By Alfred Oshin

The arrest of eminent American Black Professor Henry L. Gates has got America talking about racism and the police. The conversation in America and Britain has followed Manichean lines. Was the policeman racist or not. In my mind this incident has ignited a question of far more panoramic dimensions. Why are people racist?

The theory of vogue proselytized by social Darwinists, anthropologists, and any other-ists who have an interest in dissecting human society is that racism is caused by genetic memory. According to the hypotheses in primeval ages, people exclusively stayed with their own kind for shelter, safety and sustenance. In the absence of language, culture, religion, early men knew their own group through sight.

Many academics believe that whatever branch of the human dysfunctional family we are from, we have a genetic disposition to dislike ethnicities different from our own. Our collective genetic memory causes us to recall racial wars fought by our primeval ancestors over scarce resources. This explains why people and societies of a similar racial group act in a hostile way toward other racial groups.

But a basic understanding of history shows the intellectual bankruptcy of the genetic memory theory. From the early ancient period onwards, different peoples mixed their blood with each other. This happened because of migrations, invasions, international trade, and other historical factors facilitated human racial mixture. America began as a nation made up of numerous peoples.

Native Americans, invading Europeans, enslaved Africans, Asian railroad laborers and settlers from other parts of the world were already extensively intermixed with other peoples prior to the arrival of Columbus. Post Columbus interracial relationships amongst these diverse racial groups mixed them even further. If racism was caused by genetic memory, wouldn't Americans even of different colors, be genetically reminded that they all are more friend than foe?

The social Darwinian genetic memory theory is also contradictory. The theory teaches that humanity will always evolve its ethos to accommodate new social conditions. Modern and primeval societies' concerns and needs for survival are fundamentality different from each other. This means our political, cultural and social survival mechanisms should have evolved beyond racism, as it is no longer a necessity for survival. Indeed, racism is socially regressive.

Think of all the things humanity could have achieved at an earlier stage and think of all the things we are held back from achieving because racism pollutes the social atmosphere. The theory of genetic hate is just as misguided as believing the reason for misogyny ― that in the genetic memory of certain men in the modern world are experiences of being wronged by women in the primeval one.

If genetic memory isn't the reason for racism, why are some people racist? Racism is caused by a melange of factors too complex for full discussion in this article. The principle factor is that racists feel a profound sense of racial and personal inferiority, caused by the mere presence or existence of the race or races they hate. Racism has little or nothing to do with superiority. The racist has a self-loathing of his or her own race and low self-esteem. Racism is nothing more than an emotional balm to soothe the pains of the racist's tormented psyche. Skeptical?

Think of the great racist regimes in history. The Axis powers of World War II, the Southern States under Jim Crow laws and Apartheid South Africa, to mention a few. The dominant peoples in these regimes refused their subjugated peoples any rights, carried out ritual pogroms and tortured people en mass. These brutalities and killings were inflicted on men, women and children without regard for age or infirmity.

The ideological fuel of all these regimes was that biological and theological factors had given them the racially dominant position. So why did these societies who believed they are racially superior, write complex legislation to socially and economically exclude those they dominate? Surely wouldn't innate racial superiority keep the dominant people dominant? Why commit bestial acts of terror on the subjugated? Inferior people by definition can never be a threat to their superiors. If racist people or societies truly believed in their superiority, they would have left alone the people they felt were inferior.

Racist acts of cruelty both trivial and tremendous, whether by individuals or societies, give the racist a feeling of power. The feeling of power creates the illusion of racial superiority. The illusionary belief of racial superiority provides a psychological sedative for the racist's view of themselves and their race. This is one of profound and overwhelming racial inadequacy and emotional impotency.

Yes, racism is the unrecognized psychosis.

The writer was a professor at Honam University, Gwangju, and is teaching English and Western cultural studies at a London College. He can be reached at alfredoshin@hotmail.co.uk.