Commentary of the "Tenth Ehing Everyone Should Know About Race"

TEN THINGS EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT RACE

10. Colorblindness will not end racism. Pretending race doesn't exist is not the same as creating equality. Race is more than stereotypes and individual prejudice. To combat racism, we need to identify and remedy social policies and institutional practices that advantage some groups at the expense of others.

Race is a highly controversial and everyday I feel like I am hearing a new perception of what race means to another person; therefore, I am not always sure on whether I agree or disagree with a statement concerning race/racism. Out of the 10 passages in the article “Ten Thing Everyone Should Know About Race,” it was the tenth passage that I found most intriguing. I like that I understand its meaning and that it highlights on the idea that official establishment’s and “social policies” advantage certain groups, effecting others negatively or like the passage says, “at the expense of others.”  I highly agree. First of all, I interpreted these “advantaged groups” as whites, causations or however you prefer to label this group of people. It’s not only my own opinion, but something that can be statistically proven.

In the United States the president is put on a pedestal above all others. Until, 2008, when Barack Obama was elected president the position had been filled by a white male and this is dating back to the beginning of George Washington’s administration in the late 1700’s. If it is white males that dominate the United States government, it is natural that all policies, especially those that effect minority races in the United States, have been made with the self-interest of the people making the decisions. It is my hope that the conflict of racism is starting to become identified, by modern education. A great example is the high school class I am in. Only in a highly liberal private school could you find a class like Race and Gender, which takes a group of high school students to “identify and remedy” contentious topics such as race. Also, the presidency of a half black, half white American is a concept that I fell should be lenient, but I am what is called “new school.” I am much more open-minded than the generations before mine. This is so because tolerance has grown in the modern time. We have internet, media, telephones, ect, people are less sheltered, more aware of what is going on in the world and the others that make up this world. We are at the identifying point of the matter it is up to my generation and the ones to follow to “remedy” the issues and the policies that are now outdated by our government.