Inside from the Inside

The U.K.’s Independent has a recent photo essay titled, America Unmasked:  The images that reveal the Ku Klux Klan is alive and well in 2009.

Now, that title is, on its face, absurd.  Photos of a few inbred, backwoods crackers do not “unmask” America, any more than Simon Cowell unmasks the English as a country of uniformly pompous asses with bad haircuts.  You wouldn’t guess from the title that the the article goes on to say, “Today the Klan is a mere shadow of what it used to be.”

But the photos themselves are extraordinary, and I was taken especially with the shot above for its simple honesty.

No one I know has ever approached “I hate black people” as an expression of their beliefs about other races.  That would be shocking and indefensible in its directness.

Here are some things I have heard people say:

“He’s one of the most articulate black people I’ve ever heard.”

“You don’t sound black.”

“Yeah… their economy sucks because the only hard working Mexicans are over here.”

“You have to watch what you say around black people. They’re really sensitive about that kind of thing.”

“Some cultures just don’t value an honest day’s work.”

“Why are you doing that yourself? That’s what God made Mexicans for.”

“It has nothing to do with skin color.  It’s that they don’t share our values.”

If there’s a spectrum of racist things to say, I’d guess these all fall somewhere to the left of “I hate black people,” and that some are then more racist than others.  What’s interesting is that all of these were voiced by people who would adamantly deny being racist at all.

Everyone would likely agree that “I hate black people” is a racist statement – including the guy wearing the t-shirt.  But move down the spectrum and things become less clear (or at least perceptions and definitions are less likely to be shared).

Serious question:  given all the subjectivity involved, how do you move a conversation like this forward?

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