How Is Being an Antiracist Different Than Being Against Racism?
August 8, 2022
These two approaches – installing an anti-racist culture and combating racism by finding where it exists and eliminating it – sound similar but they are as different as the terms equity and equality, which are also often conflated as one simple concept that is interchangeable.
In a nutshell the anti-racist approach assumes that the white culture oppresses people of color systemically and that our society and its institutions are intrinsically racist. It assumes that racism exists not on an individual basis but at a societal level. The belief is that white people as a whole are implicitly biased (and therefore racist) because the country and its legacy was founded on oppression and holds back the communities of color because of racism. Ibram X Kendi, arguably the most vocal advocate of the antiracist approach in America and author of the book “How to Be an Anti Racist,” (which is widely found in FCPS libraries) states that “When I see racial disparities, I see racism,” and “The only remedy to racial discrimination is anti-racist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination.” This approach does not leave open the possibility that racial disparities could be caused by something other than racism and the only way to battle discrimination is with more discrimination.
The zero tolerance approach to racism identifies racism where it exists – in individual acts like the disgraceful event in Middletown earlier this year – and approaches the examination of racial disparities in everything from AP placements and suspensions, to academic achievement in a search for the true root causes, and exposes and addresses these through policy changes and disciplinary measures.
The FCPS appears to be adopting the anti-racism approach and has moved a long way towards rolling it out.