Dear Editor,
This letter is responding to Ethan Davis’ opinion piece, which advanced a series of confused claims clustered around the idea that racism is an individual rather than social issue and that organizations which combat racism as a social phenomenon are themselves guilty of racism.
There is plenty to criticize, but I first want to focus on his use of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED Talk in an attempt to support his argument.
I use this talk in my lectures; I’ve seen it dozens of times. I’m not convinced that Davis has actually seen it at all. If he has, then he is apparently incapable of grasping even clearly presented ideas, since Adichie’s presentation completely refutes his argument.
In her speech, Adichie (who publicly supports the Black Lives Matter movement) talks at length about the nature of power and its central role in defining social identities. Power is fundamental in forging these identities– race prominent among them– and power is something that cannot be defined, or exercised, solely on an individual level.
This is the basic flaw with Davis’ analysis. Davis actually manages to expose this flaw, albeit unwittingly, when he says there is at least a modicum of “truth” to the claim that “black people are violent,” and then falsely equates this with saying that “white people are oppressors.”
Leaving aside his astonishingly casual and deeply troubling statement that black people are inherently violent, he is also comparing two different things; violence is an individual trait (not a racial one, as he seems to believe), whereas oppression necessarily depends upon social structures for its realization.
I hope that Davis’ future pieces will actually grapple with these issues, will devote more attention to his sources before using them, and will avoid abusing other people’s work for his own misguided arguments.
Zachary Kagan Guthrie is a history professor at the university.
