Argumentationskortspillet

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Obama som hvid (fra Nevada Tumbleweed)

Tim Wise har skrevet et helt og aldeles fantastisk og fantastisk nødvendigt indlæg om racekortet. Et kort som også ofte anses som brugt i kønsspørgsmål. Kortene bruges efter sigende af sippede, nærtagende, konspirationshungrende kællinger, negre og muhammedanere. Hvis man tager den kønsdiskriminerende/racistiske del ud af disse anklager, ender man ofte i stedet med, at kortene bruges af personer, der igen og igen oplever (ubevidste) strukturelle forskelsbehandlinger og at anklagerne kommer fra The Usual Suspects: Hvide mænd, som nægter at se uligheder, hvis det ikke går ud over dem selv. Freud kaldte det benægtelse. Jeg kan godt lide Freud.

Pointen er selvfølgelig, at man sjældent får noget ud af at bruge kortet, når ingen tror på, at der rent faktisk finder racisme eller kønsdiskrimination sted. Derfor er det i stedet ekstremt brugbart at anklage andre for at bruge det. Så kan man nemlig affeje en ubehagelig diskussion lynhurtigt og få de andre til at ligne tudekællinger. Smart. Trumfen i argumentationskortspillet er med andre ord altid på den hvide mands hænder.

Noget af det mest spændende er selvfølgelig, at det også finder sted på universiteterne og andre steder, hvor De Oplyste befinder sig. Den åbenlyse racisme eller kønsdiskrimination er nem at spotte, men de strukturelle og underbevidste diskriminationer er svære at få øje på. Til det virker statistik ofte bedst (sorry, Foucault-elskere, men det passer).

  • How many Americans do you figure have even heard, for example, that black youth arrested for drug possession for the first time are incarcerated at a rate that is forty-eight times greater than the rate for white youth, even when all other factors surrounding the crime are identical (4)?
  • How many have heard that persons with “white sounding names,” according to a massive national study, are fifty percent more likely to be called back for a job interview than those with “black sounding” names, even when all other credentials are the same (5)?
  • How many know that white men with a criminal record are slightly more likely to be called back for a job interview than black men without one, even when the men are equally qualified, and present themselves to potential employers in an identical fashion (6)?
  • How many have heard that according to the Justice Department, Black and Latino males are three times more likely than white males to have their vehicles stopped and searched by police, even though white males are over four times more likely to have illegal contraband in our cars on the occasions when we are searched (7)?
  • How many are aware that black and Latino students are about half as likely as whites to be placed in advanced or honors classes in school, and twice as likely to be placed in remedial classes? Or that even when test scores and prior performance would justify higher placement, students of color are far less likely to be placed in honors classes (8)? Or that students of color are 2-3 times more likely than whites to be suspended or expelled from school, even though rates of serious school rule infractions do not differ to any significant degree between racial groups (9)?

Fact is, few folks have heard any of these things before, suggesting how little impact scholarly research on the subject of racism has had on the general public, and how difficult it is to make whites, in particular, give the subject a second thought.

Jeg vil ikke kommentere det meget mere, for selv om det er et enormt langt indlæg, han har skrevet, så er det mere end væsentligt at læse. Så gør det. Nu. Brug evt. Readability når du læser lange tekster på nettet. Det gør jeg. Og det er godt.