Some Truths About Black

- Disadvantage

 

By Amy L. Wax

 

Bill Cosby's repeated suggestion that the behavior of some American blacks' impedes group progress has transgressed the longstanding taboo against "blaming the victim." Defined by sociologist William Ryan in 1971 as an attempt to explain inequality "by finding defects in the victims of inequality," victim blaming is virtually banned from polite dis­course. The time has come for that to change.

The disdain for anything that smacks of blaming the victim is based on a fundamental confusion. No one can deny that black Ameri­cans have endured a history of sustained and grievous mistreatment. Those wrongs have wreaked immeasurable harm. The key ques­tion confronting society is not how the harms occurred. Rather, the crucial issue is how to reverse them.

A central tenet of the law of remedies is that someone who harms another person-the wrongdoer-must undo" that harm. Justice re­quires that the culprit right the wrong by re­storing the victim to his rightful position-the state he would have enjoyed had he never been wronged. In distinguishing between liability and remedy-between causing harm and ~do­ing harm-the law also recognizes that reality can fall short of the ideal. The wrongdoer may quite literally lack the power to make the vic­tim whole. The assailant cannot replace the eye he has destroyed. The murderer cannot bring the dead to life. Full justice for the victim may simply be out of reach.

There is a special case in which the victim's injuries can be healed-but not, unfortunately, by the culpable party. Rather, in a cruel twist of fate, the victim is the only one who can wholly undo the harm he has suffered from others' wrongful actions. The victim must re­store himself to the rightful position.

Consider the parable of the paraplegic. A reckless driver runs over a pedestrian, leaving him unable to walk. The driver pays for the pedestrian's treatment and physical therapy, but recovery will require a long, exhausting, and painful effort. The victim is angry. It's not his fault, so why must he face an overwhelm­ing, uphill struggle? But there is no help for it. Although the driver can and must pay, he can­not guarantee success. He cannot make his victim walk again.

The parable illuminates the present di­lemma of black disadvantage. There is no ques­tion that the social problems blacks face today are the outgrowth of slavery and gross oppres­sion. Unfortunately, centuries of bias have dis­torted- the victims' behavior and values. Bad habits take on a life of their own, impeding the ability to grasp widening opportunities as soci­ety progresses, discrimination abates, and old obstacles fall away.. The victim himself bas changed in ways that place him beyond the reach of outside help alone.

Enduring injuries to human capital are now the most destructive legacy of racism. Evidence suggests that soft behavioral factors, including low educational attainment. poor socialization and work habits, paternal abandonment, family disarray, and non-marital child-bearing, now loom larger than over exclusion as barriers to racial equality. But society's power to address these patterns is severely limited. Short of outright coercion, it is literally impossible for the government or outsiders to change dysfunctional behavior or make good choices for individuals. No one can force a person to obey the law, study hard, develop useful skills, be well-mannered, speak and write well, work steadily, marry and stay married, be a devoted husband and father, and refrain from bearing children he cannot or will not support. These decisions belong to individuals and families.

The quest for justice blinds us to these hard truths. fueling the demand that those who cre­ated the problem solve it. Because the ideal is that society should fix what's broken, everyone wants to believe society can. Indeed, it is often assumed that everything can be made right just by reversing course If discrimination is the culprit then eliminating it is the cure If racism is to blame, purging racism will do the trick. This is the myth of reverse causation.

The law recognizes that reverse causation doesn't always work. Liability may diverge from remedy. The one who caused the problem cannot necessarily solve it. That something is fair does not mean that it is possible. Others can help, but there are some things people can only do for themselves. What do these insights mean for thinking about racial inequality?

. First, accepting a key role for victims does not really "blame the victim" because it implies no exoneration of the wrongdoer. Slavery and discrimination, not blacks themselves, brought us to the current predicament. That means that the government must do what it can to eliminate racial disadvantage. Given the nature of the problem, however, its role is nec­essarily modest. The key reforms must come from within individuals and communities.

. True racial justice may not be achievable. Is it fair to charge blacks with the weighty task of self-improvement when others' wrongs have made. their burden so great? The answer must be no. But that doesn't change reality. Just as the careless driver can bankroll recovery but cannot make the paraplegic walk again, the government and society can supply resources and create opportunities but cannot return blacks to their rightful place. Try as they might, they cannot fully restore the victims' capacities. Only the victim can heal himself.

Third, rehearsing the history of racial op­pression, although important for moral clarity, is of little use in addressing current inequalities. In seeking solutions, we must look forward rather than dwell on the past because the way out of the present dilemma may not resemble the path in. Trial and error, aided by an open mind and .a willingness to do what works, should be the order of the day. Above all, the road to true equality begins at home.

. Finally, the persistence of racial disadvan­tage does not mean that society  has failed to do enough. The greatest need at present may not be more government spending and new pro­grams but a conversion experience. The victim must see that, although others have wronged him, his fate lies in his own hands. Justice may be forever elusive, but success is the best revenge.

 

Ms. Wax is Professor of Law, University of

Pennsylvania Law School, .