STATEOFTHEART EVERYDAY ANTIRACISM CompetenceandReligionintheCultural RepertoireoftheAfricanAmericanElite1 Michèle Lamont DepartmentofSociology,HarvardUniversity Crystal Marie Fleming DepartmentofSociology,HarvardUniversity Abstract This exploratory study makes a contribution to the literature on antiracism by unpacking the cultural categories through whicheverydayantiracismis experienced and practiced byextraordinarilysuccessfulAfricanAmericans.Usingaphenomenologicalapproach,we focus on processes of classification to analyze the criteria that members of the African American elite mobilize to compare racial groups and establish their equality. We first summarize results from earlier work on the antiracist strategies of White and African Americanworkers.Second,drawinguponin-depthinterviewswithmembersoftheBlack elite, we show that demonstrating intelligence and competence, and gaining knowledge, are particularly valued strategies of equalization, while religion has a subordinate role withintheirantiracistrepertoire.Thus,gainingculturalmembershipisoftenequatedwith educationalandoccupationalattainment.Antiraciststrategiesthatvaluecollegeeducation and achievement by the standards of American individualism may exclude many poor andworking-classAfricanAmericansfromculturalmembership.Inthisway,strategiesof equalizationbasedoneducationalandprofessionalcompetencemayprovedysfunctional for racial solidarity. Keywords: Antiracism,AfricanAmerican, Religion, Competence, Elite In“BlackMenandPublicSpace,”journalistBrentStaples~1992!wroteofhishabit of whistling Vivaldi’s Four Seasons when walking outside at night to signal that he is an educated, middle-class African American and not, as some might fear, out to snatchpurses+Forhispart,inthefirstfewpagesofTheSoulsofBlackFolk,W+E+B+ DuBoisdescribedhow,throughouthislife,hedreamedofdemonstratinghisequal- ity with Whites “by reading law, by healing the sick, by telling the wonderful tales thatswaminourhead”~1903@1969#,p+44!+Althoughlivinginverydifferentworlds, Du Bois Review, 2:1 (2005) 29–43. ©2005W.E.B.DuBoisInstituteforAfricanandAfricanAmericanResearch1742-058X005$9.50 DOI: 10.10170S1742058X05050046 29 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Harvard University, on 03 Nov 2017 at 18:44:32, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X05050046 Michèle Lamont and Crystal Marie Fleming thesetwomenpointtoacommonchallengefacedbymanyBlacks—thatofescaping Whitecontemptandofcounteringraciststereotypes+HowAfricanAmericanscope ineverydaylifewiththestigmaofBlacknessisatopicthathasbeenlargelyneglected to date+ Drawing on in-depth interviews with members of the African American national elite, this article explores the particular tactics used by Blacks to rebut White racism+ It advances our understanding of everyday antiracism by drawing on thedistinctiveanalyticaltoolsofculturalanalysistoexaminethesalienceofreligion and competence as elite African American antiracist strategies+ These are examined against the strategies used by African American workers documented elsewhere ~Lamont 2000!+2 Themainanalyticalpurposeofthisexploratorystudyistoexaminetherangeof repertoires that Blacks use to counter the ideology of White supremacy by demon- strating to themselves and to others that they are on equal footing with Whites+3 More specifically, what do Blacks identify as common denominators across races? Whatprinciplesdotheyinvokeinordertodemonstratethesimilarity,commonality, or compatibility of racial groups? Drawing on the writings of Bruno Latour ~1987! on how to make facts “resistant,” we examine precisely what kinds of evidence or “proofs” Blacks use to establish the legitimacy of their antiracist ideology+ Ourpurposesarebestspecifiedbyconsideringthequestionsweaskedmembers of the African American elites+ We probed whether they believe that Blacks and Whitesareequal,andifso,whatarethebasesuponwhichtheyjustifytheirantiracist perspective+Further,weexaminehowtheyhavecopedwithracismintheirpersonal andprofessionallife,whattheyviewasthemostandleastsuccessfulstrategies,what theyhavetaughttheirchildrenconcerninghowtocopewithracism,andwhatadvice would they give to Black youth concerning this challenge+ After identifying induc- tively the categories that are most salient in response to open-ended questions, we asked more specific queries regarding respondents’ evaluation of