describe the issue. Surely there are other people of color not to mention others who face racism. No harm is intended and my use of that term came from things I am reading that were written by black people.