Let’s Talk About How Anti-Racism Benefits Everyone
The social construct of ‘race’ has been 600 years in the making and its impacts have been far-reaching and inescapable for literally the entire planet. Considering that colonialism, capitalism, the concentration of wealth and power, and even climate change, would not have happened without racism there to aid and abet the process, we begin to see how dismantling racism would be beneficial to the whole world and every living being on it. So let’s look into this a bit.
While addressing and undoing racism seems a daunting task, simply because of how long it has been around and how devastating its impacts have been, the more time I spend teaching and training people in anti-racism, diversity training and cross-cultural communication, the more convinced I am of how swiftly we could dismantle racism if we were prepared to really do some work. But we need clarity and composure if we want to understand and address the issue of systemic racism, as much as we need passion and commitment.
Firstly, let’s look at those groups who we can identify as ‘pro-anti-racism’ i.e. for racial justice.
For some, the motivation to address systemic racism is a matter of life and death, it is an ever-present shadow cast over their lives and it does not give them a single moment of reprieve. For others, the motivation to address racism stems from a sense of moral obligation to do the right thing and defend the basic human rights of their fellow humans. For others still, it is about appearing to be doing the socially acceptable thing and less a sense of duty; these people will be ‘for it’ when it looks good, and neutral whenever possible.
Outside of these groups, there are those people who are of course affected by racism, but perhaps not motivated to undo or address it. I am referring to BIPOC who have internalised and come to terms with the fact that they are living in a racist world; living with racism has become a part of their Modus Operandi. I know plenty of friends and family who fit into this category. They have learned to not talk about it.
To this group, the benefits of a world free of racism are obvious, but the way to get there is unclear and it involves too much emotional labour. Much like leaving a toxic relationship is sometimes not an easy decision to make because of the fear, anxiety, uncertainty and emotional resilience involved. BIPOC know that discussing racism jeopardises relationships, friendships and promotions, so many will remain silent about it around non-BIPOC friends.
Beyond those who are affected by racism and those involved in actively undoing it, there are of course those who don’t feel they are negatively impacted by it, and might even believe they benefit from it; and they probably sometimes do. But, by and large, I would put it to you that nobody truly benefits from racism, other than a handful of corrupt individuals who profit from social division, war, conflict, incarceration and injustice; people you and I are never likely to actually meet in out day to day lives.
Of course, when prejudice based on race becomes institutionalised and systemic, some everyday folks will benefit from it in some small way, at the expense of others. But the exchange is not even close to being a balanced transaction.
By this I mean, the negative impact of racism on the lives of People of Colour, is not qualitatively or quantitatively equal to the small ‘positive’ impact it might have on the lives of ‘White’ people. (I add the inverted commas here to emphasise the fact that ‘White’, ‘Black’ and ‘Race’ are all social constructs)
Now to further unpack this, let us remind ourselves that the term ‘White Privilege’ does not mean there has been wealth and abundance for all light-skinned people around the world and that their lives have been filled with comforts and excess and ease, but simply that the colour of their skin was not an added hurdle or obstacle for them to overcome. That’s it. This concept of privilege does not mean a white person’s life was easy; it simply means that having accounted for the efforts they have put in and the troubles they have overcome, the colour of their skin was never an additional reason why their life was challenging.
This helps us reframe our understanding of advantage and disadvantage by clarifying that BIPOC disadvantage (which is immense, overwhelming and heartbreaking) does not equate to the ‘advantage’ of the average white person. The Loss incurred, does not balance out with the Gain achieved. The average person does not benefit from the suffering of others; a really simple idea that needs a bit more airtime.
This brings to mind the idea that human rights or gender equality cannot be thought of like a pie, in that more for some does not mean less for others. In the same vein, alleviating the injustice faced by others, would not suddenly make the lives of light-skinned people any harder.
For what benefit does the average White person gain by the unjust shooting of another unarmed Black person? Or the mysterious and unexplained death of another Indigenous Australian in custody being passed of as a suicide? Nothing. At. All.
And what would the average White person lose, if that injustice were to be ended and racial violence and bias and political dog-whistling were ended? Again, no loss at all.
What loss would be incurred by any White person if predominantly Black schools were to receive equal funding or if People of Colour were not consistently misrepresented in film and vilified in the news, or if the unconscious bias of employers across the world was intentionally educated out of them?
Again, there would be no loss incurred. And the benefits to the whole of society are immense and immeasurable when you begin looking at how much heartache, conflict, contention, disunity and division we would be free of, if we could live in a world that was free of racism. And this is a point that we could perhaps begin emphasising.