religion, compe- tence,education,andthedisplayoffaithasantiraciststrategies+Wealsoquestioned them concerning whether they would encourage specific tactics such as promoting colorblindness versus affirming cultural differences+4 Finally,weaimtoassesswhethertheantiracismofeliteAfricanAmericansfavors particularism or universalism+ We examine this by asking whether “it is natural to helpyourownkind”,whethertheybelievethatBlacksshouldhelpBlackpeoplefirst, and how they understand the relationship between racial and human solidarity+ We also probed whether they believe that they share something essential with other Blacksandwhatthisconsistsof+Thislineofquestioningisdesignedtounpackwho isincludedwithinthecommunityofreferencetowardwhichtheyexpresssolidarity ~Blacksonly,humanityasawhole,orothercategoriessuchas“American”!+Wealso askwhethertheybelievethatracismisintrinsictohumannature~forBlacksandfor other racial groups! with the goal again of testing the limit of their commitment to universalism+Wethenexplorewhethertheircriteriaofculturalmembershipwithin Americanmainstreamsocietyareparticularisticandlargelylimitedtospecificsubsets of the population—the middle class for instance—or expansive and available to all+ These questions provide points of entry for unpacking the cultural categories through which everyday antiracism is experienced and practiced by extraordinarily successfulAfricanAmericans+5Thistopichasbeenlargelyneglectedtodate,infavor ofexaminingbroader,macro-levelantiracistpracticeswithinorganizationsorsocial movements—those strategies implemented during the Black power era or in con- temporary antiracist NGOs for instance+6 A study of everyday antiracism helps us understandhowpeoplebridgeboundaries—thefrequentlyneglectedcounterpointto the more often studied topic of social exclusion+ This inquiry is informed by an 30 DUBOISREVIEW:SOCIALSCIENCERESEARCHONRACE2:1,2005 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Harvard University, on 03 Nov 2017 at 18:44:32, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X05050046 EverydayAntiracism overall research agenda centered on the study of commensurability, that is, of how units that are constructed as different from one another are made comparable+7 Our focus here is properly phenomenological since we center our attention on thecriteriathatunderliethecomparativeevaluationsofgroups+Insteadofanalyzing racismperse,weframethisprojectwithinageneralsociologyofprocessesofclassi- ficationandordering+8Thissociologyofclassificationinvolvesfocusingonordinary thinking about what constitutes heterogeneity and similarity within and between groups+ Our larger research agenda takes inspiration from Erving Goffman ~1963! who shows how individuals with discredited or “spoiled” identities take on the responsibilityofmanaginginteractiontopreventdiscomfortinothers+9Notethatwe donotpresumethatBlacksareconstantlyengagedinmanagingthestigmaofraceor thattheyareobsessedwithdemonstratingtheirequalitytoWhites+Wesimplyfocus onthisaspectoftheiridentityworkforthepurposeofthisresearchwhileacknowl- edging that often Blacks “don’t give a hoot” about what White folks think of them+ Itshouldbenotedthat,butforafewexceptions,thevastsociologicalliterature on American racism has not considered fully the ways in which Blacks experience, understand, and subvert White contempt+ Sociologists interested in Blacks’ experi- ence with racism have often been more concerned with denouncing injustice than with uncovering the cultural frameworks through which African Americans under- standanddealwithracism+Thetoolsofculturalsociologypresentuswithaunique opportunity to move the discussion in a more analytical direction, as we hope this article demonstrates convincingly+ This task is particularly urgent at the present juncture+ In the age of affirmative action, when racial barriers to achievement have been ostensibly removed, post-civil rights African Americans are, more than ever, confronted with the challenge of producing an inclusive discourse that can foster greater cultural membership for all people of color—not only the college educated+ We define antiracist strategies as the micro-level responses that individuals use to counter racist ideology in their daily life+ For African Americans, education and professional competence have both been critical tools for racial uplift—particularly among the Black middle class ~Hine 1989!+ For these upwardly mobile individuals, demonstrating competence and ability is a central strategy for combating racism+ Alternatively,religionisalsoanimportantstrategyinmanagingracialstigma+Much has been written on the ways in which the Black church has helped African Ameri- canscopewithracism~Frederick2003;Higginbotham1993!+Providinganetworkof solidarity as well as the promise of happiness in the afterlife, the church acted as a cultural buffer against the stigma of race and, in some cases, worked to mobilize Blacksagainstdiscrimination+Significantly,thisinstitutionsuppliedtheCivilRights Movement with an ideology, resources, members, and a rhetorical style ~McAdam 1998!+BlacktheologianssuchasJamesConeandAlbertCleageplayedanimportant roleindiffusinganunderstandingoftheGospelthatrecognizedandaffirmedBlack humanity ~Wilmore 1972!+ More generally, over the past century, the Black church hasrootedtheprincipleofracialequalityinthemoralauthorityofGod’swords,thus providing Blacks with tools for spiritual empowerment and presenting a nonracist version of the Christian faith~Long 1997; Paris 1985; Wills 1997!+ Lamont’s ~2000! work on the African American working class showed that this group is likely to use a wide range of strategies to justify its antiracist claims to equality, which includes pointing to their common characteristics as “children of God,”totheircommonphysiology,ortotheuniversalityofhumannature,aswewill see in the next sections+ Religion does not have a privileged place within this broad tool-kit of equalization+ A similar diversity of arguments is found in interviews conducted with members of the African American elite such as Nikki Giovanni, DUBOISREVIEW:SOCIALSCIENCERESEARCHONRACE2:1,2005 31 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Harvard University, on 03 Nov 2017 at 18:44:32, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X05050046 Michèle Lamont and Crystal Marie Fleming CongresswomanEleanorHolmesNorton,andChancellorJuliusChamber,towhich we turn afterward+ The prime antiracist strategy they say they use consists in dem- onstrating their intelligence and competence, which involves showing that racist stereotypes do not apply to them and0or that they are unfounded, and that they personally ~and0or Blacks more generally! can outperform Whites+ In short, this group establishes its cultural membership ~or racial equality! by giving evidence of conformity with norms of American individualism, particularly that of work ethic andcompetence+Weconcludewithadiscussionofwhetherthisclass-basedstrategy implicitly denies membership in mainstream America to the Black working and lower classes+ We argue in favor of a more universalist strategy that would ground cultural membership in the most inclusive standards+ AFRICAN AMERICAN WORKERS ThewayinwhichBlacksandWhitesdefinepersonalmeritandworthinessplaysan important role in how they perceive boundaries between racial groups and justify theirantiracistideology+Lamont~2000!examinedtheroleofreligionintheantirac- ism of African American workers+ This research drew on 150 in-depth interviews conducted with randomly sampled blue-collar workers and low-status, white-collar workerslivingintheNewYorkandParissuburbs+IntheAmericancase,interviews we conducted with thirty Blacks and forty-five Whites concerned a range of topics, but most centrally, the criteria they use to decide whom they associate with+ This study explored inductively how workers concretely define the boundaries between “us” and “them” and draw the lines between the worthy and the less worthy, thus mapping concrete manifestations of particularism and universalism+ The interviews showedthatworkers,BlackandWhite,emphasizemoralityasacriteriaofworth,and that Black workers more readily use religion as a proxy of moral character than do Whiteworkers+10 Forinstance,JohnRobinson,aunionrepresentativewhoworksat a GM plant in Rahway, expresses this succinctly when he says “@r#eligious people is people that got a heart, that care for people, regardless of what color you are, they careforwhat’sgoingonaroundthem++++Religiouspeopleispeoplethatbelievein thefamily,don’tbelieveinbadthings++++Ifyou’renotareligionperson,youbelieve in anything, good things and bad things+” Similarly,AbeLind,aplumberonLongIsland,chooseshisfriendsonthebasis ofwhetherthey“believeinGod,toalargeextent,@because#that’swhotheyanswer to, and