I am choosing to write on something that some of you may think I have no business writing about, since I have no lived experience in the matter. Some others of you may think that I am completely wrong, and that the concept I am about to discuss is dead (and I definitely disagree that it's dead!)
I am about to try and touch the topic of racism. And I am going to skip right ahead to my thesis statements:
1) If you are Caucasian and part of the dominant culture in the United States, and a person of color tells you that something that was said or done was racist, you have no business disputing that. People of Caucasian descent typically don’t have awareness of how racism impacts people of color in the United States because we don’t need to.
2) Reverse racism really isn’t a thing. Despite affirmative action using quota systems (which is the wrong way to go about affirmative action, but that is a topic for another time because it is big and complicated in and of itself), most systems in the United States benefit people of solely Caucasian descent. A particular person may be racist toward white people, but that is a micro-aggression, not systematic oppression.
I was recently told by someone who is Caucasian that because he is 42 and not a millionaire, that he is obviously not a recipient of privilege. However, there is a lot more to privilege than how much money we earn. I was about to flesh out a list with examples, but then I found the list that started me thinking about the topic in the first place. You can find it here:
http://jimbuie.blogs.com/journal/2007/11/50-examples-of-.html
It is true that the United States has made progress toward eradicating racism. The era of segregation is not ancient history, but significant advances have been made since that time. While any improvement is laudible, that does not mean the work is done. "Better" is not "fixed," and I, for one, want racism gone. I want to live in a world where we do not see a massive division in standard of living based on race. I want to live in a world where everyone regularly associates with people whose ancestors came from different places, a world where showing an interracial family on a Cheerios commercial is not only not controversial, but a world where it's not even noticed.
If you are still not convinced that massive, institutionalized racism is a reality today, then let me ask you this question: There is a massive divide between the median yearly income and quality of life in the United States between people who are Caucasian, and people who identify with almost all other racial categories. With a discrepancy this large, it cannot be accounted for by chance.
If you take nothing else from this blog post, please think about this question: Do you think that people of Caucasian descent are superior to people with other racial backgrounds? If not, what accounts for the vast difference in standard of living?
If you are of Caucasian descent, it is likely that at some point in your life, you have said or done something racist, even if it was without meaning to. I have. (I am declining to give examples because I have not sought permission from the recipients of any comments). This does not make you or me a bad, or even racist person. The unearned privilege given to us by the color of our skin blinds us, and it takes a lot of effort to see through that. Heck, I may have inadvertently said something racist in this post, and if so, I hope someone calls me out so I can learn from it. Because I believe that there is no way for me to learn alone, and mistakes are probably inevitable. So to anyone who has the courage to confront me when I say something I shouldn't...thank you.
