By Frances Mulcahy (she/her), MBBS

Content warning: mentions of racism

To begin to deconstruct racism, we must first be aware, each day, of our internalised racism and (white) privilege.

I have always believed it is a truism to say, ‘you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar’. So, I will, as best I can, go gently.

Most people explicitly believe that racism is wrong. Most people believe that no one should be judged on their appearance alone. Most people would be appalled if told they displayed racism. How do you feel about the following statement?

‘All humans have developmental learned traits that results in them favouring members of their own family/tribal/ethnic group over other persons – as adults we all have racist/discriminatory tendencies.’

Don’t believe that you are under attack, because you are not. There is ample scientific research that confirms the statement. Fields as far apart as evolutionary anthropology and early developmental child learning theory support this statement. This hardwired tendency can be modified. The tendency for racially based judgement has been shown to be lessened by exposure to non-judgmental cultural values.

A less confronting but still related example of human hard-wiring is that of the startle reflex. Humans have a hard-wired startle response. A standard test to demonstrate normal complex neurological function in a newborn is to elicit a startle response. The baby is subject to either a noise (out of favour as too robust of a test) or they are cradled in hands over the mattress and allowed to drop just a centimetre to the soft surface. What the clinician hopes to see is the baby shoot out both arms and deeply draw in breath, briefly hold their breath, and then call out. The advantage of an automatic complex behaviour that gives an infant the best opportunity to reach out to slow a fall and to have a ‘best’ landing without injury to the diaphragm, and with a lung full of air to call for aid is self-evident. This hard-wired startle reflex is modified as we age. Children use their startle reflex when they develop the understanding of object constancy. They delight in the peek-a-boo game. That game teaches that not all startle is fearful and that objects do not disappear when unseen. The preferred object in the game is a face. The infant is learning that familiar faces are safe. Babies are not racist, but they are stranger-phobic. Everyone has seen that it takes time for a new person to gain babies’ trust and confidence. Peek-a-boo is one of the best ways to manage this. Babies don’t care if the face is of another colour, they do care if there is a smile, and they do care if the vocal tone is too deep or too loud. As children age, both their temperament and environment modify how they startle. By the time we are adults, we have an individual pattern of startle with some commonalities. We tend to startle more easily if anxious. Some of us get the giggles (of relief) after a startle.

So, I am asserting that babies are not racist but they are stranger-averse. Both the family and wider culture teaches the developing child to group together people as ‘other’. These ‘others’ are not seen as safe or of equal value. Even if our example child has a family environment brimful of ethnic and racial inclusion, the mass media, social media, and broad culture all state that racial difference equates to ‘others’.

As childhood continues, the child sees outside groups frequently vilified and harmed. They will internalise that trauma and seek to avoid it for themselves. They will apply avoidant strategies to situations involving ‘others’. The concrete nature of childhood intellectual process also seeks to simplify ‘others’ into all good or all bad. This splitting is still common in adults. Sadly, childhood magical thinking is also seen in adult life.

In late adolescence, humans complete their prefrontal connections and most will develop the capacity for emotional empathy. If individuals develop empathy, they will begin to understand that the criticism of others is only a first step to the mature consideration of their own failings. If the road to empathy is blocked by emotional trauma, substance use, head injury, etc. people tend to feel victimised and to suffer painful righteous indignation. They are also more likely to apply less mature reasoning strategies to complex problems.

By early adult life, much of our view of others we take for granted, just as we take our privilege for granted.

I am a white person with a dominant Celtic gene pool. I identify as white Australian. I, in common with everyone in Australia, have been exposed to torrents of racism/classism/ableism/sexism/genderism/sizeism. The media and most of our political and social power structures stink of privilege. I have heard innumerable times from (white) experts that closing the gap is very difficult. I have heard over and over that the best intentioned (white) efforts have not improved the lot of our First Nations people. I have repeatedly heard that the only explanation for our culture’s failure must lie with the victims.

Faced with this barrage of negativity, it is understandable that the majority of white Australians identify with the aggressor. The safe place to stand is next to the human with the big stick. We are at risk of splitting our understanding of racism: ‘I am not a racist because I do not verbally assault people of colour. The fact that I do think that a racist joke is okay, is not real racism.’

The error here is, while there may be different severity of outcome, racism is racism.

To deconstruct racism we must all face the daily task of acknowledging our imperfections and remind ourselves of the tenants of humanity we hold dear. These beliefs may be of cultural, spiritual or intellectual origin.

I am not advocating apologetic guilt as a way forward. The first racist we need to call out is us, and the first racist we need to call in, is also us.

Further reading:

Rebecca J. Brooker, Kristin A. Buss, Kathryn Lemery-Chalfant, Nazan Aksan, Richard J. Davidson, and H. Hill Goldsmith, 2013, The Development of Stranger Fear in Infancy and Toddlerhood: Normative Development, Individual Differences, Antecedents, and Outcomes Developmental Science.

Kate Wong, 2011, Racism Not Hardwired, Scientists Say Scientific American.