By Camille Taylor
Last week’s news was filled with more campaign name calling which included words like racist, bigot, prejudice, and discrimination. Since most people avoid discussing race, I wanted to clarify their definitions, so that when othersare labelled, the average listener can identify if the word is being properly used or misused.
Jeff Foxworthy is a comedian known for his, “You might be a redneck…” jokes. So here goes my list:
“You might be a racist” if you use your power to establish systems, rules, practices, or laws that support your beliefs that people of other races are inferior. Consequently, when you hear the words “systemic racism” it is because racism still persists across systems such as government, insurance, education, finance, criminal justice, etc. In America, white people are the dominant group controlling positions of authority across most systems, so it is technically incorrect to call a person of color a “racist”, because of their position/lack of power to establish/maintain racist practices within systems.
“You might be a bigot” if you are completely intolerant, and devoted to your own opinions and prejudices such that you treat members of other groups with hatred and intolerance.
“You might be prejudiced” if you have a feeling for or against something or someone without any good reason. For example, if you feel that a certain group is inferior or bad because of their religion, gender, race, etc., but you really don’t know anyone from that group or much about them, then you are prejudiced.
“You might discriminate” if you have strong prejudicial or bigoted feelings about an individual or group and treat them unequally or unfairly due to their individual or group membership.
“You might be biased” if you have a preference that keeps you from making a fair judgement. For example, it could be as simple as a bias for vanilla over strawberry ice cream or as harmful as an employer preferring men over women or a realtor preferring white people to people of color.
Archie Bunker, of the 1970’s sitcom “All In the Family,” was openly prejudiced, biased, and generally considered to be a bigot. The show became a “safe place” to spark discussions on a number of race related issues, using humor to “ease” the conversations. Unfortunately, there is no humor in what is happening in the current political climate. As we endure the next 70 or so days, I’m deeply concerned about the post-election environment that is being created in our country by the use of harmful and inflammatory rhetoric.
Camille Taylor, a retired Counselor from Normal Community High School, has been an educator in this community for 34 years. She is active in the community currently serving as a church elder and board member for both the Baby Fold and the YWCA. She has been recognized by the YWCA as a Woman of Distinction for education, a Martin Luther King Jr. award winner for the City of Bloomington, a Distinguished Alumni by the College of Education at Illinois State University, a Human and Civil Rights award winner for the Illinois Education Association, and the H.Councill Trenholm Award recipient from the National Education Association for her work with diversity. She lives in Bloomington with her husband, Arthur, and is a mother and grandmother.
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