Racism and Prejudice
Racism and Prejudice
It is undeniable that in deed race matters. The four selections in this chapter and the Linda Lin article, talk about different kinds of racism and prejudice, all of them true and all of them equally detrimental. I think this country is far from being perfect and from not having racism or prejudice problems. Nevertheless, is undeniable that it has come a long way (President Obama) since the time of slavery and more recently Jim Crowe laws and the harassment that was brought against blacks. Later, recognized as the solution needed to afford minorities’ equal opportunities both in work and in school, Affirmative Action, was hailed as the leveler of the field. There certainly is no doubt that in the 1960's at the epicenter of the civil rights movement, that the government had an obligation to pass legislation aimed at equalizing the races on at least a social level. The question now has become whether or not Affirmative Action has passed its time. Does this once very necessary legislation now in today's society do more harm than good?
There is all kind of racism if you include prejudice too. It has been going on since beginning of time. Maybe it is sometimes a person's own insecurity that makes them think everything is attributed to race. The truth is that each group tends to be prejudiced against the other. Some are angry because some people lay around and collect government money and some are angry because they blame another class for what they cannot achieve, or for past mistakes made some hundreds of years ago. I think far too many of us speak of equality and hope, yet secretly rationalize hate, based on little more than stereotypes and stories of atrocities that happened generations ago. Sadly, this is still a racist culture. The question is not "Am I a racist?" The question is "To what degree am I a racist?" "To what degree am I aware of my racism?" The selection from Jana Noel made me think about those questions. At first I thought I
It is undeniable that in deed race matters. The four selections in this chapter and the Linda Lin article, talk about different kinds of racism and prejudice, all of them true and all of them equally detrimental. I think this country is far from being perfect and from not having racism or prejudice problems. Nevertheless, is undeniable that it has come a long way (President Obama) since the time of slavery and more recently Jim Crowe laws and the harassment that was brought against blacks. Later, recognized as the solution needed to afford minorities’ equal opportunities both in work and in school, Affirmative Action, was hailed as the leveler of the field. There certainly is no doubt that in the 1960's at the epicenter of the civil rights movement, that the government had an obligation to pass legislation aimed at equalizing the races on at least a social level. The question now has become whether or not Affirmative Action has passed its time. Does this once very necessary legislation now in today's society do more harm than good?
There is all kind of racism if you include prejudice too. It has been going on since beginning of time. Maybe it is sometimes a person's own insecurity that makes them think everything is attributed to race. The truth is that each group tends to be prejudiced against the other. Some are angry because some people lay around and collect government money and some are angry because they blame another class for what they cannot achieve, or for past mistakes made some hundreds of years ago. I think far too many of us speak of equality and hope, yet secretly rationalize hate, based on little more than stereotypes and stories of atrocities that happened generations ago. Sadly, this is still a racist culture. The question is not "Am I a racist?" The question is "To what degree am I a racist?" "To what degree am I aware of my racism?" The selection from Jana Noel made me think about those questions. At first I thought I