So an article in The New York Times today featured a graphic entitled "Racism and the Race," which featured a survey asking questions about race in the upcoming election. There were a couple obvious statistics that make me very uncomfortable, such as 5% of people would not vote for a black candidate in the upcoming election, and 19% thought that most of the people they know would not vote for a black candidate.
While both of those statistics disturbed me, I didn't think they were the most telling in the survey. One of the other questions, however, really had me asking if perhaps this was actually the most important, and revealing. 24% of people don' think America is ready for a black president, apparently. That disturbs me, because I really think it means that 24% of whites don't feel that they are ready for a black president, ultimately, which probably means that they won't vote for him in the upcoming election.
I have never understood racism, like the idea that you could judge someone based solely on the color of their skin. I realize it's a big issue in this country, and it really saddens me. I grew up in a neighborhood that was mostly Asian-American, and when to high school with Asians and Hispanics. Not a ton of black people around, but they were there. I had never really heard anyone make racial jokes until I got to college, and I didn't really understand what discrimination was until I got to college. That's not to say that I was discriminated against in college, I wasn't, I just talked to people, and explored the topic.
I don't think that most white people know what it's like to be discriminated against either, they think that they do but they don't. Here's an example, when a white person gets pulled over on the freeway, their first thought is probably not about the cop searching their car, their first thought may be about a traffic ticket, but they aren't necessarily worried about getting beaten, or about showing the cop that they don't have a gun in their hands.
On the other hand, this is something that black men, particularly young black men, really need to worry about. Part of it really is the fact that some black men are a real danger, drugs, guns, that sort of thing. Certainly not the majority, however. And yet, they all get treated with extreme caution by police.
Or how about this example, the mandatory Federal sentencing laws for powdered cocaine, which is primarily used by white college students and stock brokers, is 5 years for 500 grams of cocaine. 500 grams is a lot, it's like..... over 500 doses, it's definitely intent to sell. That said, the mandatory Federal sentencing laws for crack cocaine is 5 years for as little as 5 grams of crack cocaine. While crack is more dangerous, there is no way around the fact that this type of law targets minorities and poor people who can't afford powder cocaine.
Part of the problem with white privilege is that most whites don't understand how easy they have it, or how difficult it is to be a minority. They dismiss very real problems as misunderstandings, or circumstantial, when they aren't. They refuse to recognize how much easier, more pleasant, and advantageous their life as a white person is.
This is why I am not against affirmative action, blacks, and other minorities, have been absolutely trod on for so long in this country, why not let them have a hiring advantage? Or an advantage getting into schools? They obviously need it, not because they are less qualified or less intelligent, but because racism is so deeply ingrained in white americans, and institutionalized in American society that 24% of white Americans don't think that the country is ready for a black leader.
