Will Malson Racism NC (performance) Page 1 of 5

Racism NC (performance)

There's a war in the mind, over territory / For the dominion / Who will dominate the opinion

Skisms and isms, keepin' us in forms of religion / Conformin' our vision / To the world churches decision

Trapped in a section / Submitted to committee election / Moral infection / Epidemic lies and deception /
Insurrection / Of the highest possible order
/…/
From here and like under water / Beyond the borders / Fond of sin and disorder / Bound by the strategy

It's systematic depravity

/…/
Truth comes, we can't hear it / When you've been, programmed to fear it

How can dominant wisdom / Be recognized in the system / [where] the majority rules / Intelligent fools /
PhD's in illusion / Masters of mass confusion / Bachelors in past illusion / … /

He sat at the kitchen table and told his stories /

a full 80 years of US history /
a child of the segregated South /
just four generations removed from slavery's mouth /
who went on to serve in the U.S. Army /
as a lieutenant colonel assigned to the Pentagon.

Bob Dunn's stories cover a long era /

he was a young officer, stationed in Alabama /
in the earliest days of the civil rights movement /
when the state was determined to resist integration.

His oldest daughter Dora had it much worse /

at her school, she was the only black in the crowd /
the teachers taught the blacks were happiest when owned /
she'd be sent out of class if she ever got loud /
and said "that's not right".

She wanted school to be postponed /

but her dad told her it's important to continue going /
you're the first black person to be down there, /
but you certainly won't be the last.

You have got to be strong; regardless of the situation /

for me, for you, for black people in general /
until all this discrimination is a part of the past.
Will Malson Racism NC (performance) Page 2 of 5

This marriage of the song “Freedom Time” by Lauryn Hill and a poem based off of the article “A
narrative of racism and hope” by Peter King paints a picture of the disturbing racial trends in US history
and the impacts of such prejudice thereof.
[[PETER H. KING [LA Times staff writer], "A narrative of racism and hope", Copyright 2009 Los Angeles Times, January 17, 2009,
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jan/17/nation/na-moment17]]

What I’ll be presenting to you today is a view from the other side of the tracks: analyzing the resolution
as something that distorts, devitalizes, and destroys any sense or even fleeting notions of equality in the
modern world. It is because of the inherent racial tendencies of the resolution that I negate it and stand
Resolved: that cooperation is superior to competition as a means of achieving excellence.

First off I’ll define the key subject here, and that is Racism: the prejudice that members of one race are
intrinsically superior to members of other races. Princeton Wordnet Dictionary.

Next, my value: my value is equality.

Alright. Now it’s time for my contentions: I’ll be leading you through a multi-step process that shows
you how competition leads to, and cooperation prevents, racism, and the implications of such a mindset.
Will Malson Racism NC (performance) Page 3 of 5

Contention 1: Racism must be rejected in all instances.

The struggle against racism will be long, difficult, without intermission, without remission, probably never achieved, yet for this very reason, it
is a struggle to be undertaken without surcease and without concessions. One cannot be indulgent
toward racism. One cannot even let the monster in the house, especially not in a mask. To give it merely
a foothold means to augment the bestial part in us and in other people which is to diminish what is
human. To accept the racist universe to the slightest degree is to endorse fear, injustice, and violence. It
is to accept the persistence of the dark history in which we still largely live. It is to agree that the outsider will always
be a possible victim (and which [person] man is not [themself] himself an outsider relative to someone else?). Racism illustrates in sum, the inevitable
negativity of the condition of the dominated; that is it illuminates in a certain sense the entire human condition.

This quote was from MEMMI, a Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Paris in 2000. He
goes on to talk about the anti-racist struggle:

