Most Americans recognize that our nation has a racial prejudice problem. Most of us know that in the United States respect, status, opportunity and reward are distributed unequally on the basis of the color of a person’s skin. This is a historical truth even though, as the National Geographic recently put it, “It has been known for at least 70 years that race is undeniably a social construct.”
Since white Europeans stole the land from its indigenous inhabitants and exploited it using the labor of enslaved Africans, our nation has been characterized by a racial hierarchy with whites at the top and people of color below. Most historians now agree that pernicious ideas about so-called “racial differences” emerged as a way to justify the exploitation and oppression of people of color by white Europeans. This hierarchy has been enshrined in our laws, enforced by the state, and internalized by many citizens. As a result, still today
- The median wealth of white Americans is 10 times that of black households and 8 times that of Latinos
- Food insecurity for Americans of color is twice as high as for whites.
- The unemployment rate for Americans of color is much higher than white Americans.
- Workers of color earn less than white workers
- Americans of color are underrepresented in professional and managerial employment.
- American citizens of color are underrepresented in state and national government.
And so on.
Racist beliefs were created to justify the stealing the land, labor, and life of people of color by whites and these beliefs now serve to reproduce white domination and racial inequality.
At the same time, many of us recognize that it racial prejudice is morally wrong and that we should put an end to it. But, we also believe that no one knows how to end racial prejudice. That is not true. We do know how to end racial prejudice.
Social research has shown that the best way to change racist beliefs is to create situations where people of different “races” interact with each other frequently in situations of relative social equality. Simply put, social contact reduces prejudice. In the social science literature, this principle is called the Allport Contact Theory, after its most well-known proponent the American psychologist Gordon Allport.
If this is true, it must also be true that the current social structures of segregation in housing, schools, and workplaces are a most fertile ground for the reproduction of racial prejudice. It is also important to know that racial identities, attitudes, and prejudices are learned early in life. By ages 3 and 4 many kids have already developed the beginnings of racist beliefs.
In other words, to really stop the reproduction of racial prejudice in our society, we must see to it that Americans, especially our children, have the opportunity to interact and build relationships of equality and commonality with people of different colors and heritages. This means that if we are to end or reduce racism in our society we must desegregate our everyday lives.
Most Americans live in segregated communities, whites more so than people of color. For a long time, segregated white neighborhoods were the explicit goal of government housing policy and the practices of financial institutions. Exclusionary zoning, real estate redlining, and racial covenants are the most well-known examples of this. We still have many zoning regulations that segregate neighborhood by income and/or house size or housing density. Combined with racially based income inequality, these rules effectively guarantee racially segregated neighborhoods. And, this in turn pretty much ensures that most people, especially white people, will spend most of the hours of most of the days of their lives never having the opportunity to interact with people of color as equals in a common situation.
A corollary of our segregated housing is that, decades after Brown v the Board of Education, most children- especially white children- attend segregated schools. This is true even though we know quite clearly that all students do better in integrated schools and are harmed by segregated ones. Still, some communities intentionally draw public school district boundaries narrowly in a way that guarantees racial segregation. These facts ensure that our children- especially white children- will not have the opportunity to grow and develop in situations where they interact on a common and equal footing with students of a different color.
A good rule for public policy is that experience precedes belief. For instance, forcing people to wear car safety belts created the widespread belief that seat belts are a necessary and good thing. This policy maxim, combined with Allport’s contact theory, provides a way out of the racial prejudice reproduction cycle.
What is needed are public policies that “nudge” people into situations where they have the opportunity to interact with the racial other in contexts of commonality and equality. Most fundamentally we need anti-racist housing policies. While it may be constitutionally difficult for government policies to explicitly act on the basis of race, the unfortunate fact that income tracks so closely with race provides a route to anti-racist housing policies.
To end racial prejudice, we need to create and enforce zoning regulations that enable mixed race neighborhoods where people of different color will share neighborhoods and will have to interact as equals members of a common community with common interests and goals for their families. We need laws and lending practices that favor mixed income (and, thus, race) housing developments that contain both single and multi-family housing. We could use tax policy and zoning regulations to incentivize the development of inclusionary housing. We could provide similar credits for builders of housing developments that include neighborhoods with units of various sizes – for instance, combining single family homes with what are called “big houses” or multi-unit buildings designed to look like a single big house. There also could be blocks containing different size homes all with harmonious designs. These communities could also contain mixed use social spaces such as parks, playgrounds, gardens and playing fields. Finally, homes in these neighborhoods would be made affordable to folks through supportive public subsidies and lending policies.
These new neighborhoods would not just benefit the nation’s struggle to end racial prejudice; they would benefit all their residents and the surrounding neighborhoods as well. Housing would become more affordable for all; homeownership rates would increase; and, healthy and safe diverse environments would emerge. And, very, very importantly, these communities would be served by desegregated schools.
If you are about to say that it is unlikely Americans will accept this kind of policy change, remember car safety belts. Government can create laws and policies that lead people to adopt new, healthier, behaviors. And, when they do, their ideas change as well. Experience precedes belief.
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This Post is republished on Medium.
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