A friend and I were catching up. She is very social and gets a lot of visitors in Key West. But she was dreading her upcoming visit with her nephew.
“He’s very bigoted,” she explained. “And he is a tenured teacher in an urban neighborhood. He claims that he learned his racism through his job.”
“He is actually a good person,” she continued. “He’s kind to his parents, tithes, and does a lot of volunteer work for his church.”
I was instantly appalled (and judgmental), that this person teaches people he hates.
We know that racism is not limited to just black and white. I attended my niece’s Bat Mitzvah, where an ultra-conservative rabbi preached that reluctantly he concluded that we need to kill people who violently (and that definition was broad) oppose Israel’s right to exist. My appalled brother-in-law never attended that Synagogue again. On another occasion, I remember listening to my cleric-uncle preach a sermon supporting racism. My father, visibly shaken, mumbled that there is a special place in Hell for people who preach hate from the pulpit.
This raises the question, can someone who is racist, an abuser, or misogynist be a good person?
This question has haunted me for some time.
There is another side to this coin as well. Tumblr has a site Racists Getting Fired whose goal is to find people who post racist comments on the Internet and notify their employers. Remember, Amy Cooper? She called the police on a Black man (who was a bird watcher in Central Park) indicating that an African-American was dangerously threatening her (when he merely asked her to leash her dog). He filmed the incident, and his post went viral. She lost her job, temporary custody of her dog, and was charged with attempting to file a false police report (it was later dropped).
Do these tactics assist in the battle for social injustice, or do they simply represent a new kind of abuse and create further division?
About 20 years ago, I decided that I would no longer call a racist, abuser, or misogynist a “good” person. Instead, I can describe his/her good characteristics and also clarify that s/he is biased.
But is this merely judgmental virtue signaling? (Namely, I am better than you because I am against racism.)
What do religious leaders and ethicists believe? Can racists, abusers, or misogynists also be “good” people?
Christians believe in “hating the sin” but “loving the sinner.” The Bible clearly states that only God can judge; and since are forgiven, we must forgive others. But what if the sin hurts so many people? Racism brings everyone down, both its targets and people share the same skin color as the racist.
Rabbis believe that the Torah compels us to make society a better place, so we must engage racists to help them understand that this point of view is not God’s teaching.
Ethicists are more nuanced. Most give advice on how to confront a person with racist views (use “I” words not “You” words). Others ask if it is “right” that we decide that our views are correct and those against us are not.
Should we remain friends with racists, misogynists, or abusers. Many Ethicists, following Aristotle, believe that friendship must err on the side of tolerance. But Aristotle also believed a friend’s character matters to a friendship. So if you believe that this is too great a character flaw, you can decide that the vices outweigh the good.
All agree that you it is very unlikely that calling out racism will change someone’s views – only they can. By just saying to someone, for example, “Your views are racist and you’re wrong”, you may have done the “right thing” in your mind – but have you changed anything?
Research on implicit bias suggests that people are much more complicated that just dividing us into racists and non-racists. All of us can be very quick to generalize about anyone who we perceive to be “the other.” This bias can be based on many characteristics: ethnicity, gender, race, age, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, etc.
In fact, calling out others as racists, is little more than judgmental virtue signaling. (I am good, and you are “bad.”)
So, after all this, I still cannot find an answer. I guess that all that I can do is live with my choices, recognizing that I do not get to hold the “virtue wand.”
Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.
Bill Aiken says
As a. Buddhist I don’t ascribe to the process of defining a person as “good” or “evil”. I believe all of us have both an enlightened, virtuous side and a dark, destructive side. We are challenged to cultivate wisdom and compassion amidst the harsh realities of daily life. Sometimes we are driven by greed, anger and ignorance to act in ways that create more suffering for ourselves and others. Mostly we are driven by our better natures to act with compassion, dignity and restraint
So while trying to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, I believe in challenging bad behavior while being mindful of HOW we point out another’s errors.
My teacher would speak about the fable of the Sun arguing with the wind about who was stronger. They held a contest to make a man take off his coat.
The wind blew with great force at the man which only forced him to hold his coat ever tighter.
When it was the sun’s, turn he extended his warmth to the man and in no time the man was removing his coat.
I know It seems like a simple story, but I believe we will make more progresso by standing firmly against racist speech and activity while avoiding the temptation of defining and labeling each other as sinners or saved.
Angela Rieck says
I love this, especially the fable..
Dan Watson says
Thanks for those ideas. And to Angela, for taking up an issue we all wrestle with.
DW
Constance Morris Hope says
I agree that ‘judgmental virtue signaling’ (I am good, and you are “bad.”) will probably not get you very far in trying to combat racism. Like Mr. Aiken, who wrote a very thoughtful response to this article, “I believe in challenging bad behavior while being mindful of HOW we point out another’s errors.” The HOW is the key. Think about how you feel when you witness bad behavior, in this case racist behavior. Probably anger and frustration, to name a few emotions, pop up. Do you manage those emotions? No doubt, they show up in HOW you approach the perpetrator of the bad behavior to give him feedback. As humans, protecting ourselves is hardwired in our brains. The perpetrator of the racist behavior will NOT hear and digest what you are saying. He/she will shut down and shut out your words to protect him/herself. What will you have accomplished? Nothing! And your emotions will be even stronger. You will be stressed!
Brain science suggests that in situations like this, we need to pay attention to the ‘chemistry of conversations’. When we face criticism, rejection, or fear, when we feel marginalized or minimized, our bodies produce higher levels of cortisol, a hormone that shuts down the thinking center of our brains and activates conflict aversion and protection behaviors. We become more reactive and sensitive. More than likely, the perp’s cortisol level will increase when you point out his/her racist behavior.
What could you do differently?
A more effective approach would be to say something to stimulate the production of oxytocin, a feel-good hormone that elevates our ability to collaborate, communicate, and trust others by activating networks in our prefrontal cortex, our executive brain. How do we do that? That’s the hard part! First, we have to recognize the emotions we are feeling, pause, take a deep breath, manage those emotions, think about what we need/want to say, and then, say something to the perp in a way that is not judgmental and accusatory, that does not make him/her bad and you, good. How do we do that? Not easy!
This is when we need to call on our conversational intelligence skills. This requires using the skills of emotional intelligence to communicate effectively with perpetrators of racist acts. This is our challenge! This is what we have to work on and get better at, if we are going to make headway in the battle against racism. Getting people who don’t want to solve the problem to listen, to hear what we have to say, to be willing to have a conversation about what they did or said that you found offensive. It will have to start with you. We must be more like the warm sun than the stormy wind in the Buddhist fable! This is not easy, but we MUST!