The anti-racist struggle, difficult though it is, and always in question, is nevertheless one of the
prologues to the ultimate passage from animality to humanity. In that sense, we cannot fail to rise to the
racist challenge. However, it remains true that one’s moral conduct only emerges from a choice: one has to want it. It is a choice among other
choices, and always debatable in its foundations and its consequences. Let us say, broadly speaking, that the choice to conduct oneself morally is the
One cannot found a moral
condition for the establishment of a human order for which racism is the very negation. This is almost a redundancy.
order, let alone a legislative order, on racism because racism signifies the exclusion of the other and his
or her subjection to violence and domination. From an ethical point of view, if one can deploy a little religious language, racism is
“the truly capital sin.”fn22 It is not an accident that almost all of humanity’s spiritual traditions counsel respect for the weak, for orphans, widows, or
strangers. It is not just a question of theoretical counsel respect for the weak, for orphans, widows or strangers. It is not just a question of theoretical morality
and disinterested commandments. Such unanimity in the safeguarding of the other suggests the real utility of such sentiments. All things considered, we
have an interest in banishing injustice, because injustice engenders violence and death. Of course, this is
debatable. There are those who think that if one is strong enough, the assault on and oppression of others is permissible. But no one is ever sure of remaining
the strongest. One day, perhaps, the roles will be reversed. All unjust society contains within itself the seeds of its own death. It is probably smarter to treat
others with respect so that they treat you with respect. “Recall,” says the bible, “that you were once a stranger in Egypt,” which means both that you ought to
respect the stranger because you were a stranger yourself and that you risk becoming once again someday. It is an ethical and a practical appeal – indeed, it
In short, the refusal of racism is the condition for all theoretical and
is a contract, however implicit it might be.
practical morality. Because, in the end, the ethical choice commands the political choice. A just society must be a society
accepted by all. If this contractual principle is not accepted, then only conflict, violence, and destruction
will be our lot. If it is accepted, we can hope someday to live in peace. True, it is a wager, but the stakes are irresistible.
Will Malson Racism NC (performance) Page 4 of 5

Contention 2: Competition leads to racism.

Representatives from the Department of Social Psychology at the University of Jena in Germany,
and from the Department of Psychology at the Lehigh University in Pennsylvania reached this
conclusion in their paper “The carry-over effect of competition: the impact of competition on
prejudice towards uninvolved outgroups” in 2006.
Kai Sassenberga [Department of Social Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena, Germany], Gordon B. Moskowitzb [Department of Psychology,
Lehigh University Pennsylvania], Johann Jacobya [Department of Social Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena, Germany], & Nina Hansena
[Department of Social Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena, Germany], "The carry-over effect of competition: The impact of competition on
prejudice towards uninvolved outgroups", Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Volume 43, Issue 4, July 2007, Pages 529-538, Copyright © 2010
Elsevier Inc, November 14, 2005; revised 20 May 2006, doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2006.05.009

Following realistic group-conflict theory, negative interdependence between groups (e.g., competition)
leads to prejudice towards the opposing outgroup. Based on research on mindset priming, it is
hypothesized that competition increases prejudice, regardless of whether the derogated outgroup is
involved in the competition or not. In Experiment 1, participants remembered an event involving either competition or cooperation; in
Experiments 2 and 3 they participated in a competitive, cooperative, or individual assessment of their knowledge. Subsequent measures indicated that
competition results in higher levels of prejudice, even when it is not related to the intergroup context. Additional evidence suggests that this effect is not
driven by the transfer of negative affect or ego-depletion. Possible underlying cognitive processes are discussed.
Will Malson Racism NC (performance) Page 5 of 5

Contention 3: Cooperation does not lead to racism.

The same study as cited earlier continued on in the same context to discuss experiments that
suggest cooperation’s superiority to competition as a means of continuing the anti-racist struggle.
Kai Sassenberga [Department of Social Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena, Germany], Gordon B. Moskowitzb [Department of Psychology,
Lehigh University Pennsylvania], Johann Jacobya [Department of Social Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena, Germany], & Nina Hansena
[Department of Social Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena, Germany], "The carry-over effect of competition: The impact of competition on
prejudice towards uninvolved outgrips", Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Volume 43, Issue 4, July 2007, Pages 529-538, Copyright © 2010
Elsevier Inc, November 14, 2005; revised 20 May 2006, doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2006.05.009
Following realistic group-conflict theory, negative interdependence between groups (e.g., competition) leads to prejudice towards the opposing outgroup.
Based on research on mindset priming, it is hypothesized that competition increases prejudice, regardless of whether the derogated outgroup is involved in
the competition or not. In
Experiment 1, participants remembered an event involving either competition or
cooperation; in Experiments 2 and 3 they participated in a competitive, cooperative, or individual
assessment of their knowledge. Subsequent measures indicated that competition results in higher levels
of prejudice, even when it is not related to the intergroup context. Additional evidence suggests that this effect is not driven
by the transfer of negative affect or ego-depletion. Possible underlying cognitive processes are discussed.

What have we seen here? We’ve seen competition for what it truly is – a method of creating categories
of inclusion and exclusion – a means to an end; an end, which divides people into sections and proceeds
to bear prejudice against the other. What else have we seen? We’ve seen cooperation for what it truly is
– a method of purging such prejudice from our world and progressing towards a society in which actual
morality can reign supreme. It is on this basis that I encourage you to reject the resolution for what it
truly is. As MEMMI said, “One cannot be indulgent toward racism. One cannot even let the monster in
the house, especially not in a mask.” Competition is the perfect mask.