Why We Still Need to Talk About Race

While the use of the term ‘racism’ is more ubiquitous than ever, many official bodies and people shrink from the concept of ‘race’. Our understandings of racism are increasingly divorced from historical understandings of race and racial difference. This reluctance to use the term race, especially in official surveys and other forms of data collection, is problematic, as it makes it difficult to differentiate among disparate kinds of ethnic and racial experiences. In order to resuscitate a more specific and measured understanding of racism, we must continue to talk and write about race, rather than avoiding reference to this very troublesome concept. The growth of interracial unions and multiracial people in Britain (and many other Western societies) highlights the difficulties of not using racial terminology. An avoidance of ‘race’ undermines our ability to engage in clear and meaningful measures of difference, as well as our ability to challenge racisms.