Long Island Racism Analysis

“Long gone are the days of blatant racism, racial segregation, and overwhelming prejudice.” While, it is true that while racism is no longer at the forefront of society, racism on Long Island still persists in 2016. While not every person of color you meet can say that they have personally felt that they have experienced actual racism, it is still somewhat prevalent in our society. Underlying racism through microaggressions still carries on to this day. A microaggression is a comment that may seem inoffensive on its surface yet still holds some subliminal anger and hatred in its message; they can be heard on a near daily basis by all. “You speak like a white person.” “You’re pretty for a [insert racial minority] girl.” These aforementioned microaggressions are ones that I myself have been told and while they may seem like compliments, they are far from them. I have lived on Long Island my whole life and the people who have said
I see people cross the street when they see a “untrustworthy” looking individual on the same side of the sidewalk as them. This individual is almost always a black or hispanic youth. People have this assumption that those who they are trying to avoid are “up to no good” because of what they have either seen in the media or have heard from others. They prejudge them based upon their forced conceptions of them. Meanwhile, the person they want to avoid could be at the top of his or her class or an active member of their community, something they will never know because of their internalized hatred. This happens all over the Island in almost any town and the oppressed party knows what is going on. They know why the person approaching them crosses the street as they get closer and it hurts them. It hurts knowing that even if you had no intention of doing anything out of malice, people still feel that way about you because you are the “wrong”