Maybe it is my peaked awareness, maybe its something else, but lately I have felt that stories about racism in America have been everywhere.
I recently came across an article in the Boston Globe about the desires for a colorless society and thought the article was quite dreamy, but unrealistic. Soon after, there was a comment published from a reader about how great the idea was but arguing that deciding not to identify race doesn't do the trick. The United States has a racist history and this cannot be ignored. People may believe they are not racist, but it almost seems unnatural that someone could actually be oblivious to race and the stereotypes associated with them. In order for the United States to truly overcome racism, it must look it straight in the face and admit to it, accept it, dialog about it, and work to reconcile it.
This story caught my eye over spring break:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2010/03/18/sotvo.walmart.customers.react.wpvi?iref=allsearch
--while maybe on not such a large scale, incidents like this happen all the time. What should our responsibility be in reconciling this? It doesn't seem like enough to say that I'm not racist, so I am doing my part.
President Obama walks fine line on race, justice
11 years ago
this reminds me of what was said in class about all of us being racist just a matter of how much racist we are, i think we can take this statement to mean that we have, because of our life experiences, largely because of background and circumnstance,have our own notions of race, and these notions are based on the socially determined and simingly accepted views of race
ReplyDeleteso we need to acknowledge this, we will act or say or better yet definitely think something racist, about someone,because of what we have been through
the fact is we live in a world that is racially divided, we need to accept that
our responsibility then lies on each of us as individuals, how we treat people regardless of their race, but that ofcourse will largely result from what we think of those people
so then we have a struggle, because it is a struggle
this is purely what i think
I agree with Chishala's comment and the idea that we are all somewhat racist. We do not (and probably will not anytime soon) live in some sort of utopia where racism does not exist. To believe that racism is or will be soon extinct is to deny the harsh reality that we live in.
ReplyDeleteThink of when you meet somebody for the first time. Regardless of their race, you make a premature judgement about them. In the back of your mind you think you know something about this stranger before he/she ever opens their mouth.
I believe society, past experiences, social constructions, stereotypes, etc. all come into play when you judge somebody or try to group them into a certain category/race.The difference is that some people are consciously aware that they are unfairly judging someone, and are able to put a stop to it before it ever really starts, while others let their first impressions/judgments take over.