CHE Sadaphal — On Race, Racism and the Rebel flag

CHE Sadaphal, the black libertarian writer, minister, and physician, addresses the issue of racism in America.

"What is racism?

The New Oxford American Dictionary defines racism as “the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.”

Recent events have made it abundantly clear that race still plays a significant and powerful role in 21st-century America. Yet, although race—an observed and verifiable trait—is something that can be measured objectively, racism is being calculated much more subjectively. Resultantly, the idea is much more susceptible to manipulation.
The inherent difficulty with racism is that the belief cannot be quantified, but the behavior, a presupposed reflection of belief, is readily observable.

Sometimes objectionable behavior can result from racist beliefs, but in other instances, the behavior is rooted in something completely different and benign. The problem, of course, is that if the mainstream deems certain behaviors as unequivocally racist, an erroneous label is subsequently placed on individuals who execute certain behaviors without the correlating belief. This paradigm ironically uses prejudice to sort out and label others as prejudicial. This method produces prescriptions for “proper behavior” and, by implication, thought control. This need not even apply to race. A very common application is seen with accusations against Christians: “Since you don’t agree with this, then you must think that … therefore you must be a bigot!”

Ultimately, if racism truly is something clear and determinate, then there ought not to be such ceaseless disagreement over what is “racist” and what is not."

Read more: http://www.chesadaphal.com/on-race-racism-and-the-rebel-flag/