they treat people fairly+” For these men, being able to use clear signals to distinguish between good and bad people is a crucial survival skill in the dangerous world in which they live, as pointed out by John Lamb, a recycling technician from GeorgiawhorecentlymovedtotheNorth+Hedescribeshisfriendsinthefollowing terms: “We basically have the same background++++ Baptists who have a lot of respect for people, believe in just doing the right thing++++ They are ‘family-going people,’peopleyoucantrust++++That’snotliketheaveragepersonyoumeetinthe street, that you gotta second guess+” If working-class African Americans often use religious or spiritual participation to establish people’s value, they also use it to explain similarities and differences betweenWhitesandBlacks—pointingtothefactthatBlacks“feelthespirit”differ- ently,forinstance+Butthereareother,muchmoresalientdifferences+Whitework- ersdefinepeople’sworthbyemphasizingwhatLamont~2000!calledthe“disciplined self,”i+e+,one’sabilitytoworkhardandupholdone’sresponsibilities+Blackworkers alsostressthisdisciplinedself,buttheyplacemorevalueuponthe“caringself”and 32 DUBOISREVIEW:SOCIALSCIENCERESEARCHONRACE2:1,2005 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Harvard University, on 03 Nov 2017 at 18:44:32, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X05050046 EverydayAntiracism acollectivistconceptionofmoralitythatcentersonegalitarianismandgivingbackto thecommunity+WhilemanyWhitesseeBlacksaslazyandcontrasttheirworkethic tothatofthisgroup,BlacksseeWhitesasdomineeringandcontrastthemwiththeir ownsolidarityandwarmth+Eachgroupperceivestheotheraslackingwithrespectto the specific universal moral rules they embody and privilege most+ Hence, disci- plined and caring selves are the moral grounds on which racist beliefs obtain their legitimacy+ ANTIRACISM AMONG THE BLACK AND WHITE WORKING CLASS Astheydrewthelinebetweentheworthyandthelessworthy,therewere,tobesure, White workers who expressed antiracist positions: they privileged two types of argumentstodemonstratethatWhitesandBlacksareequal,andtheserelatedirectly toearningabilityandhumannature+Justasracistsuseworkethicandself-relianceto criticize Blacks, antiracists suggest that earning capacity acts as an equalizing force ~i+e+, “if you can buy a house and I can buy a house, we are equal”!+ Thus they view marketmechanismsasbeingtheultimatearbitratorofthepersonalvalueandworth+ AntiracistWhitesalsoarguethatgoodandbadpeoplearefoundinallracialgroups+ In the words of Billy Taylor, a White foreman employed in a cosmetic company: I could have a problem with you as a Black but I could have the same problem ifyouwereWhite,orgreen,oryellow,orwhatever+Peoplearepeople+There’s good cops, there’s bad cops+ There’s good Whites, there’s bad Whites+++ + These criteria—earning ability and the universality of human nature—are also centraltoAfricanAmericanantiracism+However,incontrasttoWhites,Blacksalso mobilizealargerangeof“proofs”thatarenotusedbyWhites+Mostimportant,they pointtotheirabilitytoconsumetodemonstratetheirequalitywithWhites~seealso LamontandMolnar,2001!+Theyalsoemphasizetheircompetence,asevidencedby John, a Black recycling plant worker in New Jersey+ He says: Basically it comes down to, once you prove yourself that you’re just as good as @your White coworkers# +++ that you can do anything they do just as well as them, and you carry yourself with that weight, then people respect you, they kindabackawayfromyou+I’mkindofquiet,Ijustgothere,Idon’tmissadayon thejob,IdowhatIgottado,andI’moneofthebestthroughoutthewholeplant at what I do+ Blackworkersalsorebutracismbyadoptinganumberofuniversalisticstrategies that are available to all, independent of level of education, income, or civil status+ They provide evidence having to do with Whites’ and Blacks’ shared status as childrenofGod,commonphysiology,andsimilarhumanneeds+Theconstantreminder ofthestigmaofraceintheirdailylifecanmostlikelyaccountforthemoreexpansive characteroftheirrepertoireofantiracistarguments,especiallywhencomparedwith that of Whites+ Antiracist Arguments and Religion WorkingclassBlacksdouseevidencedrawnfromtheBibletodemonstratethatwe all share something fundamental+11 For instance, Abe, the plumber, points to the diversityofcreationtodemonstratethattheracesareequal+Hewishesthat“people DUBOISREVIEW:SOCIALSCIENCERESEARCHONRACE2:1,2005 33 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Harvard