Why We Call It Racism (When Discussing George Floyd)

Travis J · Why We Call It Racism

By Travis J. Gandy

I have very light skin and wavy brown hair. I was raised by a white mother, and a great deal of my closest friends growing up were white. Most of the time I sound "white" when I speak, I dress in ways that are familiar to white people and I have a college education which is respected by most white people. My experience with the police and the legal system is varied. I am very often treated by members of law enforcement and white people in general with a sense of respect and dignity because I am non-threatening and relatable.

What has shocked me most is the difference I notice when I am in the presence of other minorities and we encounter white people. Suddenly I feel more aware of my skin color as I notice the shift in atmosphere - while they look at us and speak to us differently than others or approach us with suspicion.

First of all, I'd like to point out that we all have prejudices. We can't help it. We're hard wired that way. None of us are truly color blind. We notice everything about people when we meet them and immediately the part of our brain responsible for self defense kicks into gear. We make assessments of people's color, gender, size, sexuality, clothing, accent, tattoos, weight, etc. and we form pre-programed judgements. This isn’t right or wrong, it is just a reality. But this is also the part of ourselves we must keep in check.

I have to admit that growing up around white people (friends, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents), they assumed I was just like them or would understand where they were coming from. So I often heard things come out of their mouths that they don't say in public. The locker room talk, the conversations in the car or the office regarding black people, race politics etc. And much of it was just downright judgmental, hurtful and approached from an arrogant sense of superiority and privilege. So its hard for me to imagine that these same people when encountering a person from a minority group that they already see as inferior to them - would deal with them in a fair way. My experience is that white people in this country are not aware of how much they walk through life from a place of privilege, and yet they expect that privilege at the same time. It's very perplexing.

I don't think all white people are racist. At least, I don't think they are deliberately racist. What I do think is that whites benefit from a historically racist system that was established and has been maintained to give white people the advantage. And although the average white person may dream of a utopia where everybody is happy with their status; it scares them when they feel like their superiority is being shaken and they may have to surrender their power to attain that utopia.

I am not bitter. But right now I am angry. And I believe that anger is justified.

No, I do not believe that all cops are racist, or that every situation involving a cop and a black person is about race. But I really believe that white people get defensive when they hear the word “race” in a conversation without stepping back and considering all of the variables.

When we talk about systemic racism and systems of oppression, we aren’t talking about some rogue police officer deciding to go on the hunt for black people he can kill. That’s not what we mean by racism. Like you, I don’t necessarily believe this cop wanted to kill this man because he was black. I don’t know the man and I don’t know what’s in his heart. I know very well what it means to make bad choices out of ignorance and selfishness, and have to pay a heavy price for it. I believe this officer - like many others - has a power and control issue and as most bullies do, saw this man as easy prey to act out on. I’m certain he wasn’t trying to kill the guy. But his ignorance and bad behavior caused the death of that man.

So what about this is racist? Is it the fact that the cop was white? Not necessarily. Was it that the victim was black? That’s certainly part of it, but not the whole story.

The race factor goes back to those systems of oppression that we keep mentioning. There is a subtle narrative that’s existed in the media and politics for generations portraying blacks as ignorant, angry, violent, deceptive, liars and thieves. Drug abuse and many other crimes in America are almost identical statistically between the black and white communities. And yet, black people are arrested and prosecuted at much greater levels and serve harsher sentences than white counterparts for the same crimes. This is why blacks make up less than 15% of the U.S. population but anywhere from 40-70% of the prison population (depending on the state).

Is this by chance? Is it a myth that it is due to racism or is it a big misunderstanding and just unfortunate that blacks get caught at the wrong place at the wrong time? Well, there’s been a lot of research on this subject. Tons of books and thesis have been written over the last decade, and documentaries have been made. They highlight historical documents and memos that show how police forces in black communities were instructed and trained to be harsher than in white communities. They were trained to put pressure on the black community, to raid and arrest, stop and harass on levels that reflect occupation rather than patrolling. This is why between the 1980s and 1990s arrests were literally 700 times greater in the black community than in white communities. The black community not only lost its men (and many women) to prison, but being made felons for petty crimes - that young white men were having the charges dropped for - also caused them to lose their voting rights.

Black men were denied the right to vote during slavery and the Jim Crow era and then lost the right to vote over the last several decades due to an unbalanced social and justice system.

Police are not looked at in the black community as protectors or friendly. They are feared. A police officer may be racist, he may not. But he wears that badge and uniform and carries a gun and however it comes about, he represents a system that does not protect black lives the way it does whites.

I was once driving through Texas with my ex wife (who is white). She was driving, pregnant and in a bad mood and she was speeding. We got pulled over by a police officer who was quite arrogant and rude and threatened to take her to jail. I was shocked as she berated him and said point blank to his face, “Let’s see what happens to your job tomorrow morning when you show up in court after dragging a pregnant woman to jail in Texas!” I was shocked because I was scared. I watched police all my life treat my father so differently for so much less. I watched them treat me differently and I’m not even dark skinned. But her white privilege allowed her to put a cop in his place, get back on the road and keep driving without a scratch.

That is white privilege, and that is not what dealing with cops is like for black people. A black man asserting his rights can lead to his death. For various reasons. And the fact that statistically there are significantly more black people dying due to police actions than whites - in a country that is numerically dominated by whites - is clear evidence that there is a problem. That is the racism!

Yes, I believe that white people in this country in large numbers do not see blacks (or most other ethnicities) as equal to them. I think they form judgements when they meet people (as we all do) and these judgements cause irrational, unjust behavior.

I believe all people are or have the potential to be racist in some form. It's natural for us to have prejudices and assume things about other people groups. Yes, black people are often racist as well. The difference is that while black racism may hurt a white person’s feelings, it is individualized. White racism on the other hand is systemic and institutionalized. It is written into our laws and department policies, it is in our schools, police departments, government agencies and it has the power to harm people in great numbers. That is a different type of racism. It is a system that is designed to guarantee privilege for whites, to maintain the status quo and to subdue non-whites.

This system is not Democrat or Republican. It is just a part of America. But it is un-American. And it is time for it to change. It is time for my white friends to start soul searching, to stop being defensive, and to have enough humility to stop offering opinions and start listening. And once they’ve listened, to start calling each other out and challenging each other. If we want to be proud of who we are as a country, then we need to deal with this issue. It is 2020 and we are literally at ground zero on an issue we were fighting over in 1968.

That is shameful for a country that is supposed to be the leader of the world.