Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and Racial Inequality PDF

RACISM WITHOUT RACISTS Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence Pub Ii,hcd by Rowman & Liulcficld A whully owm·d subsidiary of The Rowman & l.iulcfield Publishing Group, Inc. of Racial In...

RACISM WITHOUT RACISTS Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence Pub Ii,hcd by Rowman & Liulcficld A whully owm·d subsidiary of The Rowman & l.iulcfield Publishing Group, Inc. of Racial Inequality in America 450\ Forhl'S Boukvanl, Suite 200, 1.;uiham, Maryland 20706 ,,·ww.n.lw1nan.c.:0111 Unit A, Whttane Mew.,, 26-34 Srnnnary Street, London SE! I 4AI-I.United Kingdom Fifth Edition Copyright ,q 20 l H by Rowm,tn & Littlefield First ,·di1io1120(13. S,·wnd edition 2lJ06. Third edition 2010. Fourth edition 2014. All risMs r,·.,aved. No p,trt of th is book may be reprnduccd in any tc,rm or by.111y dectronic or mechanical means, induding information storage and retrieval ,yskms, wilhuut written permission from the publisher, e~ccpt by a rl'vicwcr who Ill:\}' quotl' pH~!'-agc:~in a rt.'Vil'W. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva Bril,sh l.ihrnry Cualoguing in l'ublirntion lnliJrnrntion Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publicatinn Data Names: !lonill:1-Silv;1,Eduardo, 19(,2 ;1uthor. Titk: !t,dsm without rad.sts : ,·olor blind racism anJ the p"rsislcncc of racial inequality in Arnaica / fatu:irdo lloni!la-Silva. Dcsniption: l'iftl, edition. I Lanham: Rowman & J.ittlellcld. 2017. j lndudcs bibliogrnphical rcfcrt·ticl's ,111dindex. ldemifkrs: LCCN 21117()()6078(print) I LCCN 2017008535 (cbook) I ISBN 9781442276222 (doth : alblinl' pa1>a) I ISBN 971{1442276239 (papd l.ihrary Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1 lJ92. II O IV M ,IN Is I. I 'I' 'I' 11· I· I I' I. 11 Printed in lhc United States uf Am~rir:1  8 Chapter 1 The Strange Enigma of Race in Contemporary America 9 Key Terms: Race, Racial Structure, and Racial Ideology global and affected all societies where Europeans extended their reach. I therefore conceive a society's racial structure as the totality of the social rela- One reason why, in general terms, whites and people of color cannot agree tions and practices that reinforcewhite privilege.Accordingly, the task of ana- on racial matters is because they conceive terms such as "racism" very dif- lysts interested in studying racial structures is to uncover the particular social, ferently. Whereas for most whites racism is prejudice, for. most people of economic, political, social control, and ideological mechanisms responsible color racism is systemic or institutionalized. Although this is not a theory for the reproduction of racial privilege in a society. book, my examination of color-blind racism has etched in it the indelible But why are racial structures reproduced in the first place? Would not hu- ink of a "regime of truth" 50 about how the world is organized. Thus, rather mans, after discovering the folly of racial thinking, work to abolish race as a than hiding my theoretical assumptions, I state them openly for the benefit category as well as a practice? Racial structures remain in place for the same of readers and potential critics. reasons that other structures do. Since actors racialized as "white"-or as mem- The first key term is the notion of race.There is very little formal disagree- bers of the dominant race-receive material benefits from the racial order, they ment among social scientists in accepting the idea that race is a socially con- struggle (or passively receive the manifold wages of whiteness) to maintain structed category.st This means that notions of racial difference are human their privileges. In contrast, those defined as belonging to the subordinate race creations rather than eternal, essential categories. As such, racial categories or races struggle to change the status quo (or become resigned to their posi- have a history and are subject to change. And here ends the agreement among tion). Therein lies the secret of racial structures and racial inequality the world social scientists on this matter. There are at least three distinct variations on over.st!They exist because they benefit members of the dominant race. how social scientists approach this constructionist perspective on race. The If the ultimate goal of the dominant race is to defend its collective inter- first approach, which is gaining popularity among white social scientists, is ests (i.e., the perpetuation of systemic white privilege), it should surprise no the idea that because race is socially constructed, it is not a fundamental cat- one that this group develops rationalizations to account for the status of the egory of analysis and praxis. Some analysts go as far as to suggest that because various races. And here I introduce my third key term, the notion of racial race is a constructed category, then it is not real and social scientists who use ideology.By this I mean the raciallybasedframeworks used by actors to explain the category are the ones who make it real.52 and justify (dominant race) or challenge(subordinate race or races) the racial The second approach, typical of most sociological writing on race, gives lip status quo. Although all the races in a racialized social system have the capac- service to the social constructionist view-usually a line in the beginning of ity of developing these frameworks, the frameworks of the dominant race tend the article or book. Writers in this group then proceed to discuss "racial" dif- to become the master frameworks upon which all racial actors ground (for ferences in academic achievement, crime, and SAT scores as if they were truly or against) their ideological positions. Why? Because as Marx pointed out in raciaI.5J This is the central way in which contemporary scholars contribute to The German Ideology,"the ruling material force of society, is at the same time the propagation of racist interpretations of racial inequality. By failing to high- its ruling intellectualforce:'59 This does not mean that ideology is almighty. In light the social dynamics that produce these racial differences, these scholars fact, as I will show in chapter 7, ideological rule is always partial. Even in pe- hdp reinforce the racial order.~ riods of hegemonic rule,60 such as the current one, subordinate racial groups The third approach, and the one I use in this book, acknowledges that develop oppositional views. However, it would be foolish to believe that those race, as are other social categories such as class and gender, is constructed who rule a society do not have the power to at least color (pun intended) the but insists that it has a social reality. This means that after race-or class or views of the ruled. gender-is created, it produces real effects on the actors racialized as "black" Racial ideology can be conceived for analytical purposes as comprising the or "white." Although race, as other social constructions, is unstable, it has a following elements: common frames, style, and racial stories (details on each "changing same"55 quality at its core. can be found in chapters 3, 4, and 5). The frames that bond together a particu- In order to explain how a socially constructed category produces real race lar racial ideology are rooted in the group-based conditions and experiences effects, I need to introduce a second key term: the notion of racial structure. of the races and are, at the symbolic level, the representations developed by When race emerged in human history, it formed a social structure (a racial- these groups to explain