Covert racism
Encyclopedia
Covert racism is a much less public and obvious form of racism or overt racism. It is hidden in the fabric of society, covertly suppressing the individuals being discriminated against. Covert racially biased decisions are often disguised or rationalized with an explanation that society is more willing to accept. These racial biases cause a variety of problems that work to empower the suppressors while diminishing the rights and powers of the oppressed. Covert racism often works subliminally, and often much of the discrimination is being done subconsciously. See Chester Pierce, "Offensive Mechanisms" in Floyd B. Barbour (Editor), The Black Seventies (Boston, Mass: Porter Sargent Publisher, 1970).
George M. Fredrickson
states that racism possesses a generative force more powerful than mere class or caste self-interest alone and is suspicious of arguments that discount matters of ideology, thought and culture and overvalue those of instinct and habit. Others believe that racism in all its forms are part of the human psyche. Feelings of xenophobia or fear of those outside the group, has been part of primordial attitude deeply imbedded in human history. This article is regarding the fabric of racism in the United States
, as it pertains to Americans who are descendants of Eurocentric cultures.
The concept that discrimination can be based on "race" presupposes the existence of "race" itself. However, the US Government's Human Genome Project
has announced that the most complete mapping of human DNA to date indicates that there is no distinct genetic basis to racial types. Based on this evidence, "racial characteristics" logically cannot exist either, such as group differences in eye color
or human hair color.
According to the Human Genome Project, skin color
does exist as a matter of science. So, that which is commonly referred to as "racism" could be more scientifically referred to as "skin color-aroused discrimination". The term "skin color aroused discrimination" has the benefit that it is based on verifiable science, is not based on disproved notions of science, and does not perpetuate a false belief in the disproved concept of biological "race".
Covert racism, sometimes called "color blind" racism, is less obvious but can be equally oppressive as overt racism. This "laissez-faire
" form of racism is not governmentally sanctioned like the overt Jim Crow laws
of the 1950s, and it is not always blatantly obvious. Covert racism comes in many forms including unnecessary politeness to a racial group, the use of political correctness.
were implemented including Jim Crow laws
and the later American political structures which invited extreme segregation within cities and the suburbanisation of the white working and middle class. As overt and obvious racial discrimination became less and less apparent and illegal the idea that the nation was homogenizing became popular. It was thought that as the U.S. accepts more immigrants from different cultures a sort of "melting pot
" will occur and unify everyone under one creed. Along with this, ideologies formed that every group of immigrants goes through the same discrimination. Groups were thought to eventually assimilate, but racism remained and is still present today. Covert racism was and is still used to oppress everyone from Irish, Italian, White, Black, and Asian groups.
Another covert racial problem occurred when most of the black G.I.s returning from the war were denied money promised to them to go to school or buy a house. There were estimates that 25% of soldiers, serving in Vietnam were black, but anecdotal evidence were much higher. Black servicemen were likely to re-enlist at twice the rate of their white counterparts in the Navy, Marine Corps and Airforce and three times the rate in the Army. Not for any sense of adventure, they found the monetary rewards better compared to their home country and they were treated as equals or near equals.
, urban areas were overtly divided into blocks by race. The wide acceptance of these divisions by the majority and the lack of social integration was covert. These blocks were close to toxic dumps, busy highways, and other undesirable locations throughout cities. Whites lived away from these areas and often time Realtors would not be able to show properties to whites within these areas. Apartments also could not rent to certain minority groups even though the owners and managers were not themselves racists, maintaining segregation. Until the late 1960s, the government sanctioned discrimination in housing markets by promulgating rules preventing blacks from receiving mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration.
