Nicholas Kristof's 'When Whites Just Don T Get It'
We aren’t racists, yet we buttress a system that acts in racist ways.” stated Nicholas Kristof in part 3 of his series “When Whites Just Don’t Get It”. This series involves five different articles in which Kristoff explains that even though we have come a long way from racism in the past, it is still very much alive. A black household has on average about 6 percent as much wealth as a white household, black students are less likely to attend schools that offer advanced math and science courses, and blacks are arrested for drug dealing at three times the rate of whites. However, the amount of attention that should be put on this situation is just not there. Kristoff wants to address this issue; he believes that more attention should be put on
…show more content…
The whites have something to say about the blacks and vice versa. However, “We focus on progress and are oblivious to the daily humiliations that African– Americans endure when treated as second-class citizens” (Kristof 2). We tend to reduce blacks to a mere stereotype and don’t give them the benefit of the doubt. We can all agree that if you are white, your run-ins with the police are a lot less frequent and more professional than that of a black person. “White Americans may protest that our racial problems are not like South Africa’s. No, but… the black-white gap today is greater than it was in South Africa…” (Kristof 3). He tells us to stop denying and avoiding the facts and begin to think of ways to overcome these racial biases. Racism is nothing like it was before, but it is still alive and needs a lot more attention than it is getting. That is what Nicholas Kristoff wanted get across in his five part series “When Whites Just Don’t Get It”. His argument is credible because throughout the five articles, he includes various kinds of evidence. He uses statistics, personal stories from friends, and quotes from important people. Someone who is born white already has so much more opportunities than someone who is born black. Therefore, instead of denying it, whites need to accept it and not take advantage of
The whites have something to say about the blacks and vice versa. However, “We focus on progress and are oblivious to the daily humiliations that African– Americans endure when treated as second-class citizens” (Kristof 2). We tend to reduce blacks to a mere stereotype and don’t give them the benefit of the doubt. We can all agree that if you are white, your run-ins with the police are a lot less frequent and more professional than that of a black person. “White Americans may protest that our racial problems are not like South Africa’s. No, but… the black-white gap today is greater than it was in South Africa…” (Kristof 3). He tells us to stop denying and avoiding the facts and begin to think of ways to overcome these racial biases. Racism is nothing like it was before, but it is still alive and needs a lot more attention than it is getting. That is what Nicholas Kristoff wanted get across in his five part series “When Whites Just Don’t Get It”. His argument is credible because throughout the five articles, he includes various kinds of evidence. He uses statistics, personal stories from friends, and quotes from important people. Someone who is born white already has so much more opportunities than someone who is born black. Therefore, instead of denying it, whites need to accept it and not take advantage of