Racism, in the way that is presently defined, is not nearly as prominent in present day America as people wish to believe.
Now let me start off by saying I’m not naive. I completely understand that racism is still an issue in America, and likely will continue to be, because the media continues to push narratives aimed at provoking people into fighting each other, among other things.
Racism is defined as the discrimination of a group of people based on Skin color. Historically, we saw this take form in Slavery, and then Segregation, as well as Jim Crow Laws and others. However, in today’s society, racism doesn’t “exist” like it did back then. Sure it’s transferred to different issues that NEED to be addressed. But people don’t walk into the streets calling for black people (Or ANY people) to be enslaved, segregated, or locked up, solely off of their skin color.
However. Black people still suffer in modern day America despite changes made to make their lives better. How? Well let’s talk about it.
Firstly, Black Americans spent hundreds of years (several generations) building up the Wealth of white Americans. That is several generations of wealth that SOME (But not all) white Americans have on black Americans. Additionally, due to black American not receiving education during these times, a lot of them suffered from not being able to pass down valuable life experiences, knowledge, or lessons. Certain white Americans IGNORE this fact, which allows prejudice to continue to exit.
Conversely, certain black Americans living in today’s society believe that all white Americans are inherently evil, or racist. Which isn’t just untrue, it is racist in and of itself. Additionally, certain black Americans believe that because of what they were forced to suffer years ago, they cannot be racist to white Americans, which is also UNTRUE. Racism doesn’t include an exception clause. It’s not a “case by case” situation. It exists regardless of your race, and the person your discrimination is targeted at.
All this said, black people unfortunately still DO experience racism in America in ways that as white Americans, we may be unable to realize. But, I would argue this is not due to people actually being racist, but more due to how people were raised and taught. People are not fresh out the womb going “there’s a black man, I hate that black man!” No, they’re TAUGHT that hating Black man or hating White man or Asian man = GOOD! And this is continually reinforced until it becomes fact for them. And ALL races have people who do this. It isn’t “just white people” or “just black people” it isn’t even a majority of either race. It’s a very, VERY small minority.
The problem is our media (and politicians) do literally EVERYTHING in their power to drive White against Black. And it works, because of what has happened historically between white people and black people. Take George Floyd. A TRULY horrific case of police brutality. But it was NOT a racially based murder. It was a murder because a police officer felt disrespected, and felt he had to assert his power, because his ego got insulted. If the police officer was black, would there be people rioting in the streets screaming racial injustice? No. Proof of this is evident in the case of Tyre Nichols, a 29 Year old black man who was pulled over, tased, paper sprayed, and several injured, dying DAYS later from his injuries. But we heard NO riots (especially not on the scale of the George Floyd riots.) Those police officers were all on power trips, just like the cop that killed Floyd, but they were labeled as “racists”. This is one example of how media negatively influences our perspectives on situations. It is so incredibly easy to just blame race for everything, that we don’t even stop to consider others reasons it could be.
Or let’s look at the more recent “Gerrymandering” of Tennessee, removing the last “black voter” area by turning Memphis into a republican primary area. This has NOTHING to do with race. This has EVERYTHING to do with republicans trying to keep themselves on top in terms of congressional power, but media are trying to push the narrative that this was a “racially motivated move.” It isn’t. It’s horrific, and wrong, and shouldn’t be happening (But I’m not here to argue politics) but what it is not, is racist.
Let’s phrase the gerrymandering question this way: Does the act of making Memphis a “red area” stop black people from voting. Does it somehow pass any sort of ordinance making it harder for black people to vote? Does it add enforcement, or allow gangs to stalk, harass, kill, maime, or otherwise harm black voters? No. No it doesn’t. Because it isn’t a “race thing” it’s a political move.
We can even go to ICE. ICE is deporting immigrants/persons who came here illegally. While yes, a majority of said immigrants are of Central American/Mexican descent, NOT all deportations are. Because again, it isn’t about RACE, it’s about politics. (I’m not agreeing or condoning ices actions, nor justifying them. I’m point out it is NOT a race issue.) Yet people are in outrage screaming this is a “race thing”. It literally is NOT. You know what IS a race thing? Trying to teach critical race theory propaganda, or pushing to get that bs taught in schools. (THANKFULLY no president has tried to push to have this taught in schools.)
There’s is so much more I’d like to say on this, but I’ve already said a lot. I’m completely open to discussions, as I know there’s tons of perspectives on this I haven’t seen, haven’t heard, haven’t considered. Please drop your perspectives and whether or not you agree. If you’re disrespectful, or disingenuous, I won’t bother to reply to you.