As the Word “Racism” Loses Its Meaning

“Ambiguity, however, is the name of the game when it comes to defining racism, while Whiteness Studies is similarly plagued with ‘critical’ obfuscation.”

The death of George Floyd was horrific. As a white belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, I know what it feels like to be unable to escape a position that has me five seconds away from losing consciousness. But Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is just a game. I can always trust my partner to let go when I tap. Mr. Floyd did not have anything close to that luxury. He was under arrest. He pleaded, “I can’t breathe.” The cop did not let up. Mr. Floyd died.

The result was so tragic it is almost ineffable. Meanwhile, violent protests, or “chaos” according to Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, erupted. Looters reminded us of Los Angeles in the aftermath of Rodney King and had us scratching our heads to understand how a breakdown in law and order and the destruction of black and Latino businesses in Minneapolis helps advance the cause of racial justice. President Trump did his thing to stoke divisions. The CEOs of JP Morgan and Citi did what they had to do to promote their brands and condemned racism. In other words, people took for granted that this tragedy was vivid evidence of pervasive racism in America.

But was it?

The answer, I submit, is far from clear. Part of the reason, as John McWhorter wrote in 2016, is that “police kill too many people—white and black.” In response to voluminous hate mail directed at him “for supporting protests against cops about black shooting deaths,” McWhorter “challenged those who disagree to present a list of white people killed within the past few years under circumstances similar to those that so enrage us in cases such as what happened to Tamir Rice, John Crawford, Walter Scott, Sam Debose and others.” “The simple fact,” McWhorter wrote, “is that this list exists.” And he proceeded to describe numerous examples of white people “killed by police officers under circumstances that would almost surely have elicited indignant protest nationwide if they were black.”