Montana’s Robert Saunders: “I’m Not A Racist”

Last updated on: October 26, 2016 at 5:00 am by Libby Anne

Montana’s Robert Saunders: “I’m Not A Racist” 2016-10-25T15:05:19-04:00 Libby Anne

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There’s a famous quote from the Handmaid’s Tale: “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.” I would posit that we have a corollary when it comes to race: “White people are afraid they will be called racist. Black people are afraid they will be killed by the police.” Check out this article about Robert Saunders, a state legislature candidate in Billings, Montana, accused of making racist comments while in college:

“At the end of the day, I’m not a racist. I have never been a racist, I will never be a racist,” Saunders said. “My relationships with a number of people will demonstrate that I’m not a racist.”

Saunders is very, very concerned that he is being called racist. Saunders attended Patrick Henry College, a small private Christian college founded by homeschool leader Michael Farris, and from what I’ve heard from others who attended there, the comments discussed in the above article are only the tip of the bucket. But Saunders can’t come clean about that and admit that he held inappropriate views in college and has since grown from them (which I suspect he hasn’t, but you get the point). Instead, he’s very, very concerned to make sure everyone knows he is not “a racist.”

Note the use of the phrase “a racist.” Who uses the term that way? I certainly don’t. Saunders’ use of the term suggests that he sees it as a wholistic state of being rather than a term used to describe people who hold specific views or impulses. For the record, I wouldn’t call anyone “a sexist” either. I’d say that they were being sexist. Words matter. Language matters.

In the United States, most white people are at least a little bit racist—and it does not have to be intentional or even conscious. I grew up in a very white environment. I went to college and grad school in a similarly white environment. Several years ago, I traveled to a large city for a conference. Unsurprisingly, this city was more diverse than what I was used to. One morning as I came out of my hotel, two black teenage boys walked by. I instinctively clutched my purse tighter—and then I realized what I’d done and felt a deep sense of shame. I hadn’t thought of myself as someone who was racist, but I wouldn’t have clutched my purse like that if those teens had been white.

Consider the Police Officer’s Dilemma, a study out of the University of Colorado. Researchers showed participants images of black and white men, individually and with different backgrounds. In some images the men held cell phones or soda cans while in others they held guns. Researchers asked participants to click one key to shoot—if the image was armed—and another key to not shoot—if the image was unarmed. Guess what they found?

Participants shoot an armed target more quickly and more often when that target is Black, rather than White. However, participants decide not to shoot an unarmed target more quickly and more often when the target is White, rather than Black.

Since that morning I clutched my purse in a faraway city, I’ve worked intentionally to confront my internal prejudices, and have moved to a more diverse area. As I’ve met more people of color, and as I’ve worked to recognize and counter internal prejudices, I’ve watched my reactions and internal biases change. But if we can’t admit that we harbor unconscious racism—and again, most white Americans do—how are we supposed to even start confronting it? The term “racist” has obtained so much stigma—and rightfully so—that we are no longer willing to recognize ourselves in it, and that can get in the way of even starting to address it in ourselves.

When Saunders insists that he is not “a racist”—and it’s perhaps worth mentioning that the allegations against him go further than unconscious bias—he positions racism an identity. And yet, people are more complex than that. People can be hard workers on the job, steady volunteers at their church, and loving parents to their children, and also racist. When Saunders says he is not “a racist” he conjures up a one-dimensional image of a backward hick. And yet, people are rarely one-dimensional.

When we assume that “a racist” is always a one-dimensional caricature, it becomes too easy to make excuses for those we know and love when they make comments that are—yes—racist. Uncle Jim isn’t “a racist.” Good grief! He always helps Betty with her groceries, and she’s black! Don’t call Grandpa Tom “a racist”! He’s a good man! Are you suggesting that Aunt Jenny is “a racist”? Surely not! There’s a black woman in her knitting group! But if we refuse to hold those we know and love accountable when they make racist comments, will they ever have any reason to change?

We live in a world where too many white people, like Saunders, are more concerned about not being called “racist” than they are about doing the introspection necessary to identify and root out insidious racist ideas and unconscious bias. That’s a problem.

A lot of people seem to think that being racist is synonymous with hating black people. It’s not. For one thing, it’s possible to believe that white people are intellectually superior to black people and that blacks and whites are best off living separately without actually hating anyone. For another thing, these beliefs are often insidious. Someone who would balk at the statement “white people are intellectually superior to black people” might still prefer a white technician to fix their computer or a white accountant to do their taxes, without recognizing that preference or realizing that it stems from unconscious ideas about race and competence.

To bring this back full circle, I find Saunders’ use of the term “a racist” an excellent example of a larger societal problem in the way we, as white people, address race. If racism is all-consuming and fully-damning, we must not have it. We cannot have it. We know that we are not “a racist.” There is more to us than that. But if we (as white people) understand that racism takes far more forms than our one-dimensional Klan-clad stereotype of “a racist,” we can begin to be on the alert for and recognize racist tendencies we—yes we—may have. Once we recognize them, we can challenge them.

Unfortunately, instead of taking the opportunity to do some introspection, Saunders is just angry that he was called racist. How dare people call him “a racist”?! How dare they! That response tends to be a confirmation more than anything else.

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