Friday, December 6, 2013

Blog post 7

A lot came up a bout racism this week during class, mostly because of the reading for my foundations of social justice class, but also because we are unfortunately living in a country and area where racism is still very apparent. At the beginning of each class we discuss what we heard in the news, and it is very unfortunate that about 8 of every 10 current news stories has some sort of racial impact. I also think it is very important to touch on the fact that just because America elected a non-white male to be president, that does not, in any way, indicate that we are in a country that is free from racial prejudice or discrimination.
            Even the linguistics of racism leads the mind to define groups – our race of people versus their race. It is precisely this kind of subconscious distinguishing that I believe contributes, at least in some small part, to continued prejudices and stereotypes. These prejudices are unnecessary in modern times, and Adams does a good job of illustrating this when she says “many scientists today reject the idea of race as a useful biological concept to classify human beings because it does not correspond with the realist and the complexities of human biological variation” (Adams, 63). While I believe that many scientists do in fact believe that there is no place for racism in today’s world because the genetics tell us so, I also believe that all people have hardwired experiences, stories, and parental pressures from when they were very young that is going to make this kind of deep-seated racism so difficult to overcome.

1 comment:

  1. You bring up great points. The media definitely plays a role in implanting "us vs. them" talk. We have a lot of work to do to change the future!

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