Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism

Racial standing is an important part of the rhetorical situation when African Americans speak about racism and matters that directly impact their wellbeing; while “standing” in a legal sense refers to whether a person has an interest—possible harm or potential benefits—in a matter before a court, racial standing refers to how white audiences use a racial lens to discount or give credibility to the speech of African Americans. In Chapter 6: “The Rules of Racial Standing,” Bell outlines five rules that govern when African Americans get a fair and impartial hearing from white audiences. The rules ultimately reflect that African Americans’ speech is only accepted as credible by white people when it serves white interests, and it is discounted when it serves African American interests. That white interests are what determine racial standing underscores the critical race theory premise that white interests are at the heart of American political and social culture.

Racial realism means acting under the assumption that racism is a permanent part of the US and using a pragmatic approach to deal with the effects of its permanence. While traditional civil rights approaches are premised upon the ideals of equality, fairness, and morality/ethics, racial realism holds that appealing to such values to improve the lot of racially subordinated groups will always fail because self-interest is actually the motivating principle behind discrimination. Bell explores this concept in Chapter 5: “Divining a Racial Realism Theory” and in Chapter 9: “The Space Traders” to show that failure to acknowledge how powerful this self-interest is poses a danger to the long-term survival of African Americans. Activists who ignore the reality of permanence of racism cannot act effectively to protect African Americans from harm.