#39: Gently counter racist or stereotypical comments with fact-based information whether you are at a party, the office, or the gym.

I watched a recent video of a racist rant that occurred on an Edmonton bus and wanted to talk about how calling out racist or stereotypical comments is the first step to changing the world we live in.

Before we take on how to counter racial based comments or jokes,  let's come to an understanding of the nature of racism. We should be able to identify and analyze those practices which are racist, before we can effectively and appropriately combat racism. We each have different meanings when we use the word, and the consequent confusion, together with the strong feelings it usually provokes, can aggravate conflict. We use other words, too, like prejudice, culture and ethnicity, each with our own meanings implied.

It is difficult, nearly impossible, to suggest a single simple definition of racism. Racism changes its form, as well as strength, over time and from place to place. It manifests itself in different forms in the world we live in today. Indeed, it is this changing quality of racism which makes it difficult to identify and challenge, and which helps make racism so contentious an issue today. For the purposes of this blog post, we use a four-dimensional approach to racism, separating out racial prejudice, racial discrimination, racist ideology and institutional racism. These dimensions are related to each other in complex ways, and one or more of them might be present in any particular situation.

Racial Prejudism
It can mean, literally, pre-judgment, making up one's mind about others, without sufficient information. It suggests both an unfounded or unreasonable judgment, and a feeling tone, usually (though not always) being against something. Racial prejudice refers to negative attitudes towards those classified on the basis of physical or cultural characteristics. First, people are identified as members of a group because of their physical appearance, culture or ethnic origin, real or supposed. Secondly, they are judged according to the presumed characteristics of that group.

Racial Discrimination
Prejudice and discrimination usually go hand in hand. Racial discrimination usually refers to behaviour which disadvantages people identified on the basis of their (real or supposed) membership of a racial or ethnic group. It is possible to discriminate without being prejudiced and vice versa. However, most attitudes, and prejudices, include a behaviour orientation or inclination to act in a certain way. And the stereotypes we hold affect the ways we respond to, and the expectations we have of, others. Language, including body language, changes depending on how we feel about the people we are with. Individual discriminatory behaviour therefore covers a whole range of actions, from refusing an Indigenous family rented accommodation, or through to the less conscious, but often as hurtful, shifts in expression, avoiding the seat next to someone different, or unknowingly using a derogatory label, like `Squaw", when in the company of an Indigenous person.

For the video rant, I would consider that to be abject racial discrimination. 

Racist Ideology
Racism as an ideology is a historical and social construct. It supports conventionally accepted versions of history and society. It loads our language and fills our images, although in an interactive process where we each put our personal stamp on the shaping. It reinforces the domination of particular cultural groups, whose norms and values it reflects. Thus racism as an ideology can also be seen as cultural racism.

Institutional Racism
Institutional racism refers to a pattern of distribution of social goods, including power, which regularly and systematically advantages some ethnic and racial groups and disadvantages others. It operates through key institutions: organized social arrangements through which social goods and services are distributed. These include the public service, the legal and medical systems, the education system. People working in these institutions hold expectations and beliefs which influence how they do their jobs, and how these institutions affect other people.

Ok, now that we have a better understanding of the dimensions of "racism", now let's talk about how to address it before it escalates. There is a good visual to help how addressing racial comments and better yet attitudes and beliefs.

                                                                                                                                                                                The Discrimination/Violence Pyramid.

1. While education is important, we often only talk about different cultures but we avoid conversations about human differences. We need to make time for thorough and concrete lessons about overcoming racism and dealing with cultural misunderstandings, mistreatment and clashes.
2. Call out discrimination when you see/hear/feel it. The more people challenge each other at the point of: ​​​
   1. a joke
   2. a meme
   3. a comment on social media

            the environment that allows things to escalate to                 
            verbal/physical expression starts to change. 

Lesson here is call it out, take a page out of the bus driver and grandmother's book and don't tolerate any abuse. Period.