When racism was invented

Attending a predominantly white public elementary school in a Chicago suburb during the ’70s, Todd Hanson grew up during the tail end of the Civil Rights Movement. Despite the fact that the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and their peers were newly imprinted in the American collective memory, the narrative of slavery taught in school, Hanson recalls, was cemented in the historical past and distanced from the lives of students. 

“Thank God at least slavery was taught as a ‘bad thing.’ But it was taught that slavery was a bad thing that happened long ago, something that ended when Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves,” Todd said. When asked if he sees any continuing effects of slavery in our contemporary society, his answer was: “The short version is YES! and the slightly less short version is a HELL YES!”

Todd said that racism was used to justify slavery.

“Racism is still a fundamental aspect of American cultural life and anyone who doesn't believe that is true is either willfully ignorant or simply ignorant. And if they're not either of those two things then they're lying. They had to invent racism which I didn't even realize until going to Bard just these last few years that the concept of ‘white people’ was invented in the New World. People didn't ever use the word ‘white’ and nobody thought of the white race is being a thing. They just invented it to distinguish people. Some of us are white and some of us are black. In the past nobody was like, oh, we're both white. They were like you are French and I'm English and we're at war. You're from Constantinople and I'm from Rome and we're at war. They didn't feel like they were in the same category because they were both white.”

White Supremacy today

Todd believes that white supremacy is inherent in slavery and has continued to today in 2019. He also believes that many white people are white supremacists.

“Enormous amounts of white people are white supremacists and they don't think of themselves as white supremacist. They don't think of themselves as members of the Klan or members of the Aryan Nation or people who would go to march against black people and say we want you out of the country. They think of themselves as you know, the normal decent liberal folks. They might be Democrats. They might have voted for Obama. They certainly don't think of themselves as white supremacist. But when it comes down to it, they do believe that the black people in America are inferior in some ways to white people, culturally, maybe even genetically. They feel that they-Black people- have an inferior education or they have inferior skills or whatever and so white supremacy is very pervasive in a way that I don't think most white people even realize.  And that's a legacy of racism especially regarding this year’s 400 years of inequity commemoration.”

There’s a lot of racism or anti-Black feelings out here and Todd sees it. He credits his time as a Bard student where he is a minority white person in a group of non-white people. This experience has opened his eyes to how toxic racism is.

“It's caused a lot of changes in my politics and in my perception of things. I noticed things differently. I notice when white people say things that are unintentionally or casually racist even though they don't mean it. I see it more in movies or television. I just see more racism now.”

Growing up with a father who was a social-justice-oriented Lutheran Minister and a Black sister, Hansen’s upbringing offered a more complex understanding of race and the legacy of slavery than a typical white man. His brother was given the middle name ‘Martin,’ in honor of the Civil Rights leader, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“I had a little bit more sophisticated understanding of racism outside of school because of my family. Hopefully, it was a little deeper than the average white American. But still, it’s nothing that I would have had if I were not quite so.” It was not until college through an African-American studies course that Hansen would begin to unearth the true legacy of slavery. From there on, he would understand slavery as an inextricable part of the American identity influencing the country’s entire terrain.  “I've seen racism in the way my non-white friends are treated, from something simple like taking a train, being treated differently by the ticket collector to much bigger systemic and institutionalized racism, which remains a fundamental part of America.”  

Todd Hanson was born in Chicago and grew up in the Midwest. He has lived in Brooklyn since January of 2001. Several decades after dropping out of college, he is currently a Bard student.

Listen to Todd’s full conversation below: