Black Rights - White Wrongs the-critique

( 132 ) Black Rights/White Wrongs

can handle transactions seemingly just but actually inequitable because
of the legacy of the past.
That is not to say that it will not be very controversial; obviously it will
be very controversial and will be militantly and furiously opposed. But such
hostility goes with the territory and will greet all attempts to advance the
struggle for racial justice, no matter what conceptual banner is chosen to fly
over it. At least the advantage of selecting this framework is that it appeals
to norms central to the American tradition (if not historically extended to
nonwhites) and a factual picture for which massive documentation, at least
in broad outline, can be provided.
In addition, the macro, big- picture, social- systemic analysis— the
emphasis on the structural dynamic— locates it in the same conceptual
space as the famous “basic structure” that, since Rawls, has been the central
focus of discussions of social justice. Thus, we would be better positioned,
as I  emphasized at the start, to pose the simple and crucial challenge to
mainstream white liberals: what if the basic structure is itself unjust because
it is predicated on racial exploitation?

Obstacles to, and Possible Solutions for, Achieving Racial

Justice

Moreover, another signal virtue of approaching things this way is that it
would provide a more realistic sense of the obstacles to achieving racial jus-
tice. It is a standard criticism of normative political philosophy, especially
from non- philosophers, that the authors of these inspiring works give us
no indication at all as to how these admirable ideals are to be realized, of
how we are to get from A to Z. By contrast, in the left tradition— at least
the non- amoralist strain of it— the claim has always been that the strength
of a materialist approach is that it not only articulates ideals but also shows
how they can be made real, that it unites description and prescription by
identifying both the barriers to a more just social order and the possible
vehicles for overcoming those barriers. If race and racism are thought of in
the standard individualistic terms of irrational prejudice, lack of education,
and so on, then their endurance over so many years becomes puzzling.
Once one understands that they are tied to benefit, on the other hand,
the mystery evaporates:  racial discrimination is, in one uncontroversial
sense of the word, “rational,” linked to interest. Studies have shown that
the major determinant of both white and black attitudes on issues related
to race is their respective perceptions of their collective group interests— of
how, in other words, their group will be affected by whatever public policy
matter is up for debate.^27 (To repeat an earlier point of comparison with

http://www.ebook3000.com