Racism and Labeling Theory in Race Discourse

Talking Race and Racism

If race is a system of power designed to benefit some at the expense of others, as Ijeomo Oluo (n.d.) states in her speech at Google, maybe we shouldn’t be talking about race at all? Why talk about a subject that is only there in order to exalt some people and marginalize and oppress others? If that is how race is going to be used, why not just refuse to talk about race? Then that power play is no longer on the table: it is no longer an option. If one refuses to talk about race, to acknowledge race—that construct of race that is used to empower some at the expense of others now is without air and becomes lifeless and incapable of doing what those in power want it to do. Race plays right into the idea of labeling theory, after all, which is exactly what Oluo (n.d.) is talking about: powerful people want to use labels to maintain their own power while denying others who have the “wrong” label. It is what Margaret Sanger wanted to do during the American Eugenics program, when she viewed minorities as undesirables who should be prevented from breeding—an idea that then was picked up in Planned Parenthood. Yet all this organization does is talk about race—and there it is: an organization that has its roots in a racist ideology of a powerful white woman uses “race” as a system of power—while saying it is helping the marginalized and oppressed even as it is working to keep them marginalized and oppressed.