Monday, May 19, 2014
Racism
Recently, a police commissioner by the surname Copeland resigned from using the n word when talking about President Obama. After I read that article, I started remembering other instances of racism directed against the most powerful man in the world, like the time Kim Jung Un published a news report about a farmer calling Obama a monkey. Then I wondered to myself why racism still persists in this day and age. I'm not sure if this same thought is present in everyone else's minds, but it comes up in the news fairly often these days. I am aware of present ill-will towards those on the other end of the racial spectrum, namely older ones such as outsourcing of jobs, presence in communal affairs, and general distrust in diversity. But the point I'm trying to bring forth is will racism continue to exist? I know that all the adult racists in the world will die and go to hell, but does that mean racism will go down with them? Schools, government, and society are all teaching us that we should be accepting to others, to not judge a book by its cover, and so to acknowledge cultural differences without acting negatively toward such. That said, 80 years later, when all the racists are sleeping in their graves, would racism still be as prominent then as it is now. Personally, I don't believe so, but feel free to argue if racism will continue to be an issue worthy of a place in the news.
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Actually, racism could possibly go away, but its probably an unlikely possibility. Although we are in an age where people have started to become more accepting, there is always some backlash to the issue being argued for. It isn't specifically racism that possibly could continue in future generations but discrimination in general. Remembering back to the mid 20th century, it wasn't until strikes, protests and major action had been stirred up in order to fight for minority rights. But didn't the North also fight against slavery and inequality as well? That was nearly a hundred years behind the Civil Rights Movement, but racism still exists today.
ReplyDeleteThis article brings up a good point, about racism still being alive in today's society. Just recently, a recording of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling making racist comments appeared on TMZ. In the recording, Donald told his mistress to take down a picture of her because there were African Americans in the picture. It is amazing that such racism still exists in today's society, especially in the NBA, where a majority of the players are African American (76% as of 2013).
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of the "ism's" will be difficult to eradicate, even over a long period of time. History has proven that it is human nature for individuals to act for self benefit. This being said, those in power will fight to keep the status quo so that their position in society is maintained. This is why racism is so hard to rid of; those who benefit from the existing societal structure will try to engrain racism in the next generation.
ReplyDeleteI think when discussing racism it is important to define what that means in modern society. The United States has certainly come a long way since the 1800s and even since the 1900s. We are no longer a segregated nation with Jim Crow laws in place, but that does not mean racism is no longer prevalent. Racism in todays day and age is different, less obvious, but still prevalent. Gary Younge of the Guardian argues that modern racism is "the institutional marginalisation of groups performed with the utmost discretion and minimum of fuss by well-mannered and often well-intentioned people working in deeply flawed systems." Because of the nature of modern racism and the difficulties that can sometimes arise with even detecting it, I think we still have quite a ways to go before racism no longer continues to exist.
ReplyDeleteSource:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/18/racism-more-than-old-white-men-using-n-word
I completely agree with Sitara; racism in modern times almost parallels racism that went on in the North post slavery. In our textbook, the author describes that in the North, white people like black people as a whole, however disliked the individual, compared to the South, where people disliked the whole race, but not the individual. I feel that Americans pretend we are completely post racism, however obvious cases such as Sterling, the Dunn-Davis murder, and even the way Miley Cyrus uses black women as her background props. The most disturbing part of all these cases, is the way a great deal of people argue that there isn't racism present; how can we become a post-racism society, if many Americans won't even admit that racism still exists?
ReplyDeleteI think that racism continues because parents are teaching their children racism. A while ago there was a video of a Westboro Baptist Church sermon where a kid recited a prayer damning homosexuals. I think the solution to racism is to interconnect the world even further. I believe that if the world were united petty problems like racism would cease to exist.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sitara and Mehr. I think that our generation still struggles with racism, but in a very different way than previous generations. Now that there is no longer blatant segregation where whites sit on one half of the bus and people of color on the other, it's difficult to understand what racism looks like when it doesn't show up in the form of Donald Sterling. Maybe most people would never say anything like that, but do they unconsciously think that it might be better to be seen with white people than with black people?
ReplyDeleteI came across something in a blog post the other day. I'm not sure if I entirely agree with it, but basically this blogger was saying that nothing is considered racist until a white person considers it racist. I don't think this is always the rule, but it does seem to be more true than it should be.
Anyway, I feel lucky to live in an age and a town where we might not be racism-free, but we're considerably better off than most eras/areas of the country.