University, on 03 Nov 2017 at 18:44:32, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X05050046 Michèle Lamont and Crystal Marie Fleming wouldrealizethatwehaveonecreator,andnotmanycreators,andastherearemany different colors of birds, and trees, and fishes, and everything that cross this globe @therearedifferenttypesofpeople#+”12SimilarlyaBlackJehovah’sWitnessdrawson Biblical themes when he says: “Where has a man come from, but the dust of the earth? If we look at the dust of the earth, we’re all of color+” Unexpectedly, the Black workers who were interviewed do not ground racial equalityintheviewthatashumanbeingsweareequalbeforeGod—thatdivinegrace is in all of us+13 Moreover, like Whites, Blacks do not suggest that racial inequality results from God’s will, although this view remained popular during a good part of thetwentiethcentury+14 Nevertheless,religiousargumentsareappealingtothemin partbecausetheyofferausefulcounterpointtoracistevolutionaryaccounts,accord- ing to which Blacks would be lower on the scale of human development+ The best evidenceforthisisprovidedbyaphototechnicianwhocombinesevidenceregarding God’s creation ~“we all come from Adam and Eve”!, physiology ~“we all come out one way”! and lineage that stresses common descent ~“family of man”15! to refute racist, evolutionary views+ His strategy of antiracism aims at demonstrating that he, asaBlackperson,isnoclosertoapesthanareWhites~sayingthatthereisnoapein hisfamilytree!+Notethatpointingtoourcommonphysiologyadds“incontestable”— empirically grounded—proof of the wrong-headedness of racism+ Other Black workers point to similarly uncontestable facts when they note that “we all spend nine months in our mother’s womb,” that we all have the same red blood running in our veins, or that we all have ten fingers+16 Yet others point to common needs ~we all need to eat and work! and American citizenship to demon- strate their cultural membership, and implicitly, equality between the races within ourterritorialconfines+ThisviewwasnotexpressedamongWhitesandgoesunmen- tionedinsurvey-basedstudiesofantiracism,whichfocusonstructuralandindividual explanations of inequality ~Apostle et al+, 1983!+ In this plethora of antiracist argu- ments,religionispresent,butnotparticularlyprominent,especiallywhencompared with market arguments ~“money makes us equal”!, arguments about competence, andhumannaturearguments+Thisinitselfisaninterestingfindinggivenprominent stereotypesabouttheculturaldistinctivenessofAfricanAmericans,particularlycon- cerning the salience of religion in their worldviews+ Bylookingspecificallyathowworkersdefinesimilaritiesanddifferences,includ- ing racial ones, we are able to identify the presence and absence of different argu- mentsthathavegoneunnoticedtodate+Forinstance,wefindthatWhitesandBlacks alike use evidence drawn from everyday experience—such as the common-sensical view that human nature is universal—to rebut the notion of racial inequality+ Their rhetoric is in stark contrast with that produced in academia, and popularized by school curriculum debates, which stresses multiculturalism or cultural diversity— argumentsneverusedbyworkers+Perhapsthelatterappealslesstoworkersthanto professionalsduetotheirdesiretokeeptheworldinmoralorderandtodistinguish clearlytheboundariesbetweenwhatispermissibleand“normal”andwhatisnot+By producing increasingly sophisticated criticisms of essentialism and of available uni- versalistic assumptions about human nature, the social sciences may be moving furtherandfurtherawayfromtheformsofantiracismthataremostwidelyavailable to, and used by, the population at large+ The National Elite WeturnourattentiontotheantiraciststrategiesoftheAfricanAmericanelite+Using sociometric measures, Howard Taylor and colleagues constructed a sample of 167 34 DUBOISREVIEW:SOCIALSCIENCERESEARCHONRACE2:1,2005 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Harvard University, on 03 Nov 2017 at 18:44:32, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X05050046 EverydayAntiracism Blackleaderswhowereidentifiedbyotherelitemembersasbelongingtothishighly selective group in the mid-1980s ~for details, see Jackson et al+, 1995!