This stunned me, because in my mind, if there is any region of the United States that needs to be concerned about race and racism, it's the Deep South. This isn't true of course; racism is still prevelant throughout every region of the United States and we should all be concerned about it.
In thinking about what he said, however, it makes sense. When we talk about racism in elementary school all through high school, we talk about it like it is a problem of the past. After all, nowadays we're all equal, right?
We don't talk about the fact that the effects of racism are still with us today. When slaves were emancipated, their "freedom" was really all they got. They were not suddenly given equal treatment - as evidenced by Jim Crow laws, segregation, etc. We just desegregated schools about fifty years ago, against much opposition. If there was so much opposition then, why do we think that just faded away? Change takes time, especially when it is something that has been deeply engrained into our society.
Here in Davis, we're in what one of my professors termed "a racial nirvana." I'm not saying we are exceptionally diverse, but we don't have noticeable racial undertones in our everyday interractions. (Please take this with a grain of salt, as I am a white middle class female and therfore extremely unlikely to experience racism. However, the professor who was speaking about this was African American, so I am trusting his experience of it.) I've never heard of race fights happening or heard someone say the "n word."
But for my friend who grew up in Mississippi, these were common occurences. Even in elementary school, there would be large fights between groups of African Americans and white kids. One of his close friends talked about how his uncle was a member of the KKK, how he too wanted to join the KKK, and he frequently used the "n word."
If we always spew the rhetoric of "racism is wrong" but speak of it as a problem of the past and do nothing to discourage behavior such as this, then it's no wonder that people are "tired of hearing about race/racism."
But just because you don't see race fights or hear about the KKK member next door doesn't mean that there isn't racism around you. I grew up outside of Sacramento, and participated in accelerated curriculum programs begining in third grade, and attended private school prior to that. In private school, there was one student in my class who wasn't white. Starting in third grade, my classmates were either white or Asian.
So where were the Latino and African American students? They were in what my teachers termed "the dumb classes." In high school I saw a much larger percentage of African American and Latino students, but they were still in "the dumb classes." According to my teachers and common belief amongst the accelerated program kids, they were the "troubled" students, the ones doing drugs and participating in gangs.
Biologically, race doesn't exist. Race only exists because it is socially constructed - we think it exists, and so effectively it does. So why is there such a large racial disparity between the students in the regular curriculum programs and the accelerated programs at my school? It has to do with racism.
The students in the regular programs are being racially stereotyped, put in a box and ignored. They are not any less intelligent than I or my classmates, but they are being held back by their race, socioeconomic status, parents' education/jobs, and many other factors that originate from racism. If for fifty or more years we don't offer well paying jobs or decent educations to minorities, then why do we act as if we are all of the sudden on an equal playing field? The fact that we have (to some degree) stopped these biased behaviors is largely because of legal rulings and suits, not because white people all of the sudden went, "Oh! We're wrong, sorry."
When we look at the media, we are told that criminals, gangmembers, drug users, etc. belong to a racial minority. We have been programmed so that when we see a strong African American man walking down the street, we feel a bit afraid. They might be a rapist or a criminal. We "other" them. They do not belong with us, they are something "other" than us. So it is no surprise that in schools we pressume that Latino and African American students will follow these "trends" and become criminals and drug users as well. We've already othered their parents and families, why not them?
Here are a few news articles or videos that I'd like to share with you regarding modern racism:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/10/25/gop_precinct_chairman_says_voter_id_will_hurt_lazy_blacks_then_resigns.html
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/20/13989510-empty-chair-lynchings-anti-obama-protests-gone-too-far
Racism is an ongoing problem. It's not in the past. Furthermore, racism is taught. We are taught to look down upon, fear, and dislike others. It isn't something we do straight out of the womb. So, if you, like my friend, are tired of hearing about race and racism, I understand. It's always talked about like it's in the past, or it's not happening around you. But even if you're tired of it, you should still care. We can't stop talking about race until it ceases to be a problem. And despite how far we have come, we still have a long way to go before racism disappears.
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