Three Responses to Racism and Systemic Racism: Therapy, Punishment, and Education

Abstract

AbstractWhat roles should the responses of therapy, punishment and education to racism play in a pluralistic democracy that has a long history of bigotry, racism and systemic (institutional) racism? What does justice require of any public response to racism and systemic racism? The first step toward an answer to these questions begins with a discussion of therapy. In recent years therapy has been by far the most popular U.S. response to racism, touted by hundreds of legislators, governors, and mayors, under the banner, “Systemic racism is a public health crisis”. But an analysis of the concept of therapy shows that it has implications that are unacceptable in a liberal-democratic society. Racism is not a disease nor is it a symptom of a disease. It does not make racists candidates for cures created and administered by public health therapists. Punishment as a response to racism is seen to do no better. The concept of punishment implies the existence of a transgressor who violates the law. But racist thoughts and expressions do not violate valid laws in constitutional democracies. It is not a crime to be a racist unless the racist behavior is harmful to others. At the same time, it is acknowledged that punishment is a justifiable response to systemic racism because such institutional systems can and often do violate contemporary valid laws. The concept of education avoids the unacceptable implications of therapy and punishment. Education does not assume that racism is a symptom of a disease nor does it assume that racism violates valid laws. An analysis of the concept of education shows it to be a voluntary relationship between student and teacher in which students are at liberty to retain or give up their prejudicial opinions. If responsive education succeeds in an effort to eliminate or mitigate racism, then this might eventually have the side effect of abolishing all systemic racism.KeywordsRacismTherapyPunishmentEducation