Second, What is Racism?

Hey folks, welcome to the second episode of Command and Signal- a limited run podcast about vets, propaganda, patriotism and other bullshit. Today’s episode is about race. This is a big topic. So, let’s start small- what is race and racism? In the book ​"Racial Formation in the United States," Howard Winant and Michael Omi define race as “a concept which signifies and symbolizes social conflicts and interests by referring to different types of human bodies.”

In effect, people looked different from us so we defined that difference as racial.

Back in 1776, a big year for some people, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach tried to codify race as 5 different groups- “caucasian, mongolian, malayan, ethiopian and amer.” And, of course, caucasian was considered superior. Early founding fathers used this line of thinking to justify slavery while also espousing a natural right to freedom. 

Additionally, racial and ethnic descriptors have been applied and changed throughout history for political expediency. An example of this can be seen in 1920, when people from Mexico were labeled as white but then declared “non-white” in 1930 during a rise in anti-immigrant sentiments. 

And we have the infamous one-drop laws in our country- where if you have even a drop of African ancestry, you were deemed black by Jim Crow laws.

When we try to sort people by race in a genetic sense, you begin to see no rhyme or order. That’s because genetic variation in people is so vast, there is no real way to uniformly delineate one genetic race over another.  In fact, one can even ascribe health outcomes tied to race to other factors such as environment, culture or socioecnomics. 

So, in effect, we made that shit up because people looked different and different is scary.

But, despite there being no genetic race, race still exists. But rather than being strictly a genetic thing, it’s a complicated combination of personal and social identity, physical appearance, cultural dogma and exists as both an antiquated and liberating idea of a social consciousness.  And while it seems a bit rich for some white asshat to sit here and try and poorly define race, it’s important we understand one simple fact -

Race is not genetic but it does exist. Cool?

So, why are we talking about this? Well, [whisper] the Russians.

That’s right, we’re bringing back the nerds from Episode 1. And what’s the biggest way that foreign powers got vets jimmies all riled up? Kaepernick. Ol’ boy from San Fran got retired Sergeants Major in Arkansas all jacked up- but why? He wasn’t protesting veterans. And, in fact, his method of protest was suggested by a veteran.

Yet still folks insist he’s anti-vet and disrespecting veterans, despite us knowing his intention is quite the opposite. 

Clearly, there is a disconnect.  What is real?  

So, I thought to myself, I should ask someone what’s going on. Someone who will understand this from several angles- someone who’s black and has existed in that space their whole life, someone who is also a veteran and understand that sphere… and someone who has the academic and professional background to make sense of all this.

So, I called Mo.

His full name is Maurice Brown, he’s a black veteran from Upstate New York that holds a degree in Communications with a minor in Political Science from Syracuse University and works in community organizing and activism. 

Listen to the episode if you want to hear what Mo has to say.

(spoiler alert: it’s good stuff, he’s a smart dude).

As you can imagine (or heard, if you listened to the episode already)- when we talk about race and patriotism, it gets immensely complicated. As Mo described- he has lived a different experience than me, a white guy, and there are some issues that need correcting. HOWEVER- I’d caution anyone who thinks this means Mo or Kaepernick or people within the BLM movement are not patriotic. I’d like to leave you with a quote from Martin Luter King Jr’s iconic speech- you know the one. 

“When the architects of our Republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men—yes, black men as well as white men—would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

He’s not trashing America in this speech, anymore than Mo or Collin Kaepernick or the Black Lives Matter movement are- instead, this is a call to finally live up to the fantastic ideals written within our founding documents of equality and dignity- ideals we haven’t yet fully embraced.

I don’t know about you, but I think that’s pretty damn patriotic.