I believe that whites do have more privileges than blacks today in America. There has been a racism problem for hundreds of years and I don't believe that it is going away any time soon. It’s not because of bad intentions; it is because people are too timid to address the problem. As stated in the article Denial by Tim Wise, once people realize that there is a problem, they soon come to the conclusion that it will take too much effort in order to make an impact. That is the sad truth of society today.
Being born white gives one many advantages today. A black child basically is born with a lesser chance to succeed than their white counterparts. This is prevalent in the region that I live in and is made evident in the article. Tim Wise uses scenarios to make people think while reading his article. It is very effective because it puts you in the shoes of the victim for once and helps people relate. People don't really understand racism until they witness it. I have a couple of black friends and I have heard countless stories of the adversity that they have to face on a daily basis and it really ticks me off. They are all nice polite people, but that doesn't matter to certain people, all that does is the color of their skin.
Wise illustrates the problem we have in society perfectly. It is the bystanders that are causing a lot of racism as well as the ignorant people. Some whites are in denial that racism is prevalent today, but they are just blind, all they have to do is look around and see the injustices occurring.
What do you think about America's efforts in terms of eliminating racial injustice?
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you Omar that there is a privilege in our society that is given to whites. But even though one acknowledges the fact that whites have privileges in our society, does not make him or her racist. Actually, it is best that Americans acknowlege the white preference in our society in order to fix it. To ignore this issue only fuels the problem, and conversation and action about it is a must for change. If we were to ignore the white privileges, than that means that we are "blind" to the racial injustices in our society today. This blindness will not move us forward as a nation, but only slow us down.
ReplyDeleteOmar, while this is an interesting post, you only have two for the entire quarter, neither of which is the required affirmative action post. This is insufficient to meet your blogging requirements. It's too bad. Your ideas are provocative and strong. They deserve a forum here.
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