Systemic Racism or Systemic Lack of Self-efficacy?

Science says it’s “B”

Imagine a softball coach talking to his team before the championship game. “Ok, team. I know this league has treated us badly in the past, and, likely, we won’t get fair refs for this game. I have no idea how we have gotten this far in the playoffs. However, even though we are likely to lose regardless of what you do, I want you to play hard and try to make a good showing.

Even if what the coach is saying about the league were true, I imagine this wholesale destruction of player morale would destroy any chance they may have had to rise above their difficulties and win. Do they need to fix any actual league unfairness? Of course, they do. But just as importantly, they need a new coach that inspires them to excel rather than discourages them with feelings of helplessness and dependency that their fate is solely in the hands of corrupt league officials.

I just finished my Doctorate a few months ago with a dissertation examining the power of student media to increase college student self-efficacy. In my research, I found that multiple studies over decades have shown that self-efficacy, or the feeling that one’s actions can make a difference, is a crucial component to success in almost any endeavor.

Considering this research got me thinking about systemic racism and, if it exists, what its causes are. Statistics clearly show disparities between some black communities’ success and other non-minority groups. Without establishing a scientifically based cause and effect, community activists feel free to label it racism. When questioned about the lack of measurable instances of provable racism – no problem – they blame it on systemic racism, which is invisible and unmeasurable.

Too often, anti-racists do not even identify the problem correctly. The disparities are not between blacks and whites but between poor communities and affluent ones. There are plenty of Americans of African descent that are doing just fine socially and financially. And there are plenty of non-black communities, including poor white communities that are depressed and crime-ridden.

Perhaps being fed a constant stream of hogwash about an invisible enemy destroying Americans of African descent, despite their best efforts, does not hold water. Even worse, perhaps those speeches and vacant assumptions rob minority communities of their sense of self-efficacy – a scientifically supported problem.

Larry Elder, an American of African descent, speaking for Prager U, argues that the statistics don’t support the claim of ongoing systemic racism. Watch his five-minute video here.

Admittedly I am a white male. However, I have actively supported equal rights since the days of Martin Luther King (before it was the cool thing to do). I have seen real racism and fought against it.  I will agree that racism on the part of whites still exists. Yet, as Elder points out in his Prager U video, a two-term black president and the fact that interracial marriage no longer attracts even a second glance on the streets are pretty solid evidence that we have come a long way – systemically.

Maybe it is time to look elsewhere for the causes of these disparities.

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According to an article by Dean Nelson, Frederick Douglass’ Other Fourth of July Speech…, Nelson explains how Douglas acknowledged the central role of self-respect in community success. Nelson writes:

Central to this self-reliance and self-respect was rejecting what today might be called white allyship: those whites that “are heels over head in love with the negro and want to do him ever so much good.” Their “so-called benevolent societies,” Douglass insisted, “have helped a few, [but] they have injured many.”

It turns out that self-satisfied, progressive whites enriching themselves off the spectacle of black suffering have been around at least since Douglass’ day. These white allies, Douglass explains, “in order to obtain revenue to carry on what they call their work (including of course their salaries which they piously vote themselves by the thousand), they draw the most distressing picture of the black man’s character and condition.”

I will never argue that racism by whites does not exist. It is the nature of all humans to have prejudices against those who are different. Some whites hate blacks, some blacks hate whites, some women hate men, and some men hate women. There are even fat people who hate skinny people. In short, there are a million reasons humans can find to dislike or distrust another based on an uncontrollable aspect of who they are.

Unreasoned prejudice hurts both the hater and the hated. We need to fight against it at every turn. But if a community spends all their time blaming every problem on racism, they may never recognize actual systemic issues. I argue that a community convinced they are victims and there is little they can do about it is one of those problems.

So, the next time your coach or some racist, anti-racist rants about how you need their help to overcome oppression – oppression that you never noticed before – tell them to pack their racist bags and only come back when they recognize your ability to win a championship.