I'm not a racist, but-- ; the moral quandary of race / Lawrence Blum.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Blum, Lawrence A.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Racism--Moral and ethical aspects.

Racism.

Race discrimination.

Social ethics.

Physical Description:

x, 259 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, : Cornell University Press, 2002.

Summary:

"Not all racial incidents are racist incidents," Lawrence Blum says. "We need a more varied and nuanced moral vocabulary for talking about the arena of race. We should not be faced with a choice of 'racism' or nothing." Use of the word "racism" is pervasive: An article about the NAACP's criticism of television networks for casting too few "minority" actors in lead roles asks, "Is television a racist institution?" A white girl in Virginia says it is racist for her African-American teacher to wear African attire.

Blum argues that a growing tendency to castigate as "racism" everything that goes wrong in the racial domain reduces the term's power to evoke moral outrage. In "I'm Not a Racist, But...," Blum develops a historically grounded account of "racism" as the deeply morally charged notion it has become. He addresses the question whether people of color can be racist, defines types of racism, and identifies debased and inappropriate usages of the term. Though racial insensitivity, racial anxiety, racial ignorance, and racial injustice are, in his view, not "racism," they are racial ills that should elicit moral concern.

Blum argues that "race" itself is a morally destructive idea, implying moral distance and unequal worth. History and genetic science reveal both the avoidability and the falsity of the idea of race. Blum argues that we can give up the idea of race but must recognize that racial groups' historical and social experience has been shaped by having been treated as if they were races.

Contents:

1. "Racism": Its Core Meaning 1

2. Can Blacks Be Racist? 33

3. Varieties of Racial Ills 53

4. Racial Discrimination and Color Blindness 78

5. "Race": What We Mean and What We Think We Mean 98

6. "Race": A Brief History, with Moral Implications 109

7. Do Races Exist? 131

8. Racialized Groups and Social Constructions 147

9. Should We Try to Give Up Race? 164.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-245) and index.

ISBN:

0801438691

OCLC:

47243929