SALAS' POINT

Modern day racism is now coded, or flipped. What do we mean by coded or flipped? Coded racism is displayed in individual communications and in policy that reflects white racist attitudes in the modern sense. This coded racism has been around for some time, but is of particular interest at this time in history when there is a political vacuum in black leadership. With a political vacuum in place Uncle Toms are crawling out of the bushes. Racism never really went away with the advent of civil rights legislation, and despite several decades since the passage of the 1965 Civil Rights Act, and its renewal over the opposition of the Texas elected scoundrels of shame, racism is alive but well coded. What is different is the form it takes. Ask Congressman Ruben Bonilla why he voted to reject the provisions of the Civil Rights Act. I am sure he will repeat the wimpy answer he already gave.

More subtle forms of racism have emerged to protect white privilege. This has been pointed out in Eduardo Bonilla-Silva’s book, Racism Without Racists. In his book he points out that the racism of today covers itself in a "colorblind" racism that tries to describe racist events in "colorblind" terms. The manufacturing of non-racial accounts to explain inequalities is common. When minorities complain about not enough blacks are employed at various places of employment they are told, "Employment should be based on qualifications." We know that stupid! This response is a defensive mechanizism designed to protect white privilege and racist hiring practices, for in demanding more minorities be hired, the minority community has always understood that an applicant must be more "qualified" than the white applicant.

When blacks raise the issue of few or no minorities working at a particular establishment, they are accused of "playing the race card." The establishment points to its official non-discrimination policy, the one they staple to the wall and forget about, and produces the manufactured "non-racial account" by saying that they have not had any minority applicants. Like they were really looking for some! But is there an effort to produce a work environment that reflects the multi-racial society we live in? Often not, and the individuals or groups making the charge are dismissed.

This form of racism can be consciousness or unconscious. One need only look at the Express News editorial by Lynell Burkett, a year and a half or so back, which castigated a community member for calling the decision not to even consider a black employee of many years for a CEO position, a "modern day lynching." The decision not to consider an African American of long standing employment for the position could be construed as a modern twist to the racist practice of not hiring qualified blacks. The racism of today uses disguised "non-racial arguments" to provide the cover for racist decisions. Is Express News writer Lynell Burkett a racist? Or is she just repeating the script from a racial stupor?

Thus, those raising the issue of racism can be painted in a negative light, and some minorities are fooled by the tactic. This is what happened on one of the municipal boards itself (the SAWS Board), as the elite sought to diffuse the charge of racism by using the lone African American board member to assert their position. This is why finding blacks to agree with white positions is an old tactic that is used even more so these days. Using a black to deny that racism is involved is key to the "colorblind" racist formula.

It allows for racist practices to continue at the same level. How many blacks work for various governmental bodies? How many have been denied legitimate promotions, and how many were forced to resign? This issue is not discussed under the new script racism has written –for it has been flipped over. Flipped racism works well when blacks themselves are used to reinforce it.

This "colorblind" racism is but white denial of the fact it that reinforces white privilege in many areas. Unfortunately, we do not live in a colorblind society, as Ruben Bonilla would suggest. We fight for equality, but racism hides in its favorite places. It hides in negative statements about the poor, in jokes about other groups of people, in using blacks to criticize other blacks, in Uncle Tom speeches to conservative audiences, in the arrest rates of minorities, in the number of African American men in prison, and in many others ways that can only be explained by an entrenched institutional racist system.