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Braun on “racism”
In his book written in the mid 1990s, Racism, Guilt, and Self-Deceit, Gedaliah Braun presented an argument that I subsequently adopted myself. It goes like this. By definition, if something is “racist,” it is morally wrong. Therefore, to determine whether a given behavior or statement is racist, we must first determine that it is morally wrong. If it is not morally wrong, it cannot be racist. He tells me that no one he knows of (other than myself) has ever used this extremely simple and powerful argument.
Since he has thought more about the meaning of the word “racism” than anyone else, I wanted his opinion on the question, “Should the word racism be shelved”? I asked him, does he think racism a useful and necessary word, or not? He sent this answer, in which he also has some grim thoughts on Obama. Email entry |