NLP TO THE RESCUE

For many years I have repeatedly argued that there is no such thing as “races” among us humans. Not in the sense that there are multiple races. There are not. There is only one race— the human race. If you were to point to the reference of what you mean by the word “races,” what would you point to? If you point to a person, a human being, yes that person is a member of the human race. But what about races? This is where NLP comes to the rescue. With the NLP Communication Model that we call “The Meta-Model of Language” we now ask: How many human races are there? What distinguishes one race from another? If there are difference races, how is it that all races can intermarry? Doesn’t that demonstrate that they are members of the same race?

That there is just one race— the human race— speaks to the fact that we all share the same characteristics and traits— human traits. Spiritually I think about this in terms of all human beings being God’s children. If we are all “made in God’s image and likeness,” then we are all members of the same family. And as there are plenty of differences within every family— so there are plenty of differences within the human family. The fact of difference does not create different “races.”

Given that there is but the one human family, how can there be such a thing as “racism?” Again, NLP to the rescue. The term is a nominalization and an abstract one at that, so when we denominalize this abstract nominalization, racism comes down to some very specific behaviors that a person does. To be “racist” or to operate in a “racist” way, you have to do the following: over-generalize a person or persons based on some trait or feature. label a person or persons, confusing the person with the label. confuse a person or persons with their trait or actions. judge a person or persons in a negative due to some feature. hate another person or persons due to something the person has associated with them. prejudge a person or persons so that the judgment is now an automatic feeling or mood.

When we look at the strategy by which a person would learn the behavior of engaging in “racism,” we see that it requires a whole set of cognitive distortions. You have to confuse map and territory. You have to get into some pretty negative mental/emotional states. Then you have to let it influence your talk and your behavior. The bottom line is that the subjective experience that is called “racism” is chosen. It is learned behavior, learned and chosen.

It is not an identity unless the person identifies himself in those terms. It is not a thing at all, it is a set of mental, emotional, linguistic, and behavioral actions. Given this, “racism” is about one’s character and ethics (or the lack of such!), not the color of the skin. Whatever your skin color— that does not define or prescribe the “racist” set of actions. There’s no such thing as “white racism” or “black racism” or any other kind of “racism” that would be based on something that a

person received and over which one has no choice. No one is by their birth heritage or identification with a family group a “racist.” To be a “racist” you have to choose to over- generalize, label, confuse, judge, hate, and pre-judge. It occurs in people who have not yet matured in their mental and emotional development.

In the 1960s Affirmative Action resulting from the Civil Rights Movement, sought to give a hand up to those who had been disadvantaged educationally. That made good sense. It was a hand up so that minorities could more equally compete in this democracy. But Affirmative Action was not to be a permanent hand up, that would imply that the minorities were inferior and could not compete on an even playing field.

The equality we seek is one of opportunity. The idea of equality does not negate our differences. Nor is it equity that we seek, but an even playing ground. Our differences are not due to our country of origin or ethnicity or skin color, it is neurologically wired in individually. Howard Gardner developed the Multiple Intelligence Model based on the neuroscience discoveries of our innate differences. With it we are enabled to celebrate differences, rather than label, judge, hate, and prejudge them.

NLP rescues us from the non-sense of such primitive thinking and language so we can use our language for sanity. The next time you hear “white racism,” “black racism” or “racism,” let a light go off in your mind warning you that “this is primitive language” that itself is highly biased and unsane. It will keep you more alert to the fact that “the map is not the territory.”