Blum argues that a growing tendency to castigate as "racism" everything that goes wrong in the racial domain reduces the term's power to evoke moral outrage. In "I'm Not a Racist, But...," Blum develops a historically grounded account of "racism" as the deeply morally charged notion it has become. He addresses the question whether people of color can be racist, defines types of racism, and identifies debased and inappropriate usages of the term. Though racial insensitivity, racial anxiety, racial ignorance, and racial injustice are, in his view, not "racism," they are racial ills that should elicit moral concern.
Blum argues that "race" itself is a morally destructive idea, implying moral distance and unequal worth. History and genetic science reveal both the avoidability and the falsity of the idea of race. Blum argues that we can give up the idea of race but must recognize that racial groups' historical and social experience has been shaped by having been treated as if they were races.
| Preface | vii | |
| 1. | "Racism": Its Core Meaning | 1 |
| 2. | Can Blacks Be Racist? | 33 |
| 3. | Varieties of Racial Ills | 53 |
| 4. | Racial Discrimination and Color Blindness | 78 |
| 5. | "Race": What We Mean and What We Think We Mean | 98 |
| 6. | "Race": A Brief History, with Moral Implications | 109 |
| 7. | Do Races Exist? | 131 |
| 8. | Racialized Groups and Social Constructions | 147 |
| 9. | Should We Try to Give Up Race? | 164 |
| Notes | 179 | |
| Bibliography | 231 | |
| Index | 247 |
Overview
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