The Two Tracks
There are two tracks that white people can follow to be allies in the fight for racial justice and
equity in our society. On one track, we can support the efforts of people of
color in the explicit fight for racial justice. On the other track, we can as
white people work for a more just and equitable distribution of wealth and
income in our society. On this track, we deal with issues that are not
explicitly racial but that have racial implications.
Allies in the Explicit Fight for Racial Justice
Most writers on the subject of how we can work as allies
agree that white
people should not attempt to lead the fight for racial justice but should support
the efforts of people of color. As allies, we must first of all educate
ourselves in the history and effects of racism in our country. This is not simply a matter of learning facts
but of changing deeply held opinions and attitudes. For many, the process of
education is difficult and even painful, and it takes place over years. As we learn, we can must share what we have
learned with others.
We can in addition, offer forums in which people of color
can express their concerns and their demands. We can contribute financially to
the fight, and we can participate in marches and demonstrations to show our
support. We can vote for political candidates of color and for those who support
reforms. We can participate in multiracial groups that work to get local
governments to appoint people of color to committees and commissions. We can
also push the organizations to which we belong to look for ways to become more
inclusive.
Working for a More Just Society
All of these things are useful, but they do not exhaust the
possibilities. We can also fight for a more
just society in ways that are not explicitly antiracist but that have the
effect of reducing the economic gap between white people and people of other races.
People of color are much poorer on average than white people. This relative poverty of people of
color is not a matter only of people who are poor in the sense that they have
very low incomes and almost no wealth. The relative poverty of people of color
extends through almost all levels of our society. People of color with college
degrees, professional qualifications and good jobs are paid less on average
that white people with similar resumés; people of color carry heavier burdens
of student debt than white people; and they have far less inherited wealth than
white people. Consequently, their relative poverty reproduces itself in each
generation across almost all levels of our society. The relative poverty of
people of color is not itself racism, but it is an effect of racism.[i]
To mitigate this effect of racism, we need to think about
ways of redistributing wealth and income in our country, and in doing so, it
helps to remember that racial inequality is not the only kind of inequality
that we have. We
live in a society in which most of the wealth is held by a very small
percentage of the people, and we can develop policies that increase the
fairness of our society as a whole.
If
we do that, we will also decrease the wealth gap between people of color and
white people because people of color are overrepresented in the poorer
levels of our society and therefore, they will benefit disproportionately from
policies that redistribute wealth or income down. Thus, reducing the economic
effects of racism is bound up with the task of making our society as a whole
more equitable. If we do that, we will reduce the wealth gap between white
people and others, and we will at the same time make most white people better
off. Thus, the struggle for a just and equitable society is not exclusively a
racial struggle. It is a struggle for all of us.
We Must Work on Both Tracks
As allies in the struggle against racism, we white people must
work on these two parallel tracks. On one track, we support the political
struggles of people of color. Such struggles might include the struggle for
reparations, the struggle against police violence, the struggle for immigration
reform and the struggle against environmental injustices. Elements of the
struggle for prison reform also appear on this track. In those struggles, we
follow the leadership of people of color.
On the second track, we struggle for a more just and
equitable distribution of income and wealth in our society. Such struggles
might include the struggle to raise the minimum wage, the struggle for
affordable child care, the struggle for free post-secondary education, the
struggle for affordable housing, and the struggle for a decent, national system
of health care. Some elements of the struggle for prison reform may also appear
on this track. Here, we act independently
for justice and equity for all people in our society.
[i]
William A. Darity and A. Kirsten Mullen, From Here to Equality,
University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2020
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