Even today, FHA loans, a Federal Mortgage programme, goes to the white majority and reaches few minorities. In a study done in Syracuse, between 1996 and 2000, of the 2,169 FHA loans issued only 29 or 1.3 percent went to predominantly minority neighborhoods compared with 1,694 or 78.1 percent that went to white neighborhoods. Mortgage discrimination
played a significant part in the real estate bubble that popped during the later part of 2008, it was found that minorities were disproportionately steered by lenders into subprime loans. In recent years many blacks and Latinos have been discriminated against when applying for jobs because of stereotypes about work ethic based on race. A phenomenon, in which, having a name that sounds "black" would mean the person not getting an interview. Minorities are less likely to obtain key information regarding job interviews and are often denied access to high-paying jobs.
Minorities are also denied access to a quality education, unlike whites in the U.S. This is usually because many poor areas are also predominantly minorities. This means lack of funding in schools. The levels of poverty and lack of educational opportunities perpetuate themselves creating an unbreakable cycle. Racial stereotypes emerge and these populations are further disenfranchised by individuals not helping or simply not caring. In the new Civil Rights Project report from UCLA, dated January 2009, it stated that schools are more segregated today than they have been in the 1950s. Millions of non-white students are locked into "dropout factory" high schools, where huge percentages do not graduate, and few are well prepared for college or a future in the US economy.
Prisons are another place where covert racism occurs. Prisons are filled with racial minorities due to the way the U.S. judicial system works and how police work on the street. Black men are more likely to be convicted and spend more time in prison than whites who did the same crimes. This could be perpetuated by the beliefs held by police on the street level who make split-second decisions, sometimes based on nothing more than subconscious racist stereotypes. Since the beating of Rodney King
(1991), was videotaped and was broadcast around the world, Local and Federal law-enforcement agencies have opened investigations to determine whether indeed there is a pattern of police brutality, not only in Los Angeles but around the country.
, health disparities are well documented in ethnic minorities such as African American
s, Native Americans
, Asian American
s, and Hispanics. When compared to whites
, these minority groups have higher incidence of chronic diseases, higher mortality, and poorer health outcomes. Among the disease-specific examples of racial and ethnic disparities in the United States is the cancer incidence rate among African Americans, which is 25% higher than among whites. In addition, adult African Americans and Hispanics have approximately twice the risk as whites of developing diabetes. Minorities also have higher rates of cardiovascular disease
, HIV/AIDS, and infant mortality
than whites. Caucasian Americans have much lower life expectancy than Asian Americans. A 2001 study found large racial differences exist in healthy life expectancy at lower levels of education.
Public spending is highly correlated with age; average per capita public spending for seniors was more than five times that for children ($6,921 versus $1,225). Average public spending for non-Hispanic blacks ($2,973) was slightly higher than that for whites ($2,675), while spending for Hispanics ($1,967) was significantly lower than the population average ($2,612). Total public spending is also strongly correlated with self-reported health status ($13,770 for those reporting "poor" health versus $1,279 for those reporting "excellent" health).
There is a great deal of research into inequalities in health care. In some cases these inequalities are caused by income disparities that result in lack of health insurance and other barriers to receiving services. In other cases, inequalities in health care reflect a systemic bias
in the way medical procedures and treatments are prescribed for different ethnic groups. Raj Bhopal writes that the history of racism in science
and medicine shows that people and institutions behave according to the ethos of their times. Nancy Krieger wrote that racism underlies unexplained inequities in health care, including treatment for heart disease, renal failure, bladder cancer, and pneumonia. Raj Bhopal writes that these inequalities have been documented in numerous studies. The consistent and repeated findings were that black Americans received less health care than white Americans —particularly when the care involved expensive new technology. One recent study has found that when minority and white patients use the same hospital, they are given the same standard of care.
Covert racism uses discursive repertoires to perpetuate racism and to suppress the "racialized" groups. The White majority and this is stronger in the older generations, are afraid of saying the wrong thing and being labeled as racist, so they confine themselves to the social circle they are most comfortable in — an all-white one. This translates in some part of the division of neighborhoods into school districts that avoid integration, they end up investing on the "whiteness" of their neighbourhoods. The wealthy also control some of these divisions, which results in the minorities being excluded due to the low levels of income in most minority neighborhoods. The residential and social segregation of whites from blacks in the United States creates a socialization process that limits whites' chances for developing meaningful relationships with blacks and other minorities. The segregation experienced by whites from blacks fosters segregated lifestyles and leads them to develop positive views about themselves and negative views about blacks.
