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Marcus Garvey, black nationalist and champion of the "back-to-Africa" movement.

Racialism is a term used to describe the belief in the existence and importance of racial categories, in themselves often disputed. Whenever the term is employed, especially in academia, it serves the purpose of a contradistinction with the term racism. It is, however, widely used as a synonym for racism.

Within separatist identity politics, the term may be intended to portray an emphasis on the perceived social and cultural differences between races. Separatists may say that they do not view themselves as superior to - and do not exhibit hatred towards - other races, but only believe in separation between races. (See white separatism and black separatism.) The Rastafari, and other organisations for black nationalism advocate a strong sense of racial pride and Renaissance.

Racialists often cite purportedly scientific works such as Race, Evolution and Behavior by J. Philippe Rushton, IQ and the Wealth of Nations by Richard Lynn, and The Bell Curve by R.J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray. Rushton's work in particular is sometimes referred to by opponents as "racist," and is regarded by David Suzuki and others as pseudoscience, or as containing errors. [1]Center for Evolutionary Psychology

Racialism and the valuation of human worth

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Due to its primarily British origins, its past use, and its current infrequent use, racialism is generally viewed as a less offensive term than racism. Before the notion of racial equality became ideologically dominant in the latter half of the 20th Century, one could be considered a non-racist (i.e. without antipathy) racialist.

"Racism" implies a presumption of racial superiority and a harmful intent, whereas advocates of positive racial differences use the word "racialism" to indicate a strong interest in matters of race without the presumption of superiority or the desire to cause harm to others. Their focus rather is on racial pride, identity politics, and / or racial segregation. Organisations such as NAAWP insist on these distinctions, and vehemently oppose state sponsored racism.

The relationship between the two concepts is expressed at length by Kwame Anthony Appiah in his book "In my fathers house":

"the view — which I shall call racialism — that there are heritable characteristics, possessed by members of our species, which allow us to divide them into a small set of races, in such a way that all the members of these races share certain traits and tendencies with each other that they do not share with members of any other race. These traits and tendencies characteristic of a race constitute, on the racialist view, a sort of racial essence; it is part of the content of racialism that the essential heritable characteristics of the “Races of Man” account for more than the visible morphological characteristics—skin color, hair type, facial features—on the basis of which we make our informal classifications. Racialism is at the heart of nineteenth-century attempts to develop a science of racial difference, but it appears to have been believed by others—like Hegel, before then, and Crummell and many Africans since—who have had no interest in developing scientific theories.
Racialism is not, in itself, a doctrine that must be dangerous, even if the racial essence is thought to entail moral and intellectual dispositions. Provided positive moral qualities are distributed across the races, each can be respected, can have its “separate but equal” place."[2]

W. E. B. DuBois

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File:DuboisWEB.jpg
W. E. B. DuBois

W.E.B. DuBois argues that racialism is the philosophical belief that differences between the races exist, be it biological, social, psychological, or in the realm of the "soul". He then goes on to argue that racism is using this belief to push forward the argument that one's particular race is superior to the others.

Therefore, Dubois separates the conditions of racism from racism itself. (Anthony Kwame Appiah summarizes Dubois' position in his book In my father's house, chapter 3). Racialism in this view is a value neutral philosophy, while racism is a value charged ideology.

Molefi Kete Asante criticises DuBois for this very racialism in "The Afrocentric Idea".

Positive racial diversity

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Popular American football hero and Baptist minister Reggie White famously remarked:

Why did God create us differently? Why did God make me black and you white? Why did God make the next guy Korean and the next guy Asian and the other guy Hispanic? Why did God create the Indians?
Well, it's interesting to me to know why now. When you look at the black race, black people are very gifted in what we call worship and celebration. A lot of us like to dance, and if you go to black churches, you see people jumping up and down, because they really get into it.
White people were blessed with the gift of structure and organization. You guys do a good job of building businesses and things of that nature and you know how to tap into money pretty much better than a lot of people do around the world.
Hispanics are gifted in family structure. You can see a Hispanic person and they can put 20 or 30 people in one home. They were gifted in the family structure.
When you look at the Asians, the Asian is very gifted in creation, creativity and inventions. If you go to Japan or any Asian country, they can turn a television into a watch. They're very creative. And you look at the Indians, they have been very gifted in the spirituality.
When you put all of that together, guess what it makes. It forms a complete image of God.[3]

Identity politics

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Within identity politics, many groups have emphasised their own race, and the importance or racial differences, whether they be cultural, economic, biological or political.

