Can Black People Be Racist?

Recently, I blogged here on Race in America about how the words “racism” and “racist” are tossed around a little too freely in America. I’ve been on the receiving end of that treatment a few times, and I’ve also noticed that my posts (here, on HuffPo and on my blog) sometimes provoke readers to likewise start calling each other 'racist' in the comments section.

Sometimes this exchanges can devolve into little more than back-and-forth versions of “I know you are, but what am I?”

So that we’re all clear, let me define how I see racism. From my point of view, racism happens when members of society's most powerful ethnic group suppresses other ethnic groups — through economic power, for example, or by having the power of the majority group.

In the United States, the most powerful ethnic group is white people. I don’t think anyone seriously objects to this observation. As such, and I hate to inform my white friends of the fact, but only white people can truly be racist. Hispanics, African-Americans, Asian-Americans or other ethnic groups simply aren’t powerful enough to practice racism.

Now, if it makes you feel better, ethnic minorities can be prejudiced, narrow-minded, hateful, intolerant, or all the other delightful traits that go into racism. But they can't actually be racist, because they lack the requisite power.

A natural question is whether any of this matters. So what if a black person can’t, strictly speaking, be racist? After all, he or she can still be an arrogant bigot,  so is there any difference in the real world?

My opinion is that it’s mostly irrelevant. Hatred is hatred.

However, I'd also list an addendum here. As you may have noticed, when someone accuses an ethnic minority of being racist, that person (often, someone who's white) is frequently trying to deflect that same charge. Such a strategy uses the Karl Rove-like trick of going after people’s supposed strength, or reversing their line of attack.

For example, a Latino points out that SB 1070 is based (at least in part) on hatred for Hispanics. So let’s call him a racist. That should make him more careful when pointing out when members of the majority group are engaging in racism themselves, right?

I’m just using this as an example, of course, because nothing like that has ever happened to me — nope.

Photo Credit: Max Braun