Volunteers treat active inattention to racism as a moral act

Evidence

Avoidance was the way the volunteers publicly treated all troubling social issues. The problem was not racism per se, but volunteers’ relation to political discussion in general, including discussion of racism. Volunteers thought that Charles should not have brought up the subject of Nazi skinheads and racist teachers because there was nothing they could do about it — at least not without risking the discouragement that might accompany political debate. To talk about racism would have meant changing their political etiquette, to stop trying so hard to keep up that can-do spirit and let some frightening uncertainty in. Actively ignoring such tensions was considered a positive good, a moral act. Better would be to work on projects that illustrate how easy, effective, and enjoyable involvement is; then, they believed, everyone will get involved and race problems will dissolve in the busy harmony. — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 246

Categorization

• XREF: Contrasts with the moral panic chapters elsewhere in the reader’s library; van Dijk’s racism linguistics get directly invoked and rejected. — connects to: Volunteers spontaneously raised environmental and racial concerns rather than avoiding them — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”: The work of avoiding…, 64; Erasure of racial vocabulary forecloses ethical recognition of harm.; Individual acts against everyday racism contest larger racial inequalities — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1516 (+2 more)
• corroborated: 5 independent passages support this claim — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 246

Broader Connections

• Well-intentioned individuals can unknowingly contribute to racist institutional projects #expands (0.82) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1559
• Erasure of racial vocabulary forecloses ethical recognition of harm. #expands (0.80)
• Cordial racism works by erasing race as a category and denying harm #complicates (0.80) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1798
• Individual acts against everyday racism contest larger racial inequalities #contradicts (0.72) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1516