In a Trump era and Ramaswamy era, one defined by every “-ism” possible, it is easy to lose the sanity battle to partisanship and division. Perhaps the most divisive issue is that of race: Even after a shocking reckoning in 2020 and somewhat reformed open and honest rhetoric, the very principle of oppression is being flipped on its head.
Ramaswamy’s slogan, “reverse racism IS racism” or in any one of Trump’s speeches that go along the lines of “white people need to be saved because the others have taken over” is not only perverse but somewhat comical. The politics of today is a breeding ground for gross, unfortunate miscalculations, with the principle issue being that minority groups can perpetuate racism onto the majority.
Before you jump all over my argument, have an open mind because I am certain I will flip you over to this side.
Racism per the Oxford dictionary (the most popular and frequently visited definition on the internet) is defined as, “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism by an individual, community, or institution against a person or people on the basis of their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized.” Now that we have established the fundamental definition, there are three crucial words that should come to mind when debating this topic: bias, discrimination and racism, which we will revisit.
In the 400 year lifespan of America, the scales have been overly saturated to favor the white race: neighborhoods, educational institutions, people’s personal perceptions, policing—in short just about everything American. Not only is racism born and living in the minds of American citizens, it is also institutionalized. Without a doubt, many can agree that American institutions prefer the white race which further saturates the balance of injustice.
When people say that people can be racist against the white race, it is simply not true because the system inherently favors the white race explicitly and implicitly and the very American concept of opportunity of equality favors the white race also. Now, anyone can harbor bias or act on that bias to be discriminatory, but this does not equate to racism.
When the statement “racism goes both ways” is thrust into the world, it is implied that all people in America are equal in all facets and can misuse this predisposition of equality to create mechanisms to oppress other groups — the fact of the matter is that not all groups have this equality because of the 400 year hierarchical race that some groups cannot catch up too.
Perhaps with the emergence of the minority-majority or institutional shifts, racism both ways is plausible, until then it is with most passion that reverse racism is NOT racism.