The Art of Listening

[Bengalzona]

(07-31-2019, 12:53 PM)Dill Wrote: I don't use either of those terms. The first is pretty fuzzy.  Not sure what you mean by "formal" in the second.

What I do recognize is that current divisions over what counts as "racism" are largely divisions over how so-called "racist" actions are socially embedded. Is racism something that occurs between individuals at an individual level, or is it tied to larger social structures/institutions in turn embedded in a history of one race's dominance over another? If the latter, then it could be hard for an Aboriginal Australian to be "racist" no matter how much he hated white Australians.  If the former, then there is no "reverse" or "internalized" or "horizontal" racism. There is only "just plain racism." 

In the context of your thread and its challenge to listen, I am trying right now to rethink how "casual racism" might help sort out listenee responses.

Frankly, I had never heard the terms before until I was watching "Orange is the New Black" the other day. From what they explain and what I gather from other sources, 'formal racism' is racism based upon a belief of racial superiority/inferiority whereas 'casual racism' is more rooted in an ignorance about another race and prevailing prejudices and stereotypes in a society.

In the show, one inmate chastises another saying her comments were racist. The second inmate corrects here by saying her comments were casual racism, not formal, and then proceeds to explain the difference. She ends by saying something like, "I occasionally engage in casual racism even though I know better because it is fun." Definitely dark humor, eh (no racist pun intended).

The quote sort of stuck with me. I thought back on my school days growing up. As I mentioned, my community was very multi-ethnic and multi-racial. I didn't know it at that time, but back in the late 60's early 70's, that was sort of a new thing for most of America. We were also all at pretty much at the same socio-economic ladder (i.e. there weren't any truly rich or truly poor kids around). We would engage in this type of 'casual racism' for fun among ourselves. And people didn't take it seriously. When my friend would tease me, "Hey, man! You can't dance. Everybody knows white boys can't move their hips!", I'd laugh and say, "We all know you ain't no James Brown, bro!". They would laught too. Because we knew each other for years, we knew there was no bad intent with such comments. We also knew through experience where to draw a line. And engaging in such diatribe actually tended to make us feel a bit closer. Someone one not in our group hearing such comments might not take those comments the same way. So, were our comments racist? Is it in the eye of the beholder?

And at the same time, other types of racism do exist. Slavery in the U.S. was certainly based upon formal or institutionalized racism. And, as in the example of the reservation you noted before, racism based upon stereotypes or prejudices certainly exists. But what is the relationship between the different manifestations of racism? Where are the cutoffs between them?