In 2004 in her book Colormute: Race Talk Dilemmas in an American School, Mica Pollock called for a strategy within American schools—"a strategy of questioning the validity of race categories to describe human diversity even while keeping race categories strategically available for the analysis of local and national racial inequalities".
George M. Fredrickson
George M. Fredrickson
George M. Fredrickson was the Edgar E. Robinson Professor of U.S. History at Stanford University from 1984 until the time of his retirement in 2002...
states that racism possesses a generative force more powerful than mere class or caste self-interest alone and is suspicious of arguments that discount matters of ideology, thought and culture and overvalue those of instinct and habit. Others believe that racism in all its forms are part of the human psyche. Feelings of xenophobia or fear of those outside the group, has been part of primordial attitude deeply imbedded in human history. This article is regarding the fabric of racism in the United States
Racism in the United States
Racism in the United States has been a major issue since the colonial era and the slave era. Legally sanctioned racism imposed a heavy burden on Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latin Americans...
, as it pertains to Americans who are descendants of Eurocentric cultures.
Covert vs. Overt
Race itself is socially constructed and one "theory" which is still the most popular today, was promulgated by Judge Tucker that there exists natural, physical divisions among humans that are hereditary, reflected in morphology, and roughly but correctly captured by terms like Black, White, and Asian (or Negroid, Caucasoid, and Mongoloid). It has been proven to have been used to suppress and exploit the out group or "racialized others". The idea of race is multi-dimensional and multi-layered with unclear boundaries or rules. All humans belong to the same single species, Homo sapiens. Pure races do not exist in the human species, despite all the obvious physical differences among people from all over the world. The racial categories developed in the 18th century are simply labels for discussing and comparing the differences among members of the human race and used to facilitate slavery and colonialism. To classify people and distribute privileges and freedoms using visible but genetically insignificant traits, like skin colour.The concept that discrimination can be based on "race" presupposes the existence of "race" itself. However, the US Government's Human Genome Project
Human Genome Project
The Human Genome Project is an international scientific research project with a primary goal of determining the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up DNA, and of identifying and mapping the approximately 20,000–25,000 genes of the human genome from both a physical and functional...
has announced that the most complete mapping of human DNA to date indicates that there is no distinct genetic basis to racial types. Based on this evidence, "racial characteristics" logically cannot exist either, such as group differences in eye color
Eye color
Eye color is a polygenic phenotypic character and is determined by two distinct factors: the pigmentation of the eye's iris and the frequency-dependence of the scattering of light by the turbid medium in the stroma of the iris....
or human hair color.
According to the Human Genome Project, skin color
Human skin color
Human skin color is primarily due to the presence of melanin in the skin. Skin color ranges from almost black to white with a pinkish tinge due to blood vessels underneath. Variation in natural skin color is mainly due to genetics, although the evolutionary causes are not completely certain...
does exist as a matter of science. So, that which is commonly referred to as "racism" could be more scientifically referred to as "skin color-aroused discrimination". The term "skin color aroused discrimination" has the benefit that it is based on verifiable science, is not based on disproved notions of science, and does not perpetuate a false belief in the disproved concept of biological "race".
Covert racism, sometimes called "color blind" racism, is less obvious but can be equally oppressive as overt racism. This "laissez-faire
Laissez-Faire Racism
Laissez-Faire Racism is closely related to color-blind racism and covert racism, and is theorized to encompass an ideology that blames minorities for their poorer economic situations, viewing it as the result of cultural inferiority...
" form of racism is not governmentally sanctioned like the overt Jim Crow laws
Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans...
of the 1950s, and it is not always blatantly obvious. Covert racism comes in many forms including unnecessary politeness to a racial group, the use of political correctness.
