Anti-racism advocate Tim Wise spoke to University of Wisconsin-Madison students and a group of law associations about the effects of racism in America Thursday.
Wise led a campus anti-apartheid movement while studying at Tulane University in New Orleans, La.
He is widely known for his defense of affirmative action. He began his anti-racism career as a youth coordinator for the Louisiana Coalition Against Racism and Nazism, one of a number of organizations set up with the sole purpose of defeating white supremacy candidate David Duke, who was running for the U.S. Senate at the time.
Wise began his speech on a light note, speaking of how adults on both sides of the color palette do not like having conversations about race and how the concept of the "race card" has become part of mainstream society.
The jokes quickly gave way to a more somber note, as Wise spoke about the narrowness of the definition of racism. He brought up the "American meritocracy;" an idea in which people are missing the crucial point that blacks are underprivileged and thus are unable to compete with their white counterparts on an equal footing in pursuit of the American Dream.
Wise explained that very little overt racism exists today. Instead he spoke of subconscious racism and how it has grown into a major problem for the modern American, regardless of race.
“We have all internalized these horrors,” Wise said. “Forty-five percent of black folk have internalized the racism against themselves.”
Wise later spoke of impartiality in the judiciary system.
“The courts call it societal discrimination, and the courts will do nothing about it,” Wise said. He further explained how “any dominant group in society remains oblivious to other people’s reality.”
In addressing advice for students, Wise said “We just need to learn to hear what people are saying around us, whether in this county or on campus. The whole point of higher education is being very open to stuff that we never thought we’d learn or have to learn.”
“If you’re open, then I believe you can come out at the end as a more complete person,” he added.
