Today I am Black too, or Why Racism is Unsustainable

I was deeply saddened this week by the murders of nine Black people at prayer by a racist, white supremacist. Perhaps a poor admission, but I was not surprised by the murders. There has been too much violence against my Black brothers and sisters to be surprised by another act of violence. Nor do I consider the event "unspeakable" or "unthinkable," for in truth racism is a reality and we must speak about it and think about it. I read much media commentary from the mainstream to the blogs. Some were deeply moving. Some insightful. However, I was not impressed by those who wanted to make this about gun control, or by those who made much of an attack on Christianity, or by those who rushed too quickly to pronounce the killer mentally ill, and therefore beyond responsibility. Those analyses diverted attention from the painful issue we would rather not face. Racism is alive and well, and can have terrible consequences.
However, racism is unsustainable, and I am ultimately optimistic. Here's why.
The house that is racism has a top beam to its frame too heavy for its supporting pillars. The ideological pillars that support racism are: first, that race has some essential basis in biology or genetics, and second, that having made the distinction between races, some are superior to others, and that one "White" is superior to all. These pillars are too weak to support the top beam of racism, and racism must inevitably collapse—just as the sexist ideology that males are naturally superior to females is collapsing, and the ideology that straight is superior to gay is rapidly disintegrating.
For the best part of a couple of centuries, in western culture we have bought the lie that race is based in biology and is an essential basis for dividing humanity into different races. I am persuaded by political philosopher  Charles Mills careful work in demonstrating that race, as it has been understand, is a product of the modern period. The ideology of racism was constructed as a way of justifying the dominance of White western nations in their bid for world dominance. Race was established for social and economic reasons. If you can find good reasons why people of other places are inferior to you, then why not take their land, their resources, kill them if necessary, or else enslave them to do your work? A convenient categorization was the color of skin, and many of the West's most notable thinkers (such as German philosopher Immanuel Kant) engaged in the construction of an ideology that allowed the domination of some by others. Race is a construction of the way physical characteristics are given social meaning. (Mills' argument is more profound and complex than this brief account. I give a link below to his book for those who are interested.)
Science has exposed the lie of this ideology. Race has no scientific basis. There are no genetic racial differences. Differences occur as a response to environment. Race is, therefore, biologically meaningless.
It is tempting, then, to say that, therefore, we can now dispense with talk about race. The trouble is, that while race is not a meaningful way to characterize human beings, culturally mistaken views of race and racism are still very powerful. Race is a myth. But myths may be thought of in tow ways: first,  as something that is untrue and has no basis in reality, and second, as a way of telling a story that gives sense to life. Race is a myth is both ways. Scientifically it is untrue and has no basis in reality. But the way race has been constructed and the stories told about race make for powerful story-telling. "You rape our women" and "You're stealing our country" are powerful invocations of a strong and enduring cultural myth.
Last week Rachel Dolezal, academic and activist, was "outed" for being "White" when she had for a decade identified as "Black." For a decade she had been teaching African-American Studies, and actively working against prejudice and discrimination. She is said to have "lived a lie." Photos show her as a young girl, fair skinned with freckles. Yet, for the last decade Dolezal presented to the world as Black. The media commentary has been indignant. How can a White woman, "pretend" to be Black! Did I detect an unspoken astonishment, "Why would White person want to be Black?", together with an unspoken assumption "White is better!" The media commentary seems to be infused with the old myth of the essentiality of race, that race is biologically determined. If race is a social construction—more about culture, understandings, identity than genetics—then for Dolezal, why not be Black? Perhaps race is, after all, as plastic as gender. Today, in solidarity I am Black too. Today I resist White supremacy.
Racism is one element in what feminist theologian Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza called kyriarchy, from the Greek word kyrios—lord. We humans have developed many ways of dividing and lording it over each other. In simple terms, kyriarchy is about "us and them" and "us" dominates. Kyriarchy pervades our culture. Part of the way forward is to recognize the kyriarchal structures and to resist them. To become allies with "them" if you are among the "us."
I have found Ancient Chinese ideas helpful in thinking this through, and this gives me hope for the end of racism. In ancient Chinese understanding, all that is comes from wuji, a single unity, the one, a primeval emptiness. In time taiji is the differentiation of everything into yin and yang—0 and 1 for the computer techies—complementary opposites. These are the fundamental binaries that we live with day to day: day/night, hot/cold, light/shade, male/female, up/down, black/white, in/out, soft/hard, tall/short, gay/straight, weak/strong. Nothing is exclusively one or the other. Each contains the other. Each is in constant movement toward the other. Neither of the pair is more important than the other;  neither superior or inferior. The secret of life in taiji is to recognize and enjoy the fluidity of difference, for such is the richness of life. Taiji is fundamentally and deeply pluralistic.
Ultimately, racism, based on its faulty pillars of genetics and superiority is unsustainable. Events, such as that we saw this week, will doubtless continue. In the long term, in solidarity, with good will, education, generosity and love we can leave racism behind.
+Ab. Andy

On race and genetics, try this from the Guardian: Why Racism is Not backed by Science, Adam Rutherford. And Charles Mills' excellent and provocative book.