how the world is or ought to be. And because the ized social system) that awarded systemic privileges to Europeans (the peoples group life of the various racially defined groups is based on hierarchy and who became "white") over non-Europeans (the peoples who became "non- domination, the ruling ideology expresses as "common sense" the interests white").56 Racialized social systems, or white supremacy57 for, short, became of the dominant race, while oppositional ideologies attempt to challenge that 10 Chapter I common sense by providing alternative frames, ideas, and stories based on the experiences of subordinated races. Individual actors employ these elements as "building blocks... for manu- facturing versions on actions, self, and social structures" in communicative situations.b' The looseness of the elements allows users to maneuver within various contexts (e.g., responding to a race-related survey, discussing racial issues with family, or arguing about affirmative action in a college classroom) and produce various accounts and presentations of self {e.g., appearing ambivalent, tolerant, or strong minded). This loose character enhances the legitimating role of racial ideology because it allows for accommodation of contradictions, exceptions, and new information. As Jackman points out about ideology in general, "Indeed, the strength of an ideology lies in its loose-jointed, flexible application. An ideology is a political instrument, not an exercise in personal logic: consistency is rigidity, the only pragmatic effect of which is to box oneself in:' 61 Before I can proceed, two important caveats should be offered. First, al- though whites, because of their privileged position in the racial order, form a social group (the dominant race), they are fractured along class, gender, sexual orientation, and other forms of "social cleavage." Hence, they have multiple and often contradictory interests that are not easy to disentangle and that predict a priori their mobilizing capacity (Do white workers have more in common with white capitalists than with black workers?). However, because all actors awarded the dominant racial position, regardless of their multiple structural locations (men or women, gay or straight, working class or bourgeois), benefit from what Mills calls the "racial contract: ~-'most have historically endorsed the ideas that justify the racial status quo. Second, although not every single member of the dominant race defends the racial status quo or spouts color-blind racism, most do. To explain this point by analogy, although not every capitalist defends capitalism {e.g., Fred- erick Engels, the coauthor of The Communist Manifesto, was a capitalist) and not every man defends patriarchy (e.g., Achilles Heel is an English magazine published by feminist men), most do in some fashion. In the same vein, al- though some whites fight white supremacy and do not endorse white com- mon sense, most subscribe to substantial portions of it in a casual, uncritical fashion that helps sustain the prevailing racial order.  2 The New Racism The U.S. Racial Structure since the 1960s Introduction T HE WHITE COMMONSENSE VIEW on racial matters is that racists are few and far between, that discrimination 1 has all but disappeared since the I 960s, and that most whites are color-blind. This view, which emerged in the 1970s, has gone viral with the election of Barack Obama as president in 2008. Whites seem to be collectively shouting, «we have a black president. so we are finally beyond race!" (see chapter 10 for a discussion on Obama, the new racism, and color blindness). This new common sense is not totally without foundation (e.g., traditional racial practices and exclusion as well as Jim Crow-based racist beliefs have decreased in significance), but it is ultimately false. What has happened is that white supremacy in the United States (i.e., the racial structure of America) has changed. Today "new racism" practices have emerged that are more sophisticated and subtle than those typical of the Jim Crow era. Yet, as I will argue, these practices are as effective as the old ones in maintaining the racial status quo. In this chapter, I trace the evolution of these new structures of racial domination to show how racial inequality is perpetu- ated in a color-blind world. I begin this chapter with a brief description of how this new racial structure (the new racism) came about. Against this backdrop, I survey the evidence of how black-white racial inequality is produced and reproduced in the United States in four areas: social, political, social control, and economic. The evidence is perused from 1960 until the present with the goal of examining the mechanisms and practices that keep minorities "in their -17-  r 18 Chapter 2 The New Racism 19 place:' I conclude the chapter with a discussion of some of the social, political, nisms and practices that keep minorities "in their place:' I conclude the chap- and legal repercussions of the new racial structure of America. ter with a discussion of some of the social, political, and legal repercussions of The argument that race and racism have "decreased in significance" in con- the new racial structure of America. temporary America was made prominent in the late 1970s by black sociologist Before I move forward, I must state one important caveat. Although I hold William Julius Wilson.2 This view is consistent with survey data on white at- that the dominant form of racism now practiced is a subtle one, this does not titudes since the early l 960s 1 as well as with many demographic and economic mean l am blind to the vulgar explicit racism now in vogue among the "Tea studies comparing the status of whites and blacks in terms of income, occupa- Party" and others on the right. Racial regimes may change, but that transfor- tions, health, and education that suggest that a remarkable reduction in racial mation is never complete and remnants of the old-fashioned JimCrow racism inequality has occurred in America.' are clearly resurgent. This resurgence is important and clearly influences the A smaller number of social scientists, on the other hand, believe that race life chances of people of color; however, I contend that it is not the core of the continues to play a role similar to the one it played in the past.5 For these au- system and the practices responsible for reproducing racial domination today. thors, little has changed in America in terms of racism and there is a general The Trump moment is reminiscent of the Reagan moment (1980-1988), pessimism in the prospects of changing the racial status of minorities. Al- where racial affairs got temporarily hotter (see chapter 10). though this is a minority viewpoint in academia, it represents the perception of many members of minority communities, especially of the bla~k community. These opinions about the changing import of race and racism in the United The Emergenceof a New RacialStructurein the 1960s States are based on a narrowly defined notion of racism. For these analysts, racism is fundamentally an ideological or attitudinal phenomenon. In con- Blacks were kept in a subordinate position during the Jim Crow period of race trast, as I stated in the previous chapter, l regard racism as a structure, that is, relations through a variety of bluntly racist practices. At the economic level, as a network of social relations at social, political, economic, and ideological blacks were restricted to menial jobs by the joint effort of planters, corpora- levels that shapes the life chances of the various races. What social scientists tions, and