“West reminded us that even with high levels of education and increased economic mobility and social status, race matters.”
This statement stood out to me because of the articulation of its points and the conclusion that asserts that ‘race always matters.’ It is true that the achievements of an individual, their education, their socio-economic status, and class do nothing to hide the first things that we notice about them when we meet them: their skin color.
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Scientific arguments have yearned to prove that ‘race is a perception as all humans are genetically similar, and the difference in our genetic makeup accounts for less than one percent of our being.’ These scientific findings are used to appeal to the educated, the elite, and the informed persons that judgment based on superficial factors such as the curl of hair, skin pigmentation, the size of eyes, or the accent or ethnicity of an individual is an unwarranted bias.
The general assumptions are that education can cure racial biases and, by extension, racism. However, despite the educational milestones that the world has achieved, race and racism are still an issue. The question of race and racism has been a thorn in many racially diverse communities for millennia. This statement, therefore, shows that education, mobility, and social status have failed to cure racism.
Race is a matter of consideration in various aspects; evidence in the way studies and various social aspects are often construed. For example, when analyzing school graduation rates, crime rates, political involvement, incarcerations, and employment rates, among others, it is common to have a segment for Caucasian Americans, and African Americans, Hispanics, and other minority groups. This segmentation shows that despite the acknowledgment that race should not affect how various social aspects relate, the race is still studied and suggestions placed on how it affects various social and political phenomena. In West’s words, “race matters.”
“ A second more liberal approach, the race was essential, but we have overcome the vestiges of racism.”
My first reaction when I read this sentence was, is it true that the ugly past of racism, especially in the U.S., is now history, not a reality? To some extent, it is true that the catharsis of open victimization and lynching of minority groups characteristic of the Jim Crow era has changed. However, I think that racism has morphed to assume a new form, and still persists in subtle, yet impactful forms. I, therefore, feel that this liberal approach is not entirely valid, and racism is still the ‘elephant in the U.S. room.’
Racial optimism is a valid perception, but sadly, it is a wish that may sometime come true, just not yet. In order to prove that racism in the modern era is just subtle, contemporary political events are proof of such. For instance, segregation is still rampant in U.S. schools, the outright killing of black men, as exemplified by the George Floyd’s case, is still present, and in fields like medicine, racial profiling still exists. The Civil Rights Movements have been replaced by the Black Lives Matter campaigns, and the quest for justice and equality is still common political rhetoric.
We may have overcome the violent past that saw the majority whites showing open prejudice to the minorities, open public lynching, open school segregation, and the rules of separate but equal, but the schools, employment in government facilities, and prison populations still tell the same story that was being told in the 1960s during the Civil Rights Movements, racism and race are still factors of great importance. This liberal approach that ‘we have overcome the vestiges of racism’ is, therefore, a fallacy.
“ We must include the ugly history of race and racial hierarchies in the United States in the dialogue if we are ever to move beyond race.”
It is true that the history of race and racial hierarchies in all places that racism has occurred is ugly. In the U.S., the examination of race is crucial in the domain of democracy. Racial differences make up entire conversations in the homes and neighborhoods of particular races. The blacks decry the injustices that they have gone through in the quest for justice.
In the historical context, the indigenous Americans fault the whites for the displacements from their original habitats, the Chinese complain about the economic exploitation in their Chinatowns, the Japanese have a history of callous treatment in the internment camps, the Latinos are stereotyped as criminally oriented, and the whites complain of the infringement of their social systems by the avalanche of immigrants from various nations. The question of ‘who owns America?’ remains unanswered, and the truth is that the majority, who are the white, can lay no better claim than any other immigrant. The solution thus lies in the acceptance of the immigration status of everyone in America, save the indigenous, and a celebration of racial differences, and not victimization of any form.
The statement above assert that dialogue is the only way forward. The efforts of reparations must be included in the national dialogues. When talking about national dialogue, the expectation is the involvement of the political class in these dialogues, but the truth is that dialogue should be initiated at the school level, through the inclusion of the truths about race and racism in the curriculum at an early stage. The scientists agree that racism is a form of ignorance that can be cured through education. The education system, thus far, has had a mild approach to teaching about racism.
There is an inherent denial that there was, and perhaps, there is still a system that insinuates white supremacy. The fact that organizations like the Ku Klux Klan which openly admit to seeking white purity, yet they are not classified as a terrorist organization, is an indication of tolerance of racial discrepancies. We must, therefore, include ‘the ugly history of race and racial hierarchies in the United States in the dialogue if we are ever to move beyond race.’