History in the U.S.
With a strong prevailing history of slavery in the United States, racism has always been an issue. The enslavement of millions of Africans along with the huge influx of immigrants throughout its history has not only allowed great diversity but has created racial segregation. With the abolition of slavery different forms of segregationRacial segregation in the United States
Racial segregation in the United States, as a general term, included the racial segregation or hypersegregation of facilities, services, and opportunities such as housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation along racial lines...
were implemented including Jim Crow laws
Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans...
and the later American political structures which invited extreme segregation within cities and the suburbanisation of the white working and middle class. As overt and obvious racial discrimination became less and less apparent and illegal the idea that the nation was homogenizing became popular. It was thought that as the U.S. accepts more immigrants from different cultures a sort of "melting pot
Melting pot
The melting pot is a metaphor for a heterogeneous society becoming more homogeneous, the different elements "melting together" into a harmonious whole with a common culture...
" will occur and unify everyone under one creed. Along with this, ideologies formed that every group of immigrants goes through the same discrimination. Groups were thought to eventually assimilate, but racism remained and is still present today. Covert racism was and is still used to oppress everyone from Irish, Italian, White, Black, and Asian groups.
Another covert racial problem occurred when most of the black G.I.s returning from the war were denied money promised to them to go to school or buy a house. There were estimates that 25% of soldiers, serving in Vietnam were black, but anecdotal evidence were much higher. Black servicemen were likely to re-enlist at twice the rate of their white counterparts in the Navy, Marine Corps and Airforce and three times the rate in the Army. Not for any sense of adventure, they found the monetary rewards better compared to their home country and they were treated as equals or near equals.
Racially Constructed Barriers
In the United States covert racism is used to construct barriers that disable and oppress a racial group. Some of these methods are covertly racial profiling and the use of racial stereotypes. In the 1950s after World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, urban areas were overtly divided into blocks by race. The wide acceptance of these divisions by the majority and the lack of social integration was covert. These blocks were close to toxic dumps, busy highways, and other undesirable locations throughout cities. Whites lived away from these areas and often time Realtors would not be able to show properties to whites within these areas. Apartments also could not rent to certain minority groups even though the owners and managers were not themselves racists, maintaining segregation. Until the late 1960s, the government sanctioned discrimination in housing markets by promulgating rules preventing blacks from receiving mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration.
Even today, FHA loans, a Federal Mortgage programme, goes to the white majority and reaches few minorities. In a study done in Syracuse, between 1996 and 2000, of the 2,169 FHA loans issued only 29 or 1.3 percent went to predominantly minority neighborhoods compared with 1,694 or 78.1 percent that went to white neighborhoods. Mortgage discrimination
Mortgage discrimination
Mortgage discrimination or mortgage lending discrimination is the practice of banks, governments or other lending institutions denying loans to one or more groups of people primarily on the basis of race, ethnic origin, sex or religion...
played a significant part in the real estate bubble that popped during the later part of 2008, it was found that minorities were disproportionately steered by lenders into subprime loans. In recent years many blacks and Latinos have been discriminated against when applying for jobs because of stereotypes about work ethic based on race. A phenomenon, in which, having a name that sounds "black" would mean the person not getting an interview. Minorities are less likely to obtain key information regarding job interviews and are often denied access to high-paying jobs.
Minorities are also denied access to a quality education, unlike whites in the U.S. This is usually because many poor areas are also predominantly minorities. This means lack of funding in schools. The levels of poverty and lack of educational opportunities perpetuate themselves creating an unbreakable cycle. Racial stereotypes emerge and these populations are further disenfranchised by individuals not helping or simply not caring. In the new Civil Rights Project report from UCLA, dated January 2009, it stated that schools are more segregated today than they have been in the 1950s. Millions of non-white students are locked into "dropout factory" high schools, where huge percentages do not graduate, and few are well prepared for college or a future in the US economy.
