Eugene weekly., February 02, 2017, Page 12, Image 12

BLACK
BY UNPOPULAR
DEMAND
The insidious function of covert racism
in Eugene’s liberal white utopia
WORDS & PHOTOS BY MEERAH POWELL
W
alking along Broadway downtown on a Saturday
night, you see a black man approaching from the
opposite direction. You feel nervous — a split
second of fear. Your instinct is to nonchalantly
cross the street, but you know you can’t, because
you don’t want him, or anyone else, to think you’re racist.
You’re not, right? Nah, you can’t be. You live in Eugene. You voted
for Obama, twice. You care about social issues, evidenced by the cool
photo you Instagramed from the Women’s March. Hillary Clinton’s
description of young African-American men as “super-predators”
bothered you.
I’m sorry to break it to you, but your guilty conscience doesn’t mean
you aren’t racist.
When people think of racism, they usually think of overt racism:
the word “nigger” scribbled on walls, hate crimes, hooded clansmen.
But covert racism harms people of color, too. This more insidious form
of racism functions through false notions of “color blindness” and the
assertion that we live in a “post-racial” society.
Covert racism lives in the margins and manifests itself in knee-jerk
reactions, like staring at person of color a little longer than you would
someone else, or in the kind of overcompensating friendliness that’s
meant to prove you’re not racist.
Living in the Pacific Northwest, it’s easy to think racism doesn’t exist
here; it only happens in small, rural communities or in the South. But
bias exists in everyone. It’s the way society is structured.
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February 2, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com