RACISM

Why Some White People Are Fighting For The Right to Discriminate

Beware of doublespeak. Everyone using the term "rights" isn't fighting to expand them

If you care about the advancement of civil rights, then beware of doublespeak. Everyone using the term "rights" isn't fighting to expand them. Indeed, some are hoping to strip Black people and other marginalized groups of their rights, and they have no hesitation in hijacking the lingo of activists to get the job done. To understand how this trend began, we need historical context. When eleven states, governed entirely by White men, seceded from the United States to join the Confederacy, representatives documented their outrage over what they considered a loss of "rights."

While Georgia asserted they had no intention of abolishing slavery and "never surrendered this right," Mississippi complained they were denied "the right of property to slaves." South Carolina, salty that abolitionists, at times, circumvented their plans, remarked they had "the right of property in slaves" and expressed frustration that "In the State of New York, even the right of transit for a slave has been denied by her tribunals." Texas confessed to wanting "to secure the rights of the slave-holding States." In most American history classrooms, students will hear teachers reference this debate over "state's rights," but they're unlikely to hear the context that Southern states sought the right to enslave Black people. Imagine thinking you have the right to enslave and dehumanize someone and believing that so fervently that you're willing to destroy the country you were born in to maintain this system, and you will begin to understand the bitter, self-destructive mindset of Southern enslavers.

In the years leading up to the Civil War, Southern States, each of them politically controlled by White men, were not complaining that the federal government infringed upon their human rights stopped them from living their lives, subjected them to harsh treatment, or overtaxed them into a state of poverty. The only rights these White Americans accused the federal government of infringing upon was their right to enslave African people. Similarly, segregationists, after the Reconstruction Era, fought for their right to discriminate to keep society separated by race; as a group, Black people have fought for their humanity, their citizenship, and their civil rights to be recognized in this country, but as an essential distinction, leaders were not seeking the right to discriminate.

Sadly, despite White Americans losing their right to enslave Black people after the Civil War ended, they never stopped using doublespeak to justify the nation's racial hierarchy. Southern White people framed the debate over Jim Crow-era racial segregation policies as a "state's rights" issue. For instance, Georgia Governor Herman Talmadge once said, "There aren't enough troops in the whole United States to make the white people of this state send their children to school with colored children." Talmadge believed he and other White people had the right to discriminate and opposed Black people exercising their right to vote: "If we can't have a white primary, we want as white a one as we can get." What segregationists and enslavers had in common was not just their disdain for Black people and racial minority groups but also their use of doublespeak, of reframing their bigotry as a battle over their rights.

Mrs. J.E. Andrews, President of the Women's National Association for the Preservation of the White Race in Georgia, said, "All we need to do is to insist that the Negro get back in line." In contrast, James F. Byrnes, U.S. Senator, South Carolina Governor, and Associate Justice for the U.S. Supreme Court, said, "This is a white man's country and will always remain a white man's country." Jim Johnson, Arkansas State Senator and State Supreme Court Justice said, "I don't care how many court rulings are handed down or how many troops are sent into our state. We shall not surrender our sovereign rights and reserved powers to govern and control our state institutions." By now, you've seen the pattern that when White Americans start talking about "rights," it's best to examine what they're seeking the right to do. Throughout history, White Americans have sought the right to enslave, segregate, discriminate, and deny opportunities to Black people.

Students should be made aware that the word "rights" is not always discussed as part of an effort to expand civil liberties. Indeed, White conservatives have, throughout history, adopted this doublespeak, co-opting the language of civil rights leaders while removing the moral continuity of their petition. For instance, Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the law school at U.C. Berkely, told the New Yorker that The Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian, conservative organization, "puts freedom to discriminate over freedom from discrimination." Their organization has made a household name for themselves by filing the case that overturned Roe v. Wade, a precedent protecting women's reproductive rights. However, they've also targeted the LGBTQ+ community, as well as Black Americans. Last year, Supreme Court Justice Alito claimed that Christian religious groups have become "an imperiled minority" in this country, which is obviously a lie since White Christian Nationalists continue to hold disproportionate power and influence in this country.

Blatant racism is hard to sell; it's like asking someone to eat a box of crackers without anything to drink. So, instead of modern-day conservative White people admitting they want to maintain the racial hierarchy, as enslavers and segregationists did, they're claiming that they're the ones being discriminated against, that they need more rights to protect themselves while refusing to acknowledge they hold most of the levers of power. For instance, groups like Moms for Liberty shout and sigh in school board meetings discussing "parental rights," a phrase that never shows up in the Constitution, to justify their censorship crusade. So, when conservatives are removing funding from public schools, giving White students vouchers to attend private schools, and removing books written by Black authors from the classroom, they're hoping you will see this as a rights issue instead of a matter of racial discrimination. And they're hoping that they can pull the wool over Americans' eyes long enough to codify their right to discriminate. Their efforts are the antithesis of the civil rights movement.

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