Prisons are another place where covert racism occurs. Prisons are filled with racial minorities due to the way the U.S. judicial system works and how police work on the street. Black men are more likely to be convicted and spend more time in prison than whites who did the same crimes. This could be perpetuated by the beliefs held by police on the street level who make split-second decisions, sometimes based on nothing more than subconscious racist stereotypes. Since the beating of Rodney King
Rodney King
Rodney Glen King is an American best known for his involvement in a police brutality case involving the Los Angeles Police Department on March 3, 1991...
(1991), was videotaped and was broadcast around the world, Local and Federal law-enforcement agencies have opened investigations to determine whether indeed there is a pattern of police brutality, not only in Los Angeles but around the country.
Demographic differences in Healthcare
In the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, health disparities are well documented in ethnic minorities such as African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s, Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
, Asian American
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
s, and Hispanics. When compared to whites
White American
White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
, these minority groups have higher incidence of chronic diseases, higher mortality, and poorer health outcomes. Among the disease-specific examples of racial and ethnic disparities in the United States is the cancer incidence rate among African Americans, which is 25% higher than among whites. In addition, adult African Americans and Hispanics have approximately twice the risk as whites of developing diabetes. Minorities also have higher rates of cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease
Heart disease or cardiovascular disease are the class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels . While the term technically refers to any disease that affects the cardiovascular system , it is usually used to refer to those related to atherosclerosis...
, HIV/AIDS, and infant mortality
Infant mortality
Infant mortality is defined as the number of infant deaths per 1000 live births. Traditionally, the most common cause worldwide was dehydration from diarrhea. However, the spreading information about Oral Re-hydration Solution to mothers around the world has decreased the rate of children dying...
than whites. Caucasian Americans have much lower life expectancy than Asian Americans. A 2001 study found large racial differences exist in healthy life expectancy at lower levels of education.
Public spending is highly correlated with age; average per capita public spending for seniors was more than five times that for children ($6,921 versus $1,225). Average public spending for non-Hispanic blacks ($2,973) was slightly higher than that for whites ($2,675), while spending for Hispanics ($1,967) was significantly lower than the population average ($2,612). Total public spending is also strongly correlated with self-reported health status ($13,770 for those reporting "poor" health versus $1,279 for those reporting "excellent" health).
There is a great deal of research into inequalities in health care. In some cases these inequalities are caused by income disparities that result in lack of health insurance and other barriers to receiving services. In other cases, inequalities in health care reflect a systemic bias
Systemic bias
Systemic bias is the inherent tendency of a process to favor particular outcomes. The term is a neologism that generally refers to human systems; the analogous problem in non-human systems is often called systematic bias, and leads to systematic error in measurements or estimates.-Bias in...
in the way medical procedures and treatments are prescribed for different ethnic groups. Raj Bhopal writes that the history of racism in science
Scientific racism
Scientific racism is the use of scientific techniques and hypotheses to sanction the belief in racial superiority or racism.This is not the same as using scientific findings and the scientific method to investigate differences among the humans and argue that there are races...
and medicine shows that people and institutions behave according to the ethos of their times. Nancy Krieger wrote that racism underlies unexplained inequities in health care, including treatment for heart disease, renal failure, bladder cancer, and pneumonia. Raj Bhopal writes that these inequalities have been documented in numerous studies. The consistent and repeated findings were that black Americans received less health care than white Americans —particularly when the care involved expensive new technology. One recent study has found that when minority and white patients use the same hospital, they are given the same standard of care.
