Telling someone they sound racist is never an easy thing to accomplish. Jay Smooth (aka John Randolph) a video blogger who runs the site Ill Doctrine addressed this issue in his notable video blog “How to Tell People they Sound Racist” in 2008. The blog poses strategies for telling someone they sound racist and explaining the difference between the “what they did conversation” and the “what they are conversation.”
View the Video Blog here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Ti-gkJiXc
I fully agree with Jay Smooth’s argument and strategy. There is a huge difference between being accused of saying something racist and saying someone IS a racist. It is more advantageous to stay away from the latter when addressing the issue so the conversation does not “derail.” Many people feel that being called a racist has become more taboo than actually being one. Therefore, by focusing on the comment instead of the individual this derailing can be avoided. But no matter how you word it, talking about racism is an extremely touchy subject. Although many people do not take the time to realize it, words are very powerful tools that can be used in both good and bad ways. By addressing the racist issue or comment it is difficult to state your argument in such a way that the person does not feel like they are being attacked – attacking would not get you anywhere.
Jay Smooth tells his audience a good way to deal with racism and racist remarks in a civil way but that is just the beginning. Racist individuals can appear nice with their speech but can be extremely racist in their thoughts. It is people’s beliefs that need to change, on a deeper level. Therefore, it is necessary, in my opinion, to correct and point out incidents of racism EVERY time they occur.
What I have used in addressing a racist comment is by asking “why do you think that” or “how do you know that.” It is interesting what people respond with. In my experience, many respond with “I don’t know” or “why does it matter” which makes me question whether they believe what they are saying or if they were raised thinking that way. The issue is whether the alleged racist cares whether or not you think what they did is in fact racist or not. Although the video is very informative, the tactics would not, in my opinion, get through to those individuals. In my own experience, people who make racist comments often have parents and grandparents who make racist comments as well. If this is the case then you may have difficulty changing someone’s opinion of different races in one conversation if they have heard so many racist comments and opinions from their own family members. Even specific phrases and words that people use can appear as racist even if the individual is not aware of their meaning. For example, the words “Jewed” or “Gypt” are very common and many people do not know the origin of the words and their implied meanings.
I am from a very small white dominant town with what seems like a church on every corner. We had one black family and one Chinese family and that is about it for diversity in the town. Although my immediate family and circle of friends was very open minded, I had relatives and lots of school mates who did not take kindly to black individuals. Before I moved to that town I lived in an even smaller town and my best friend was black (surprise! he was from the only black family in town). Even though I was aware of racism, I had not experienced it first hand until I saw how some of my “friends” (12 at the time) acted towards him when he came to visit me after I had moved.
Racism is an ongoing problem like homophobia which should not be taken lightly. Jay Smooth’s strategy is not a cure for all racism but is a good way of keeping it a bay on an individual level so the person can (if he/she is willing) rethink his/her opinions – there is nothing wrong with a step in the right direction right? Tell that to the companies who make these t-shirts, we need to take steps forward to stop racism instead of taking steps back.
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