When we look at the massive silent majority of ‘Not-Racist’ people who don’t mean to be complicit in state-sanctioned racial inequity, and we wonder how our awareness-raising campaigns and activism could motivate them to act for social justice, we could easily be convinced into thinking that the moral obligation to do the right thing or the social responsibility to protect and defend the human rights of others, would be enough to inspire action.
But that isn’t, and never has been, enough to inspire the masses into collective action for the sake of others. Collective uprisings have sprung from amongst the oppressed group; they find momentum in solidarity, and they are more often than not incrementally successful only because to deny the change would be more damaging to the power structure than to allow it.
Altruism, as beautiful a human trait as it is, is not as common as the tendency for self-preservation. It is important to remind ourselves that when Abraham Lincoln considered the idea of ending slavery, this was not an altruistic intention or out of a sense of social conscience. The American Civil War was never fought over slavery or the ending of slavery, and that false narrative is the topic of another article. Abraham Lincoln’s own words attest to this fact:
“If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do that,” he wrote in August 20, 1862. “What I do about slavery, and the coloured race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union.” - To Horace Greeley, in The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Keeping in mind that at the time 95% of the enslaved African Americans were living in the South, and this was considered a “necessary war measure”.
Not only was the ending of slavery followed by the Jim Crow era, which made apparent the complete disregard of the state for the rights of the African American people and their status as equal human beings, but even in the successes of the Civil Rights Movement, the sense of self-preservation of those in power was obvious.
State Department Official, Dean Acheson, had warned the Truman Administration as far back as 1946 that the “existence of discrimination against minority groups in this country has an adverse effect on our relations” with decolonising Asian and African and Latin American nations. This refers to the attempt to recolonise the world through capitalism.
And in 1963, Secretary of State Dean Rusk warned Congress during the consideration of the Civil Rights Act that “in waging this world struggle we are seriously handicapped by racial and religious discrimination”. Again in reference to their ability to establish global dominance in a political and economic sense.
So, even in the advances of the movements to end slavery, establish civil rights and ensure racial justice, the success has been allowed to come only incrementally and usually when it benefited the power structure.
The truth is, undoing the systems, the structures and the impacts of racism would actually benefit the entire planet and all human beings on it, in ways we can only begin to imagine, and it might disrupt the balance of power, but greatly benefit out entire global society.
It might seem frustrating to have to explain the benefits of a world free of racism, to those who don’t feel they are impacted by it, in order to garner their support, but in any process of education, the educator cannot be susceptible to frustration at the slow rate of learning, but instead, they should focus on the method that actually fosters learning. And that’s what this is; anti-racism is a process of education, not something that will be achieved with antagonism or anger.
The dissolution of the social tension would benefit the whole of society and build social cohesion and peacefulness. Resolving the inner moral dilemma that light-skinned people feel and addressing the cognitive bias would put hearts and minds at rest and allow for more authentic engagement and interaction. Erasing prejudice and bias from our hearts would allow us to focus on collective issues such as economic justice, climate action, regenerative living, class disparity, ecological preservation and gender equality. Removing racism from our education systems and media outlets would greatly help us to establish geopolitical stability, move towards ending the war-induced refugee crisis, further the conversation on the issue of global resource management, and allow for the general peace and prosperity of the human race and full flourishing of our creative talents and faculties.
If addressing unjust incarceration rates, ending the loss of innocent life, alleviating the unnecessary suffering of billions of people around the world is not enough of a reason, the benefit to the entire world should finally motivate those who have thus far remained disengaged with or opposed to, the racial justice movement.
This is not even close to a conclusive list of all of the ways our world would benefit if our society was free of racial prejudice and systemic racism, but rather a glimpse into how we would all inherit a kinder and more compassionate world if we were to actively work towards racial unity, and how we might motivate a sense of urgency from a greater proportion of the human race, in an attempt to build solidarity among the masses. If people are reluctant to work for social change, then perhaps let them see how the change would benefit them as well.
I heard in a documentary I watched recently: “If you want to move the mouse, then move the cheese” - and perhaps building the conversation around how the entire planet would benefit from a world free of racism, is one way of doing that.
About the Author
Erfan Daliri is a social change consultant and educator with a Masters in Communication for Social Change from the University of Queensland. He has worked for 20 years in a diverse range of areas, including participatory community development, social justice advocacy, cross-cultural communication, settlement services and systems thinking for social change.
He is the founding director of Newkind Social Justice Conference, programme coordinator of the National Unity in Diversity Conference, and consults and advises on systems change, communication design and racial equity for companies, NGOs and universities across the world.
Erfan is passionate about empowering organisations and communities to address issues of social, environmental and economic justice and to help them build a more inclusive, cohesive, sustainable and equitable society.
