New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
‘Opting in’ to hard discussions about race
In “Privileged” a reporter asked Kyle Korver, a white NBA veteran, about an incident involving his Black teammate Russell Westbrook and a fan. Korver, who hadn’t been present, replied, “[Y]ou know Russ … gets into it with the crowd a lot.”
Later Korver heard that the fan made racist comments, upsetting other Black players, who demanded a team meeting during which several spoke about suffering similar encounters. Korver, too, was upset, abruptly discovering “what it means just to exist right now — as a person of color in a mostly white space.”
Afterwards, Korver remained unsatisfied. He stated, “[N]o matter how passionately I commit to being an ally, … I’m still in this conversation from the privileged perspective of opting in to it[, meaning] … I could just as easily opt out of it.” Korver vowed to learn about racism, especially by listening to people of color, and to encourage other whites to follow suit.
Whether the topic is race relations or the broader issue of social class, the traditional American approach has been decidedly less open-minded. Let’s consider social class. In 1859, scientist Charles Darwin asserted the significance of natural selection, explaining that organisms’ observable traits reveal their capacity to survive and reproduce. Sociologist Herbert Spencer considered the conclusion “perfectly in harmony” with a ranking of human groups, using the phrase “survival of the fittest … to apply to the fate of rich and poor in a laissez faire capitalist society.” Wealthy businessmen immediately felt liberated from restraints in seeking wealth. Andrew Carnegie, the leading steel manufacturer, ecstatically wrote, “I remember that light came as a flood and all was clear.” Spencer’s viewpoint remained largely unchallenged, producing a self-fulfilling prophecy validating affluent white males’ dominance.
While Americans no longer cite the survivalof-the-fittest doctrine as a rationale for economic success, recent survey findings still emphasize the primacy of individual achievement. A national representative sample of nearly 2,000 American adults concluded that “hard work” was the dominant factor promoting economic achievement. The greater interviewees’ earnings, the more they concurred, but at least 87 percent of four designated income groups chose it. In contrast, none of the four categories provided over 37 percent support for such well-recognized influences as racial/ethnic membership and family affluence.
Like their counterparts in the survival-of-the-fittest era, contemporary successful Americans appear convinced of the virtue of their work, undoubtedly feeling freed to pursue wealth unrestrictedly. It isn’t surprising that in such a permissive setting, data show that inequality in wealth and income is greater in the United States than in other rich countries, particularly among CEOs. In 1965 an average CEO earned over 20 times more than a typical worker, but by 2018 the figure had ballooned to a mind-boggling 278 times as much.
Stringent measures to bring CEOs’ economic advantage more in line with counterparts in other affluent nations include elevated income-tax rates for wealthy corporations, particularly those with higher ratios of CEO-to-worker earnings, and revision of corporate regulations improving less powerful colleagues’ chances of reducing CEOs’ compensation. However, while considerable economic inequality in the U.S. persists, current support for significant social change is evident. About threefifths of Americans assert that economic inequality is too prevalent in the nation.
Two recent developments have bolstered such views. Mobile-phone images of a white policeman slowly suffocating George Floyd, a Black man, while kneeling on his neck went viral; in addition, extensive media coverage publicized that Black deaths from COVID-19 were nearly twice the white rate. Together these events produced increased nationwide awareness of the devastating impact of racism, promoting massive social-media response and extensive protest along with sharply increased support for Black Lives Matter. These, however, are teetering times, and within a year as Black Lives Matter protests decreased and Joe Biden’s replacement of Donald Trump somewhat reduced a sense of controversy, Americans’ commitment to the movement declined.
On the other hand, an unknown number of Americans have recently had insightful experiences linked to major social issues — personal versions of “aha moments.” This piece began describing Kyle Korver’s revelation about racism. The Rev. Al Sharpton, a prominent Black activist, had such a moment. Decades ago he joined a protest where a young white woman “looked …[him] right in the face and said, ‘N ***** , go home.’” Recalling that encounter, Sharpton mentioned a recent march during which a white preteen girl “tagged my suit jacket and … I braced myself, and she looked at me and said, ‘No justice, no peace.’” He concluded,
“It’s a different time.”
Like their counterparts in the survival-of-the- fittest era, contemporary successful Americans appear convinced of the virtue of their work, undoubtedly feeling freed to pursue wealth unrestrictedly.