America has a problem and it’s not that there’s a reality TV star playing the role of President and getting into more twitter fights than an adolescent. America has a problem with race. More specifically America has a problem talking about race. The tense political and social climates that we’re in has caused an awkward skirting around the issues of race and racism.
The idea of modern day racism keeps being blown off because “we’ve come so far as a nation,” but we need to talk about the transgressions that are still apart of the narratives of minority lives. The silent rhetoric that we have going on is that racism is dead and that we as a nation have overcome the black stain on our society. We’ve gotten to the point where Black people are being collectively called African Americans, in an effort to be “politically correct” when in fact, calling some black people African Americans is offensive. Not everyone who is Black is an African American, but the media is still telling us that the correct way to label this group of people is with the “safe” term.
Racism is not dead, it’s no longer as direct as creating separate (“but equal”) establishments for Blacks it’s just showing up in differing forms such banning people from specific religions from entering our country, separating families with no remorse, and longer prison sentences for minorities convicted of the same crime as white counterparts. If we’re going to change the rhetoric surrounding race and racism, we need to move past the uneasiness that comes with talking about race and have a frank discussion about it. Let’s stop tiptoeing around the issues and tackle them head-on. Admitting that there’s a problem is the first step in solving the problem. We also need to increase the representation of these minorities groups in both government and media so that they have a part in changing the rhetoric in a way that benefits them. We can not change if we do not communicate with each other. Let’s move past this “us” vs. “them” rhetoric and try out the word “we.”
I hadn’t considered that calling some people “African American” could be considered offensive. Very interesting post!
This article really made me think! I like how you touched on the passive-aggressive behavior that seems to be at the forefront of racism today. You make a good point saying that the representation of minority groups needs to increase so the rhetoric can become more positive.
Okay to start, I love the blog post. Most specifically, I appreciated the distinction between Africans and African Americans. I was just recently speaking about the gap between black people in America and black people everywhere else. Black Americans disassociate themselves from Africa, despite that being our origin, and Africans refuse to associate themselves with us, sometimes feeding into the prejudice white Americans have towards black people. Although you didn’t speak on it in depth, I think it is an important distinction and a necessary topic to bring up.