Intolerance of Racism Should Be the Goal

I have often wondered, are there any situations in my day to day life in which my race serves as an advantage in reducing racial discrimination? It seems there are.

As a white person, I’m occasionally privy to racially discriminatory comments that the commentators might not utter in front of persons of the targeted race. These situations require white people to be something we are often told not to be: intolerant.

White tolerance is harmful if we are expected to tolerate bigotry. White intolerance, in contrast, recognizes that passively allowing racist behavior demonstrates our own tolerance of racism, making it our own by providing the path of least resistance for racism.

Recently I flew into Los Angeles International Airport from a conference in Chicago. On the way home to Ventura, I sat in the front seat of a shuttle next to the driver. We had not even left the airport when we were cut off by a pickup truck. The shuttle driver remarked, “Go back to Mexico where you belong.” When I responded that he had no idea where the pickup truck driver belonged, the shuttle driver assured me that he had been correct “because I saw his outline.” I replied that although the motorist was a horrible and dangerous driver, this had nothing to do with his race or nationality.

Instead of a tip, I gave the driver a note stating my agreement that the pickup truck driver did not belong on the road but that it was incorrect to assume by someone’s skin color that he does not belong here, and to assume by my white skin that I would not be offended by such generalizations. I wanted to clearly show the driver that I found his racist comments intolerable.

Certainly it did not seem just to assume that the shuttle company approved of such racist comments, so I gave the firm the opportunity to demonstrate its own intolerance of bigotry. I wrote to the company explaining the incident and suggested the following: It is extremely unfortunate that your driver (1) stereotyped all brown-skinned drivers as belonging in Mexico and (2) stereotyped me by assuming that such racism would not offend me.

Having received no response to more than one inquiry, I must assume that the company finds such racism tolerable. Because the driver and company ignored my invitations to apologize and learn from the error, I must take the dispute to the next level: the pocketbook. My friends, family and colleagues will be advised of the company’s tolerance of racism and my decision to no longer use its services.

Those who assume negative stereotypes about a person for his brown skin may also assume that I share such bigotry because of my white skin. Frequently, white persons are given the opportunity to demonstrate that such ignorant assumptions are intolerable. We also have an advantage because an ignorant white person may be more inclined to listen to our comments because he or she is not blinded by our different skin color. Accordingly, it is incumbent upon us to demonstrate our intolerance.

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Most of us know of numerous historical examples where tolerance has lead to as much harm, or more, than a specific bad act. With 20-20 hindsight, for example, we see the Holocaust and can point to the tolerance, first of many Germans themselves, then of the rest of the world as it turned a blind eye to the torture and killings. Sometimes we are overwhelmed by the massive scale of daily horrifying events throughout the world. Yet we fail to notice that in our day-to-day lives we can make a difference.

We make a difference in someone’s life when we tolerate the hate and bigotry directed at him or her. My fellow shuttle passengers, by their tolerance of the driver’s comments, made the world a safer place for such bigotry. Each passenger made it easier for the driver to escalate his racist behavior in the future and for each passenger to continue to sit comfortably as racism continues around him or her daily.

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We also make a difference, however, when we clarify that we will not tolerate bigotry. We may find ourselves next to a racist customer slinging hateful comments at a grocery store checker, a shuttle driver mistreating a customer for no reason other than her race or a family member avoiding service from a person for no reason other than his race, and we can demonstrate that such racism is not tolerable. We cannot afford to focus on how many opportunities we’ve lost, myself included, to demonstrate white intolerance. Instead, we should focus on the opportunities that present themselves.

Although I speak of white intolerance, I am sad to say I have also been privy (though rarely twice) to racist comments from all races about all races. While in some situations, my intolerance will benefit from being white intolerance, in other situations, the benefit will be with a speaker of a different race. Each of us, by our intolerance in our day-to-day lives, can avoid the rabbi’s famous question: If not now, when?

Michelle Chernikoff Anderson is a lecturer in law and society who is completing a doctorate in jurisprudence and social policy at U.C. UC Berkeley. She is married to a good driver who was born in Mexico and who belongs right here.

The silence of well-meaning people fosters the growth of bigotry. Ordinary situations that occur every day present opportunities to speak up and make a difference.