I'm Simply Here To Say That The Racial Hierarchy Needs To Go

There’s no way around it. No matter how precisely you express yourself, no matter how carefully you check your facts, no matter whether they’re even arguing with something you’ve said (!!), once your platform reaches a certain size, you’ll attract “haters.”

As Heather Heying once put it:

It's fascinating really, what agendas and traits people will attribute to others when what they actually want to say is, 'I disagree and I can't defend the disagreement.'

But over the past few years, I’ve discovered something even worse; the “debaters.” A class of people who will doggedly argue their point, no matter how silly it is.

In my article, The Problem With Racism, I lamented the toxicity of racial discourse, using a recent episode of Jon Stewart’s new show as an example. The episode in question, titled, The Problem With White People, was a veritable masterclass in race essentialism, virtue signalising, and defensiveness.

J is one of a few readers who regularly pops up in the comments of my articles, seemingly with the sole purpose of finding something to disagree with. Which is fine. The problem is, just like the people on Jon Stewart’s show, he doesn’t seem to care whether his arguments make any sense.

---

J:

Is Lisa responsible for the brutally disproportionate impact of the war on drugs on black men and the commensurate damage to black families? Is she “upholding” the funding gaps that impact schools in predominantly black and Latino communities?

Thank you for acknowledging that systemic racism is alive and well — i.e., it didn’t stop in 1965. This is way more than you’ve ever conceded in our exchanges.

Now you just have to see that anyone not actively dismantling that racial hierarchy is in fact participating in it, since the system works mostly through passive consent.

I’ll grant you this: white people aren’t the only ones participating.

---

Steve QJ:

Now you just have to see that anyone not actively dismantling that racial hierarchy is in fact participating in it, since the system works mostly through passive consent.

I have never, ever, denied that systemic racism is real. I've written about it in various ways numerous times. I don't remember you ever even really mentioning it, but I certainly wouldn't have hesitated to "concede" it (although it’s obviously different in intent, scale and scope to anything pre-1965).

Your next paragraph is silly though. Or, at best, implicates pretty much everybody, black, white and all shades in-between. Exactly the same argument can be (and is) made regarding the patriarchy. If you're not "actively dismantling patriarchal structures (whatever that even means in practice) you're participating in them."

Okay, sounds like a big deal! I certainly don't want to be complicit in these evil structures! But how do I stop participating in them? Are you participating in them? Are black people who listen to hip hop participating in them? Are women who wear makeup participating in them? Forget about dismantling, what have you even done to minimise your participation?

So much of this talk is just empty moral grandstanding rather than anything actually meaningful. To act as if anybody who isn't an activist is responsible for systemic racism is asinine. And frankly, many of the people who would call themselves activists have also done precisely nothing to address the problems I highlighted in this article. Addressing systemic racism simply isn't in the power of the vast majority of people.

So sure; I'm complicit, you're complicit, 99+% of the world is complicit. What now?

---

J:

So sure; I'm complicit, you're complicit, 99+% of the world is complicit. What now?

What now? If you really want progress on race (or any other huge problem you care about), you’ll just have to hold yourself and others to a higher moral standard than that 99%+, including the so-called activist community, which is also quite complicit.

Beyond that, there’s really no step-by-step manual. This is the only way humankind has ever truly progressed (remember that quote I cited a few days ago about the unreasonable man?).

Good luck.

---

Steve QJ:

If you really want progress on race (or any other huge problem you care about), you’ll just have to hold yourself and others to a higher moral standard than that 99%+

This is your solution to systemic racism?! That everybody "just" holds themselves to a "higher moral standard" than 99+% of people? Yep, "Good luck" is right!😅

How about explaining what that means? How about a definition of racism that doesn’t implicate 99+% of people, white and black? How about goals that are measurable, even vaguely realistic, and more meaningful than “be kind”?

And, most of all, how about explaining how you're “dismantling the racial hierarchy” you spoke of? Or acknowledging that by your own framing, you're “participating in it” too (whatever that means)? I'll also accept admitting that this is a silly, meaningless talking point that gets tossed around without any real thought.

---

J:

How about explaining what that means? How about a definition of racism that doesn’t implicate 99+% of people, white and black? How about goals that are measurable, even vaguely realistic, and more meaningful than “be kind”?

If you want "measurable, realistic goals", I suggest we discuss a different problem altogether, like a math problem or something. People far more educated, resourceful, and courageous than you and I have tried and failed to solve racism. That's why "colorblindness" -- i.e, total denial-- is so appealing.

If you really want to make a difference here, you'll find a way. Don't waste time asking what I'm personally doing about racism, only to waste even more time telling me how "that's not gonna work."

Just know you are correct about the problem's true scope: the vast majority of us are in fact implicated in this racist system. If you wanna work on this, that's your starting point.

