Johannesburg — THE brouhaha surrounding the relaunch of the Forum of Black Journalists shows how far we have to go before we realise a nonracial society.

In Living with Racism, US psychologists Joe Feagin and Melvin Sikes asked respondents how it felt to be black in the US. One African-American man responded: "It is like being one step from suicide."

Feagin and Sikes found this experience to be widely shared among African-Americans.

For white Americans, this smacks of exaggeration. There is little doubt that the US of today is different from that of 10 years ago. Be that as it may, for the majority of African-Americans, the American dream is an illusion. Racial equality continues to elude them.

Feagin and Sikes remind us that if we are to solve the problem of racism we need to have a proper grasp of what it is, its historical context, how it manifests itself and what new forms it is likely to assume in the new dispensation.

The resolution of the race problem requires, among other things, that we understand racism from the perspective of the victim. If we do this, we are less likely to jump on the bandwagon of condemnation of the relaunch of the black journalists' forum. The disruption that occurred during the relaunch is unfortunate. It is unproductive. It leads to an unnecessary alienation within the profession. There are better ways to manage our differences and the displeasure that arises out of exclusion.

The nonracial ideal presupposes respect for other people. It calls for understanding and the appreciation of other people's experiences. If we do not, we will be caught in a cycle of blame and political point-scoring at the expense of building a united society. While apartheid laws have been removed, the subtle racism that exists is equally devastating.

In their study, Feagin and Sikes found that most whites refuse to acknowledge that racial discrimination remains widespread in the traditionally white-controlled workplaces, company boardrooms, law courts, schools and other places.

For some, racism is limited to extreme prejudices and actions by extreme bigots not considered representative of the general white population. This view and the luxury of looking at racial discrimination with detachment makes it easier for some to deny the reality of much of the racism reported by blacks.

Racism refers also to institutionalised discrimination through which people of different race groups are dominated. As many of the victims know, no amount of hard work or achieved status protects them from racial oppression in some institutions. When blacks speak of racial discrimination, they do not speak in abstract concepts of discrimination learnt from books. Rather, they speak of mistreatment encountered as they traverse historically white places.

Third, experiences of racial discrimination are not only painful and stressful; they also have a cumulative effect on individuals, their families and communities. For the majority of whites, however, acts of discrimination and acts of violence are "isolated" events. As a result, whites often feel that blacks tend to "overreact".

What they forget is that "blacks live lives of quiet desperation generated by a litany of daily large and small events that, whether or not by design, remind them of their place" in society.

Such daily experiences affect a black person's behaviour and understanding of life. When you have the door slammed continuously in your face, you learn not to show initiative. This may explain why whites, already used to being affirmed, jump at the slightest opportunity while blacks often wait to be asked to perform tasks.

Fourteen years on, can we honestly say we have addressed racism? The approaches tend to focus on how blacks are disadvantaged by racism in societal institutions. An incisive approach should, however, include a focus also on advantages whites gain from blacks' disadvantage. Sites of privilege and spaces of impoverishment are sides of the same coin.

Prof Seepe is president of the South African Institute of Race Relations.