Approaching racism as a social structure rather than an individual prejudice

Professor Fumiko Sakashita from the Faculty of Foreign Studies studies African American history and culture. In particular, she focuses on racial violence—which occurred frequently in the US at the turn of the 20th century—and the social structure that supported it. She is also interested in tracing how the history of violence has been remembered to this day.

In the summer of 2020, protest demonstrations called the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement stirred the US. These were triggered by the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white police officer. Even though it was during the COVID-19 pandemic, the demonstrations spread beyond the US to Japan and other parts of the world.

The BLM movement stems from the 2012 fatal shooting of a Black high school student named Trayvon Martin. When the shooter was acquitted the following year, outrage spread across the US together with the hashtag #blacklivesmatter on social media. However, the BLM movement was not just about protesting violence and killings targeting Black people or expressing anger toward white police officers. It was also speaking out against the various structural inequalities behind these issues.

Looking at the inequalities since the time of slavery

People often tend to see racism as a personal bias or an individual prejudice, laying the blame on the police officer(s) who killed a Black person, for example. However, similar atrocious cases keep occurring in the US. This suggests systemic issues that cannot be addressed just by changing awareness at the individual level.

The history of African Americans started with the slave trade. They were brought to the US as enslaved people, exploited for their labor, and robbed of their freedom. Even after slavery was abolished, a different system of racial segregation was established, and the lives of Black people continued to be policed. The legacies of such systemic racism led to today’s racial disparities and inequalities.

During the time of racial segregation, violence targeting Black people—called lynching—frequently occurred in the US. When we study lynching, which was carried out to maintain and strengthen the existing white supremacist social structure, and protest movements against such racial violence, we can see how anti-lynching movements in the past and the modern BLM movement have a lot in common.

Violence against Black people by police officers is just the tip of the iceberg. Looking at it from diverse perspectives, such as historical, cultural, and economic backgrounds, enables a deeper understanding of racism.

The problem of Blackface

I am also interested in cultural issues, such as racial stereotypes of Blacks. For example, Blackface—that non-Black people paint their faces black—is seen as racism against Black people. Even in Japan, there have been several cases where controversies arose after singers or comedians painted their faces black. At such times, there are always comments like “they meant no harm” or “people are too sensitive,” but is that so?

The problem of Blackface also needs to be considered from its historical background. Negative stereotypes of Black people appeared in caricatures and popular entertainment when politicians and others were trying to justify slavery or maintain racial segregation policies. It is crucial to understand that what may seem like just bias contains structural problems.

During the BLM movement in 2020, the NHK showed a short CG animation as part of a TV program to explain the demonstrations. The animation featured stereotypical representations of Black people, who were depicted as excessively muscular and easily agitated.

Thirteen American Studies scholars, including myself, sent a protest statement to NHK regarding this case. Since then, I have become more conscious that it is also our responsibility as scholars to explain to the general public the issues of racism with proper backgrounds.

The book I recommend

“Chibikuro Sambo”(The Story of Little Black Sambo)
by Helen Bannerman, illustrated by Frank Dobias, Japanese translation by Natsuya Mitsuyoshi, Iwanami Shoten

This book was discontinued in 1988 for being discriminatory (but reissued in 2005). As a child, I loved the fascinating story of tigers turning into butter, so I rushed to buy another copy before it was taken off the shelves. My action back then—unaware of the book’s racist characteristics—was possibly one of the origins of my career path as a scholar of racism.

Fumiko Sakashita Professor Department of English Studies Faculty of Foreign Studies: Graduated from the Department of English, School of Letters, Kobe College, completed the master’s program of the Graduate School of American Studies, Doshisha University, and received her Ph.D. in American Studies after completing Michigan State University’s College of Arts and Letters doctoral program. Took on several positions—such as lecturer at the College of Foreign Studies, Kansai Gaidai University, and associate professor and professor at the College of Letters, Ritsumeikan University—before assuming her current position in 2024.; Department of English Studies