The Significance of Affirmative Action for the Souls of White Folk: Further Implications of a Helping Model

Journal of Social Issues, Winter, 1999 by Anthony R. Pratkanis, Marlene E. Turner

Frederick Douglass (1881/1993) provides one of the most interesting discussions of the effects of racism on the racist. Based on his years as a slave, Douglass believed that slave owners were typically no more immoral than any other human being. However, slavery transformed these individuals into cruel and evil persons as the slaveholder attempted to justify her or his participation in this evil institution. First, Douglass observed that it was universally agreed that slavery is wrong and immoral. Douglass noted that as a child he would play with his masters' young children and that even these children could see the evils of slavery (although as adults they would later practice it). Next, Douglass noted that slavery often required acts of cruelty (to force the slave to behave in a certain manner and to maintain the system), and since there were no restraints (checks and balances) on the master's behavior, this cruelty could be quite cruel indeed. Thus, the slaveholder was caught in what modern social psycholo gists would term a state of cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957). On the one hand, the slave owner, as a Christian and as an American who loved democracy, knew that slavery is wrong and that the cruelty it sanctioned is a sin; on the other hand, this slave owner freely participated in this system and often engaged in acts of great cruelty.

The transforming effects of slavery on the slave owner can be seen in the behavior of one of Frederick Douglass's masters, Lucretia Auld. When Douglass first met his new mistress, he found her to be a woman of the kindest heart. A Chrisdan with little experience of slavery, she seemed to feel uncomfortable with the servility usually expected of a slave. However, her disposition changed when, as Douglass (1881/1993) described, "my mistress had to seek to justify herself to herself" (p. 60). Under pressure from her husband, she forbade Douglass to learn how to read (although she previously supported such efforts). To justify her action, she was required to think that the Negro was lesser than the White. This invited more oppression and cruelty that required yet more self-justification in an ever escalating spiral that transformed Auld from an angel of sweet accord to a raging demon. The modern reader will, of course, note the parallels to social psychology experiments that induce subjects to transgress against an innocent person only to find that the transgressor comes to derogate the victim and believe that the victim deserves such treatment (Davis & Jones, 1960; Glass, 1964). Douglass noted that his masters were often unhappy, despite living in relative luxury. At the heart of the souls of these White folk was a base hypocrisy, as Douglass (1852/1992) so elegantly pointed out in his address on the meaning of the Fourth of July.

Others have also given their opinions about the effects of racism on White Americans. Booker T. Washington (1901/1993) worried that the greater effect of racism was not so much the wrong done to the Negro but "the permanent injury to the morals of the white man" (p. 122). When the White person prevents an African American from voting or cheats and even lynches a Black person, the White American learns to practice dishonesty and to break the law. Later, this person will find it that much easier to perform such immoral acts on others, including other White Americans. W. E. B. Du Bois (1903/1990) thought that the constant separation of Whites from Blacks led White folks to have a distorted perception of reality, especially as it pertains to the Black American. He lamented the fact that because of this separation, Whites could not accept Blacks as friends and could not engage in fellowship that would lead to mutual benefit. Du Bois also noted that Whites "feel acutely the false position" of holding flatly contra dictory beliefs in regard to democracy and African Americans.