unions. Hence, it is not surprising that in 1890, 87 percent of blacks define as racism is conceptualized in this framework as racial ideology. Rac- worked as either agricultural workers or domestics or in personal service (see ism (racial ideology) helps to glue and, at the same time, organize the nature table 2.1 below). In the South, they were mostly tenant farmers and this was and character of race relations in a society. From this vantage point, rather accomplished through vagrancy and apprenticeship laws, restrictions on the than arguing about whether the significance of race has declined, increased, right of blacks to buy land and to work in certain occupations, debt imprison- or not changed at all, the issue at hand is assessing if a transformation has ment, and the convict lease system.6 In the North, the exclusionary practices occurred in the racial structure of the United States. It is my contention that of managers and unions kept them in unskilled occupations with very little despite the profound changes that occurred in the l 960s, a new racial struc- chance for occupational mobility.' Thus, rather than a split labor market, ture-the new racism for short-is operating, which accounts for the persis- "most blacks in the South between 1865 and l 900 were not yet in a position tence of racial inequality. The elements that comprise this new racial structure to compete directly with whites for the same occupations."~As tenant workers, are the increasingly covert nature of racial discourse and racial practices; the avoidance of racial terminology and the ever-growing claim by whites that TABLE2.1 Distributionof Blacksby Occupations,1890 they experience "reverse racism"; the elaboration of a racial agenda over political matters that eschews direct racial references; the invisibility of most l11du,rry Number Percent mechanisms to reproduce racial inequality; and, finally, the rearticulation of Agriculture 1,728,325 56.2 some racial practices characteristic of the Jim Crow period of race relations. Domestic and Personal Service 956,754 31.1 I begin this chapter with a brief description of how this new racial structure Manufacturing 208,374 6.8 (new racism) came about. Against this backdrop, I survey the evidence of how Trade and Transportation 145.717 4.8 Professionals 33,994 1.1 black-white racial inequality is produced and reproduced in the United States in several areas: social, political, economic, and ideological. The evidence is Source: Lorenzo j_ GreneJnd Caner Godwin Woodson. The Negro Wagt- farner (Washington, D.C., Association for the Study of Negro Life and perused from 1960 until the present with the goal of examining the mecha- History. 1930). p. 37, table 10. 20 Chapter 2 The New Racism 21 they were ~reduced to the status of a serf» and cheated by white landlords in In terms of social control, blacks in the South were regulated by the actions a variety of ways. As industrial workers in the North, they were located at the of individual whites, violent racist organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan, bottom of the well with little chance for occupational mobility. mob violence in the form of lynching, and the lack of enforcement of the laws The economic position of blacks did not change much until well into the of the land by state agencies. In the North, blacks suffered less from these prac- a twentieth century. It was not until after WWI, which created labor shortage tices largely because they were extremely residentially segregated and, thus, in the industrial North, that many blacks migrated from the South and joined did not pose a "threat" to whites. However, whenever blacks "crossed the line," the ranks of the working class. Yet this transition from agricultural to indus- whites erupted in violence, such as during the race riots of the late 1910s.13 trial jobs did not break the Jim Crow pattern of employment. Spero and Har- Finally, in consonance with the above practices, racial ideology during the ris contend that although there was no wage discrimination between blacks Jim Crow period of race relations was explicitly racist. Without question, most and whites in the North, blacks earned less than whites because they were whites believed that minorities were intellectually and morally inferior, that concentrated in low-skill jobs: The jobs into which the Negroes went were they should be kept apart, and that whites should not mix with any of them. 14 usually those that native Americans and Americanized foreign-born white The apartheid that blacks1; experienced in the United States was predicated labor did not want. This largely accounts for the almost-spectacular increase on (l} keeping them in rural areas, mostly in the South, (2) maintaining them in the proportion of Negroes in the iron and steel foundries, where the work as agricultural workers, and (3) excluding them from the political process. How- is dirty, hot, and unpleasant. 10 ever, as blacks successfully challenged their socioeconomic position by migrat- At the social level, the rules of the new racial order emerged slowly given ing initially from rural areas to urban areas in the South and later to the North that the War and the Reconstruction (1865-1877) shook the rules of racial and West, by pushing themselves by whatever means necessary into nonagri- engagement and challenged the place of blacks in society. The transition from cultural occupations, and by developing political organizations and movements slavery to Jim Crow was characterized by inconsistency and no generally like Garveyism, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored accepted code of racial mores. Slavery did not require either a very sophis- People (NAACP), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the National Urban ticated and specific set of rules to preserve "social distance" or an elaborate League, the Southern Regional Council, and the Commission on Interracial racial ideology (racism) because of the thorough differences of status among Cooperation (CIC), the infrastructure of racial apartheid began to crumble. 16 the races. But as blacks became free, they posed a threat to white supremacy. Among the other factors leading to the abolition of the segregationist order, Slowly but surely segregationist laws and practices emerged after 1865 and the most significant were the participation of blacks in World War I and World were solidified by the 1880s with the enactment of Jim Crow laws all over the War II, which patently underscored the contradiction between fighting for free- South. These laws involved the disenfranchisement of blacks, racial separation dom abroad and lacking it at home; the Cold War, which made it a necessity to in public accommodations, segregation in housing, schools, the workplace, eliminate overt discrimination at home in order to sell the United States as the and in other areas to ensure white supremacy. C. Vann Woodward describes champion of democracy; and a number of judicial decisions, legislativeacts, and the extent of these laws in the following manner: presidential decrees that transpired since the 1940s." The aforementioned political, social, and economic processes occurred in The extremes to which caste penaltiesand separationwerecarried in parts of the a fast-changing U.S. political economy. From 1920 until 1940, the North ex- South could hardly find a counterpart short of the latitudesof India and South panded its industrialization process at a furious pace. After WWII the South Africa.... Curfew... separatephone booths... separate books and storage of industrialized at an even more dramatic pace. Many Northern industries books in public schools... South Carolina separated the mulatto caste of prosti- moved South in search of lower production costs and have continued doing tutes,and even "RayStannard Bakerfound Jim Crow Biblesfor Negrowitnesses in Atlantaand Jim Crow elevatorsfor Negro passengersin Atlanta buildings."11 so.is Hence today over 70 percent of the Southern labor force is engaged in nonagricultural pursuits. This industrialization process provided the pull fac- Politically, blacks were virtually disenfranchised in the South and were almost tor for blacks to move from the rural South, which, coupled with the push totally dependent on white politicians in the North. In the South, poll taxes, factor of escaping the violence of Jim Crow and the demise in agricultural literacy tests, and outright coercive strategies restrained their political options. jobs, created the optimal conditions for the "great migration." 