Stigma (John Speaking)
		Comment				MAIN PATH: Dee
			John		Vera		Dee

I agree with you that the implications of Malik's project, at least as we understand it right now, would be enormous. It would conflict with other values like freedom of association, freedom of movement, freedom in education, freedom of religion, and more.

But I don't think that it is necessary to pay that price in order to get to what we all want. We all want a society in which the substantive equality of blacks and whites, men and women, is a fact. We all want a society in which there is much less racism and sexism in our ideas and attitudes. I think we can move very considerably toward that society without trying to take direct control of the ideas people have or the language they use. I can say this because I believe that Malik is mistaken when he says that stigma is the root of racism and that the elimination of stigma is necessary in order to make major progress toward substantive (including social) equality. In a word, I think his sociology is flawed.

Let me ask you to consider two different situations:

• Tomorrow morning, all racist language and hate speech are eliminated by law. However, all differences in wealth, income, education, and political power between blacks and whites remain.
  
  
• Tomorrow morning, all differences in wealth, income, education, and political power between blacks and whites are eliminated. However, no restrictions whatever are placed on racist language and hate speech.

Which of these situations is liable to yield the greatest progress for African Americans over the next 25 years? I think the answer is obvious. My point is that language is simply not that important. Wealth, income, education, and political power are much more decisive.

We can make progress toward a more equitable society by attacking the differences in education, income, unemployment, and so forth. We need a public service jobs program, medical care for the working poor, vastly improved schools in black neighborhoods, more drug treatment centers, and so forth. We can and we should do these things. And they do not require the kind of regulation of speech and values that Malik is hinting at.

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