MUSHROOMS

By James Lester

Part 2 [7 min.]

Again, nothing had really changed because the merchant elite were using the same old tried-and-true methods of extortion as the Monarchs had used to get their wealth and control. They simply used them at first on non-European populations of humans, establishing new "superior" blood lines with a new blood bath of physical force. It wasn't long before the new "kings" took over from the old.

The net result to the majority non-elite mass of humans was that, instead of losing their land, and thus their life to a dictator class, they now lost their life through the theft of that most intimate of "land," their own body, to a new dictator class, the capitalists. For, wealth was no longer calculated in terms of land area and population. Now it was calculated in terms of the price of individual labor. If a person could not do something of use to capitalism, they were no longer a person; no longer a human being. From then on the humanity of the child of a human female was determined only by its money value to capitalism.

Throughout the period of the conflict just described, the American Colonies were big businesses run by European capitalists. Our revolution simply made these big businesses independent of Europe and substituted democracy for its failing system of monarchy. Because of this, democracy as a means of social government took the same back seat position to capitalism as monarchy had in Europe and the former colonies. Therefore, despite what we are taught, democracy has yet to be tested as a comprehensive form of government.

It is the conflict between the principles of economic elitism embedded in capitalism, and the ideals of social equality undergirding democracy that accounts for what may be called our national schizophrenia. We are struggling with a crisis of conscience which worsens every year. But we are kept confused about its causes and consequences by a system of "doublethink" as potent as that described in George Orwell's book, 1984: The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.

The capitalistic half of this adverse combination, based as it is on theories of racial superiority, perpetuates the racism peculiar to American society.

I am an average white American. I went to average schools and learned what everyone does from the media. I was a liberal on social matters; a conservative on fiscal and international matters. I prided myself on having few prejudices. I knew that there had been bad times in the past for certain minorities, but I had been taught in high school that laws and customs had changed so that now only a few individuals still had these problems; the country was fulfilling its promise to all its citizens; those who were still having problems were either ignorant, or just plain lazy.

The social and political upheavals of the sixties exploded these myths. Yet, nothing has been done since then to dismantle the declared cause: institutional racism.

Why not?

And, why did I not know what was going on?

I am an extreme example of the MUSHROOM syndrome. I was raised from the ages of ten to eighteen in a predominantly Catholic enclave of Chicago's North Side. I attended Catholic schools where nothing – and I mean, nothing – got through to us from the outside. Our bubble of privilege was air-tight. But, I was totally unaware of this. We were taught to be proud of the excellence of our school and its curriculum. We thought we were being taught all that was worth knowing.

I had my first experience with other-than-middle-class-white-Americans in the army in the late fifties. I saw and heard many instances of individual racism and class prejudice. But, I had been taught not to see them as symptoms of a continuing, larger, deeper injustice in our society. I viewed them as isolated examples of an outmoded mentality; almost as exceptions that proved the rule; blemishes, if you will, on the skin of an otherwise healthy body. Yet, I always had a nagging suspicion that all was not right.

I have since learned that these loathsome incidents are not the cause of racism. Rather, they are the boils associated with the real cause, the cancer within. Burn them out – cauterize them – focus public attention on them as we will, and should – they will only return in greater numbers in succeeding generations, so long as we do not see that they are only the visible tips of the icebergs of institutional racism founded in our economic system.

Most of us would agree that prejudice, bigotry and the ignorance which feeds these characteristics are to found in all human groups. They account for irrational thoughts and actions regarding everything from food to philosophy. Racism, however, is a specific term. It refers to the translation of irrational thoughts about races of humans – defined in terms of skin color in Europe, America, Australia and south Africa – into public policies which favor one race over all others. this can only be done by the race which has social, economic and military power. Therefore it is what is called a "power term." And, since public policy can only be made effective through the institutions of government, we arrive at the term "institutional racism." Our institutions were established by white racists, and serve the capitalistic aims of our government.

But, our apologists – the media and politicians – have always succeeded in shifting the blame to individuals. They tell us that this is the only expression of racism left in America; a few embarrassingly ignorant individuals. This tactic makes many white Americans feel resentful towards the members of their race who do such things. They feel unfairly accused of racism for simply being members of the majority race. This individualist explanation of racial tensions reinforces the defensive belief that racism is natural to all races, which it is not, any more than is capitalism. It makes efforts to solve the problem appear futile, because we believe human nature cannot be changed, except through our supposed laborious, ages-long progress toward some distant utopia. It makes our leaders look like the idealistic, heroic champions of that progress. And it leaves Americans of color to explain to us why they are having so much trouble in spite of all our good intentions.

This in turn, then, leaves the door open to the capitalistic argument that Americans of color just do not measure up, and it is no one's fault but their own; firmly absolving us of our own guilt.

It is a circular argument unworthy of us.