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Whites Swim in Racial Preference assignment Pamela McCormick Third written assignment Ivy Tech Community College Sociology 111 Diana Lyerson-Breland 07/01/2012
Racial Preference
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According to T. Wise, few whites have ever thought of our position as resulting from racial preferences which also is a demarcation of privilege that is the necessary flipside of discrimination (Wise, 2003). As a society we want to believe that racism is a thing of the past, however, in reality racism is still alive and well in society today. “Racism is defined as the belief that one race is supreme and all others are innately inferior. When racism prevails in a society, members of subordinate groups generally experience prejudice, discrimination, and exploitation” (Schaefer, 2012). We may not utilize the term racism instead as Caucasian Americans we are blinded by the preferences we receive on a daily basis which leads to racial preferences. These racial preferences have become such a social norm we do not even recognize the signs. Most Caucasian Americans believe when racial segregation ended it was the beginning of the end of racism. In reality the belief and hatred of people of color was still being instilled as core family values. Yes, we had a movement of a large number of Caucasian Americans who were willing to fight for rights for black people while standing beside them. It is at this time in history we can move from the segregation stage into the integration stage. Can you imagine how hard it must have been to have been an African American at this time in history? Imagine all the roadblocks they were faced with and forced to knock down in order to succeed. Even though they were integrating into new society they were forced to work the same jobs as white people for less pay and forced to live a life of poverty. According to the article, a full-time black male worker in 2003 makes less in real dollar terms than similar white men were earning in