Power and Colormute society
Another problem dealing with covert racism is the presence of inequality vs. inequity. Often an attempt at overall equality is made by trying to provide everyone with the same opportunities. Inequity occurs when the conditions and opportunities provided are not equal to those of the majority of Americans. This generally occurs in the education system in the U.S. This unfairness in the system is not overtly in place but stems from a perpetuated injustice and is often maintained through the invisibility of it.Covert racism uses discursive repertoires to perpetuate racism and to suppress the "racialized" groups. The White majority and this is stronger in the older generations, are afraid of saying the wrong thing and being labeled as racist, so they confine themselves to the social circle they are most comfortable in — an all-white one. This translates in some part of the division of neighborhoods into school districts that avoid integration, they end up investing on the "whiteness" of their neighbourhoods. The wealthy also control some of these divisions, which results in the minorities being excluded due to the low levels of income in most minority neighborhoods. The residential and social segregation of whites from blacks in the United States creates a socialization process that limits whites' chances for developing meaningful relationships with blacks and other minorities. The segregation experienced by whites from blacks fosters segregated lifestyles and leads them to develop positive views about themselves and negative views about blacks.
In 2004 in her book Colormute: Race Talk Dilemmas in an American School, Mica Pollock called for a strategy within American schools—"a strategy of questioning the validity of race categories to describe human diversity even while keeping race categories strategically available for the analysis of local and national racial inequalities".
Further reading
- Race Bending: "Mixed" Youth Practicing Strategic Racialization in California Race Talk Dilemma in an American School by Mica Pollock.
- In RACISTS BEWARE: UNCOVERING RACIAL POLITICS IN THE POSTMODERN SOCIETY, Dei identifies and subjects to close scrutiny the new race-bending logics of what he calls "postmodern" societies
- Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences Transnational Media Literacy Analytic Reflections on a Program With Latina Teens Lucila Vargas University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- 2009 Denver University Law Review, Article: Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, and Michelle Obama: Performing Gender, Race, and Class on the Campaign Trail
- Kleg, M. (1993). Hate, Prejudice, and Racism. Albany: State University of New York Press.
- Berreby, David. Sept./Oct. 2000. Race Counts. From "The Sciences".
- Brodkin, Karen. 1998. How Jews Became White Folks. Rutgers University Press.
- Dyer, Richard. 1994. White. Routledge.
- Gallagher, Charles A. 2003. Playing the White Ethnic Card: Using Ethnic Identity to Deny Contemporary Racism. Routledge.
- Lipsitz, George. 1998. The Possessive Investment in Whiteness. Temple University Press.
- Pierce, Chester, "Offensive Mechanisms" in Floyd B. Barbour (Editor), The Black Seventies (Boston, Mass: Porter Sargent Publisher, 1970)
- Jared Taylor. 2004 Edition. Paved with Good Intentions: The Failure of Race Relations in Contemporary America
See also
- Laissez-Faire RacismLaissez-Faire RacismLaissez-Faire Racism is closely related to color-blind racism and covert racism, and is theorized to encompass an ideology that blames minorities for their poorer economic situations, viewing it as the result of cultural inferiority...
- Race cardRace cardPlaying the race card is an idiomatic phrase that refers to exploitation of either racist or anti-racist attitudes to gain a personal advantage, typically by falsely accusing others of racism against oneself.-Usage:...
- African-American history
- DiscriminationDiscriminationDiscrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
- EthnopluralismEthnopluralismEthnopluralism or ethno-pluralism is a European New Right theory of multiculturalism which contrasts with liberal multiculturalism."Cultural differentialism" is the view that cultures are clearly bound entities with a specific geographical location...
- Microinequities
- Race and longevity
- RedliningRedliningRedlining is the practice of denying, or increasing the cost of services such as banking, insurance, access to jobs, access to health care, or even supermarkets to residents in certain, often racially determined, areas. The term "redlining" was coined in the late 1960s by John McKnight, a...
- Second-class citizenSecond-class citizenSecond-class citizen is an informal term used to describe a person who is systematically discriminated against within a state or other political jurisdiction, despite their nominal status as a citizen or legal resident there...
- White flightWhite flightWhite flight has been a term that originated in the United States, starting in the mid-20th century, and applied to the large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions. It was first seen as...