Racism is a form of discrimination that has a variety of definitions, depending on which dictionary one reads. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, racism is a belief that all members of each racial group has characteristics or abilities specific to a particular race, especially to distinguish it as being either superior or inferior to another racial group or groups. The Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines racism as a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherited superiority of a particular racial group. Racism, as defined by Webster’s New American Dictionary , is “a belief that some races are by nature superior to others.” The Macquarie Dictionary defines racism as: "the belief that human races have distinctive characteristics which determine their respective cultures, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule or dominate others." The common thread between all of these definitions seem to be the idea of superiority versus inferiority when comparing whites and blacks, in particular. Because of this notion of whites feeling superior and blacks feeling inferior, segregation still seems to exist, especially in high schools and on college campuses.
Racial segregation in public schools was the norm across America in the early 1950’s. Although all the schools were supposed to be equal, most black schools were far inferior to the white ones. Linda Brown, a black third-grader in Topeka, Kansas, had to walk one mile through a railroad yard to get to her black elementary school, even though a white elementary school was only a few blocks away. Her father, Oliver Brown, tried to enroll her in the white elementary school, but the principal of the school refused. So, then Mr. Brown went to McKinley Burnett, the head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Topeka, and asked him for help. The NAACP was excited about the opportunity to help the Browns because they had already been considering the idea of challenging segregation in the public schools. With Mr. Brown's complaint, they had "the right plaintiff at the right time." 1 Other black parents joined Mr. Brown, and, in 1951, the NAACP requested an injunction that would forbid the segregation of Topeka's public schools. 2
The U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas heard Mr. Brown's case from June 25-26, 1951. At the trial, the NAACP argued that segregated schools sent the wrong message to black children, which was that they were inferior to whites; therefore, the schools were unequal. One of the expert witnesses, Dr. Hugh W. Speer, testified that:
"...if the colored children are denied the experience in school of associating with white children, who represent 90 percent of our national society in which these colored children must live, then the colored child's curriculum is being greatly curtailed. The
Topeka curriculum or any school curriculum cannot be equal under segregation." 3 The Board of Education's defense was that, because segregation in Topeka and other cities and states was common throughout many other areas of the lives of blacks, segregated schools were just preparing black children for the segregation they would face during adulthood. The board also argued that segregated schools were not necessarily harmful to black children. They tried to prove their point by acknowledging the success of African Americans such as George Washington Carver, Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington, suggesting that they had overcome more than just segregated schools to achieve what they achieved.4
The request for a ruling put the court in a difficult decision. On the one hand, the judges agreed with the expert witnesses. In their decision, they wrote:
“Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children...A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn.” 5
On the other hand, the ruling on Plessy v.Ferguson allowed separate but equal school systems for blacks and whites, and no Supreme Court ruling had overturned Plessy, yet. Because of the ruling of Plessy, the court felt "compelled" to rule in favor of the Board of Education. 6
Brown and the NAACP appealed to the Supreme Court on October 1, 1951 and their case was combined with other cases that challenged school segregation in South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware. The Supreme Court first heard the case on December 9, 1952, but failed to reach a decision. In the re-argument, heard from December 7-8, 1953, the Court requested that both sides discuss "the circumstances surrounding the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868." 7 The re-argument shed very little additional light on the issue. The Court had to make its decision based not on whether or not the authors of the Fourteenth Amendment had desegregated schools in mind when they wrote the amendment in 1868, but based on whether or not desegregated schools deprived black children of equal protection of the law when the case was decided, in 1954. 8
On May 17, 1954, the Court was unanimous in its decision, which was read by Chief Justice Earl Warren as stated below:
"We come then to the question presented: Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does...We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.”9
The Supreme Court struck down the "separate but equal" doctrine of Plessy for public education, ruled in favor of the Browns, and required the desegregation of schools across America.
The Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision did not abolish segregation in other public areas, such as restaurants and restrooms, nor did it require desegregation of public schools by a specific time. It did, however, declare the mandatory segregation that existed in 21 states unconstitutional.10 This was a huge step towards complete desegregation of public schools. Even with this decision, desegregation of these schools, in reality, was still very far away, which would soon become obvious to anyone who cared to notice. Segregation was simply another form of racial discrimination.
As I stated earlier, racism is defined in many different was, with a common thread. Some sociologists have defined racism as a system where one race is seen as or think of themselves as being more privileged than others. They have labeled this as group privilege. In Portraits of White Racism, David Wellman has defined racism as "culturally sanctioned beliefs, which, regardless of intentions involved, defend the advantages whites have because of the subordinated position of racial minorities”.11 Sociologists Noël A. Cazenave and Darlene Alvarez Maddern define racism as “...a highly organized system of 'race'-based group privilege that operates at every level of society and is held together by a sophisticated ideology of color/'race' supremacy. Racist systems include, but cannot be reduced to, racial bigotry,”12 Joe Feagin, a Sociologist and former American Sociological Association president, argues that the United States can be characterized as a "total racist society" because racism is used to organize every social institution”. 13 More recently, Feagin has expressed a comprehensive theory of racial oppression in the U.S. in his book Systemic Racism: A Theory of Oppression (Routledge, 2006). In this book, he looks at how major institutions have been built upon racial oppression which was not an accident of history, but was intentionally created by white Americans. From the way that Feagin seems to see things, white Americans worked hard to create a system of racial oppression in the 17th century and have worked diligently to maintain the system ever since. Feagin accepts the fact that changes have occurred in this racist system over the centuries. Even so, he feels that key elements have been reproduced over nearly four centuries, and that U.S. institutions today reflect the same racial chain of command created in the 17th century. Today, as well as in the past, racial oppression goes a lot deeper than just a surface-level part of this society, but rather inter-connects all major social groups, networks, and institutions across the society. Feagin's definition stands in sharp contrast to psychological definitions that assume racism is an "attitude" or an irrational form of discrimination that exists apart from the organization of any social formation.
The authors above who express their thoughts on this subject of racism have varying views. One author defends the advantages of white America because they are not in the minority, and therefore should reap the benefits of being the majority. He, as well as other sociologists, labels this train of thought as ‘group privilege’. He makes it sound as if whites have earned the right to be superior to the minority races. On the other hand, authors like Feagin, who acknowledge the fact that some changes have occurred over the centuries, still, believe that racism is imbedded in social groups, networks and institutions across the United States.
Most of the arguments are based on a false understanding of race; in fact, contemporary scientists are not agreed on whether race is a valid way to classify people. What may seem to be significant racial differences to some people - skin color, hair, facial shape - are not of much scientific significance. In fact, genetic differences within a so-called race may be greater than those between races.
In my opinion, racism, although sometimes subtle, still exists. I hear about incidents of racial profiling, as an example. I usually don’t see color when I look at people, but sometimes our racial differences do surface. I don’t like racism, but I’m not naïve enough to believe it doesn’t exist. For as long as I can remember, white America has always seemed to be the more privileged group of people. It seems to me that society just respects them more than they do other races.
I’ve been kind of lucky in my life because I haven’t had to deal with racism, directly. at least not as directly as others have encountered it. It’s possible that I just might be too naïve to realize it when it’s happening to me because I really don’t focus on it. To me, people are just people and we all should be treated equally. However, I feel this might never happen in my lifetime, which is sad. The whites brought us over here so they should not have a problem with us being here.