The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, and similar organisations, advocate the welfare of a specific ethnicity, without a harmful intent towards others.

"While Mandela, like the others, is clearly not racist, he also must be counted as racialist, because his struggle against apartheid was predicated on the race-based solidarity of those who were enslaved, based on race, under the system of apartheid: you cannot fight racism without introducing race as a predicate of your action. So Malcolm and Mandela, both, have to be counted racialist." (Grisso, Africans Unbound Magazine[4])

Racialism as policy legally employed by nations

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A century ago, virtually every nation on the planet officially employed racialist policies; today none formally do. Two unpopular examples of racist regimes were Nazi Germany and Apartheid South Africa.

While many nations are today accused of promoting policies which resemble racialism, the idea is so unpopular that not a single nation claims these policy choices accentuating racial differences as based on 'race.'

Prior to the 20th century, nearly all nations had strict laws promoting racial distinctions. This became increasingly unpopular, especially after the 1960s, and no nation today admits to having a racial stratification or racialist hierarchy. However, there are wide arrays of race-based policies in place in nations today, but since the word racialism has negative connotations, the term used for these policies is racial rather than racialist. These include affirmative action, racial quotas and reverse discrimination. These policies are said to attempt to correct inequalities and are sometimes referred to as "positive discrimination".

See also

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Examples of Racialist groups

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References

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  • Molefi Kete Asante (1998) The Afrocentric Idea - ISBN 156639595X
  • Paul C. Taylor (2000) - Appiah's Uncompleted Argument: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Reality of Race. (philosopher K. Anthony Appiah) : An article from: Social Theory and Practice ISBN B0008HB770
  • Kwame Anthony Appiah (1993) - In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture - ISBN 0195068521
  • Reggie White's Speech before the Wisconsin State Assembly (click 778)
  • Sanneh, Kelefa "After the Beginning Again: The Afrocentric Ordeal" Transition - Issue 87 (Volume 10, Number 3), 2001, pp. 66-89
  • Kennedy, Paul and Nicholls Anthony (eds.) Nationalist and racialist movements in Britain and Germany before 1914 (Saint Antony's College Press, 1981).
  • Dobratz, Betty A. "White power, white pride!": The white separatist movement in the United States (Twayne Publishers, NY, 1997).
  • Melvern, Linda. Conspiracy to murder: The Rwanda genocide (Verso, London, 2004).
  • Snyder, Louis L. The Idea of Racialism: Meaning and History. (Princeton, NJ, 1962).
  • Stokes, Geoffrey (ed.). The Politics of Identity in Australia. See: John Kane, "Racialism and democracy" (Cambrdige University Press, 1997).
  • Arter, David. "Black Faces in the Blond Crowd: Populist Racialism in Scandinavia", Parliamentary Affairs, July 1992, vol. 45:3, pp. 357-372.
  • Odocha O. Race and racialism in scientific research and publication in the Journal of the National Medical Association. (National Library of Medicine, 2000).
  • Zubaida, Sami (ed.). Race and Racialism (Tavistock, London, 1970).
  • Racial Identity, the Apartheid State, and the Limits of Political Mobilization and Democratic Reform in South Africa: The Case of the University of the Western (Teachers College, Columbia University, 2003).
  • Thompson, Walter Thomas. James Anthony Froude on Nation and Empire: A Study in Victorian Racialism (Taylor & Francis, London, 1998).
  • UNESCO General Conference. Declaration of Fundamental Principles concerning the Contribution of the Mass Media to Strengthening Peace and International Understanding, to the Promotion of Human Rights and to Countering Racialism, Apartheid and Incitement to War (University of Hawaii, 1978).
  • Racism, Encyclopaedia Britannica, retrieved August 2, 2005
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