Let’s role play. Imagine you’re going for a walk in your beloved neighborhood when you hear someone calling for your help from their house. You walk over and they tell you that they have a gas leak in their oven. The house reeks, but you couldn’t smell it from outside, much less from your own home.
Their problem doesn’t affect you, so why should you be obliged to help? You ignore the problem, and a few days later a small spark ignites the gas and burns down the house.
Such is the current state of race politics in American society. Black Americans have been telling the country about their problems for decades, but still many refuse to acknowledge that there is a problem at all. We can’t keep ignoring the problem, because there is real danger in continually oppressing a group that helped build this country into what it is today.
There are many numbers readily available online for those interested in understanding the plight of black Americans. Simply put, it’s a fact that a black person in America has fewer advantages than a white person. Somehow, though, many white Americans refuse to acknowledge this fact.
It’s not as easy as it once was to point to something as a racist act these days, and that makes it difficult to show someone who has never experienced prejudice firsthand. Gone are the days when stores would hang “Blacks need not apply” signs on their windows, and public schools are, at least in theory, integrated.
But that’s not to say that racism is gone. The problem is improving, to be sure, but racism still permeates everyday American life. While there are certainly instances of overt racism daily, the vast majority of discrimination is very minor, in the form of microaggressions.
The type of racism that you’ll typically hear today isn’t someone saying “You can’t be in here because you’re black.” It’s seeing your friend cross the street because they’re uncomfortable walking past a black man. It’s having someone tell you a story about the weird guy that hit on them at the bar by beginning with “this black guy hit on me last night.” It’s clutching your purse just a little bit tighter as you walk past a black student.
The roots of racism are buried so deep in our society that it has become second nature. It’s the default setting in America. Look, I don’t want to have preconceived notions about a person based on the color of their skin. Discrimination and injustice eats away at my soul. But that injustice was once such a staple of American life that it has become ingrained in our minds. And that’s why it’s so dangerous to do nothing.
It’s OK to accept that you have privilege. And while you may treat black people perfectly equally, anyone who says that skin color doesn’t at least partially inform their opinion of someone is lying. What’s not OK is pretending that you’re not a part of the problem, and putting the onus on other people to fix it.
Because prejudice has become such a subconscious thing, it will take a very conscious effort to remove it from our lives. We have to push ourselves and those around us to change that aspect of our society. It’s too easy to put your blinders on and go about your life like nothing’s wrong. Something is wrong, and doing nothing won’t fix it.
Even if you won’t be affected by a push for black rights, it’s your duty as an American to fight for those rights. We can’t sit back and bask in the spotlight that was shone upon white Americans by slave owners in the 1800s and the Jim Crow laws in the 1900s.
Tens of millions of people are still affected by the historical oppression of black Americans decades and centuries ago, so the bad that was done must now be undone. It’s not enough to call it even.
White Americans have been far too comfortable with their advantages in the past. You might not be doing anything that directly oppresses black Americans, but through your silence and complacency you are worsening the issue. It’s not OK to deny that racism exists, wherever you are.
When a 19-year-old black kid is shot and killed without consequence, when a student’s face is spat in and racial slurs are thrown around without hesitance, there’s a problem. And pretending there isn’t is no longer ignorance. It’s just lying.
Thomas is a sophomore majoring in Middle East studies. How can we have a more honest discussion about race today? Please send all comments to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