When I say good luck, I mean it Steve.

---

Steve QJ:

If you want "measurable, realistic goals", I suggest we discuss a different problem altogether, like a math problem or something.

😁 End segregation, end school/workplace discrimination, end the war on drugs, end barriers to voting/housing rights. People far more educated, resourceful and courageous than you and I have achieved some of the things on this list, in living memory, and have made measurable progress towards achieving the rest. I want measurable, realistic goals because they give people something to do instead of something to pontificate about.

"Solving racism" is such a meaningless, quixotic goal. And even if it weren't, again, it would need a definition of racism that wasn't so silly that it implicated everybody. Otherwise, what you're really asking for is to completely eradicate the flaws in human nature. Again, "good luck..."

I mean, don't get me wrong. Obviously I'd like to live in a world where people aren't discriminated against for the colour of their skin (which would obviously be a "colourblind" world). I'd also like to live in a world where people aren't discriminated against because of their sex or sexuality or age. Or because they're short or disabled or not traditionally attractive. But, while we're working on all that, I'll settle for a world where poor, disenfranchised people are helped in meaningful ways.

And the only reason I asked what you're doing to "solve racism" is that, by your own definition; "if you're not actively dismantling that racial hierarchy [you're] participating in it." That was the "next thing I needed to see," right? So you've admitted that you're a part of the problem by your own definition. I'm just surprised to see you so uncharacteristically unwilling to talk about the harm you're doing.

---

J:

People far more educated, resourceful and courageous than you and I have achieved some of the things on this list, in living memory, and have made measurable progress to wards achieving the rest.

Whether they've really "ended" any of those things, or at best temporarily ameliorated them, is highly debatable...to say the least. Still, thank you for confirming that you can break racism down into "goals" without my help. I say go forth.

Only 2 things I would clarify here:

1. Just because most of us today take part in a racist system doesn't mean that system is a fundamental flaw of human nature, which would imply that racism has always existed, and that therefore there's little or nothing to be done about it.

2. Though we've not always been racist, human beings have never, ever been "colourblind." We've always noticed physical, cultural and psychological differences between us that roughly correlate to skin color. We've always had "race." Putting races into a racial hierarchy called racism has been the wonderfully unique contribution of western "civilization", which by now has colonized the world.

I'm simply here to say that the racial hierarchy needs to go, and, yes, everyone not actively dismantling it is participating in it. How you go about dismantling it, if you care to do so, is entirely up to you.

Again, good luck.

---

Steve QJ:

Still, thank you for confirming that you can break racism down into "goals" without my help.

😂 Haha, J, it's definitely not been me who's spent months on end hounding you for help. Believe it or not, I'd come to the conclusion that we should "just" be kind to each other long ago, and had moved on to other questions like "how do we encourage that?" and "what does that look like in practice?" I only listed those measurable goals because you seemed to think that doing so was impossible.

And thanks for letting me know that the racial hierarchy "needs to go". I'd never have thought of that by myself. I'm curious, do you have any similarly paradigm-shifting insights on poverty and sex trafficking and child abuse? I've always suspected these need to go too. But I don't want to be too definite about it until I've had your "help."

Lastly, once and for all, can we stop pretending that when somebody talks about a colourblind society they're being literal? That the goal is to remove all the colour perceiving cones from people's eyeballs? I know you're smarter than that. A "colourblind" society is a society where the colour of somebody's skin doesn't matter. Like eye colour or the shape of your ears. We still notice these things. We just don't judge people based on them.

I appreciate the good luck wishes. Looks like we're all going to need it.

---

J:

And thanks for letting me know that the racial hierarchy "needs to go".

You’re quite welcome, actually 😂. More importantly, don’t forget that anyone not actively dismantling that hierarchy — which takes a whole lot more than “kindness”—is in fact upholding it.

Yes, in theory “colour blindness” should mean “don’t judge by skin color”, but in practice it means “pretend black people, and racism, don’t exist”, which most people do anyway in a racist society. Thanks for the good wishes.

---

Steve QJ:

More importantly, don’t forget that anyone not actively dismantling that hierarchy — which takes a whole lot more than “kindness”—is in fact upholding it.

How could I forget! 😁 Of course, though you keep saying it, you don't know what "actively dismantling the racial hierarchy" even means, so really, as I pointed out already, it's just a bunch of empty moral grandstanding. We're all "upholding" it as far as your definition goes (actually, from our previous conversations, I'd say you're upholding it more than most).

Also, be wary of mistaking your definition of something for the "practical" definition. Many black people, myself among them, advocate for a colour blind society. But we're not pretending that black people and racism don't exist (that would be extremely difficult to pull off). We're just more interested in fixing the impact of racial oppression than grandstanding.

