Q (karlsc@utne) What is the level of sophistication on the issues of race and racism as confronts the USA today?
A: I have every reason to believe that the cyberpresent represent a fairly broad cross section of people who try to have an informed opinion about things. Overall however I'd say that most Americans get their information about race in a very flawed fashion. I have come to believe that the reason this is primarily so has to do with a fundamental lack of self-investigation as regards racial self-interest. People don't ask themselves tough questions about what racial roles they are playing when they engage the subjects of race. And there is generally no way that the average Joe will edged into a serious discussion if he's not already interested somehow. Because of that most white Americans believe that studying race is the same thing as practicing racism. People of color generally recognize that some part of their ability to succeed in America is determined by how well they handle racial issues.
Issues of race always inevitably involve questions of personal identity, I believe there is a personal component which affects peoples ability to absorb. Race is unique in that respect.
Practically speaking, people do a bit of thrashing and raging in provocative discussions because most are unable to depersonalize what they are hearing to the proper extent. Many take things too personally and start talking about slaves they never owned or somebody who kicked sand in their face as a child, others abstract the subject so much that they end up talking about Thomas Jefferson and Rwanda when the subject is bilingual education.
People who get past that fall roughly into three camps. Newbies, Gadflies and Scholars. Newbies want to make friends. They want to get along and prove that they can, and they see this as significant to America's well being. Newbies are not political, so they get on my nerves. Inevitably a newbie will quote Rodney King, or talk about their interracial sweetheart. It's all very Kathy Lee. Gadflies are political, and have a reasonably informed point of view. At the very least, they will sustain an interest in several subjects, instead of just Affirmative Action or just Colin Powell.. Some are bigoted, most have an identifiable bias. Just about all of the real racists fall at this level of sophistication. Most can identify and quote major public figures and books on the subject matters, They are the most fun to engage. Scholars will have inevitably read more than just 'The Bell Curve' or 'Race Matters' which are the two most often quoted books, (but 50 to 1 in favor of Murray & Herrnstein). A few, like myself, cross over into multiple forums and keep in mind a good set of facts and arguments.
I'd say that there are about 15 - 20 individuals whom I would consider Scholars out there in cyberspace who consistently contribute and maintain as best they can, an intellectually satisfying level of dialog on the subjects of race in public discussion groups. There are many Gadflies as well who always make the conversation interesting, but they do so occasionally and will not generally cite a wide variety of sources for their information. A Gadfly ultimately doesn't care what you think. Scholars are invested in change.
In order to facilitate some online scholarship, I have created the Race Man's Home Companion. My angle is simple. A proper citizen should be credibly anti-racist, no matter what their racial identity. Here's how.