Who Is A Real American?
Screenshot from Olivia Rondeau on X https://x.com/rondeaulivia/status/1278761088075661319
Yesterday, the senior Senator from Kentucky said some stuff.
In particular, at a press conference where he was defending the Republican push to suppress voters' rights, he said this:
"...if you look at the statistics, African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans."
I was reminded immediately of a 2020 Facebook comment that I’ve included as the illustration photo at the top of this post. I use this Facebook comment as an example in my Foundational Ally Skills workshop.
In the comment, a white woman named Gail Harrison Welch writes:
"I'm an Election Commissioner in Jones county. I'm concerned about voter registration in Mississippi. The blacks are having lots of events for voter registration. People in Mississippi have to get involved too."
Different year, different speaker, same problematic expression of bias.
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Words matter. And one important function of language is that it gives us insights into people's mental models.
And both the Senator and Welch use language that lets us clearly see their mental models, and one way in particular they are characterizing the world around them.
In simple terms, the Senator and Welch are showing us that they have two distinct categories.
Category 1: "Real" Americans, people who are fully human
Category 2: Black Americans, people who are not fully human
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In my ally skills workshop, I spend some time unpacking the idea of personhood. Since the founding of the American state, who has been seen as fully human? As a person who deserves the rights and privileges of personhood? (Category 1)
And who has *not* been seen as fully human? Not deserving the rights and privileges of personhood? (Category 2)
One group of people who has been relentlessly dehumanized for centuries is people of African descent. I don't have the space here to even summarize the many ways that Black people in this country have been treated as... not people.
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The many ways that Black people (and Indigenous people, and women of all races) are conceptualized as less than fully human has been problematic since colonists arrived on these shores. And their being categorized as "less than" causes problems to this day throughout American society.
And those problems come right into the workplace. The "less than" status shows up in hiring decisions, work allocations, and promotion decisions. It also shows up as sexual harassment, toxic and hostile workplaces, and retaliation for pointing out problems.
Black people are people.
Black people are fully human.
Black Americans are real and regular Americans.
And let's be on alert for language that tells us otherwise.
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