---

J:

you don't know what "actively dismantling the racial hierarchy" even means

We both know exactly what it means. In fact you've already confirmed that you can translate this into "goals."

You just refuse to accept that the vast majority of people are implicated in this racist system -- because that's not a "feel good" talking point that gets you into cocktail parties. People hear that and think "violent extremist!" They couldn't be more wrong.

We're not gonna get anywhere by sanitizing the truth to accomdate stupid bourgois sensibilities.

---

I find it extremely telling that J keeps writing the word “goals” in scare-quotes. Could there be any clearer indication that genuine progress isn’t the priority?

The sum of the achievements of the civil rights movement? Nothing more than a “debatable, temporary amelioration.” A definition of racism that doesn’t implicate everybody in society? A mere ploy to get invited to cocktail parties. But the glittering insight that “the racial hierarchy needs to go”? Oooh yeah, now we’re talking.

---

Steve QJ:

that the vast majority of people are implicated in this racist system -- because that's not a "feel good" talking point

😂 I honestly don't know what planet you live on. We live in society. There is racism in society. We have not destroyed society. Therefore you could argue that we're all "complicit" in the racism. The dealer who sells drugs in his neighbourhood is complicit. The rapper who makes millions rapping about black criminality is complicit. I am complicit. You are complicit.

But so is the black guy languishing in jail because he was caught in possession of marijuana that was for his own use. So was the black family working multiple jobs to pay for the unscrupulous contract on their home (look up "contract buying" if you don't know what I'm talking about). So is the black teenager being harassed by the police because they live in a poor neighbourhood.

Your framing is stupid, because it implicates the people most heinously impacted by the "racial hierarchy," and most powerless to stop it, simply because they aren't actively "dismantling it" as they're being crushed by it. This is the same bulls*t bourgeois mindset that asks, "why don't these people just work harder if they want a better life?"

I could repeat all of this nonsense at cocktail party. Not that I go to cocktail parties (although if I did, vapid, faux-academic takes like these would be much more likely to get me in nowadays). Nobody would think I was a "violent extremist." They'd just think I was an idiot who hadn't thought through what I was saying.

---

J:

There is racism in society. We have not destroyed society. Therefore you could argue that we're all "complicit" in the racism.

There is racism in society?! Are you kidding me? Racism is fundamental to western society, not to "society" in the abstract. This is exactly the sanitized mindset that's getting us nowhere.

The vast majority are complicit, although, yes, there are degrees of complicity, and those at the very margins of this society are not as complicit as others. Still, to the extent that even Black families embrace the racist norms of the dominant culture -- and want access to the same western lifestyle that's destroying organized life on the planet -- they are in fact complicit.

That western lifestyle -- specifically the suburban ideal, born out of white flight, in a war-fueled economy -- is literally killing us. We are, as MLK feared, "integrating into a burning house." And you wanna talk to folks like me about "reasonableness"? The mainstream values of western culture are far less reasonable than anything I've uttered thus far.

Maybe speak to that in your next rant on "reasonableness," and see how many "vapid, faux-academics" back you up.

---

Steve QJ:

There is racism in society?! Are you kidding me? Racism is fundamental to western society, not to "society" in the abstract. This is exactly the sanitized mindset that's getting us nowhere.

Okay J. Yes, you win. Burn it all down etc, etc.

I wonder if you forgot when you asked how I dare “talk to folks like [you] about ‘reasonableness’”, that I’m blacker than you are 😅 (did you just slip into pious victimhood autopilot there?). Or if you noticed that the article on unreasonableness wasn’t even about race but rather poor thinking.

Anyway, I know your ego can't bear not to have the last word. So go ahead, it's all yours.

---

J:

Okay J. Yes, you win. Burn it all down etc, etc.

Dude, it’s BEEN burning. We’re basically trying to work out the aftermath to avoid a repeat.

No one cares about “winning”, or who’s “Blacker.” By “folks like me” i mean mostly folks who share my point of view — which clearly is not all Black people (I wish!).

Seriously Steve, you need to WAKE UP.

---

As I point out in my article, the problem with racial discourse is that it’s being hijacked by people for whom it’s simply an opportunity to virtue signal, or worse, a way to make money. And then, of course, there are people like J, who just want "to feel like the heroes of a story about social justice."

Meanwhile, the black people who are really struggling within the system—like the black families trapped in poor, underserved, high crime neighbourhoods, the innocent black men demonised by the legal system, and the black lives that don’t seem to matter—their voices get lost in the noise.

These attention-seeking, victimhood-loving, finger-pointing midwits are among the greatest obstacles to improving life for black communities. After all, it’s hard to think of a better way to “participate in racial oppression” than constantly talking over the people most affected by it.