Confronting myths, racial violence

A critical mass of Americans believes that our country is post-racial and colorblind. The president and attorney general are both African American, inter-racial marriages are on the rise, and diversity promotions programs are popping up across the country.

If that conclusion is true, then the numerous cases of police violence against black youth are merely anomalies attributable to individual bad cops. The disproportionate number of African Americans imprisoned is not due to a broken criminal justice system but rather individual malfeasance on a massive scale.

That reasoning would also conclude that the mass shooting of nine African Americans, in a church no less, is merely a random act of violence by a deranged young man.

Meanwhile, 40 percent of prison inmates are African Americans while they compose only 12 percent of the general population.

Cities and public schools are becoming increasingly segregated along race and class, with the poorest schools comprised primarily of racial minorities. The less resources and opportunities those environments offer us, the less likely we can succeed in life.

Despite glaring signs that African Americans are not benefiting from our purported colorblind society, we hold tight to the myth of American individualism – a myth full of contradictions.

Violence committed by whites is seen as an individual disorder, not a community problem. Violence committed by racial minorities is viewed as representative of a problem within that racial community.

Hence the terrorism inflicted on the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church in Charleston is not interpreted as part of a broader problem indicating a rise in white supremacy, but rather an individual’s mental instability.

This myth of individualism fails to acknowledge that no one sprouts out of the ground disconnected from a family, a community and a society that enculturates him or her with particular values, habits and resources.

But in reality, we are no different than any other country. We are all products of our environments, including our families, neighborhoods, schools and broader society.

So as we seek answers to this terrorizing murder of nine African Americans in a house of worship, not abroad but right here in the United States, we must reflect on the environment, not just the individual perpetrator.

We must ask where the killer learned the white supremacist ideas that led him to act on his hate and ultimately terrorize African Americans. And we must question whether our country is truly colorblind so long as tragedies like this occur.

The government has funded countering violent extremism through projects targeting Muslim American communities with the explicit purpose of decreasing ideologically based violence, whether or not it exists. No such programs exist to address white supremacy.

This disparity exposes the colorblind myth in our society. When such disparities exist, we are unlikely to reflect on and meaningfully address the troubling spread of right wing white supremacist ideology that animates hate against African Americans, Muslims, Latinos, and other minority groups.

It is long overdue to face the myths in our society so that we can once and for all make racism a thing of the past.

Acknowledging that we are not a colorblind society comprised of disconnected individuals would go a long way toward that goal.

Sahar Aziz is an associate professor at Texas A&M School of Law where she teaches civil rights and national security law.

This story was originally published June 22, 2015 at 5:27 PM with the headline "Confronting myths, racial violence."