White Folks Do Not See the Racism in Society - Essay Example

White Folks Do Not See the Racism in Society Racism is cancerous to human relationships i.e. it has eaten away the fabric of humanity. Racism is considered as a system of offering advantages based on race. The racism power among whites is related to the fact that they possess the power and control over resources such as education. White folks would never realize the impacts of racism because a majority of people of color do not have the required resources required for racialist tendencies. Additionally, the modern form of racism occurs unnoticed owing to its passivity nature. Examples include avoiding race-related issues or laughing at a racist joke. People of color are normally hurt by such behaviors although whites may never realize it. The essay below addresses the reasons why white people do not see racism in society. Racist white folks are blinded by ignorance that makes them fail to realize that racism spans at individual or systematic level. Personal racism is related to the ideas and feelings held in the minds of individuals such as hatred towards a certain race and fearing people just because of their race or color. Systematic racism includes the way in which favors are distributed in the society. For instance, most public schools are primarily financed on the basis of value of people’s property implying that students from poor urban areas attend schools with insufficient funding and poor learning facilities (Rothenberg 2007). White people may never realize any racism as they can easily afford proper housing. White people may fail to experience the existence of racism in the society because it is never directed to them; they form the majority of perpetrators of the vice. Pride is the prominent factor that makes white people fails to realize the presence of racism in society. Some white people take their race to be far superior to others. History purports that there was a time that they used to rule all the other groups. They were the owners of most non-white groups especially the blacks. Most whites cannot adjust to the fact that blacks are currently free to live. These would believe that the only way to strengthen the white dominance over other races is through directing racist and discriminative attitudes towards other people. Most whites who engage in racist activities may not realize the consequences of their actions (Carlson and Roberts 2006: 486-504; Lisa 2004). The present white generation acquired most of their racist behaviors from their parents leading to acceptance of racism as a cultural behavior. The frequent use of cultural images affirms the inferiority of the people of color and the superiority of the white is racist. Racist parents instill hatred in children to ensure that they enhance the culture of racism in their old age. Some may even threaten to kill or harm their children if they see them socializing those from a different race. White racists may also have had unbecoming experiences with members of other races making them develop negative tendencies towards them. They would never consider revenge or resentment as racism. The economic uncertainty makes most non-whites engage in societal vices such as crime and drugs (Squires 2006: 40; Law 2010). This perception makes whites develop resentment towards people of color leading to development of negative or racialist attitude towards them. White people hate most behaviors popular with the black people such as sagging of the pants; considering them anti-American. The attitude extends in the leadership ladder. Most may shy away from electing leaders of color because of the fear that such behaviors may be emulated by their children. The education sector is also clogged with the historical information that portrays most non-white people as mere slaves who are illegally present in America as immigrants (Wang 2008:58; Levin and Nolan 2011). With the immigrant notion, the whites might commit discriminative or racialist acts upon the non-whites. Various state and local laws have forced the black people, who are the prominent victims of racism, to live segregated from the white people despite having acquired freedom. The non-whites are forced to work, live, educate, and use public amenities such as restaurants, which are separate from those of whites. The following image portrays distinct "white" and "colored" doorways to a cafe in North Carolina, 1940. Image retrieved from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/WhiteDoorColoredDoor.jpg The following image portrays a theater exclusively destined for colored people. Image retrieved from http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsa.8b32104/ White people would never realize the existence of racism amongst the society if the law allows such deeds. The recent cases have portrayed favoritism, for example, the case rulings whereby white people would be accorded lenient punishments for the atrocities they commit upon blacks. It is still evident that the people of color are continually being treated differently and discriminately in the current society. The most recent case is the slow response of the government to the predominantly black population of the New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Armed security personnel guarded the bridges connecting the city to white municipalities (Lipsitz 2011). Conclusion Being born in a system that favors the whites and disadvantages other races is the ultimate proof of the personal nature of the vice among whites. This is not the fault of the whites, but they have an obligation to learn how racism occurs in the society and the measures that can be applied to curb it. They should realize that racism disconnects them from the majority of the global population; with powerlessness, alienation and surmountable fear as well as full obstruction to humanity. The only outcome of racism is social divisions. Image retrieved from http://notesfromamedinah.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/racism-in-america.jpg References Carlson, Leonard., & Mark Roberts. 2006. “Indian lands, "Squatterism and Slavery: Economic Interests and the Passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830.” Explorations in Economic History, 43(3), 486-504. Law, Ian. 2010. Racism and Ethnicity: Global Debates, Dilemmas, Directions. Longman. Levin, Jack A. & Nolan, Jim. 2011. Violence of Hate: The Confronting Racism, Anti-Semitism, and Other Forms of Bigotry (3rd Ed.). Pearson. Lipsitz, George. 2011. How Racism Takes Place. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/docDetail.action?docID=10451020 Lisa, Newton. 2004. Ethics in America - Source Reader (2nd Ed.), CPB Annenberg, Columbia University Seminars on Media and Society. Pearson, Published Date: Apr 25, 2003. Rothenberg, Paula. 2007. Race, Class, and Gender in the United States: Seventh Edition. New York: Worth Publishers, Squires, Gregory. 2006. "Reintroducing the Black/White Divide in Racial Discourse". New Politics Winter: pg 40. Wang, Joan. S. 2008. “The Double Burdens of Immigrant Nationalism: The Relationship between Chinese and Japanese in the American West, 1880s-1920s.” Journal of American Ethnic History, 28:58. Read More