[Author’s note: This is the next in a series of writing challenges first proposed to me by Leslie Farnsworth. Leslie has organized and expanded the challenge to include a larger group of excellent blog writers. Once per month, one member of the group will propose a topic and we will all give our own unique take on the subject. I proposed the latest topic. You may want to look at the other bloggers listed below to see what they came up with.]
- Leslie Farnsworth: http://www.lesliefarnsworth.com/
- Joan Johnson: http://onefishtaco.blogspot.com/
- Rebecca Harvey: http://bayoucitypostcards.blogspot.com/
- James McPherson: http://jalmcpherson.com/
- Jon Lundell: http://therealmil.blogspot.com/
I suppose that I am fortunate that I’ve only really felt the sting of prejudice a couple of times in my life. Most of the people who I know or associate with are open-minded individuals that look past the outer shell of their fellow human beings and don’t care what the outside looks like.
But I also know that my experience is for the most part unique and I am aware that in some situations that my race will come into play. Every Latino or Black male knows what to do during a traffic stop. Hands firmly on the steering wheel or on the front dash-board, no sudden moves, always answer “yes, sir” or “no, sir”. Never give them a reason to hold you or to draw their weapon. Police interactions with minorities have been unfortunately too well documented in the last year. What you look like does make a difference in the way that an individual policeman or the justice system in general will deal with you.
But that could just be outdated attitudes within governmental structures and those kind of structures take time to readjust and change. In general are we as a society or just as individuals beginning to get past racial differences and treating each other equally?
On the surface I would say yes. I mean you really have to search hard and roam far and wide to find the most backward and out of touch corners of the country with people who openly use racial slurs and pridefully display their prejudicial attitudes.
For the most part people who engage in reprehensible bigotry in our day and age are routinely pilloried and lashed by public opinion. That type of racism is a dying institution.
But does that mean we’re there? Do we live in a colorblind society? I wish I could say yes but I routinely encounter what I term “passive racism”. I’ve been in office buildings where I was mistaken for janitorial staff just due to the way that I look or sometimes people will assume that I don’t “hablo Ingles” and start speaking to me in a pidgin English to try to communicate with me.
Are these people doing these things in a mean or spiteful spirit? No, of course not. But they have been raised in and live in a system where they see a particular skin color and make some assumptions based off that and sometimes the results are not as benign or merely annoying as the above examples. Sometimes the results of this type of attitude can mean that certain opportunities are closed off even before anything happens or sometimes the consequences can even be deadly.
Will it get better? I think so. More than ever before mass media is homogenizing the culture and its message reaches out in every direction. The message being broadcast is that despite any outward differences that we are all humans and carry the same type of problems around and are all looking for the same type of solutions to those problems. It will take time of course but given time and honest effort I think that it can happen.
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