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Racism In America

Decent Essays

Racism seems to be a cultural crutch that stems from the hatred and backwash of American history, leading us to believe we can still turn a blind eye to how it affects our daily lives in a major way today. But what if we were colorblind? Would this change the way we see ourselves? Whether we know it or not racism and the concept of race itself affects everybody daily. It affects us as a country, as a person, politically, and socially. As Coates makes it very clear that race on its own causes racism, not the other way around causes one to think that things could possibly be a little different. “Americans believe in the reality of ‘race’ as a defined, indubitable feature of the natural world. Racism—the need to ascribe bone-deep features to people …show more content…

Doesn’t that sound appealing? Well of course it does, all around the world people strive for that perfection. Although in every household under this assumption is what you would call “white privileged”. Being the more favored race in America, they have developed this sense of entitlement. In a perfect world, every kid has their dream come true in life, all kids are told to follow dreams. We all wish it were true, but it seems like the dreams favor skin tone. As Coates tells us “The entire narrative of this country argues against the truth of who you are” (99). Some will grow up to achieve things based on the color of their skin while others that are not as fortunate obtain it through blood sweat and tears. Some will end up on the back burner of this country's labor keeping the infrastructure alive. Though it seems we tend to forget even in our racism that this America was built by black slaves. Every stone turned and business sent booming are from the backs of those degraded and beaten. Due to lack of understanding and lack of knowledge from younger generations this seems to stem other problems entirely for the race debate. Road blocks like these attribute to the ever steadily growing gap. The causes for this and reasons to share the wealth of knowledge happens in many …show more content…

The reasons seem to be ever changing but remain an issue all the same. The three most major points that call my attention are no less than common sense. The first being the way you were raised. Experiences good or bad within your family can drastically alter the way you see any race. Every form of social contact through a family member especially around parents can show you whether or not it is ok to judge by skin tone or stereotype. Secondly we have peer pressure, it is always a recurring theme to involve a crowd opinion. It may not always be the right thing to do, but as others opinions start stacking up against yours the need to fit in urging you to say an answer that may not necessarily be your own. Now for the third and final cause we have unfamiliarity, one of the most popular influences in this world. Only a very slim minority of people tend to know their facts one hundred percent before speaking out on a subject or react. For racism that is not the case, our nation is behind the learning curve for knowledge of how we used to run and the people we have living all around us. Coates tries to warn us against all of this, but does not really provide a solution. For that is only going to be found amongst all of us. He urges us to stop looking for the right answer and instead ask the correct questions. Hopefully then will we ever truly get a grip on the war against the

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