1~ Although the In the North, black politicians were subordinate to white ethnic political ma- 1.8 million blacks who migrated between 1910 and 1940from the ~outh to the chineries and did not represent much for their own communities. 12 North and West faced severe racial practices and economic constraints from  22 Chapter 2 The New Racism 23 white workers, labor unions, and whites in general, the North provided them whites. They appear to be excellent for work, usually unskilled, that requires expanded opportunities in all realms of life. This great migration continued stamina and brawn-and little else. They are unreliable and cannot adjust to between 1940 and 1970 as 4.4 million more blacks left the South. "0 the demands of the factory:' 13 Views like this continue to plague American The impact of this migration was enormous on the over~ll condition of capitalists in the post-1960 period. 24 What industrialization and urbanization blacks. By 1970 blacks were geographically diffused throughout the United did for blacks was to provide a new context for struggle that made the south- States; 80 percent were urban dwellers and had achieved a higher rate of urban- ern Tim Crow system impossible to maintain in the face of black opposition. ization than whites; they had increased their education and developed a small (Interested parties should see the similarities between this case in the United but thriving middle class; social and political organizations flourished and be- States and the collapse of Apartheid in South Africa. There the enlightened came training grounds for many black leaders; by virtue of their new geographic segment of the business elite decided to meet with leaders of the ANC in the dispersion, blacks increasingly became a national group; and they were able to late 1980s to discuss a possible solution to the sociopolitical crisis. They did so develop a new consciousness, new attitudes, and a new view on how to deal with because of the pressure of international economic sanctions, anti-divestment racial discrimination, characterized by Gunnar Myrdal as the "protest motive:'21 campaigns, and boycotts to South African products. 25 Hence, for the elite, that Even in the South, the social, political, and cultural condition of blacks matter was not black and white but green!) improved somewhat with the early process of industrialization. And, after the These demographic, social, political, and economic factors and the actions 1960s, even their economic condition changed as the top business elite aban- of blacks made change almost inevitable. But ripe conditions are not enough doned all-out discrimination because of the adverse economic effects created to change any structural order. Hence, the racial order had to be directly chal- by violence and protest demonstrations. According to Melvin M. Lehman, this lenged if it was going to be effectively transformed. That was the role fulfilled pattern was reinforced by northern industrial capital that had penetrated the by the civil rights movement and the other forms of mass protest by blacks (so- South, making the "southern system of brutality, social discrimination, and called race riots) that took place in the 1960s and 1970s. Organized and sponta- legalized (or extra-legalized) persecution... more and more economically neous challenges were the catalysts that brought down overt segregation. and politically dysfunctional."22 Yet the demise of Jim Crow did not mean the end of racism in America. To be clear, neither urbanization nor industrialization were nonracial Many analysts noted that Kracism"(as usually defined) and race relations ac- "rational" progressive forces in themselves. Both northern and southern capi- quired instead a new character since the I 960s. They point to the increasingly talists accommodated racial practices in their hiring, company policies, and covert nature of racial discourse and racial practices; the avoidance of racial daily activities. In the case of southern capitalists, industrialization became a terminology in racial conflicts by whites; and the elaboration of a racial agenda necessity with the progressive decline of its agricultural economy. Although over political matters (e.g., state intervention, individual rights, responsibility, southern capitalists were able to maintain Jim Crow and industrialization etc.) that eschews direct racial references. 26 In the following sections l describe for over fifty years (l890s to 1950s), by the mid-I950s it became clear that the typical discriminatory practices of the post-civil rights era. they could not coexist peacefully. Blacks in the North had acquired enough political muscle to push the federal government to do something about their civil rights. After the Browndecision of 1954 and its rejection by most of the Interracial Social Interaction during the New Racism Period South, instability and protests spread all over the South. Such instability was anathema for attracting capital. Therefore, the business elite, reluctantly and In all areas of social life blacks and whites remain mostly separate and dis- gradually, developed an accommodation with the new policies. In the North, turbingly unequal. A dose examination of research in the areas of housing, the accommodation began much earlier in the l 920s, 1930s, and particularly education, and everyday social interaction reveals startlingly little progress after WWII, and involved the subordinate incorporation of blacks in indus- since the I960s. try. This accommodation, although progressive, maintained the view that blacks were inferior workers and kept them in the bottom of the occupational hierarchy. The views of northern managers were typified by a "progressive" Residential Segregation manager who in the 1950s commented that "Negroes, basically ~nd as a group, U.S. Census 2010 data indicate that residential segregation has declined with only rare exceptions, are not as we!! trained for higher skills and jobs as for the fourth straight decade. During the 1990s, segregation declined in 272 24 Chapter 2 The New Racism 25 metropolitan statistical areas and increased in 19 areas; however, black-white agents employing outright refusal or subterfuge to avoid renting or selling to segregation remained high in the older Rust-Belt metropolitan areas and in- black customers, federal government redlining policies, overtly discrimina- creased during the I 990s in the suburbs. Furthermore, blacks are stil! more tory insurance and lending practices, and racially restrictive covenants on segregated than any other racial or ethnic group-segregation that they have housing deeds in order to maintain segregated communities. In contrast, in experienced longer than any other group-and are segregated at every income the post-civil rights era, covert behaviors have replaced these practices and level.27 The black poor, in particular, suffer the greatest degree of"hypersegre- maintained the same outcome-separate communities. gation» from the rest of America, and this pattern of extreme isolation has re- Many studies have detailed the obstacles that minorities face from govern- mained the same through the last one-third century. In their book, American ment agencies, real estate agents, money lenders, and white residents that Apartheid, Massey and Denton measure the block-level indices of residential continue to limit their housing options. 