In the September issue of The Atlantic, which focused on the trajectory of race relations in the US, introductory thoughts were provided by Jennifer Richeson, a professor of psychology at Yale. The thesis of her essay, titled “The Myth of Racial Progress” in the print edition, is that Americans believe progress is inevitable, and that this belief is in fact detrimental to the movement for racial equality:
“The mythology of racial progress distorts our perceptions of reality; perhaps more significantly, it absolves us of responsibility for changing that reality. Progress is seen as natural and inevitable—inescapable, like the laws of physics. Backsliding is unlikely. Vigilance is unnecessary.”
To an extent, Richeson’s account is correct. Americans do have a tendency to believe that the country is on a long, upwards trajectory and that over time we trend towards progress.
However, Richeson oversteps as the essay turns from discussing a mythology to discussing a myth. The former is an overarching framework for how we view our country; the latter is a falsehood. Richeson’s myth, the false belief she says Americans hold, is that racial progress is “automatic, continuous, requiring little real effort.”
She is right that this belief is false. But, I doubt it is a widely held belief.
No one learns about the Klan, or Selma, or the Million Man March, or the Freedom Riders, or Medgar Evers, or Rosa Parks, or the 16th Street Baptist Church, or the lunch counter sit-ins, or King’s Letter From a Birmingham Jail, or Wallace’s Stand at the Schoolhouse Door, and comes away thinking that racial progress is automatic, continuous, or requiring little real effort.
Though there is still a long road ahead, we are a country that takes pride in how far we have come not because we falsely believe that progress was easy, but because we know it was not a foregone conclusion and was won only with tremendous effort and sacrifice by our national heroes.
What is “Progress” other than the measured achievement toward an collective goal? The belief in “progress” becomes disorienting to those without the understanding of how the goal has been established. Growth is different than progress. What is the goal of growth? Does it necessarily require a collective, cultural goal?