Black History Month, being observed this February in the United States and many other countries around the world, including Nigeria, affords one the appropriate opportunity to share some thoughts on the rather consequential subject of systemic racism – racism of the kind that is not ad hoc, but seems built into the system itself. The irony of it, though, is that the persistence of racism in many of the concerned countries and situations is not necessarily for want of, but in spite of, efforts to eradicate it! In fact, one of the more baffling, and undoubtedly frustrating, realities confronting people and organizations working in this area has been the seemingly “die hard” nature of the problem, its resilience and persistence despite quite considerable effort over the years to eradicate it. It may actually be recalled in this context that jolted, and no doubt equally revolted, by the Nazi race theories and atrocities of the Second World War, the post-war world reacted, particularly in the West, by deploying considerable effort and resources into the fight to combat racism and racial discrimination, spearheading, for example, adoption by the United Nations of the landmark Universal Declaration Of Human Rights(1948) expressly condemning racism and prohibiting the adoption by Member States of racially discriminatory laws.

Yet, if we take the example of the United States, the truth, as recognized by President Biden himself upon his election in 2020, is that, despite the undeniable progress that has been made, especially in the wake of the great Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 70s, there remains an underlying systemic racism in society that refuses to go away and so continues to manifest itself in various ways on the ground: the George Floyd and George Floyd-type incidents, the near legitimization and “mainstreaming” of “white supremacy” ideologies and movements, showcased in the January 6th Capitol insurrection. In Europe, the mounting anti-racism campaigns by football authorities, particularly the FA in England, and the numerous racist avowals and incidents connected with ongoing anti-immigration protests speak to the same fact.

So, what is going on here and why? “Why have all the efforts over many decades failed to defeat or excise this social evil?” My book OF BLACK SERVITUDE WITHOUT SLAVERY, The Unspoken Politics Of The English Language, in proffering a totally new approach to dealing with the systemic racism problem, addresses this particular question by pointing out that the difficulty so far lies in the nature of the problem and the efforts directed at it. I argue, inter alia, that racism, as people encounter it, is an outward expression of the perpetrator’s racial bias mindset, which no amount of clamping down on discriminatory acts, whether in jobs, schools, housing or social interactions, such as has been the case hitherto, can effectively address: only actions targeting the mindset can be relevant.

In order to effectively combat a negative mindset, one must first identify its origin and sustenance – its well-spring, as it were – and then tackle the problem at its roots. The book identifies language as a major repository, as well as purveyor, of racial bias, which then goes on, whether intended or not, to create a racial bias mindset in its users. Using the English language, the world’s dominant and virtually only global language, to illustrate this thesis, I demonstrate that embedded in it is a systemic denigration of “blackness” and corresponding glorification of “whiteness”, which is exemplified by expressions such as blacklist, black sheep, painting someone black, for example, and white list, white knight, white lie, and more. There is, in effect, a “blackness of bad/whiteness of good, badness of black/goodness of white” narrative that runs through the language – and necessarily all thinking in that language – in which “black” basically denotes “bad” and “white”, in turn, denotes “good”. Such a narrative, imbibed over a period (often from birth), and reinforced by everyday usage, must undoubtedly create in users of the language a mindset that is conditioned, subconsciously at least, to shun “black” things while instinctively embracing things designated as “white”.

In such a scenario a black person becomes routinely subsumed – subconsciously or otherwise – into the general category of “black”, and, therefore, “bad”, things, which, in turn, triggers the preprogrammed negative reaction in the other person, regardless of conscious intentions, leaving it to that person’s conscious mind, if aware and so inclined, to make the correction by separating the black person from the general category of “bad” “black” things. It actually may well be that the psychological inability to make this separation accounts for much existing racist disposition.

The white person, too, being also an integral part of the same conditioning system, and indeed its main beneficiary, would likewise get subsumed, subconsciously or otherwise, but this time into the category of “good” things, which, in turn, implicitly “entitles” him or her to favorable or “sympathetic” treatment – so much so that it may indeed form the psychological underpinning to the long-observed phenomenon of decidedly unequal treatment of black and white persons in law enforcement, not just by the police and prison authorities, but often even by judges.

Considering the processes outlined above, one can well perceive racism of the kind under discussion as a kind of social system into which people are indoctrinated by fate (i.e. birth) or by circumstance! As such, the people involved may actually be seen as being themselves entrapped by the system!

Coming now to solutions, it becomes apparent from the foregoing analysis that the key to resolving the systemic racism problem is the elimination of the “blackness of bad/whiteness of good” narrative and its related mindset. Effective action in that regard would be to delink the race-designating terms of “black” and “white” from all qualitative assessment functions in the language and, so, from figurative expressions such as those noted above.  Substituting other terms not associated with racial designations for these two terms would render these terms value-neutral and, so, mindset irrelevant, while also ending their unintended racial bias reinforcement effect as part of everyday conversations.  A random example of such substitution, strictly as illustration, could be something like dronche, for “black” and freen, for “white”, giving us expressions like “dronche sheep” and “dronche list”, in the case of “black”, and, in the case of “white”, “freen knight”, and “freen magic”, and so on. Of course, whatever new substitute terms are chosen will at first appear strange, unfamiliar and maybe even nonsensical, having by necessity no intrinsic meaning; however, with time and the requisite will these should all become normalized and, more importantly, imbued with the meanings we have chosen for them, just like other invented new terms in the language: “Ms.”, “phishing”, “meme” and others, being examples.

The idea here is that upon successful implementation of such substitution, it would not be long before the older generation, no longer functioning in the “bad is black, good is white” milieu and mindset, would have this connection erased from its consciousness, while for the new-born generation no such linkage would have even existed in their consciousness, thereby leading us, in principle, to a complete and permanent solution of the systemic racism problem!

Conclusion and Notable Points

While no one can say for certain that successful implementation of the solution envisaged here would in and of itself solve all of society’s racism problem, its singular importance lies, nevertheless, in the fact that no fundamental or enduring resolution of the problem seems possible without addressing the underlying mindset issue that the solution targets! 

The great merit of the solution proposed here, as argued above, is that it aims to be a real and permanent solution of the problem, rather than a palliative to douse the current crisis, as often happens.  Furthermore, this is a solution that will be welcomed by all involved: no longer does the black person have to endure the psychological humiliation and stigma of sharing “labels” with everything bad, ugly and evil, while the white person will be relieved of the awkwardness of being compelled, for want of alternatives, to use terminology which they can sense is demeaning to the other person. Adding to the merits of this solution is the fact that: it costs next-to-nothing to implement, unlike other “social justice” undertakings!

It is important to note once again that the focus in this analysis on the English language is merely strategic: as the dominant international communications medium, it can do – and no doubt has  already done – serious damage, spreading the narrative and mindset globally; it can, on the other hand, likewise positively transmit any correction through a large swathe of the global population. Moreover, any reform of English would exert enormous pressure for change on the other languages. This well-known French adage, for example, speaks volumes and requires no commentary: “La diable n’est pas aussi noir qu’ on le dit!”, translating essentially as “The devil is not as black as he is made out to be!”  #BADISNOTBLACK&VICEVERSA

•Dr. Okali, a former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General, is Founder-Chairman, Society for the Elimination of Racism In All Language (SERIAL)