This past week I read a letter in the New York Times from a freshman at the University of Texas. The letter was in response to the U.S. District Court’s ruling that the University of Michigan law school’s admissions policy was unconstitutional.
The student wrote in his letter, “The outlawing of the use of race as a factor in admission to the University of Michigan law school was a victory for people of all races.For us to truly achieve racial equality for all people in this country, we must rid ourselves of anything that gives one group an advantage over another.”
I used to think like this: Skin color shouldn’t matter and that the most qualified candidate should be awarded the position. But there is something that most whites in America forget: Being white in America is an advantage.
To be white in America is to travel with no barriers and have the world as your oyster. Even whites who are not affluent can work their way into affluence and live the American dream.
To be black in America is to be constantly questioned. Even in the year 2001, blacks fight to be recognized as people. From the beginning of the interaction of the races, the Africans were looked down upon as not being human. Their culture was disregarded because they didn’t have guns or Christianity. Since blacks were seen as savages and uncivilized, the African culture was not given any respect.
The native African religions were dismissed as foolish and hedonistic. The only way to save the Africans was to give them a Bible and Jesus and “civilization.” Imagine what the Africans thought of these very pale people with their one god, strange crossed symbol and a book containing all their stories.
Because the Africans were polytheistic and told their stories from memory instead of reading them from a book, they were looked at as savages.
Why didn’t the Africans look at the Europeans as savages? What is a savage? Are savages people who live in their culture the only way they know how? Could savages be seen as a group who disrupts an ancient culture with its own thoughts and concepts, thereby destroying an entire people’s history?
From Africa to America, the same struggle continues. Free blacks and slaves were listed in the Constitution of the United States as three fifths a human being. In a country founded on equality, how could this be possible?
Because one man’s body produces more melanin than another does that make him less than human? Does his darker skin allow him to be put into bonds and become property? In America the answer was and is yes.
Even today, the problem can be seen throughout mainstream America, but it is not recognized. Why do I hear criticism of the creation of a black entertainment television station? “If we had white entertainment channel, they’d say we’re racist!” whites say in my ear. For a time I thought this a valid point, until I understood a very basic concept. ALL TELEVISION IS WHITE TELEVISION!
The majority of television is for white people by white people. Just because there is a single black character on a sitcom doesn’t mean it’s black television. That character is simply a lone black character interacting with white characters in a white-culture-based show.
It is this image of a few black characters interacting with white characters that leads America to believe that racial divides do not exist in this country. But the problem of disregarding an entire culture still exists.
To believe that being black and white in America is an equal experience is to be sorely mistaken. Being black means being looked at twice as the police drive by, having whites clutch their belongings as they pass along the street, and being looked on as stupid for how you dress and what you spend your money on. While white culture considers itself as the “right” way to live and anything not in step is deemed ignorant and worthless.
Black culture in America is seen as something backward, twisted and at times stupid.
Black culture is not seen as a culture. It is seen as the antithesis of white culture.
Growing up white in this world, I’ve seen how my friends and my own family act around black Americans. “Why are they so loud?” “Why do they dress like that?” “Why do they talk like that?”
By living in a different culture and not acting along the set guidelines of the white culture, African-Americans are seen as backward. A classic example is rap music.
While one of the most popular, if not the most popular form of music, it is still looked on as inferior. The claim that creating this art form does not require any talent is still something that is batted around America in the 21st century.
Just because these artists’ instruments do not have strings, does that make their musical form any less?
Black culture continues to struggle for respect in this world. From the very beginning it was seen as backward, and today the same problem exists.
Nothing has changed. In order to achieve equality among all cultures, we must see who has the advantage in this world and work from there.
