"Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities."
― Voltaire
As we grapple with the horrifying murder of yet another innocent black person at the hands of police, as we witness systematic injustices, as we speak against inequalities pervasive and difficult to understand, we must acknowledge that the times of "Racism" have passed. "Racism" is dead. Its term is no longer fitting for what is happening. The judgments and prejudices it carries are obsolete. The laws and norms we've established preclude it.
"Racism" speaks to a time when hatred was tangible, perpetrated and supported publicly by Americans. "Racism" suppressed blacks and other POC, through the masks of the KKK, epithets, and open violence. White power terrorized. In contrast, black power existed to affirm that blackness was not something to be ashamed of, denigrated or diminished. It was a duality--two forces working parallel one another.
"Racism" found opposition in some just-minded Americans. Hence, "Racism" could no longer be open. To openly suppress people was no longer viewed as acceptable to the public. The discourse demanded as much. So prejudice and racial violence had to become a secret, submerged in micro-aggressions, biased policies like the "Drug Wars" and state brutality. Can it really be called "Racism" if it isn't explicit?
According to many white people, "Racism" doesn't exist any longer. Whites are colorblind. They see one color. And they're right, they do see one color: white. What we're witnessing is white supremacy.
White supremacy is more insidious, and less recognizable. It is silent, using force in coded language, glares, and socio-economic structures that have been perverted to serve its cause. White supremacy utilizes phrases like #alllivesmatter. It asks, when someone states #blacklivesmatter why it has to be about only black people? It says that when a black person succeeds, it's because of a white person; but when a black person fails, it's their fault alone. It touts aspects of black culture, but sees any successful black person as a threat. Sometimes, it seeps through in silence, reluctance, and fear.
"Why don't you speak up when you see injustice?"
"I have nothing to say."
As long as we keep saying "Racism", white people will shrug their shoulders and say: Not me. It can't be. I have a black friend. I never use racially charged language. I've never hurt a black person. And this is white supremacy. "Racism", again has a focus on duality. White supremacy explicitly identifies whites as the privileged group. Yet whites cannot evade the conversation of White supremacy, however uncomfortable the discussion about the source of their privilege becomes.
Still, many white people don't even want to engage this dialogue; to have it threatens their benefit from oppression. White supremacy demands a monologue. One conversation about race occurs, perpetuated by the individuals who hold power.
It is time to start a new dialogue. Blackness cannot be defined in relation to whiteness any longer, because white supremacy will not engage the idea that black exists. It is whiteness, and whiteness alone it acknowledges. Everything else must be diminished and eventually, destroyed. "Racism" is dead.