Against the Grain: A Different Look at Racism
By Emmalisa Horlacher
In a Twitter video, apparently taken at the University of Virginia, a black student stands in front of the other students in the new multicultural student center and says, “There’s just too many white people in here and this is a space for people of color so just be really cognitive of the space you are taking up because it does make some us uncomfortable when we see too many white people in here.”
What was this student implying? Was she implying that white people are not a part of a multicultural community? Was she implying that because white people make black people feel uncomfortable, they should leave and in essence, segregate? Was it not this kind of separatist inequality that started the civil rights movement? Was it not Martin Luther King Jr. who said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
There is a social stigma against white people which says that white people get benefits and privileges because of the color of their skin and that many white people have ancestors who were slave owners so therefore they must be racist. One day, it might be possible to live in a country where labels of race will not matter, but to make that dream become reality, it must start now.
Racism is not something people are born with. Racism is something that is taught. Just as a person can choose whether or not to insult someone, a person may choose whether or not to be racist against someone. Racism is taught in culture, community, and families by how parents, teachers, and local leaders treat those of different colors around them.
Many times, the act of racism gets blamed on traditions or the actions of ancestors from the past. However, people in our day should be judged by their own individual actions, not the actions of their ancestors.
Pointing out the differences between races and stressing the problems of racism, creates the perfect seed bed for racism to continue growing. From Michael Jackson’s song, Black or White, the line goes, “I’m not going to spend my life being a color.” Are the people of America spending their lives being defined by a color when they have so much more to their potential than just their exterior?
MESA was a STEM program for youth at my local junior high when I was growing up. I got to participate and many of my ethnic and female friends got to participate. Yet some of my white male friends complained that the program would not let them in or allow them to participate in activities.
Were my white male friends being discriminated against based on their color?
Although this happened over six years ago, I was still curious so I checked out the 2020 MESA handbook. Under the title ‘Recruitment’ there was a bolded paragraph which reads, “Schools must make every attempt to recruit the underrepresented minority students with special focus on the recruitment and retention of Hispanic, African American, Pacific Islander and Native American students in MESA who are underrepresented in math and science careers and have lower test scores as a group. MESA also focuses on the recruitment of female students.”
In a later paragraph it reads, “MESA clubs will not actively recruit non-target students. Only target students are eligible for incentive rewards such as scholarships.” The non-target group implied are white males. In their handbook, using the words “non-target group”, they state that they will not actively recruit white males and that white males are not eligible for incentive rewards. If equality means that everyone is given the same opportunities and chances for success, then this is not equality.
At a college in Pennsylvania a goodwill student ambassador named Leda Fisher published an article in the student-run newspaper. The title of the article was, “Should White Boys Still be Allowed to Talk?” She says, “American society tells men, but especially white men, that their opinions have merit and that their voice is valuable…” To white boys she says, “You do not speak alone, you speak with the weight of every other white man who has spoken over a woman, erased the contributions of queer people from history, or denigrated ‘broken English’ as unintelligent.” In simple terms, she is saying that when a white man expresses his opinions, he is uniting himself with the white men who are responsible for discrimination against people who are not white.
Unless a person is an official representative, they speak for themselves, not for a group of people, and not every white male, is a representative of the white male population. To say that all white males feel that their voice has value and merit is also false and it is articles like this that foster the way for white-shame to continue growing. In her article she says, “Go find someone whose perspective has been buried or ignored…” Is that not what she is currently doing by publishing this article. Is she not burying the opinion of white males? She concludes her argument by saying that white boys should not be allowed to talk.
Now this is an extreme case, and it is true that a person will find examples of racism against people of color more than they will find racism against white people. The overarching point, however, is that racism against any type of person is evil and the idea that ‘all whites are
racist’ spreads more racism. Racism, at all levels, needs to be stopped. There needs to be an acceptance that all people can start from equal ground and be given equal opportunities. From there, it is up to the individual to make something of their life.
There are experts that claim that white males are privileged because many of them grow up in middle-class traditional households. If being in a middle-class traditional household gives a person a title like “privileged”, then why are not all races growing up in middle-class traditional households called privileged? Is it because of their skin color?
If a black woman grows up in a lower-class single-parent home because she is black, and if being black makes it so she cannot move beyond a lower-class single-parent home, then that would mean that no black woman should be able to rise above that status. This however is false. Black women have risen above that status and become teachers, lawyers, and business owners. Perhaps “privilege” is not a racial problem, but rather something to be looked through a different kind of lens, like culture or morals.
To all races: We are the same. We each have as much potential to make something of our lives as anyone else. Our skin color does not have to define our future. We have skills and talents. We are smart. Don’t be a victim of something that happened before we were born. No matter who you are, rise up, take accountability for your life. We are a part of the human race.
We are amazing.