3~ Housing audits done in many loca- segregation of thirty metropolitan areas from 1940 to I 980. The index of resi- tions reveal that blacks and Latinos are denied available housing from 35 to dential segregation for the North is around 80 and for the South around 70 75 percent of the time depending on the city in question. 36 Turner, Struyk, (an index of 100 indicates total segregation and one of 0, no segregation at all). and Yinger, in reporting the results of the Department of Housing and Urban Even with a steady decline in most of the metropolitan areas included, levels Development's Housing Discrimination Study, found that blacks and Latinos are still extremely high, especially in the northern cities. In 2010, national experienced discrimination in approximately half of their efforts to rent or black isolation was about 55 percent and remained 70 percent or higher in buy housing. Yinger, in a separate article, reported that the average incidence cities such as Detroit, Cleveland, and Chicago.2g of discrimination for audit studies is 47 percent. These housing studies have Although many segregation indices are used as if they were sophisticated shown that when paired with similar white counterparts, blacks are likely to measures, the reality is otherwise, as these indices essentially rely on "simple be shown fewer apartments, be quoted higher rents, or offered worse condi- numerical and percentage comparisons of the numbers and proportions of tions, and be steered to specific neighborhoods. Using a similar procedure in a persons in each race/ethnicity group in a population: 2~ Schol~rs have pointed 2012 audit of housing racial practices in twenty-three U.S. metropolitan areas, to the problem of unmeasured segregation because of the scale of census Turner and colleagues report that although there was improvement since the tracts. More fundamentally, however, I suggest that «racial contacts" do not 1989 audit, whites continued to be given more information about potential mean substantive integration, since there are significant forms of racism rentals and were shown more available housing units in both the rental and compatible with "physical closeness." Indeed, studies show that the apparent sales markets. The study also showed a significant increase in geographic "integration" is mostly a result of the restructuring of urban space, including steering that perpetuated segregation, predominantly through real estate more black people moving to the suburbs and increasing gentrification.'" ln agent editorializing.·" turn, gentrification comes with its own set of problems, including decreased In one study of lending practices done by the Kentucky Human Rights black participation and black displacement, at least partially through the de- Commission, black and white testers with equal characteristics requested con- struction of public housing. 1' ventional mortgages for the same housing from ten of the top lending institu- The costs to blacks of residential segregation are high; they are likely to pay tions in Louisville, and while there were cases in which discrimination was more for housing in a limited market, likely to have lower-quality housing, apparent (blacks having trouble getting appointments, etc.), in the eighty-five less likely to own their housing, likely to live in areas where employment is visits made to inquire about loans, none of the black testers (with one excep- difficult to find, and likely to have to contend with prematurely depreciated tion) knew they were being discriminated against, though all of them were. housing. 32 Segregation makes it unlikely that poor blacks will be able to escape Blacks were given less information, less encouragement to return and apply poverty. For instance, 72 percent of black Americans born into the lowest for the loan, fewer helpful hints as to how to successfully obtain a loan, and economic quartile of neighborhoods reside in poor areas as adults, compared differential treatment in prequalifying-sometimes being told they would not with only 40 percent of whites.n Furthermore, race is also the most salient qualify when whites of the same profile were told they would. Similar stud- predictor of intergenerational downward residential mobility, with "the odds ies done in Chicago and New York revealed discrimination in seven out of of downward mobility 3.6 times as large as the odds for whites: :,.,The big ten lending institutions in Chicago and in the one institution studied in New difference is in how segregation is accomplished today. In the Jim Crow era, York City.38 National data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act show that the housing industry used overtly discriminatory practices such as real estate black applicants are denied mortgages at least twice as frequently as whites  26 Chapter 2 The New Racism 27 of the same income and gender. Finally, a study by the Federal Reserve Bank during the decade of the 1990s, U.S. schools were more segregated in the of Boston found that after controlling for a number of variables, blacks on 2000-2001 school year than in 1970. The relevance of this fact is that, as Gary average are denied loans 60 percent more times than whites.3~ In an overview Orfield has noted, "Segregated schools are still profoundly unequal:' Inner- of mortgage loan practices during the 1990s, Turner and Skidmore report city minority schools, in sharp contrast to white suburban schools, lack decent that blacks received less information from loan officers, were quoted higher buildings, are overcrowded, have outdated equipment-if they have equip- interest rates, and suffered higher loan denial rates. Much of the gain in home ment at all-do not have enough textbooks for their students, lack library re- ownership among African Americans in the l 990s was achieved through sources, are technologically behind, and pay their teaching and administrative subprime lenders who offer usurious rates, due in large part to the continued staff less, which produces, despite exceptions, a low level of morale. According practice of redlining of black neighborhoods by mainstream lenders. It is to Jonathan Kozol, these "savage inequalities» have been directly related to these same subprime mortgages that have caused the recent mortgage crisis lower reading achievement and learning attained by black students and their to impact minorities more severely than whites}" limited computer skills.'3 The racial practices of banks did not proceed in color-blind fashion as In integrated schools, blacks still have to contend with discriminatory prac- black neighborhoods were actively targeted for higher-interest loans. For tices. Oakes and her coauthors have found dear evidence of discriminatory instance, Wells Fargo settled a lawsuit with the NAACP for $175 million. practices in tracking within schools. Whites (and Asians) are considerably The suit alleged that customers were steered toward higher-interest subprime (and statistically significantly) more likely to be placed in the academic track loans-called "ghetto loans" for "mud people" within the organization. Al- than comparably achieving African American and Latino students..., Another though Wells Fargo has been a high-profile fall guy for this racist practice, the study found that of the 1985students who took the SAT,65.1 percent ofblacks evidence suggests that banks routinely engage in discriminatory lending. Fur- compared to 81.2 percent of whites were enrolled in an academic track. No ther, this lending is not based upon blacks having worse economic profiles, as wonder black students tend to score lower on the SAT than white students. higher-income blacks were more likely to be steered toward subprime loans.41 According to Amanda E. Lewis and John B. Diamond, disproportionate place- ment in lower academic tracks means that black students receive a less rigor- Education ous curriculum, less experienced teachers, and miss the benefits of a weighted grading scale. Moreover, black students are punished more often and more The history of black-white education in this country is one of substantive severely, a statistic that has been corroborated by numerous other studies.-1s inequities maintained through public institutions. Whlle today many of the traditional barriers to black advancement have been outlawed► the situation is by no means one of equity. Although scholars have documented the narrow- Other Areas of Social Life ing of the gap in the quantity of education attained by blacks ~nd whites, little A brief survey of research in other areas of social life reveals persistent has been said about the persisting gap in the quality of education received.◄ 2 discrimination, unequal treatment, and, in some cases, exclusion. This is one Still remaining (and in some cases worsening) high levels of de facto segrega- of the few areas where whites still openly express reservations in surveys.46 tion are at least partly to blame for the gap in quality. However, tracking, dif- In 1993, only 0.4 percent of all new marriages were black-white unions. 47 ferential assignment to special education, and other informal school practices Furthermore, a 2010 report from the PRC reveals that 15.l percent of all new are important factors too. marriages in the United States were between spouses of a different race or eth- Despite some progress during the period immediately after 1964, the level nicity.46 Not only are over 90 percent of whites marrying other whites, but also of school segregation for black students remains relatively high in all regions additional research shows that intermarriage rates among Latinos and Asians and has deteriorated in the Northeast and Midwest regions. According to a has actually decreased since I 980:'9 In addition to whites' negative attitudes report by The Civil Rights Project in 2011, the average black student attended toward interracial relationships, the high level of residential segregation and a school that was about 50 percent black and about 28 percent white. Con- the limited friendships between blacks and whites contribute to this low rate of versely, the average white student attended a school that was over 70 percent intermarriage. Research by Jackman and Crane showed that only 9.4 percent white and about 8 percent black. Moreover, they report a trend beginning in of whites could name one good black friend. This led them to conclude that 1986 toward resegregation of U.S. schools. As a consequence of resegregation very few whites "could rightly claim that 'some of their best friends' are black.''50  211 Chapter 2 The New Racism 29 In the realm of everyday life, several recent works have attempted to exam- to avoid proximity to whites. Actually, Graham reports that they were treated ine the daily experiences blacks have with racism. Through interviews with reasonably well in only two of the ten restaurants, one Russian and the other black professional men, Adia Harvey Wingfield describes the daily mistreat- French. The suits recently filed against Denny's, Shoney's, and the Interna- ment of middle-class black men at work. Her respondents report a pernicious tional House of Pancakes seem to suggest that restaurants' racial practices tokenism that results in undue scrutiny and disapproval.>' Duke psychiatrist discriminate against blacks of all class backgrounds. ' 6 Damon Tweedy builds on these ideas in his memoir, describing an incident More recently, a body of work on racial "microaggressions" chronicles as an undergraduate when he was mistaken for the handyman upon entering how minorities can be subtly put down in many cross-race interactions. a classroom. These incidents continued as he progressed professionally, with These may be a prototypical example of the way the new racism operates, some patients openly expressing their dislike of black docto'rsY (In an older as microaggressions can be crimes of omission (i.e., an environment only study, Ellis Cose also finds similar phenomena among middle-class black displays symbols such as photos or reading material relevant to the domi- people who have supposedly ~made it.")53 Feagin and McKinney point out that nant white culture) or of commission, as when one implies that a minority the chronic stress and "justified rage" resulting from these mistreatments cost is unqualified for a job or admission to school and is only present because African Americans psychologically, create loss of personal energy, and affect of affirmative action. Importantly, the content of these messages is almost their physical health.54 always devoid of overt racial appeals, allowing the perpetrator to maintain Joe R. Feagin and Melvin P. Sikes also document the dense network of that they are neutral. This makes it very difficult for people of color to re- discriminatory practices confronted by middle-class blacks in everyday life. spond to this type of aggression. These microaggressions can have a serious Although they correctly point out that blacks face discriminatory practices effect on the lives of people of color, as this kind of hostility has been tied to that range from overt and violent to covert and gentle, the tatter seem to be a number of negative health outcomes.57 prevalent. In public spaces the discriminatory behavior described by black in- terviewees included poor service, special requirements applied only to them, surveillance in stores, being ignored at retail stores selling expensive com- The Political Structure of the New Racial Order modities, receiving the worst accommodations in restaurants or hotels, being confused constantly with menial workers, along with the usual but seemingly Almost all commentators on black politics recognize that blacks became less frequent epithets and overtly racist behavior. serious participants in "legitimate" politics very recently.