+ These indi- vidualsrepresentawiderangeofprofessionalandsuccessfulelites,includingexecu- tives, politicians, military officers, heads of philanthropic organizations, media, entertainment and sports figures, as well as leaders in the field of higher education+ We conducted phone interviews with ten of these individuals, including the poet Nikki Giovani, the congressional delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the civil rights lawyer Julius Chambers, the former United States Ambassador to South Africa, James Joseph, and Thirman Miller from Hartford, Connecticut, who was the first Black mayor of a New England town+17 We draw on their accounts to develop an understandingoftheantiraciststrategiesadoptedbyhighlysuccessfulAfricanAmer- icans+ We explore how they go about establishing their cultural membership in mainstream America+ Here we briefly discuss early findings in an exploratory way+ A first striking observation is that this group rarely grounds human equality in religion+Onlyoneoftheleaderswetalkedtodidso:ThirmanMiller,whodrewon Biblical themes when he said: We’reallGod’schildrenasone++++ItwasonlyAdamandEvetobeginwithand all generations came from that beginning+ And I think if you look at the way we’re spread out +++ it’s basically where we landed that made the difference in ourcomplexionandourcolorandourhairtextureandallthoseotherthings+++ We talk about the differences between, you know, Latinos and West Indians, whereas we all basically came from the same groups in Africa+ We could be interrelated by blood+ Interestingly,Milleristheonlyeliterespondentwhoisnotcollegeeducated+Other interviewees in this group are more likely to ground racial similarity in standards supported by scientific knowledge+ It was the case notably for a federal judge who, when asked what is the difference between Blacks and Whites, sternly and simply answered: “phenotype+” Also implicitly drawing on scientific knowledge, the poet Nikki Giovanni points to our status as members of a common species+ Combining thisthemewiththatofsocialjustice,sheexplainsthat“thespeciesisone”bywhich she means: Lifeisequal,andifyouloseit,youwanttoloseittoaccident++++Youdon’twant to lose it through hatred because somebody doesn’t like the way you look+ You don’t want to lose it because somebody has an uncle who needs a job and they decidetokillyoutogetit++++Youhaveanequalrighttoyourlife,asdoallliving things+ Even William Howard, a pastor, framed his antiracist arguments in scientific, ratherthanreligious,language+NotinghisbeliefthatBlacksandWhitesare“equal by nature”, he mentions in passing that “Professor Cohen, the paleontologist from Harvard, says that there was more difference within a racial group than there was among racial groups+” Severalrespondentsarehighlycriticalofusingreligionasameansofcombating racism+ Eleanor Holmes Norton derides “praying oneself out of segregation” and advocatesinsteadlitigationasamoreeffectivestrategy,asdoesJuliusChambers—in his words, “you try to communicate, and if it does not work, you sue+” Betty Lou Dodson suggests that religious appeals risk “preaching to the choir” and may ulti- matelybeineffectiveantiraciststrategies:“Unlessthatmessageisbeingdeliveredin DUBOISREVIEW:SOCIALSCIENCERESEARCHONRACE2:1,2005 35 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Harvard University, on 03 Nov 2017 at 18:44:32, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X05050046 Michèle Lamont and Crystal Marie Fleming areligiousforumwhichconsistsofWhites,itdoesn’tmatter+”Others,suchasNikki Giovanni, emphasize the shortcomings of religious institutions as facilitators of antiracistideologyinthecivilrightsmovements+Sheremindsus:“Thechurchwasa bigbulwark,thechurchwasapartoftheleadership,butsomeofthepreacherswere cowardly,youknowthattoo+Someofthepreachershidbehindthefact,“WellI’ma preacher and I don’t want to upset the apple cart+++ +” These exploratory interviews clearly suggest that religion is not particularly salientinframinghowmembersoftheAfricanAmericaneliteconceiveofsuccessful antiracist strategies+ COMPETENCE AS AN ANTIRACIST STRATEGY OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN ELITE Generally, elite African Americans emphasize intelligence, competence, and educa- tionasthemosteffectiveantiraciststrategies,frequentlyidentifyingthesequalitiesas their“ticket”outofsocialexclusion+Thiscommonthemeanimatestheresponsesof both Delegate Norton, who coped with racism by showing that “you can out-do them,youcanoutlearnthem,youcanbesmarterthanthem”andofJamesJoseph,an ambassador, who took to heart