The United States is in the midst of two pandemics. The first is the health pandemic known as COVID-19. The second is the social pandemic of racism, the belief that one race is superior to others, resulting in unequal or demoralizing treatment of other races. While it may seem odd to apply the same word to both situations, the fact that both infestations involve human-to-human transmission and a lack of effective countermeasures indicates they have more in common than we like to imagine. Let’s take a moment to consider racism from a sociological perspective. In doing so, we will find that the dis-ease of racism has flourished unchecked across this country for a very long time.
Last week, the NBA came to a halt. The players refused to play following the point-blank shooting of Jacob Blake in the back by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin. This shooting is one in a long line of incidents in the news. George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Michael Brown. Eric Garner. These are just some of the names with which we have become all too familiar. What unites all of these individuals is that they were shot and/or killed by the police. Many, including the NBA players, see these events as part of a larger pattern of institutional racism, societal patterns that produce negative treatment against groups of people based on their race. Arguably, institutional racism does not start or stop at the doors of the institutions. It takes people to maintain institutions, and it is the attitude of some of the people in these institutions that must be addressed in order to get to the heart of the dis-ease of racism. These people willingly engage in racial discrimination, the unfair or differential treatment of individuals and groups based on race and ethnicity. They willingly engage in racial profiling, action taken against members of a minority group based on those things other than personal behavior. They do this in an effort to demean, devalue, and destroy those who are different from them physically and culturally.
The dis-ease of racism does not solely infect the avowed racist. Unbeknownst to them, many who would identify themselves as “not seeing color” are, in fact, also part of the problem. These are the people who espouse racial colorblindness, the idea that ignoring or overlooking racial and ethnic differences promotes racial harmony. While that may be ideal, the act of ignoring or overlooking differences often results in ignoring and overlooking discrimination as well. The act of ignoring discrimination gives the racist the opening they need to continue to spread their sickness.
So, how do we heal our society from this racial pandemic? First, we must understand that race is nothing more than a socially constructed category of people based on real or perceived physical differences. Next, we must hold people responsible for their actions. Whether it is a police officer, store clerk, or average person on the street, people must be responsible for their actions and experience sanctions, a punishment or reward that supports socially approved norms, appropriate to the circumstances. Lastly, we must remember what it means to be part of a society, a large group of people associated with shared culture and institutions. We are not individuals who happen to live on the same landmass. We are part of a society, and, as such, are responsible for each other. If we expect people in society to wear masks to protect each other from a health pandemic, we must also expect that we will raise our voices to protect each other from the pandemic of racism.
