George KelseyThinkers

Racism is a faith because the racist looks upon his race as the source of his personal value and derives the meaning and worth of his life from the fact that it is part of the racial whole. Driven by a sense of insecurity, the racist feels the need to be attached to a power center and seeks an absoluteness and immortality by relying upon what he regards as the wholeness and permanence of his race. He looks upon his race as the value center that illuminates all other values.

Racism is a faith which began as a mere justification of colonialism and slavery, but gradually grew to a form of idolatry pointing beyond the historical structures of relation in which it emerged, to human existence itself.

Racism is a logic of genocide in that the racist thinks that the alleged deficiency in the out-race is in the very being of its members, and therefore the racist sees extermination of the out-race as the final solution.

Racism is that which uses stereotypes to bypass precisely what is unique in the individual and thus to treat the out-race as an undifferentiated mass in such a way that denies his human existence (insofar as to be human is to be a responsible individual).