This article really hit me. The thing I thought of immediately after
reading the article, was in life honestly racism and segregation only happens
to African Americans and is done by whites.
I have always been vocal on the fact that this is not true, it is a two
way street. People of both colors can be
racist towards each other. Nobody talks
about when a person of white colored goes to play basketball with African
Americans how the white person can be discriminated, mocked or not allowed to
play. This may sound confusing but I have
seen this first hand both playing with my friends in a local park and even
playing in the Rhode Island College basketball facility. It is sad that only one side of the coin is
being realized to the general public, but this just does not happen in racism. An example I have been using recently is the
NFL players Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice are being condemned for their crimes
(which they should be getting in trouble over) but no one is talking about how
soccer Olympian Hope Solo did close to the same crime and beat and injured her
seventeen year old nephew and half sister.
This is another example of only one side of the coin. I do not wish to live in a world where people
see both sides of the coin, rather a world where everyone is treated
equally. A world where if you work hard
for something and get it people do not say your success was only because of the
color of your skin. You should be
treated by the way you act, who you are and the things you make the choices
about in life, not by your sex or race which you have no control over.
This link the reporters talk about domestic
violence and how the NFL is having problems with it. One of them agrees yes the NFL does have
people doing this and it is wrong but we want to condemn them and treat non famous
people to a different standard. This is
another example of one side of the coin
This picture made me laugh when I saw it originally but when it also is true since people of every race are discriminated some way and somehow.
I understand your point....don't cry racism but then play the card to benefit you however, valid that is I think the point maybe that it is sooo much bigger than those few instances, its so much bigger than that basketball team. It's embedded in everything in America, in this countries white people privilege far exceeds that of colored and thats where the biggest problem lies,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with this equality issue. A few years ago I was able to learn about affirmative action and the issues it caused. Affirmative action is a system embedded into our education that gives more opportunities to the "minorities" and "makes up" for all of the years of oppression in the past. However, they don't understand that people of color do not want to be treated better than others. They are fighting for freedom of equality not for power or privilege over the whites. I would agree this is reverse racism because one group if benefiting when another isn't. They don't even want to be called "minorities". Its insulting and as Americans I'm sure pride has to do a little with it. If I was able to go to a highly prestigious IV league school, I would like to know that I got in for my hard work and ethics, not because I would make their school seem more diverse. I would like to know that I earned what I worked for and not that it was just handed to me.
ReplyDeleteI guess I never really thought about it this way, interesting point. Whites are too, discriminated against. I also was unaware of the incident involving Hope Solo, perfect example of white privilege.
ReplyDeleteI can only hope one day that we don't look to our differences as a definition, or as a reason to why something did or did not happen. Racism is still a major problem throughout the world, and many people are in denial about it working both ways. But maybe some people are still confused, and that's why they claim to "not see you as (enter race here)". I think what we mentioned in class recently, about recognizing someone as a different gender, race, etc. is a great thing because it celebrates our differences. And I think it will take a lot longer than most people hope for "both sides of the coin" to be recognized.
ReplyDeleteThe issue of racism between closely related races but not identical also exists which is shocking to me. My boyfriend was in front of a classroom of students in Japan and reporting the difference in racial diversity that populated his previous classroom in America. In response to this a few students stopped, pointed at a girl and said "she's Cambodian" because she was just a HAIR darker than the other Japanese students. She was embarrassed and upset by being called out by her classmates. I can't believe small instances like these exist.
ReplyDelete