Question.1273 - _____ Summary: This episode shows that when it comes to America’s racial sins, past and present, a lot of us see people in one region of the country as guiltier than the rest. John Biewen, our podcast host, spoke with some white Southern friends about that tendency. (podcast linkLinks to an external site.) In this episode we heard from the philosopher, Shannon Sullivan - what did she mean by “good white people?” Some people in the American North would like to believe the Civil War was a moral crusade fought by the Union Army to end slavery and free Black people from bondage, but what does this narrative overlook? People often think of racism as a problem of bigoted individuals, or organizations, but in what ways is racism more-subtle and pervasive? Give an example. Google the meaning of aversive racism. How does this apply to the question you just answered?
Answer Below:
Sullivan, by expressing "Good White People" in the podcast, tends to imply that individuals who distance themselves from overt racism with a perspective that they're not a part of the problem by employing strategies such as colorblindness as they don't see race or stereotypically looking down on poorer white people to distance themselves from racism, this argument comes from the notion that these strategies fail to challenge the underlying racial structures and white privilege, living in a pride world rejecting to accept the grounds of realities, without wanting to see how the whiteness is being positioned or operating among other races, will obviously fail to understand or see racism. The podcast implies that the Civil War was solely an ethical crusade fought by the Union Army to end slavery, but it seems to hide several factors, like how it fails to recognize the contribution of the black people to liberation. Secondly, there is no emphasis given to the socioeconomic factors in terms of why the war was fought and the interests of people from both North and South in terms of institutional slavery, while the Northern region certainly gave importance to the abolitionist sentiment with the intent to preserve the Union. John Biewen states that event Lincoln wrote a letter around the early 1860s that he would consider ways to save the Union without freeing any slaves, meaning that priority was not given to abolishing slavery. Additionally, the contributions of Black people, both enslaved and free, to their own liberation are often overlooked in this narrative. With this understanding, racism tends to be perceived as a problem caused by overtly bigoted individuals or organizations, while it also manifests in pervasive ways, as seen in aversive racism, referring to unconscious biases or hidden prejudices that individuals may hold despite outwardly expressing egalitarian beliefs. One example could be in the form of hiring, who could claim to be colorblind while exhibiting unconscious biases such as after the interview process, they will have the option to choose the candidate; during this time - their choices could be influenced by their perceptions and deciding to incline towards opting for people of same race.More Articles From Humanities
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