~ But since 1965, as In 1981 Howard Schuman and his coauthors replicated a 1950 study of blacks were able to register and vote, their representation in local and national restaurants in New York's Upper East Side and found a substantial amount political structures has increased dramatically. The data on this point are of subtle discrimination remained. Black patrons were refused use of the fairly dear. Whereas in 1970 there were only 1,460 black elected officials at coatroom, seated in either isolated or undesirable places like near the kitchen, all levels of the U.S. political system, by 1989 the total had increased to 7,226, orders were reversed, and service workers were flustered. A recent review and in the early 1990s their number reached 8,000, and stands at over 10,000 of the literature on discrimination in the service industry shows that these today.ssMoreover, by 1990 "blacks held elective positions in every state except practices continue. People of color are referred to using code words such as Idaho, Montana, and North Dakota: wln Congress there has been an increase "Canadian;' "cousins;' "moolies;' "black tops:' and even "white people" to in the number of African American elected officials from ten, or 1.9 percent signal among servers that they are undesirable patrons. The problem doesn't of the members of Congress in 1970, to twenty-six, or 5.8 percent of the total end at nasty names, however, with servers unwilling to serve black patrons, in 1991, to forty-nine in 2016. However, the Senate has a total of ten people extended waiting periods when tables are open, and instructions from manag- of color, leaving the Senate an overwhelmingly white body.61 Nevertheless, ers to treat blacks poorly.SSlmportantly, much of the evidenc~ of this type of several are anti-minority minorities such as Florida's Marco Rubio, South behavior comes from reports from waiters, and people of color subjected to Carolina's Tim Scott, and Texas's Ted Cruz. As is the case with conservatives these racial practices are left to wonder if this behavior is indeed race~based. such as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, these politicians are out of Lawrence Otis Graham reports in his book Member of the Club that in ten touch with the views, goals, and aspirations of most people of color. of New York'sbest restaurants he and his friends visited, they were stared at, Overall, the changes in this area give the impression of substantial progress mistaken for restaurant workers, seated in terrible spots, and buffered so as and the beginning of a truly pluralist America.62 The new political space that  30 Chapter 2 The New Racism 31 blacks have gained has without question provided them with some benefits. voter fraud was not a problem, but they hoped that their implementation would Today blacks have some direct-although small-influence in policies, have suppress black turnout, giving the election to Romney.6' sensitized white politicians about the needs of blacks not only through their policy suggestions but also simply by their presence, and have established a Underrepresentation among Elected and Appointed Officials direct link between government and citizenship. ln terms of the cities where blacks have been elected as mayors, some commentators have pointed out The best proof that there are still structural barriers to the election of that "African American-owned businesses expand, the rate.of small business blacks is the fact that despite their burgeoning rate of voter registration and failure declines, and there are significant increases in both the number and participation since 1965, black elected officials are only about 8.5 percent of proportions of African Americans employed in city government.»63 But de- state legislatures and about 3 percent oflocal elected officials.""Even more sig- spite these accomplishments, blacks remain a subordinate group in the politi- nificant, blacks are substantially underrepresented even in places where they cal system. What follows is a discussion of the current limitations that blacks comprise 30 percent or more of the entire population. 69 The majority of cities face in the political system. with a population of fifty thousand or greater with black mayors in 2004 had more than a 40 percent black population.' 0 New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Dallas, which had black mayors in the 1990s, no longer do. Black appoin Structural Barriers to the Election of Black Politicians tees tend to be concentrated in the civil rights and social welfare bureaucracies Racial gerrymandering, multimember legislative districts, election runoffs, and, in many of the remaining cases, are "sanitized" blacks like Justice Thomas annexation of predominantly white areas, at-large district el~ctions, and anti- or General Colin Powell. single-shot devices (disallowing concentrating votes in one or two candidates in Why are blacks so underrepresented? Because of the historical tendency cities using at-large elections) have become standard practices to disenfranchise of whites of only voting for or appointing white candidates. Thus, the elec- blacks since l 965. All of these tactics attempt to either minimize the number of tion and appointment of blacks seem to be circumscribed to locales in which majority-black election districts or neutralize their electoral impact by diluting blacks constitute a substantial segment of the population (40 percent or more) the black vote.64 Except for gerrymandering (drawing districts so that minor- or to black candidates who "mainstream" or show "moderation."71 ity coalitions waste their votes), the mechanisms have the facade of expanding Although many whites would argue that this trend has ended with Presi- democracy and being race-neutral. For instance, at-large districts were initially dent Obama, the evidence suggests that Obama's ascendency to the presi- developed to weaken political machines by diluting the ethnic vote, but in dency is in line with the historical trajectory of black politicians. See chapter recent times have become a way of diluting the black vote in'cities. 05 All these 10 for an extended discussion of the Obama phenomenon. procedures are effective because black representation is still dependent upon the existence of black districts. In the 2000 elections, unfair voting practices The Limited Possibilities of Elected and Appointed Officials that turned away many black voters were reported in over a dozen U.S. states, and similar voting irregularities in the 2004 elections disenfranchised voters in What is the overall impact of black elected officials and appointees for predominantly black communities. Similarly, in the 2012 elections right-wing the black community at large? In Congress, because of their relatively small groups attacked the voting rights of blacks through voter ID laws in a number numbers, blacks have a very limited role in creating policy. At best, they can of states. Since 2003, thirty-four states have implemented voter lD laws66 that shape aspects oflegislation to soften the impact on poor minority communi- are similar to the poll taxes and literacy requirements under Jim Crow. Though ties and, so far, they have been able to curtail anti-civil rights legislation. The appeals courts have begun to strike down some of these laws, at the time of record of black appointees, who have been historically few, suggests that they writing we are unsure of their ultimate fate in the Supreme Court. Nonetheless, tend to have an even more limited role in shaping policy. In addition, there is proponents of these laws claim they are race-neutral, but research from the Uni- a disturbing trend of appointing antiblack blacks (a trend begun by President versity of Delaware showed that racial animus was the best predictor of support Carter), which fits well into our new racism argument. 