African Americans and Race

Race Relations The subject of race has always been an issue in the United States. However, the volume and the pitch of the topic depends on the events and context of history at any given time. Things got ramped up significantly when Ferguson happened and the recent national anthem protests that were seemingly started by Colin Kaepernick did much the same thing (Dyson, 2016). This repot shall cover a number of important topics with the main one being privilege, how it exists and manifests and beyond.

While privilege is not something that everyone thinks about, it most certainly exists and thus should be defined, refined in terms of what it means and learned about in the proper way. While many are quick to point to privilege in a white sense, it can actually refer to anyone and their advantages (or disadvantages) of being a certain race in the United States. Even so, white privilege is the main focus a lot of the time.

Generally, privilege in a positive sense is being able to assume that most of the people in a class and the people that will be talked about in terms of history will be the same color as you. Further, failures will commonly not be attributed to the same race that you are.

Finally, it would be common for someone that is privileged to not have to think about race, gender, sexual orientation and/or disability on a daily basis due to having to consider it by force due to daily events and rites of passage. As noted above, white privilege is the most common lens used when it comes to this subject. However, the definition just rendered proves that women and those with disability (or those that are men or non-disabled) can think about it as well (WPC, 2016).

Of course, privilege is created by one culture, race and/or language being dominant or oppressive over another (Mcintosh, 2016). Of course, that would be white people in the United States. They make up a majority of the population, most of them speak English and their skin tone and source of immigration (either recent or not) is generally Europe.

These common traits allow for white people to not to have to think about race due to their societal environment and experiences as they are not commonly mistreated for issues like race, ethnicity and language. By contrast, Latinos have darker skin, speak Spanish (and sometimes do not speak English) and beyond and thus are treated differently (if not very poorly) for that reason alone even if they generally mind their own business and go about their lives.

It is harder for them to be out in society comfortably, it is harder for them to communicate with others in an easy way and they are otherwise not treated with the same deference and respect as white people operating in the same society. Just as one example, it is fairly common for someone to assume that a Latino that does not speak English well (or that is Latino in general) is "illegal" and thus should not be here.

In terms of when privilege is "invisible," a rule of thumb about that subject is that people that have privilege and that do not know that it exists are almost always the ones that actually have it. For example, if some random person does not notice privilege, whether they know what the term means or not, they would tend to be white or otherwise part of the dominant race, language and culture, depending on where they are.

However, gender is in that equation as well as people that assume "women" when they hear the term gender are in that proverbial boat as well (Smith, 2016). As for whether this invisibility is sustained in modern societies, this would really be a "yes." It is absolutely the case in societies like the United States where white men are on one plane of status and normalcy while others such as women, Latinos and blacks are on a different level, and in more ways than one.

To say that things have in no way improved would not be fair or accurate. However, to say that things are remotely a level playing field would be laughable at best. Just one example where the divisions and demarcations are still rather nasty would be capitalism. Many people have heard about the study where people with "ethnic" names like Jose or Dequan are treated differently than people named Bob and Steve due to the perceived race, culture or ethnicity of the person on the resume.

For sure, there are plenty of white people that are less than aggressive about this happening when they are on the benefitting end of that dichotomy. This is not the same thing as saying that racism of any form is alright but it is also not fighting against people that are helping race relations and the negative direction they go persist.

Beyond that, there is most certainly levels of class and income in the United States and the people on the lower echelons of that ladder suffer much more than those that are near the top. On top of that, it is often people of color such as Latinos and African-Americans that are on those lower rungs. A lot of the reasons why that happens to be the case is historical mistreatment on a grand scale, the race-based suppression mentioned earlier when it comes to jobs, poor schools and so forth.

Even with all that being said, privilege exists on a spectrum and there are absolutely white people that get dealt some rather shoddy cards in life. There are plenty of working poor people that are white. There are plenty of uneducated people that are living in trailer parks that are white. There are plenty of single parents and married parents that have to work disparate shifts to get by that are white. Even so, throwing a minority race on top of that just makes things more complicated.

The point is that there are societal and class-based factors that can afflict and affect people of all races but race adds a dimension that is much more nefarious in terms of what happens to people in those situations. The author of this report is white and grew up rather poor. It did seem miserable and frustrating at times but the author has since moved beyond existence in many ways.

However, the author of this report also knows that black people and Latinos (just to name two groups) do not have the mobility and the ability to change that white people do and there is really nothing they can do to change that short of segregating themselves in enclaves, neighborhoods and colleges that are full of people like themselves (e.g. an African-American going to Howard University) (Wise, 2016). Middle Easterners are affected as well, of course, and this was true before 9/11 (Shams, 2016).

However, it should not have to come to that segregation for any reason is not a long-term solution to the problem of race in this country. Poverty is a terrible thing and affects all of its inhabitants in terrible ways. However, people without race-based privilege get hit all the more worse and they are much more likely to get stricken in the first place. There are many white people that never have (and never will) know what it is like to live paycheck to paycheck.

There are some African-Americans and Latinos in this boat as well but the overall proportion is obviously not the same, nor will it ever be for the foreseeable future. There are plenty of people that want to see unity and togetherness for all peoples. However, there are people that operate online and even in real life that are nationalists, believe in white/European supremacy and otherwise act in an abhorrent way.

Whether it is overt or behind a nom de guerre on the internet, racism is absolutely still real and so is white privilege. Until there is a new norm whereby people are people and they are able to get.