his mother’s warning that “you have to be twice as smarttogethalfasgoodajob+”Elaboratingonthistheme,EleanorNortonsaysshe would offer this advice for young African Americans coping with racism: IwouldsayignoreWhitepeople+++thatwillhelpyouloseyourraceconscious- ness and concentrate on yourself and on excellence++++ There’s a way in which peoplebecomeintimidatedbythinkingthattheyhavetopreparethemselvesfor racism+ It’s there, much of it you can’t do anything about, except what our forefathers always told us, outdo them++++ Betty Lou Dodson suggests a similar strategy of competency, saying: I think the first thing that you do is to make sure that you know what you’re doing++++ I always used to say to my staff, knowledge is power++++ So you try tolearnasmuchasyoucanaboutwhateveritisyou’redoing++++youmasteras much knowledge as you possibly can, whatever situation you find yourself in+ THE CHALLENGES OF CLASS-BASED RACIAL EQUALITY Given the centrality of demonstrating intelligence and competence and gaining knowledge as strategies of equalization, the main challenge for reaching the most inclusive definition of cultural membership possible for the greatest majority of Blacks is not to ground the latter in class-specific characteristics such as the college degree+ References to the importance of intelligence and knowledge may suggest that racial equality is more readily achieved for African Americans who are college- educatedthanforthosewhoarenot+Andindeed,severalintervieweespointtotheir college education as a crucial resource in their strategies to disprove racist stereo- types+ Significantly, some also expressed sharp class-based distinctions in their dis- cussion of race relations+ They may more readily stress class distinctions across all 36 DUBOISREVIEW:SOCIALSCIENCERESEARCHONRACE2:1,2005 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Harvard University, on 03 Nov 2017 at 18:44:32, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X05050046 EverydayAntiracism racial groups than inequalities and differences between racial groups+ For instance, when asked if he thought there were differences between Blacks and Whites, a prominentBlackjudgeofferedthefollowingresponse:“Imeanareyoutalkingabout people in the same classes, are you talking about people in the same location, vocation,or@levelof#education?I’mnotclearaboutmeaningfulpredictablediffer- ences predicated on race+” Similarly, Betty Lou Dodson, who emerged from a solidly middle-class family states,“IseemoreofaclassdistinctionbetweenpeopleinthesensethanIdoaracial distinction+ I always have+” For Dodson, who attended an all Black university, this sensitivity to class and her strategic commitment to education and professional competencetranslateintoafeelingofsuperioritytowardlower-classWhites+Remem- bering the days when she was growing up, she says: TherewasHowardUniversity+++andtherewasasenseofBlacksthattheyreally were well-educated people with a tremendous race consciousness+ Many of the White people were from Maryland and Virginia—hillbillies—we didn’t think a lotoftheirintelligence+Theydidn’tgiveusanysenseofinferiority,despitethe segregation of the schools+++ + These interviews suggest an overall tension between equalization strategies ~or more specifically, antiracist strategies! grounded in a class-based individualism and strategies that posit universalistic principles for equality available to all+ College education,knowledge,andtheculturalcapitaloftheelitearenot,ofcourse,univer- sallyattainable+Thesearestandardsofculturalmembershipthatcanbemoreeasily metbymiddle-classpeoplethanbymembersofanyothergroups,associologistsof education studying social reproduction have clearly established ~e+g+, Fischer et al+, 1996!