Can you erase racism?

I’ve been doing a lot of driving the past couple of weeks, which means that I’ve also been listening to a lot of podcasts. This week’s preferred flavor was TEDTalks. As I was driving Wednesday morning, I was following a truck with two “Eracism” bumper stickers, and two of the TEDTalks I listened to on Tuesday struck me as I considered what this bumper sticker means for social justice. The first TEDTalk I thought of was “Erin McKean: Go ahead, make up new words!” “Eracism” is what Erin and other lexicographers call a lexical blend, formed from joining two words, erase and racism, together by retaining a part of each word.

e·rase

/əˈrās/

verb

• rub out or remove (writing or marks)
• remove all traces of (a thought, feeling, or memory)
• remove recorded material from (a magnetic tape or medium); delete (data) from a computer’s memory

rac·ism

/rāˌsizəm/

noun

• the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races
• prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior

By considering these two definitions, we can infer that “eracism” means to remove all traces of prejudicial, discriminatory, or antagonistic thoughts, feelings, or memories directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior. Now, I’m all for racism being abolished; however, this definition is reminiscent of the notion of colorblindness. Which brings me to the second TEDTalk I thought of while following this truck down the highway, “Vernā Myers: How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly toward them.” In in, Vernā discusses implicit biases and how our brain automatically associates positive words with white faces. She goes on to state, “We’ve gone about as far as we can go trying to make a difference trying to not see color. The problem was never that we saw color. It was what we did when we saw the color.” The solutions she offers for combatting our implicit biases are to: (1) stare at awesome black people, (2) walk toward your discomfort by expanding your social and professional circles to include people of color, and (3) have the courage to say something.

So how do these solutions mesh or not mesh with the aforementioned definition of “eracism?” As Vernā discusses, our prejudicial, discriminatory, or antagonistic thoughts and feelings are often unconscious, and I would argue, influenced by larger institutions outside of the self. To imply that abolishing racism is as simple as training our individual selves to stop thinking and feeling racist things is to trivialize the complex phenomenon that is racism. Is there such a thing as individual racism? Of course. However, the more insidious face of race is covertly hidden in our institutions… our schools, our media, our legal system, etc. It is hidden so well that it is rendered invisible by those not directly affected by it. Therefore, even if we can individually get rid of our racist thoughts and feelings, we will still be surrounded by institutions built by those thoughts and feelings. Being better people is not enough. Our institutions need a major overhaul.

In terms of our prejudicial, discriminatory, or antagonistic memories… we’ve already tried erasing these through our history textbooks. We’ve attempted to erase the details of slavery, Japanese internment camps, our treatment of Chinese railroad workers, the genocide of Native Americans by simply not teaching both sides of the story. We’ve sugar-coated our nation’s history and deemed ourselves members of a “post-racial society.” Pretending bad things didn’t happen and aren’t continuing to happen doesn’t make them go away. Turning a blind eye to our nation’s racist past and present leaves it unaddressed and allows it to fester and grow. So, eracism? Maybe not the best slogan for social justice.