Racism's Perpetuation as a Result of Interest Convergence in the Post-Civil War American South

Barbara J. Fields argues that racism is an ideology that is perpetuated by the propagation of those who support it, consciously or innocently, and is therefore persistent and existent for as long as somebody advocates and believes in it. Given the penetration of racist thought through the American South prior to the conclusion of the Civil War, there remained many who believed in the concept of race, the justifying principles behind racism and the corrupted religious and pseudoscientific justifications that came bundled with it. As the Civil War was, in essence, fought by the South for the stability of their way of life, slavery included, and, by the end, was fought explicitly for the continuation of slavery, and thus racism, we can conclude that racist thoughts were not only present but actively defended and believed in, with many pouring significant amounts of resources into their, at the very least, extension.

Delving further into Fields' discussion on racism as an ideology, she claims that racism cannot exist by itself: it must be actively perpetuated by people. Because racism has no grounding in reality or rationality, racism will vanish as soon as nobody thinks of it and, conversely, will persist as long as somebody is thinking of it. Thus it becomes plain that those who racism benefits have it in their interest to make sure that as many people as possible believe in racism, so that their own power is strengthened and made increasingly stable.

What directly follows then, is evidence of interest convergence in the ruling class of the South; the upper class benefitted from racism and it was, as a result, the popular ideology of the time. This convergence is responsible for the deeply ingrained beliefs of even those who racism doesn't benefit and, as a result, for its continued existence. And that, in turn, is responsible for the racist attitudes that persisted after slavery itself was abolished.

Looking at the American South during and after Reconstruction, it is plain to see that although the North forced changes in society upon the South, it could not change society's perceptions. The resulting temporary failure of Reconstruction can then be attributed to the ongoing racist attitudes of the people within the changing society. Drawing material from examples given in class, the legal rights given to freed Blacks were hardly worth anything at all if they could not be exercised, such as, for example, when their lives were threatened at polling places. This also illustrates the sharp contrast between the laws in a land and the ideologies that the citizens within that land subscribe to. As long as those living in the South were racist, the ideology would persist no matter what laws or what military might the North tried to use.

Fields also points out a psychological aspect: the poor white farmers wanted to be superior to someone and so they readily accepted the racist propaganda brought forth by the rich. This desire made it easier to ignore the irrationality behind the entire matter and instead follow along, which, in the long run, helped sustain the heavily segregated and racist state of the South. In this situation, interest convergence is again the root cause for the perpetuation of racism even though the interests at play, a need to feel superior, are polar opposites from those of the rich, who actually are superior in respect to wealth and influence.

Fields' argument explains racism's lasting presence not only in the post-Reconstruction era American South but also in today's world. As a whole, racism is not something that the North could have eradicated as long as people believed in it, no matter what methods they tried. Time only lessened the extent of racism in the South yet it still has not been eradicated for the very same reasons as those at work during Reconstruction.