+ Members of the African American elite face the challenge of reconciling the lessons they learned from their own success in dealing with racism with that of developing equalization strategies that do not leave behind African Americans who donotbelongtothemiddleclass+Anchoringtheirownculturalmembershipintheir capacitytoachievebythestandardsofAmericanindividualism~mostoftenmeasured intermsofacademicachievementandprofessionalmobility!,Blackelitesriskreinforc- ing boundaries that put the African American working class and poor outside the bounds of “people like us” toward whom most Americans share feelings of obliga- tions and collective responsibilities+ A broadening of our collective definitions of culturalmembershipmaybeachallengenoteasilymet,giventhestereotypesabout ability and work ethic that are associated with the African American phenotype in our society+ LamontandMolnàr~2001!interviewedAfricanAmericanmarketingexecutives who believe that they are equal to Whites because they can buy luxury goods, i+e+, drink Rémy Martin, wear Brooks Brothers, and drive Cadillacs+18 These marketing executives believe that money, not competence, acts as a passport to gain cultural membership in American society: “Money is green,” as one of them puts it+ Similar to several elite members we interviewed, these marketing specialists implicitly sus- tain the notion that not all Blacks ~nor all Americans for that matter! can achieve culturalmembership,sinceitisprimarilyavailableto“successfulpeople+”Thisisat odds with the goal of fighting racism for all Blacks and of working toward the improvement of the race+ While scholars are attempting to provide answers to this challenge, the tension remains+19 DUBOISREVIEW:SOCIALSCIENCERESEARCHONRACE2:1,2005 37 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Harvard University, on 03 Nov 2017 at 18:44:32, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X05050046 Michèle Lamont and Crystal Marie Fleming UNIVERSALISTIC AND PARTICULARISTIC VISIONS OF CULTURAL MEMBERSHIP Incidentally,asimilartensionbetweenacommitmenttouniversalismquaantiracism, and a particularistic vision of cultural membership was also present in responses to thequestionaboutwhether“itisnaturaltohelpyourownkind+”Somerespondents provide a very universalistic answer to this question+ According to Nikki Giovanni: Itdependsonwhatyou’recallingyourownkind+We’reallourownkind+Most likely, if I was at the zoo and a kid fell over into the rhino pen, I might reach downandhelphim+Iwouldn’tsay,ohit’saWhitekid,lettherhinoeathim,I’d try to help+ But if the kid fell into the lion’s pit, it’s going to be, oh damn, that kid’sgoingtogeteatenbecauseI’mnotgoingtojumpinthelion’spit!Ifit’smy kid,Iwill,butnotanybodyelse’s+Butourkindis,Imeanthat’swhatit’sallabout, our kind+ I think you help who you can, who you believe in++++ But if you’re saying,ohmyGod,Ireallydon’tthinkthatgirlcansing,butIshouldhireherfor my nightclub because she’s Black, that’s crazy+ In contrast, Thirman Miller says that it is natural for Black people—for people of color in fact—to want to help one another: just as natural as it is for the Irish, Jews and anybody else to, +++ People ask me whyisitnecessarytohaveanNAACPoraBlackMayor’sConferenceorallthese things++++ I say @it’s# because we have unique situations that we have to deal with++++Thepeopleofcolorhavegonethroughsomeveryparticularstruggles that others did not face+ The Jews had the Holocaust, but that lasted and was ended and everything went fine+ Racism has not ended for people of color++++ AndthesamebasicallywiththeLatinos+Thesethingsthatbringustogetherare common things that sort of segregate us from the world as a whole because we had simple issues that we face just based on the color of our skin, regardless of where we go—we find it in Europe, we find in the United States—wherever there’s a large White community we still face racism+ This particularistic stance also contrasts with Congresswoman Norton’s more nuancedposition+Whenaskedwhether“it’snaturaltowanttohelpyourownkind,” she said: Ifyouliveamongpeople,it’slikeyourownfamily+Younaturallyhelpyourown family+@But#theGreeksbelievedthatthehighestformofmoralitywastohelpa neighbor,sothat’snotsonatural+Tohelpsomebodywhoisoutsideofthegroup, there you get to really civilizing notions++++ White people found Black people way away from them, certainly didn’t want to help them, wanted to hurt them+ However, Norton believes that Blacks should help Black people first because “thereisaracialobligationthatisfirstandforemost,whenyouhavetheoutstanding problems we have in our community+” From this it does not follow that Whites should help White people first+ She views racial solidarity among Blacks as well as racialsolidarityofWhitestowardBlacksastwoformsofuniversalisms,basedonthe principles of need and altruism+ 38 DUBOISREVIEW:SOCIALSCIENCERESEARCHONRACE2:1,2005 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Harvard University, on 03 Nov 2017 at 18:44:32, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X05050046