How do we counter passive racism from the working class?

[Questionable]

What should us Leftists do to counter passive racism from the working class? I'm talking about racism that doesn't have any ideology like racial superiority behind it, but is just simple stuff like "I know not all blacks are bad, but last year my cousin got robbed by one! Be careful around them!"

In a way active racism is easier to combat because you can point out how flawed the ideologies of white supremacy and/or fascism are, but I find it more difficult to deal with the subtle conservative type of racism because it relies on common-sense understandings of reality. I mean, yeah, blacks may have committed these crimes, but how do we explain that these crimes are the result of living in a system that leaves people in poverty rather than it being "how they are"? When I try to explain this most people think I'm making excuses for crime ("Those blacks need to take PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for their lives instead of blaming society all the time!"), or they don't understand what I'm saying at all.

Am I going about this the wrong way? How do you all handle it?

[Trans Queers for Satan]

Well I think covert racism does convey a message of racial superiority in it in a defaultist manner ("white is normal everyone else is an exception"). I think that working class people in particular are susceptible to being swept up in whiteness and racist propaganda because they are dependent on their employment. For example, claims like undocumented workers "stealing jobs" will surely resonate with them because without their job, their family is sunk. "Welfare queens" and other forms of blaming people of color for public assistance and the like are also issues that they would be concerned with, because they are barely able to provide for themselves/their dependents, so the idea that people are getting everything for free will obviously upset them (but obviously that doesn't happen).
I don't think class-conscious in and of itself will end racism, because that skirts the issue of white people directly being accountable for the racism we uphold. But I think as white leftists, we have a duty to organize the white working class around an acknowledgment of intersectionality; especially because the white working class is a huge recruiting ground for fascist and white supremacist groups. Because like I said, white working-class people take to nationalism because they are completely dependent on their work and view "foreigners" (whoever they may be - really any people of color) as a threat to their employment.
(I feel like Bakunin actually addresses a lot of this in Letters to a Frenchman on the Present Crisis)

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

Long term, serious, campaigns of popular education.
Active solidarity work that draws links through common struggle.

Unfortunately, neither of these things are in-the-moment solutions. However, I can't imagine a way around their necessity.

[Lokomotive293]

The best way to argue is always to point towards our common interests. Talk about how racism, sexism etc. are used to split us, and make us weaker. Talk about how paying non-white people, women etc. lower wages in fact enables the capitalist to also keep the wages of white workers low. Same thing with unemployment.

In your case specifically, make clear that, just because the person who robbed the cousin was black, that doesn't mean all black people are criminals. If they come up with some odd statistics, talk about how poverty causes crime, and the racism of the police etc.

Better than a thousand lectures is this, though:


Active solidarity work that draws links through common struggle.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

In your case specifically, make clear that, just because the person who robbed the cousin was black, that doesn't mean all black people are criminals. If they come up with some odd statistics, talk about how poverty causes crime, and the racism of the police etc.

Yeah, in that case specifically, you could always just ask, "If your cousin was robbed by a white person, would you tell me to be careful around white people? Why not?"

THE ANSWER IS BECAUSE YOU'RE RACIST, YOU COLA-DOUCHE.

Actually, probably leave out the all-caps part, and they can figure it out on their own.

[#FF0000]

Challenge it directly when you see it, for your own part. ("They" need to take responsibility? Just "them"? And "all" of them? You know all of "them"? Most of "them"?)

I also wouldn't suggest calling people racist -- it tends to put a person on full defensive which might make them hostile and shut them down entirely to what you're trying to say. It also gives them a way out by allowing them to make an appeal to the fact that you aren't them and can't see into the very fiber of their being and thus can't make that judgement.

basically challenge racist statements directly and be sure to use your "what the fuck are you trying to say, dude?" tone.

[#FF0000]

talk about how poverty causes crime, and the racism of the police etc.

Problem is that this usually isn't going to change anyone's opinion. They already hold one premise in their head as true. Introducing another to challenge that won't help because they will immediately disregard it in favor of their preconceived opinion. What I think works better is deconstructing their dumb and uninformed idea with questions.

[Let's Get Free]

White workers are shot through with racism. It would be difficult to imagine it to be otherwise after centuries of slavery and a system of education, entertainment and communication completely dominated by racist doctrines. But there have been some occasions when workers have tried to overcome this legacy and have been pushed back by their leaders. The Detroit auto plants during WWII, for example.

I think it needs to be explained that the continued subjugation of the masses depends on competition and internal disunity. As long as discrimination exists, and racial and ethnic minorities are oppressed, the entire working class is oppressed and weakened. This is because the capitalist class is able to use racism to drive down wages of individual segments of the working class by inciting racial antagonisms. Moreover, by pitting whites against blacks and other oppressed people, the capitalist class is able to prevent workers from uniting against their common class enemy. As long as workers are fighting against each other, capitalist class rule is secure.

[Os Cangaceiros]

I have a question, which is kind of related, but how should left-wing people respond to self-imposed stereotyping?

A couple examples I can think of:

- My old landlord used to make jokes about how landscaping and being a handyman was in his DNA because he was a Mexican

- Once I was eating fried chicken and drinking grape soda in my room, and my old roomate (who was black) joked that I was more black than he was because of this

[#FF0000]

White workers are shot through with racism

I think it's a mistake to say that white workers in particular are shot through with racism. Racism is not simply white vs. non-white, you know what I mean?

[Trans Queers for Satan]

I have a question, which is kind of related, but how should left-wing people respond to self-imposed stereotyping?

A couple examples I can think of:

- My old landlord used to make jokes about how landscaping and being a handyman was in his DNA because he was a Mexican

- Once I was eating fried chicken and drinking grape soda in my room, and my old roomate (who was black) joked that I was more black than he was because of this

I mean if you're asking whether or not we should tell them not to do it, the answer is obviously no. They can make jokes about their experiences because they experience them; likewise, we can't make those same jokes because it's at their expense, not ours. Moreover though, if we were to reprimand a person of color for something, obviously our opinion would be prioritized over theirs, and it would just result in whitesplaining to someone about their own culture and experiences.

[Jack]

I have a question, which is kind of related, but how should left-wing people respond to self-imposed stereotyping?

A couple examples I can think of:

- My old landlord used to make jokes about how landscaping and being a handyman was in his DNA because he was a Mexican

- Once I was eating fried chicken and drinking grape soda in my room, and my old roomate (who was black) joked that I was more black than he was because of this

They're just jokes, there's nothing particularly wrong or any more offensive about them than any other NSFW joke, I wouldn't call that an issue at all if people want to make jokes about themselves.

I've been in a club and used a "I'm white I have no idea what I'm doing here" joke to score dances with black/hispanic girls.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Well, I laughed at those jokes, I will admit.

But really aren't beliefs about people's "racial differences" replicated more in this sort of casual manner than the old sort of biological racism, which has gone mostly out of fashion in today's era?