Racism

Growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas I was taught that everyone is equal and racism is intolerable. I attended school with black kids, played sports with black kids, and even dated a black boy for three years in high school. I was brought up with a very accepting attitude toward all people, and the word "Nigger" was the worst word that could ever be spoken from my mouth. Given the way I was raised, my recent move to Wallberg, North Carolina has been a shocking one. I am literally appalled by the rampant racist mentality that exists in Wallberg. I have heard the word "Nigger" so many times in the past month that I swear I'm going to puke the next time it is said. By moving to Wallberg, a whole new disgusting world of discrimination, prejudice, and close-mindedness has been unfortunately introduced to me. The only thing saving the little bit of sanity I have left, is knowing that I will be moving back home for the summer and putting at least 12 hours between me and good ole, narrow-minded Wallberg.

My first encounter with Wallberg racism was within the first few days of my moving there. A few people I had just met came over to the house to watch Deal or No Deal. The first contestant was a white man. My new acquaintances cheered for him and wanted him to win the big bucks. The next contestant was a black woman. They immediately began to root against her. They called her "Nigger," and said she didn't deserver to win the money. They claimed that because she was black she would not know what to do with the money even if she did win, but that she was too dumb to win anyway. Too dumb? I thought to myself that they were the dumb ones. Is this not a game of chance; a game involving no skill whatsoever? So how could one be too dumb to win? Being that this one of my first encounters with this bigoted racist mentality, I decided the best thing to do would be to keep my mouth closed. I had no idea at the time that I would find myself in the same predicament several times over the coming weeks. Should I say something to negate this overt racism, or just let these people continue to be so hideously ignorant? I told myself that remaining silent is probably my best option.

For this paper I decided to interview these new acquaintances. I wanted to better understand their reasoning for being so racist, and hopefully provide them with some new insights into my way of thinking for a change. To protect the innocent (even though they are far from innocent) I'll call my acquaintances Homer and Marge. Homer and Marge are married. They were both born and raised in Wallberg. They own the local diner and are well-known in town for their racist views. When asked his opinion regarding other races, Homer responded, "If they don't look like me, fuck 'em." He explained to me that a "Nigger" is someone who "wants somethin' for nothin'" and stands on the corner "drug dealin' and crack smokin'." He says that all black people think we owe them something. He says that black people think that white people are against them, but "whites don't give a shit about 'em." Both Homer and Marge are convinced that racism will end if black people stop fueling the problem. They claim that the "black hierarchy" is responsible for racism continuing to exist today. If Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would "shut up and disappear," then so would racism. If there is no leader to instill racism in the minds of black Americans, the idea of inequality would be no more, according to Homer and Marge. Marge claims that if white people had the same institutions supporting them like black people have, then we would all be on an equal playing field. When I asked her for some examples of these black institutions that African-Americans so greedily enjoy, she gave me two: The Black Miss America Pageant and The NAACP. She stated that whites are disadvantaged because "there is no white NAACP and no White History Month." She didn't understand when I tried to explain that almost all powerful institutions in this country are run by whites. I told her that white people are grossly over-advantaged, and that it is not necessary for us to have anything specially named or catered to whites because the entire nation is structured in a way that already caters to whites in almost every facet. Nothing I told her about "white privilege" got through to her, so we moved on to the subject of quotas.

I explained to Homer and Marge what I had recently learned regarding The Reparations Debate. I expressed my opinion that quotas in the job market are an attempt by our government to provide reparations to the black community. They agreed. They claimed that it is unfair to give a black person a job over a white person that is equally or even more qualified for that position. Because we feel as though we owe black people for their past mistreatment, is awarding a job to black person over a white person simply because that person is black really fair? Does this do anything positive in terms of reparations at all? If we want equality in our society, and we have this idea of meritocracy, then aren't quotas a direct hypocrisy of this mentality? Should we award a job to a black person over a white person who is equally or more qualified simply because that person is black? Homer and Marge made a good point when they said, "What makes a certain reparation more acceptable than the next?" "When do we draw the line and say enough is enough?" What is it going to take for us to agree that we are now all equal? If equality means something different for everyone, then what actions do we take as a society to ensure that everyone has equal opportunity?

The question of race continues to divide our society (Hinman 2006). In a Gallup poll conducted by Opinion Research Corporation in 2006, 53% of whites and 17% of blacks feel as though we all have equal job opportunity (Opinion 2007). We all have different views regarding the existence of racism. The statistic above shows that more African-Americans see racism as a problem than do whites in this country. Not only