Racism
Is the Republican Party racist? Is
even asking this question out of bounds? The respected nonpartisan think tank
Public Relations Research Institute apparently didn’t think so. PRRI conducted
a study to tease out respondents’ racial attitudes with 11 carefully
constructed questions.1 The institute then used the responses to
create what it called a “Structural Racism Index.” The median score on a scale
running from 0 to 1 was 0.45. For Democrats, the average score was 0.27. For
independents, it was 0.45. For Republicans, it was .067.
As Miami Herald columnist Leonard
Pitts described the study, “No matter how they diced up the respondents by
party and race, no other group ranked nearly as high. ‘Republicans’ and ‘white
Republicans’—terms
that are functionally redundant—tied
for the lead. In second place at 0.58? ‘Republicans of other races.’”
This study should be disappointing to Latter-day Saint
Republicans, but it can hardly be surprising. Indeed, as various recent news
stories and President Nelson’s repeated admonitions indicate, the Latter-day Saints do have a racism problem. And maybe this is one
reason why Church members feel so comfortable in the GOP.
It is no secret that since Trump took over, the Republican
Party has thrown the door open wide to white supremacist groups. Why would it
do this? Because these people tend to vote Republican. They just don’t vote
Democrat. It’s all about power, not principle.
We don’t even need to ask, but which party has been up in
arms about critical race theory (CRT)? Critical race theory, according to the
Encyclopedia Britannica, is an “intellectual and social movement and
loosely organized framework of legal analysis based on the premise that race is
not a natural, biologically grounded feature of physically distinct subgroups
of human beings but a socially constructed (culturally invented) category that
is used to oppress and exploit people of colour. Critical race theorists hold
that racism is inherent in the law and legal institutions
of the United States insofar as they function to create and maintain social,
economic, and political inequalities between whites and nonwhites,
especially African Americans.” In essence, racism is not just an
individual matter of prejudice but is structural in many ways. This premise is
not really that controversial.
For instance, this is what the “Utah Compact on Racial
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion”2 says: “We view racism as more than
just an individual character flaw. It is a system of ideas, beliefs, practices,
structures, and policies that give some people greater opportunity to be
fully human and live a happier and healthier life than others. Unraveling
centuries of internalized and systemic racism requires bold anti-racist actions
and policies right now.” This document has been signed by a long list of
important Utahns, including many Republican office holders.
But suddenly, likely because of exposure on Fox News, CRT became
a rallying cry for Republicans, who demanded that policies be enacted to
prevent CRT from being taught in schools, even though it was not being taught
in schools. It also became a focus for white Republicans who used it as an
excuse to claim that they were actually the victims of racism. How choice is
that? But white grievance has taken hold of the GOP.
We could also ask which party was upset about the Black
Lives Matter (BLM) movement, even to the point of trying to somehow create an
equivalence between the BLM protests over unwarranted police brutality and the
January 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol Building, which was stoked by the
lies of a desperately fragile ego who couldn’t bear the thought of losing an
election. Some responded to the BLM protests with the weak “All Lives Matter.”
Of course all lives matter, but all lives have not been treated equally by law
enforcement and other elements of our legal and government and business
establishment. Do whites really have any reason to rise up in protest about how
the police treat them differently than other races?
I suppose my point here is to question LDS Republicans about
why they still vote to put a party in power that has in recent years honed a
harder edge on its history of soft racism. Are you finding ways to excuse the
inexcusable? Are you really worried that your child might learn something in
school about the history of racism in America that might make him or her feel guilty
by association or just feel bad? Are your privileged children that fragile?
Maybe this is why we still have a significant racism problem at BYU, in Utah
school districts, and in the Church in general. Regardless, it’s one more in a growing
list of reasons why any believing Latter-day Saint should not be a Republican.
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1. To read the questions and the breakdown of answers, see
“Creating More Inclusive Public Spaces: Structural Racism, Confederate
Memorials, and Building for the Future,” September 28, 2022, https://www.prri.org/research/creating-more-inclusive-public-spaces-structural-racism-confederate-memorials-and-building-for-the-future/.
2. The Compact can be found on the Salt Lake Chamber of
Commerce website at https://slchamber.com/public-policy/initiatives/utah-compact/.
