Racial Bias & White Privliege entrenched in America

I found the articles by Salim Muwakkil and Peggy McIntosh to raise some interesting points. Muwakkil is arguing that mainstream white Americans have been deceived into thinking racism is gone. We have a tendency to think that racial minorities have equal job opportunities as whites. Muwakkil is right about this, actually many whites probably think people of racial minorities have greater job opportunities than whites because of affirmative action. However, this is simply a deception based on some individual situations where we observe affirmative action take place.

I found Muwakkil's statistics very interesting. Since I have heard some similar percentages in the past I wasn't surprised but it is still so unbelievably injust to make it hard to believe! "blacks constitute 13% of America's drug users, but make up 58% of those sent to prison for drug possession." The system is unjust and isn't working. I wonder how many prisoners who claim to be innocent really are? It is probably a fairly high percentage of blacks. This could relate to not knowing the codes and rules of the culture of power and of course the potential lack of access to good attorneys and possibility (or probability) of racially biased juries and judges.

Another passage that I found disturbing and thought provoking was "The study found that applicants with white-sounding names were 50 percent more likely to get called for an initial interview than applicants with black-sounding ones. What's more, higher quality resumes provided little advantage for black applicants.
'For us, the most surprising and disheartening result is seeing that applicants with African-American names were not rewarded for having better resumes', Bertrand said."

This is just plain sad and discouraging. It is just another of many examples of oppression in our society and as Muwakkil mentions it is hard for us to see it: "But racial disparities persist, and many analysts trace them to biased cultural attitudes and prejudiced social policies so deeply woven into the fabric of American life that they are virtually invisible." With the segregation that exists in our society it is very easy for most of us whites to go through our days without thinking about these issues or the obstacles that limit the opportunities of people of color. Our natural tendency is to think about the challenges of life that we need to overcome rather then what others need to deal with.

Now What: Muwakkil says "These studies make clear that racial biases persist. Those who assert we've arrived at a colorblind society are blinding themselves to reality." I think Muwakkil wants us to acknowledge the elephant in the room, the racism and biases that exist. In alcoholics anonymous the first step is to admit you have a problem. We need to acknowledge the fact that racism is still entrenched if we are going to see real justice in our society.

McIntosh had some similar things to say. I thought her opening statement "I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group" was very insightful. She is arguing that whites "enjoy unearned skin privilege and have been conditioned into oblivion about its existence."(p.2) When we only think of racism as meanness or hate crimes then we lose sight of the many other ways racism is entrenched in our society. Ms. McIntosh does a great job of listing some of the conditions of skin-color privilege. I actually remember when I was a student in college in western NY crossing the border into Canada. I crossed the border a number of times with friends from school and every time they would ask us "where are you a citizen?" and we would say USA and we could cross the border without showing an id. Then one time another friend was in the car was black. When we got to the border this time they asked to see his passport and our ids. A couple of us were so used to our unearned privilege we didn't have the birth certificate that was required.

So What: On page 4, Ms. McIntosh makes some strong statements about America. She says: "The pressure to avoid it is great, for in facing it I must give up the myth of meritocracy. If these things are true, this is not such a free country;ones' life is not what one makes it; many doors open for certain people through no virtues of their own."

For whites America feels like a free country and a land of opportunity. I wonder what percentage of African-Americans can honestly say "I'm proud of America." I remember all the controversy that came about a couple months back in the presidential campaign when Michelle Obama said "For the first time I'm proud of America". Why would African-Americans have reason to feel this way? The statistics that Muwakkil mentions, the history of civil rights, slavery and continual racism even to the present day! Ms. Obama's comment didn't sit well with many whites and she ended up backtracking somewhat, but America isn't such a free country for those who lack the advantages of white privilege.

Now What: Ms. McIntosh says first we need to acknowledge and talk about the "unearned privilege and conferred dominance" which whites receive.(p.6) When we stay silent and fail to recognize the inequity we just help perpetuate systems of dominance. McIntosh wants us to "use any of our arbitrarily awarded power" to change or "reconstruct power systems on a broader base." This change requires the altruistic actions of choosing to use our advantage to weaken the system that gives us advantage. The first obstacle that keeps this from happening is the fact that over half of whites in the survey Mulakkil mentioned don't see or acknowledge the problem. Fear of what will happen and the work involved in advocating and implementing societal change also provide significant barriers. However, with hard work and determination we can see real positive social change. The determination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the advances of the civil rights movement show that change is possible and we can have hope but as McIntosh said if may take decades!