Why Ken Ham’s Rhetoric on Race Is Counterproductive

Last updated on: June 14, 2017 at 8:50 am by Libby Anne

Why Ken Ham’s Rhetoric on Race Is Counterproductive 2017-06-14T08:50:05-04:00 Libby Anne

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Before we go on and dig further into this issue, I want to note that renowned creationist Ken Ham hit the blogosphere recently with this tweet:

Screen Shot 2017-06-06 at 5.43.04 AM Text of tweet: I’m not a white person & there are no black people.Using terms like ‘white’ & ‘black’ promotes division, racism & prejudice–all are brown

This feels like another version of the “I don’t see color” statement. Proclaiming that color doesn’t exist doesn’t change the fact that people are treated differently based on their color. Race may be socially constructed, yes, but that doesn’t make it not real, and to suggest otherwise is to put your head in the sand. Furthermore, blaming racism on terms is highly disingenuous.

In recent years, a growing number of individuals and articles have critiqued the “colorblind” approach. “White millennials are the product of a failed lesson in colorblindness,” wrote Mychal Denzel Smith for PBS News Hour.

…with respect to this particular generation, the Millennials, the education these young white people have received have left them ill-equipped to understand the nature of racism and subsequently supplied them analysis that won’t address the problem. As children of the multi-cultural 1980s and 90s, Millennials are fluent in colorblindness and diversity, while remaining illiterate in the language of anti-racism.

This shouldn’t be surprising. Claiming to be colorblind—that you don’t “see” race—does not change the reality that people with black and brown skin continue to face discrimination, and that centuries of race-based violence and oppression have created a system laced with inequities. It may, however, make it more difficult for you to recognize and grapple with these realities.

In conducting research on the attitudes of those who identify themselves as colorblind, Professor Brendesha Tynes has found that these individuals are more likely to brush off incidents such as racially themed college parties and less likely to recognize these activities as racist.

According to Tynes, a color-blind racial attitude is the prevailing racial ideology of the post-Civil Rights era, and is the view that seeing race is inherently wrong.

“If you subscribe to a color-blind racial ideology, you don’t think that race or racism exists, or that it should exist,” Tynes said. “You are more likely to think that people who talk about race and racism are the ones who perpetuate it. You think that racial problems are just isolated incidents and that people need to get over it and move on. You’re also not very likely to support affirmative action, and probably have a lower multi-cultural competence.”

Let’s return to the text of Ham’s tweet:

I’m not a white person & there are no black people.Using terms like ‘white’ & ‘black’ promotes division, racism & prejudice–all are brown

Who uses the terms “white” and “black”? Oh I don’t know, maybe anti-racism activists. If using these terms is the problem, those fighting racism are part of the problem. This goes back to what Tynes said—those who don’t “see” race are more likely to think that people who talk about racism—people like Ta-Nehisi Coates, for example—are perpetuating racism simply by talking about it.

A recent study of my community found that black drivers are searched by police nearly ten times more frequently than white drivers. The “colorblind” individual would look at this data and say that black drivers must be doing something different from white drivers—in other words, they would give police the benefit of the doubt and move on. The race-conscious individual would look at this data and see the continuation of historic over-policing of our nation’s black communities—and then create a citizens police advisory committee to review citizen complaints and police training.

Talking about racism is not the problem. Racism is the problem. Ham may think he’s helping—he may believe, for instance, that he is communicating to racists that they should look beyond racial differences—but in fact his statements end up promoting the preservation of a racist status quo by painting those fighting racism part of (or all of) the problem. The idea that people need to just stop talking about race is the modern day equivalent of the white moderate so heavily critiqued by Martin Luther King, Jr., in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail.

Or in other words: You’re not helping, Ken Ham.

I have a Patreon! Please support my writing!

Evangelicalism/Fundamentalism

Social Justice

Ken Ham

race

Previous Post

June 13, 2017

The Limits of Bystander Intervention

Next Post

June 15, 2017 The Red Center: Not a Figment of the Imagination

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Atheism Evangelicalism/Fundamentalism Family Feminism Homeschool Meta Parenting Patriarchy Politics Purity Quiverfull Social Justice Uncategorized Worthwhile reads

Select a Month February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was the ruler of Egypt during Joseph's time?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Pharaoh Cyrus Nebuchadnezzar Caesar