[QUOTE=Malthus]
It seems to me that your example #1 explains to an extent your example #2.
I’ve had exactly the same thing as your example #1 happen to me in the past, and I’m White. How can one say that such a thing is proof of “microaggression”? It may be or it may not be, as you yourself note. However, you go on to state “For me, progress for me would be us discussing the event and perhaps even the degree to which racist intent played into the interaction, rather than if racist intent played a role or not.”. In short, you are happy to assume that it is at least partly “racist” - and to you, having others accept this is true is “progress” - though there is absolutely noting to indicate it is true.
That sort of attitute, if shared by your collegues (and there is good reason to assume that it is, based on your previous describtions of critical race theory) translated into an academic field, would have me question the objectivity of the observer, too - and I think with good reason. Not because they are Black, but because they, well, aren’t very objective. Based on these anecdotes and descriptions, they (and you) appear to have preconcieved theories which seem to fit the evidence to the theory rather than the other way around.
This isn’t to say that racism doesn’t exist and doesn’t have an impact. But to be perfectly frank, I would not be willing to rely on someone who appears to assume as the cornerstone of their theoretical perspective that racism permiates society and overwhelms other sources of influence, to describe the ambit of that impact - whether the scholar be White or Black, or any other colour.
[/QUOTE]
Yes, but you’re operating from the perspective that there is such a thing as objectivity. As a postmodernist, postpositivist scholar, I reject the idea that there is such a thing. Positivism, at least in the social sciences, is a myth. Even in a quantitative study, we can take the same dataset, and by proposing different research questions and adjusting parameters like p-values to determine statistical significance, create quite different results. In the qualitative realm, there are multiple truthful interpretations of the event I described.
As a social scientist I would ideally want to interview both the presumed shopkeeper (me) and the woman. Not simply “what just happened?” but I’d want to know about the formative experiences of both people. Even with extensive phenomenological interviewing, I don’t think I’d be able to definitively declare, “This woman was operating with 10% racist intent, and HH is preconfigured to detect racism.” I’d hope the data would illustrate a strong interpretation of the interaction, even if the result is, “We don’t know exactly how much was racism, ageism, bad eyesight, etc., but we at least know a little about what makes each person tick.”
The best we can do is be upfront about our allegiances and beliefs. My research makes it clear that I am approaching sociological phenomena from a Critical Race perspective. I acknowledge this, and through my careful use of data and acknowledgment of discrepant findings, I am able to present rigorous educational research that is published not in niche journals or by special interest academic presses, but generalist, highly circulated works.
I think it’s very hard to deny that we haven’t all been simmering in this racist stew since our birth. From the blatancy of Jim Crow to the more subtle colorblindness that claims our equality but denies the significance of racism in the world. You state that racism exists, but what’s the metric for determining for what racism is? I’ll subvert that famous quote about pornography, “I have a hard time describing it, but I know it when I see it.” There are so many nuances that I simply cannot convey that lead me to suspect that racism played a role in the interaction I had with that woman. The way she looked at me, the accusatory tone, etc. But I’ve been mistaken for store staff before and it didn’t particularly strike me as rooted in racist intent. If I’m wearing something approximating the store uniform, or have my back turned, hey, it happens. I’ve done it myself.
Take for instance, a story I was told by a professor who told me a Latina student once entered a classroom at an Ivy League university and the instructor said, “Oh, the garbage can is behind my desk.” Was it a dumb or legitimate mistake on the instructor’s part? We’ll never know. What we do know is the impact of the statement on that young woman. Gender, race, social class, age, and national origin all play a role in how both parties perceived the situation.
I think what I’m saying is that progress would mean we can move past defensive posturing and negating the experiences of people of color and more to “well, I get how you perceive that there might be some degree of racism at play, but how much of this was actually the fact that this person you interacted with was a jerk/had poor eyesight/etc. as well?” And I’d agree, because I don’t know. But that’s a preferable outcome to “No, you’re wrong, it’s happened exactly the same to me, stop whining.”
