Though the United States contains about 5 percent of the world’s population, it contains nearly a quarter of the worlds prisoners. A number equaling nearly 2 million. This statistic ought to be jarring in itself, yet more disturbingly, despite those identifying as African America comprise only 10 percent of the United States population, half of all African Americans, since the 1930’s, have been incarcerated….
Below are four different essays where I consider the notion of “The Banality of Racism.” I use this phrase in direct connection to Hannah Arendt’s concept of “The Banality of Evil,” in her work, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil from 1963. Like Eichmann and evil, I think racism in functions in similar ways in the United States, but really all places effected by colonialism and religion, especially Christianity and furthermore, the Protestant system of reform.
The Continuous Becoming of an Intimate Outsider (18 pages)
Abstract: “In this essay I examine the reasons behind what I call the banality of racism and possible methods or strategies for individuals and communities to extract the banality from racism. By exploring Critical Race Theorists such as but not limited to Stuart Hall and Charles Mills in conjunction with Foucault’s theory of panopticism and Hannah Arendt’s notion of the banality of evil, I expand upon how racism should be conceptualized as abnormal rather than normal. I believe that this transition in thinking is a key component in the nearly impossible process of dismantling structural racism. Furthermore, I consider the importance of personal experience and reflexivity and my own positionality as a heterosexual, white, male, academic in an attempt to not only theorize, but also provide practical solutions to how an individual endowed with the property of whiteness can productively participate in discussions pertaining to race. The basic question in this dilemma is: how does one endowed with whiteness (maleness and
heterosexualness) engage in racial dialogue without appropriating marginalized voices or simply promoting oneself with the sufficiently unenlightening, self-serving proclamation, “…even though I am white I am not a racist.” In conclusion I explicate the continuous becoming of an intimate outsider, or in other words, how a scholar endowed with whiteness who works on topics such as race and gender equality must always reflect critically upon their own positionality in their research, writing, in the
classroom, and ordinary daily actions.”
Abstract: “I use Aaron McGruder’s comic and T.V. show The Boondocks to expose and exemplify, through his characters, settings, and often exaggerated situations, the hardships, triumphs, and multiplicity of identities portrayed throughout African American culture. His writing exposes how American notions of democracy, capitalism, and “freedom for all” are not as they appear, but rather these notions Americans
hold dear are saturated in white supremacy and are used as devices of domination and control. There is a continued history, in the United States, of labeling targeted populations as criminal and dangerous, thus subjecting these populations to conditions of poverty and vast unemployment, becoming the victims of violence and homicide, and the act of enslavement and mass incarceration. The many benefits and profits
of democracy, capitalism, and freedom has never been “for all,” but for the few. The few use, intentionally and unintentionally, these very notions to ironically justify, among many atrocities, the largest prison system in the world.”
The Banality of Racism The Spirit of Capitalism and Mass Incarceration (87 Pages)
Abstract: “The residual affects of double predetermination Protestant theology paved the
way for not only the “capitalist spirit,”as Weber argued, but as I argue, chattel slavery,
Jim Crow laws, and mass incarceration as well. This particular theology, in part, birthed
capitalism and with it, a dichotomous worldview, wherein, what scholars refer to as, the
property of whiteness, was instilled with the election for salvation, purity, and prosperity; while the property of blackness was instilled with election for damnation, danger, and criminality. It is this dichotomous ideology that has effected the extreme underdevelopment of African Americans and deeply embedded structural racism within the United States. Furthermore, those afflicted with blackness and thus deemed elect for damnation are punished for their sins by either slavery, poverty, or incarceration.
That being said, the basic question motivating my thesis is: why are there a disproportional amount of black individuals incarcerated in the United States prison system? To analyze afterglow of the “spirit of capitalism,” I expand upon the theories of Max Weber and Mary Douglas while supporting my claims with more contemporary scholars of religion and society such as, but not limited to, David Chidester, Anthony Giddens, and Sylvester Johnson. Furthermore, I utilize the work of the scholars Michelle Alexander, Khalil Gibran Muhammad, and Stephan A. Berrey to illuminate the condemning connectivity between blackness and criminality in the United States.10 I intend to indicate, by example, how a religious studies lens might shed new light on the manifestations of chattel slavery, the Jim Crow Laws, and presently mass incarceration, and why notions of racism are truly banal in the United States. Through this analysis, I hope to provide, within the discipline of religious studies, an additional and much needed voice in this conversation concerning the intersections of blackness, whiteness, mass incarceration, and religion.”
The Banality of Racism: The Spirit of Capitalism and Mass Incarceration (27 Pages)
Abstract: “In the shorter version of my Master’s Thesis, I claim that the residual affects of double predetermination Protestant theology paved the way for not only the “capitalist spirit,”as Weber argued, but chattel slavery, Jim Crow laws, and mass incarceration as well. This particular theology birthed capitalism and with it, a dichotomous Weltanschauung, (worldview) wherein, what scholars refer to as, the property of whiteness, was instilled with the election for salvation, purity, and prosperity; while the property of blackness, was instilled with election for damnation, danger, and criminality. In this sense, democracy, capitalism, and freedom has never been “for all,” but for the few. The few use, at times intentionally and other times unintentionally, these very notions to ironically justify, among many atrocities, the largest prison system in the world.”
Considerations & Fictions 
Absolutely pragmatic and informative👍