72 By appointing con- for the law, regardless of political party. Some of the legislatures, such as those in servative blacks to certain positions, the political system is symbolicallyinte- Florida and Pennsylvania, implemented these laws despite openly claiming that grated while maintaining policies and politics that keep blacks "in their place:· 32 Chapter 2 The New Racism 33 The Limited Impact of Elected Black Mayors mendous degree of ambivalence in its commitment to blacks as evidenced in the racialized discourse of many leaders on welfare, crime, government Elected black mayors are in a political quandary because of the decline of spending, and affirmative action; and the third-party option, advocated political machines. This decline reduces significantly the "power" of the may- by many progressives, is still a far-fetched idea with a very limited impact oral position since political machines allowed mayors in the past to dispense among black urban voters. The way out of this impasse seems to be th rough resources to their constituencies. Given that these political, machines have a return to mass protest but it is precisely that type of political activity that been replaced by nonpartisan bureaucratic political structures, the likeli- is incompatible with electoral politics. Hence what blacks need is what elec- hood of a black mayor being able to use his or her position for distributing toral participation limits. resources has been seriously eroded. 7i Moreover, the fmancial crisis of cities Obama's election is the best example of this type of entrapment; for more limits drastically the projects that mayors can carry out, as well as their overall info see chapter 10. independence from the dominant. Furthermore, since cities are controlled by the interests of white business elites, elected black mayors are increasingly captive to pro-growth policies based on making cities conducive to business "Keeping Them in Their Place": investments. These policies usually imply neglecting the most pressing needs The Social Control of Blacks since the I 960s of racial minorities and the poor. 7~ Moreover, despite the progressive impact that many have noted in the black community (appointment of blacks to vari- All domination is ultimately maintained through social-control strategies. For ous city positions, increase in the rate of black municipal employees, higher example, during slavery, whites used the whip, overseers, night patrols, and responsiveness to the needs of the poor, etc.), most of the benefits have not other highly repressive practices, along with a number of paternalistic ones, to accrued to the black masses. More importantly, the election of black mayors, keep blacks in their place. After slavery was abolished, whites felt threatened unlike those from white ethnic groups in the past, has not led to the institu- by free blacks; hence, very strict written and unwritten rules of racial contact tionalization of "black control in the realms of public and private decision (the Jim Crow laws) were developed to specify "the place" of blacks in the new making:' 15 Thus black mayors become "political managers" of cities in which environment of "freedom." And, as insurance, lynching and other terroristic the present economic, social, and political arrangements still benefit whites at forms of social control were used to guarantee white supremacy. In contrast, large, and the elite in particular. as t~e Jim Crow practices have subsided, the control of blacks has been chiefly attamed through state agencies (police, criminal court system, FBI). Marable Electoral Participation as Entrapment describes the new system of control as follows: The subordinate incorporation of blacks into electoral politics has reduced The i_nformal,vigilante-inspiredtechniques to suppress Blackswere no longer their options to effect meaningful social change. Historically, blacks have ad- practical. Therefore, beginning with the Great Depression,and especiallyafter vanced in this country through overt protest politics. 76 Hence, the extension of 1945, white racists began to rely almost exclusivelyon the state apparatus to universal suffrage to blacks has been a double-edged sword. On the one hand, carry out the battle for white supremacy.Blackscharged with crimes would re- it is one of the most enduring victories of the civil rights movement, but on the ceivelonger sentencesthan whites convictedof similar crimes. The police forces other hand, it is progressively becoming an obstacle for further black progress. of municipaland metropolitan areas receiveda carteb/anchein their dailyacts of Because the number of blacks in significant decision-making, bodies (House, brutality against Blacks.The Federal and state government carefullymonitored Senate, etc.) is minuscule, because whites still vote largely for white candi- ~lacks who advocated any kind of social change. Most important, capital pun- dates, and because blacks do not have enough economic and social resources ishment was used as a weapon against Blackscharged and convicted of major to utilize formal political rights as effectively as whites, electoral politics are crimes. The cnminal justice system, in short, became a modern instrument to restricting the political options of blacks in the United States. perpetuate white hegemony.Extra-legallynchingswere replacedby "legallynch- ings" and capital punishment.n An example of how electoral politics restrict the options of blacks is the current political impasse experienced by blacks. They cannot vote Republi- In the following sections of this chapter, I review the available data to see how can since that party has become increasingly a pro-white party; they cannot well they fit Marable's interpretation of the contemporary system of control. fully trust the Democratic Party since it has shown in recent times a tre- 34 Chapter 2 The New Racism 35 The State as Enforcer of Racial Order TABLE2.2 Percentageof U.S. Residentsand Men in The United States has the highest per capita incarcerated population in the Prison or Jail, by Age, Race, and Education, 1980, 2000 79 world.7"The incarceration rate has risen 600 percent in the past thirty years, All U.S. Residenis,Men Aged /8-65 1980 2000 and race influences nearly every aspect of incarceration, including arrest rates, All U.S. Residents 0.2% 0.7% conviction rates, the probability of post-incarceration employment, educational Men Aged 18-fiS opportunities, and marriage outcomes. One in three black males born today can All 0.7 2.1 expect to spend some portion of his life behind bars, and Latinos have seen a 43 White 0.4 1.0 percent rise in their incarceration rates since 1990.1\0 Data on arrest rates show Hispanic 1.6 3.3 that the contrast between black and white arrest rates since 1950 has been strik- Black 3.0 7.9 ing. The black arrest rate increased throughout this period, reaching almost one Men Aged 20-40 hundred per one thousand by 1978 compared to thirty-five per one thousand White 0.6 1.6 for whites."' The 1989 data suggest that the arrest rate for blacks has stabilized Hispanic 2.1 4.6 at around eighty to ninety per one thousand. 82 The implications for the black Black 4.8 11.5 community are astounding. Eight to nine percent of all blacks are arrested every Non-College Men Aged 20-40 year. This means that a substantial number of black families experience the White 0.9 3.2 "services" of the criminal justice system every year, directly (arrested or incar- Hisp.inic 2.6 5.5 Black 6.0 17.0 cerated) as well as indirectly (visit to jails, stops by police, etc.). In terms of how many blacks are incarcerated, we find a pattern similar to High-School-Dropout Men Aged 20-40 White 2.1 6.7 their arrest rates. Although blacks have always been overrepresented in the Hispanic 3.2 6.0 inmate population, as can be seen in table 2.2, this overrepresentation has Black 10.7 32.4 skyrocketed since 1960. By 1980, the incarceration rate of blacks was six times SourcP: Bruce W