I certainly appreciated that treatment of the topic, which inspired me to a certain extent.
It appears that efforts to equate "whiteness" (an immutable characteristic of individuals) to "racist" (a mutable characteristic) are intended to shame individuals who disagree with a particular social agenda of the groups and individuals making the equation.
In terms of TOK, specifically the Influence Matrix, people generating this narrative are seeking submission of those (dare I say) "whites" who dare disagree with the social designs by using this narrative to generate shame (on the 11th floor) and submission (on the 11th floor and on the 12th floor) to dominate the 12th floor social organizational schema.
There is a suggestion in the writing to which I am responsive that this is somehow "incidental" or "accidental" that the words "racist" and "racism" should be "coincidentally" having two different meanings.  I would argue that this is a product of guile, and intentional action to achieve social domination, and subjugation of a targeted population.  This would be a confession of my personal bias, of course, which trends strongly towards "autonomy" in the Influence Matrix.
I will justify my interpretation a bit, for the benefit of those who are utterly appalled by my position on this:
The entirety of the discussion about these terms is intended to influence the social structures, indeed, that is what words themselves are for.  It is the redefinition of those words to adjust the targeting of the instruments of social oppression that can be the only intention for uttering them.  This is how "social transformation" (is intended to take) place by these individuals (who utter such phrases).  This can only be an intentional act.
I thank you for the generosity of spirit for having read that.
Bradley




Bradley H. Werrell, D.O. - This email is private and copyrighted by the author. 

    On Friday, October 23, 2020, 05:43:57 AM MST, Brad Kershner <[log in to unmask]> wrote:  
 
 CAUTION:This email originated from outside of JMU. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.Thank you Gregg and Greg! I am steeped in racism/anti-racism discourse in K-12 education, and I will be on the Growing Down Podcast soon to discuss postmodern and post-postmodern/integral anti-racism, and this is exactly the kind of analysis that needs to be shared more widely! Super clear and helpful - thank you! 
On Fri, Oct 23, 2020 at 8:24 AM Henriques, Gregg - henriqgx <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


Hi TOK List,

 

  I wanted to share this excellent correspondence between Greg Thomas and Vince Fakhoury Horn on the question of whether all white people are racist?:

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__letter.wiki_conversation_964&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=EgM_3Uice8T1i5RHyFWAhmSlgvcQNtlsryCPrqTwC8Y&s=LrcSkvMmpJwvyK5zN7HLNGTALC39zNYtxirBsLQJGBs&e= .

 

My view on this topic is strongly aligned with Greg’s. I will offer a few thoughts and encourage folks to check it out. First, to build off the exchange that Joe started yesterday, I think it is essential to differentiate analyses that take place at the social aggregate level (12th floor) from the individual human person level (11th floor). This is particularly the case with the concept of racism, because it has (at least!)two fundamentally different meanings. One meaning is at the 11th floor level. That is, when someone either explicitly endorses the belief that race is real and that some races are inherently better than others. There are also implicit biases and prejudices whereby a person operates to favor one race over another, even as he may proclaim that he is not racist. These are individual or small group level analyses. Then there is the social aggregate level, which is the structure of society and social forces. We can clearly see that the US was founded as a racist society in that slavery was initially built into the fabric of the social arrangement. It is also the case that the founding fathers were brilliant, flawed men who were dependent on racism and by and large they recognized it--at least in its brutal form--to be inherently unjust. Greg brilliantly speaks to these issues when he asks us to reflect on which side of the founding of our country do we choose to align.

 

With this frame, we can now come back to the fact that the dynamics of racism are very different at the 11th floor of human person individual versus 12th floor of social structure. Think of it this way. The US was founded largely by Christians. Indeed, the founding documents highlight the Creator and to this day we have theattorney general stating that our rights (and thus American identity) derive from God. Now consider the fact that my family lineage can trace its presence in the United States back to the Revolutionary War (my Dad, a professional historian, did a family history). Given these social aggregate facts, now consider the claim: I am Christian. Now there are some ways in which it this has echoes of the truth. It is not accidental that I soaked my theory in images of the Tree of Knowledge and Garden and talk about redemption in the 21st Century. This frames my intuitive sense making far more than the plethora of Hindu gods. This is because some of the deep grammar of my sense making has been shaped by the Judeo-Christian culture that I grew up in. But does that mean that I AM a Christian in meaningful sense of the word? Of course not! I have never believed in a Christian God or that Christ is my savior who died for our sins and was then resurrected. I have never entered a church as a believer and I have never enacted any of the practices and rituals that would identify me as such. I think you would be hard pressed to find a serious Christian who would think of me as such.

 

Let’s apply this frame to race. I was taught very early by my socially liberal, educated parents that racism was evil. I then learned in undergraduate back in the late 1980s how to unpack myinvisible knapsack (I think I read it the year it came out or the following year). It was by getting exposure to those ideas that I could see, indeed, that the structure of racism was part of my background. The echoes were clearly there and to become aware of them was powerful and enlightening (as well as guilt inducing). I had a similar set of insights pertaining to feminism. Such are the awakenings that happen when one has, as I did, an excellent mentor in social forces (Joe M was my favorite professor in undergrad)! Notice here that I grew and changed. This is, of course, something that 12th floor analyses, with their macro/aggregate view, generally fail to see. The aggregate concept “white people” fails to see both individual differences (I am quite different than the white neighbor down the street who sometimes puts out his confederate flag and plasters Trump signs on everything he owns) and differences in individuals across time (I had more implicit biases and prejudices in high school than I do now). These are analysis for the 11th floor (i.e., human psychology; many define personality as the science of individual differences).

 

Let me conclude this by saying my heart has long sided with the better angels of the Founding Fathers. As a citizen of the US, I am tainted by racism and it lurks in the shadows of implicit frames that, even to this day, I might be blind to. But to say I am racist is, IMO, misguided at many levels. Most obviously, it confuses the two primary meanings of the word and appropriate application. That is, it twists the meaning at the 12th floor level and then applies it to me (11th floor). The flaw can be seen in the claim I am Christian, which I think everyone would agree is largely nonsense. The bottom line is that we should not confuse the 12th floor context of our socialization with the 11th floor analysis of our individual souls.

 

Thank you, Greg, for your deep, rich, and nuanced views of this crucial issue.

 

Best,

Gregg

 

___________________________________________

Gregg Henriques, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Graduate Psychology
216 Johnston Hall
MSC 7401
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
(540) 568-7857 (phone)
(540) 568-4747 (fax)


Be that which enhances dignity and well-being with integrity.

Check out the Unified Theory Of Knowledge homepage at:

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.unifiedtheoryofknowledge.org_&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=EgM_3Uice8T1i5RHyFWAhmSlgvcQNtlsryCPrqTwC8Y&s=j3_FJ2chqCjk_Mk7H5NzIn5NwQLBWk-Knz20gpy8tZY&e= 

 
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