Essays

 RACISM: WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT IS NOT

  Race is defined as “a category of humankind that shares certain distinctive physical traits.” There are three major races: Caucasoid, Negroid, and Mongoloid. The most recent United States Census officially recognized five racial categories, listed in order of population numbers:  European American, Black or African American,  Asian American, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander.

   So what is racism? The Oxford Dictionary defines racism as “the unfair treatment of people who belong to a different race.” The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines racism as “a belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.”  Can we believe that God created one race superior to another? No, because “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen 1:27).  Can we believe that one race is more sinful than another?  No, that could not be true  “…since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”  (Romans 3:23).

    In seeking a common definition for racism and its ramifications, we have found that it is defined from the perspective of whatever group or person is defining it.  Quoting from a sermon by St. Augustine:  “Men are hopeless creatures, and the less they concentrate on their own sins, the more interested they become in the sins of others.  They seek to criticize, not to correct.  Unable to excuse themselves, they are ready to accuse others” (Liturgy of the Hours, Vol. III, Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time).

   According to Fr. Jerry Pokorsky writing in Catholic Culture (2-17-21), a common theme of neo-Marxist critical theory is that “Racism is the oppression of a marginalized group in a society that is based on white supremacy. If you are a white person, then you naturally benefit from white privilege.”  This is the basis for Critical Race Theory (CRT) that is being widely promoted, including in our schools at all levels, beginning in kindergarten. Fr. Pokorsky asks, “How does one repent of one’s whiteness?” He quotes neo-Marxist Black Lives Matter leaders who claim racism “ ‘is everywhere, it’s almost like the air we breathe.’ ”  Many groups and individuals, including some Church leaders, use the word “systemic” to describe racism, meaning that it is ingrained in every aspect of our public and private life. These definitions/descriptions of racism indict every person at every level and aspect of culture for wrongdoing in relation to any person not like ourselves.  In fact, these definitions/descriptions are racist in themselves.

    Fr. Pokorsky says we need “a reasonable, intelligible, comprehensive, non-ideological, and just definition of racism to prevent, literally, the overthrow of Western civilization. At its core, it seems racism might be defined as the hatred of another person because of race. But it is not likely such people hate others because of the color of their skin. They hate people because of patterns of behavior that they associate with the color of their skin.  Consider this provisional working definition of racism. It applies to members of every race and culture: Racism is a state of mind in which a person uses racial characteristics alone to recall, cultivate, and unjustly act upon grievances or fears, real or imagined. By this definition, a sense of superiority may not be the primary motive for racism. Indeed, in the tangled web of human psychology, a sense of inferiority may be a more significant factor.”

    Using Fr. Pakorsky’s working definition, we can distinguish behaviors, decisions, and policies that are and are not racist.  Law enforcement is not racist whether it involves detaining an illegal immigrant at the border, quelling a riot, arresting someone burglarizing a business, or stopping a driver who is endangering the lives of other motorists–regardless of the law breaker’s race or the law enforcer’s race. Exercising our right to free speech is not racist when its intention is to speak the truth and expose wrongdoing, harmful attitudes, and injustices–regardless of the person’s race who is speaking or spoken to. Voter integrity laws requiring a valid ID are not racist.   Behaviors that indicate unreasonable prejudice, disrespect, or disregard for the good of others may be deemed wrong–but they are not inherently racist.  It is a gross error and injustice to label every offensive behavior, decision, and policy as racist.

    On the other hand, there are legitimately racist behaviors, decisions, and policies that we need to recognize, denounce, and correct:  voicing a vicious racial slur is racist; attacking police because they are White or Black is racist; arresting a non-threatening person because of skin color is racist; accusing Whites of being racist because they are White is racist; accusing Blacks of inferiority or cultural violence because they are Black is racist; promoting abortion in low income, predominantly Black neighborhoods is racist. 

    Following the shooting of Michael Brown in 2014, the phrase “stay woke” was used by activists of the Black Lives Matter movement to urge awareness of police abuses, in particular White police against Blacks. This was the beginning of the “woke movement.”  Awareness of abuse is good without regard to the races of those involved. One-sided extremism should be recognized for what it is.

    As Catholic Christians, we must categorically reject the idea being put forth that the first act of sin was the enslavement of Blacks by Whites in the year 1619, for which Whites must perpetually do acts of reparation to Blacks.  In fact, the first act of sin was man’s rebellion against God’s authority. In the book of Genesis we read the story of Eve’s and Adam’s disobedience of God’s command in the Garden of Eden not to eat the fruit of the tree in the midst of the Garden. Tempted by the serpent, Satan, they ate because they wanted to be like God, determining good and evil for themselves (Gen 2:16-3:24). Eve and Adam disobeyed and, therefore, sinned and offended God.  Racism is a sin that is a serious offense against God who created each person in his image with inherent dignity and worth and is a sin against our neighbor. Just as he acted toward our first parents, Satan continues to deceive, confuse, and divide us from God and each other–his primary weapons.

    In an Angelus address in 2001, Pope John Paul II said, “The Second Vatican Council reminds us that ‘We cannot truly pray to God the Father of all if we treat any people in other than brotherly fashion, for all men are created in God’s image…. Therefore, the Church reproves, as foreign to the mind of Christ, any discrimination against people or any persecution of them on the basis of their race, color, social condition or religion’ (Nostra Aetate, 5). To oppose racism we must practice the culture of reciprocal acceptance, recognizing in every man and woman a brother or sister with whom we walk in solidarity and peace. There is need for a vast work of education to the values that exalt the dignity of the human person and safeguard his fundamental rights” (8-26).

      Each of us is called to study and pray for understanding, discernment, wisdom, and courage not to be drawn into a racist mindset ourselves or into the errors of our time regarding racism but, instead, to bring clarity to the issues by witnessing to the truth of Scripture and the teaching of the Church.