Sunday, March 31, 2013

Between Barack and a Hard Place


The website provided says that “The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education marked a turning point in the history of race relations in the United States. On May 17, 1954, the Court stripped away constitutional sanctions for segregation by race, and made equal opportunity in education the law of the land.” However the videos featuring Tim Wise suggest that white America is only pretending that the United States is equal in regards to race. As much as I was annoyed with the host of the interview for his annoyingly liberal and obnoxious remarks, I respected and agreed with what Tim Wise suggested. He warns us that “we need to be on the look-out for racism 2.0” which is when white Americans act as if non-whites have complete equality in education and the workplace. I must admit, until recently I believed that non-whites no longer had to deal with much bias in the school system or workplace. However how could I? I’m not the target, so it is not a big deal for me. In order for me to understand I would have to speak to the individuals who directly affected by the bias. Wise also notes that there is a racism in the idea that if you are non-white “you have to be truly exceptional to break that glass ceiling.” This in turn means that non-whites must be something like Obama, a mix of white and black with a Harvard education.  Or in other words, he or she must be exceptional in order to rise to the highest levels of our society. This is a sad truth that not many people recognize yet, and in order to make progress people must be made aware of the problem. 

3 comments:

  1. Hi Rich! I agree I was getting annoyed with the host remarks and I agree with what Wise was suggesting. It is so hard to say that there is not a problem but we are not the target so i agree that it is hard not to think is exist

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  2. Hi Rich, Your blog reminds me of the White Privilege article we read. You write clear and concisely without going around the topic so I enjoy reading your blogs. It is true people must acknowledge the problem as existing. People's definition of "exceptional" is often rigid and according to a set of high standards.
    "Exceptional" should be defined differently so people do not always assume they have to meet a certain standard in order to be considered in a high level of society.

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  3. Totally agree with you when you saying that a person must be exceptional in order to rise to the highest level. Yet we could elect someone like Bush.. It is the sad truth. People do need to be aware of the problem.. Relates back to White Privilege

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