What is racism? That is hotly debated. Can a minority be racist? I say yes, but many say no. Do past events prevent minorities from being racist? In most cases yes. The general public and the media have made it so racists are cast out of society. Racist has become an insult just as communist, retard, and terrorist, taken from a group of people. In society today, one can just falsely claim discrimination and get money and recognition. But is this a step too far? Richard Thompson Ford describes a post Katrina fund raiser. Mike Myers and rapper Kayne West are giving speeches. West goes off script, Ford writes, "George Bush doesn't care about black people!" (Ford 42). Ouch. Yes, he did just get away with saying that. Was George Bush the greatest president, not a chance, far from it. That doesn't mean he is racist. By those standards, I could go up on national television and say Barak Obama doesn't care about white people. I would be called a racist and probably expelled. He was a minority so he could get away with saying that phrase. Many low class individuals wanted to blame Bush for the storm. Ford states what the problem was, "The levees failed because they were improperly maintained and never designed to withstand a Katrina-like storm" (Ford 46). Bush, Fema, Brown and the rest may not have made the right calls, but the levees were not their fault. The book speaks of levees with no effort to even renovate them. But, people are always looking for anyone to blame for a crisis, so Kayne West simply played the race card. Bush may be a sub-par president, but is certainly not a racist.
Racism can't have been responsible for Katrina, but can be credited for a few problems. If one could call it racism. Ford writes, "Racism didn't flood the black neighborhoods of New Orleans, but racism established and enforced the residential patters that made those neighborhoods black" (Ford 55). That could also be homogenization. Homogenization says that one group thinks and acts the same way. And as blacks started to move into those neighborhoods, society started to call those neighborhoods black. And so caused the snowball effect. This leads to even worse effects, Ford writes, "Some racial problems are as bad as or worse than they were in the Jim Crow era. Black segregation and ghetto crime rates have linger and, in some cities, actually worsened" (Ford 57). Homogenizations and stereotypes have put them there, but what can change that? What started as a place a minority can go, changes into the place a minority should go. I have talked to people who claim not to be racist for commenting on how Asian's eyes are thinner than others, or how other minorities over or under preform in America's schools. They say that they are not racist, they are simply stereotypical. These things are not caused by bigotry or obvious racist, they are caused by a way of thinking. Which leads to the question. SHOULD "RACIST'S" OPINIONS BE RESPECTED AND VALUED?
3 comments:
You definitely raise some interesting questions. I, for one, believe that it is possible for minorities to be racist, but I also don't think it's appropriate in all situations to call it out. You also talk about stereotypes as being something different from racism. Again, that's probably something that varies by situation. And to give my answer to your last question, I think that the opinions of racists can be valued, but probably not on whatever subject they show a bias against or towards.
Anyone can be racist. At some point, I would bet that every single one of us resort to racism at some point. We're all capable, and even those who are subjected to it more then others are just as abled to give it back.
I think that just about everyone has some level of prejudice. The outright prejudice, racism, creates a huge problem in the country.It causes groups to work badly together and causes increased division like in New Orleans. Although some people say that racism no longer is important, you are correct in saying how it is still an important issue today.
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