Racism, Change and Degradation

Excerpts from the Paper

Racism, Change and Degradation
Introduction
The metaphor of racism as disease is common, not only in popular discourse but also in the academic literature. As Otto Santa Ana has perceptively noted, there are two different kinds of disease: disease that attacks a body from outside, and disease that arises within the body (120). This metaphor helps to explain the differences in expressions of racism in times of change and times versus normalcy. This essay will build on Santa Ana’s metaphor by defending a theory of static racism and also explaining why a theory of dynamic racism is possible.
Static Racism
Static racism is the racism expressed by individuals and corporate entities (businesses, organizations, states, etc.) that are not under...

..... in Contemporary Africa,”
Comparative Political Studies, 6:4, pp. 457-477.
Davies, James. “Toward a Theory of Revolution,” American Sociological Review, 27:1, pp. 5-19.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. The American Scholar: Self Reliance, Compensation. New York:
American Book Company, 1893.
Fredrickson, George M. Racism: A Short History. Princeton, NJL Princeton University Press,
2002.
Katz, Judy H. White Awareness: Handbook for Anti-Racism Training. Norman, OK: University
of Oklahoma Press, 1978.
Nussbaum, Martha. “Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism.” In For Love of Country, ed.Joshua
Cohen. Boston: Beacon Press, 2002.
Santa Ana, Otto. Brown Tide Rising: Metaphors of Latinos in Contemporary American
Discourse. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2002.