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Ian Cromwell
crommunist.wordpress.com
October 1st, 2010
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What is Race?
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What is Racism?
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What can we do?
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How can skepticism help?
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Born here in Vancouver, moved to Vernon
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Moved to Ontario at age 10
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Undergraduate career at Waterloo, graduate
degree at Queen’s
Moved back to Vancouver about 1 year ago
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Official launch, February 2010
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Race, religion, free speech, humanism
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Featured 3 times on Pharyngula
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Definition 1: Skin Colour?
◦ Ian’s story
◦ E*****’s story
◦ Azza’s story
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Definition 2: Entirely social construction?
◦ Tiger’s story
◦ SLUG’s story
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Definition 3: My (working) definition
◦ Race is what happens when how other people see
you intersects with how you see yourself
◦ No different from other forms of identity
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Ian’s story
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Ian’s story
A*****’s story
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Ian’s story
A*****’s story
H*****’s story
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The attribution of personal traits to an
individual, or group of individuals, based on
ethnic background.
Merriam-Webster:
◦ “a belief that race is the primary determinant of
human traits and capacities and that racial
differences produce an inherent superiority of a
particular race”
“Whites may have been horrified by the fire
hoses and police dogs turned on children, but
they could rest easy knowing that neither
they nor anyone they’d ever met would do
such a thing. But most racism—indeed, the
worst racism—is quaint and banal. There’s
nothing sensationalistic about redlining or
job discrimination.”
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“I’m not trying to be racist but…”
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“Race isn’t important to me.”
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“I don’t see race.”
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“But my best friend is black!”
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RACISM IS ENDEMIC TO THE SYSTEM!
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Pattern-seeking animals
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Race-based inequalities
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Option 1: Racism is not a problem anymore
◦ Election of black president, First Nations cabinet
ministers, MPs of various backgrounds
◦ Equal voting, housing, employment rights
guaranteed by law
◦ Violent racism a thing of the past
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Pretending it isn’t there doesn’t make it go
away
Not merely isolated incidents
◦ Power makeup vs. demographics
◦ Education, housing, employment largely unofficially
segregated
◦ Racial profiling still alive and well
◦ Immigration policy, treatment of First Nations
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Grants assent to back-door racism
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Option 2: Be colour-blind
◦ Take no notice of, or intentionally ignore racial
differences of others
◦ If I treat all people the same, then I cannot be racist
◦ “Race doesn’t matter”
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217 UofIllinois students
◦ 169 white
◦ 48 black
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Administered Color-Blindness Racial
Attitudes Scale (CoBRAS)
Shown racist imagery taken at parties, asked
for comment
◦ Responses categorizes as “not bothered”, “not
bothered/ambivalent”, “bothered/ambivalent”,
“bothered”
CoBRA mean
White students:
-3.23
Black students
- 2.77
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Colour-blindness only works if:
A. Everyone is blind
B. There aren’t real racial disparities
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“Race doesn’t matter” – to whom?
◦
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Study of race is like study of religion
Tim Wise: Colour-muteness is more accurate
Ignoring race doesn’t make its effects go
away
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Option 3: Redraw in-group concepts
◦ Change definition of “us” and “them”
◦ Support programs that substitute race-based
definitions for more positive alternatives
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22 boys selected, matched for income, age,
behaviour, other characteristics
Invited to summer camp in OK
Separated into 2 groups
◦ Allowed time for in-group fostering
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Groups introduced to each other
◦ Immediate segregation and identification of “ours”
and “us”
◦ Group names formed in opposition to others
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Intense animosity grew between groups as
they competed
◦ Deteriorating sportsmanship, pranks/raids, namecalling
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Strong preference for members of own group
when polled by researchers
◦ Those of lowest status expressed strongest
antipathy toward out-group
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Mere group contact did not reduce hostility
◦ Non-competitive games
◦ Eating together
◦ Watching movies
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Necessary co-operation almost immediately
reduced hostility
◦ Drinking water problem
◦ Selecting a movie
◦ Pulling the truck
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Self-reported attitude to “out-group”
drastically improved after mutual struggle
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Not a 100% conclusive result
◦ Would attitudes have changed given enough time?
◦ Not completely eliminated
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Suggestive that in-group bias diminishes in
the presence of mutual collaboration
◦ Definition of “white person”
◦ Waves of immigration
◦ 2010 Winter Olympics
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Bring science and evidence to bear
◦ Christopher DiCarlo’s “We are all African” campaign
◦ Genetic evidence of equality
◦ Examine racial prejudices, effects
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Demand rationality in racial discussion
◦ Realize that “race” is an ephemeral concept
◦ Scientific examination of racial disparity
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Humanist goals suit equality
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Increase dialogue about race
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Reduce stigma about the word ‘racism’
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Make claims about race based on evidence,
not emotion
◦ This needs to happen on both sides
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Promote equality, humanism, civil rights