Prejudice + Pretend Ignorance = Racism
Like many social scientists, I learned that prejudice + power = racism. Having power is key for determining how someone could turn their everyday bias into racism. We all have prejudices but not everyone has the power to turn it into racism. With power, one can make laws, establish structures, enact practices and procedures that benefit Whites and disadvantage BIPOC.
This classic definition of racism remains true today, especially for how structural and systemic racism get created and maintained. However, there is another kind of power being exhibited today that has become an equal catalyst for establishing and maintaining structural and systemic racism — ignorance.
For many Americans, denying, dismissing, minimizing or being ignorant of the nature of racism and its impact on American society is enough to release them from accountability for racism. If racism doesn’t exist, they cannot possibly be racist.
Even those of us who are not attorneys understand the legal principle that ignorance of the law is not a defense. American statesman and founding father Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Ignorance of the law is no excuse in any country. If it were, the laws would lose their effect, because it can be always pretended.”
So, what happens when there’s “group pretend”? What happens when a critical mass of citizens pretend that there is no such thing as racism?
Former Vice President Mike Pence publicly denied the existence of systemic racism in the United States. Over the past two years, the refusal to acknowledge racism has become a central tenet of Republican Party principles. As a political strategy, denying that racism exists works. Doing so retains that portion of their base that intuitively knows that being antiracist is socially warranted and that antiracism is a morally enlightened response in a global society. Denying racism’s existence also massages the portion of their base who are racists and provides them with an excuse to be considered “patriots” when they defend America against those they believe are attempting to rewrite history or those who want to alter America’s defining racial makeup from White to a racially diverse America.
For the Republican party, it pays to pretend ignorance.
Forms of Pretend Ignorance
Denying or dismissing racism fosters several kinds of ignorance:
Vincible ignorance: lacking knowledge that any rational person can acquire simply by making an effort. This kind of ignorance is manifested by living in one’s bubble or within one’s comfort zone. It results in a racially encapsulated worldview and racially myopic thinking and behaviors.
Blithe ignorance: lacking concern for racial equity or minimizing the relevance of systemic racism to one’s life. This kind of ignorance leads to communication misfirings, unintended acts of exclusion, and an over reliance on soft data such as anecdotes or social media posts for information.
Willful ignorance: despite evidence to the contrary, intentionally deciding that understanding racism is not important or simply refusing to believe that racism exists. Confirmation bias contributes greatly to this form of pretend ignorance. All you have to do is find one BIPOC (of which there are many to choose from) who claims racism doesn’t exist and poof — racism disappears!
The Dangers of Pretend Ignorance
Not everyone has the kind of power conceptualized in classic definition of structural racism: Prejudice + Power=Racism. That kind of power is generally attributed to elected officials, lawmakers, CEOs, and other types of legitimate authorities who can translate their prejudice into laws and rules. That is the kind of power that can legitimize racism. However, pretend ignorance is a far more pervasive and is the kind of power that normalizes racism in such a way that, to quote Thomas Jefferson, “laws lose their effect.”
Vincible ignorance about voter suppression reinforces false narratives about voter fraud and lead to the belief that President Biden was not legitimately elected.
Blithe ignorance about the Black Lives Matter Movement births conspiracy theories about violence and the root cause of civil unrest and lead to false equivalences and lack of accountability for police brutality.
Willful ignorance about the January 6th Capitol insurrection lead to attempts by many Republicans to rewrite history, further weaving racism into America’s social fabric and cementing White supremacy.
Prejudice + Pretend Ignorance =Racism. It’s very powerful. It’s also very dangerous for our democracy.