The Journey to the Bottom

I propose that we have at least three stages to parse on a racist’s journey:

Once a person has entered the third phase there is little hope for redemption. They need to either grow out of it or have a ‘come to Jesus’ moment. That is hard to engineer. Re-humanizing them during dialogue is a first-step, but navigating the dialogue requires a lot of skill, patience and courage.

The person in the second phase still feels apprehensive about expressing their positions because they understand the consequences of alienating their friends and family that are opposed to those positions. My unscientific poll of friends show that, unanimously, the only solution is to introduce these people to those they have racist views towards. Exposure to the humanity and equality of character in those they ‘groupified’ is the most powerful mitigator. Arguments will fall on deaf ears because of how they are comprehended. A world-view is an extremely difficult perspective to shift with words alone.

The person in the first phase is everyone. Yes, we all have a propensity to simplify people into groups and assign stereotypes. The issue is ‘to what degree?’ And, for those that are interested in influencing people who have entered the second and third phases of racism, this self-awareness is critical if they desire to make any progress.

Yet, there are degrees upon which some of those in this first-phase are devolving into greater and greater simplification of this world and society. It is that unfortunate journey that is at the root of mitigating racism. The more we allow simplification of groups of people — or what I refer to as “Groupism” — the further we stray from understanding and accepting the complexity — and inherent humanity — of our society. Stereotypes abound.

This is a complex issue, so I Parse. I’ve attempted to separate out those that can be influenced more easily from those that are overtly racist. The third-phase people are certainly a threat to our society’s stability. Action should most certainly be taken to mitigate their influence. But it is those people in the bullpen — the people in phase two — that are the ones we should target with our anti-racist strategies.

Finally, I should address why I am writing about this issue. It is because I have family that are firmly ensconced in phase two. And, I have friends and family that are about to move from phase one to phase two. I’m sad about this and frustrated that my words have had little impact. It is a tragedy that I think I might help mitigate by describing how this might be unfolding. Maybe, with these few words, I can provide a common platform for dialogue and understanding.

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