Racism Today in the United States
Racism Today in the United States After living in a place like Bend Oregon for 18 years I haven’t ever noticed a difference between blacks and whites. Bend has been said to be “one of the whitest places to live”, yet I never viewed a city by its race. Being racist to me meant that it was the whites who had a problem with the blacks and whites didn’t want anything to do with blacks. I hadn’t actually seen racism in action from anyone here. Now, after watching the film Crash and reading the essays “Blinded by the White: Crime, Race and Denial at Columbine High” written by Tim Wise and “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” written by McIntosh, my understanding of race, diversity, and communications have changed.
Racism, which seems to be something people learn from what they see or what they were raised around, may not be as noticeable in Bend but its still everywhere. It’s something that once it’s learned it’s hard to move on from. Racism is carried from one person to another. The harshness of it doesn’t matter; it’s a big role in this thing called life. Racism hasn’t just been stereotyped as not liking someone because of their skin color, but also because of what they could possibly be capable of and that they are truly bad people. For years I viewed racism as being about skin color and only that. When in fact its about whites having to be in control of what they see as “their” country and “their” culture.
In my view, I see everyone as being different and as their own person it doesn’t matter what their skin color is. The way someone acts is just who they are, their skin color has nothing to do with that, but their culture does. African American culture is a lot different then our culture. The way people were raised and the way they went about their lifestyles makes them completely different from us. The way I was raised makes me notice how they are different, but it doesn’t make me dislike them in any way.
After racism has been going on for all
Racism, which seems to be something people learn from what they see or what they were raised around, may not be as noticeable in Bend but its still everywhere. It’s something that once it’s learned it’s hard to move on from. Racism is carried from one person to another. The harshness of it doesn’t matter; it’s a big role in this thing called life. Racism hasn’t just been stereotyped as not liking someone because of their skin color, but also because of what they could possibly be capable of and that they are truly bad people. For years I viewed racism as being about skin color and only that. When in fact its about whites having to be in control of what they see as “their” country and “their” culture.
In my view, I see everyone as being different and as their own person it doesn’t matter what their skin color is. The way someone acts is just who they are, their skin color has nothing to do with that, but their culture does. African American culture is a lot different then our culture. The way people were raised and the way they went about their lifestyles makes them completely different from us. The way I was raised makes me notice how they are different, but it doesn’t make me dislike them in any way.
After racism has been going on for all
Cited: Crash. Dir. Paul Haggis Perf. Don Cheadle, Michael Peña, Sandra Bullock. Lions Gate, 2004. McIntosh, Peggy. “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” Considering Cultural Difference. Ed. Pauline Uchmanowicz. New York: Pearson Longman. 2004. 123-130. “Racism”. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. 09 Mar. 2008. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/racism>. Wise, Tim. “Blinded by the White: Crime, Race, and Denial at Columbine High.” Considering Cultural Difference. Ed. Pauline Uchmanowicz. New York: Pearson Longman. 2004. 109-116.