Being of a different race in the United States, I have always been told not to judge people by their appearance. Although there were instances where I was discriminated against, if I was to be fair to everybody, people would eventually accept me for who I am. This was hard for me at first because I did not understand why I had to treat everyone fairly when the others were not treating me equally as.
Through different lectures on racism throughout grade school, I learned that the phenomenology of racism promotes negative attitudes to other blacks and Africans. It also normalizes attitudes of desire and debasement toward white people and white culture. The idea is for a black woman or man's judgment of themselves or others to escape white norms and values. Racial structure is the totality of the social relations, frameworks, and practices that reinforce white privilege. When race emerged, it formed a racialized social system/structure, referred to as white privilege, that awarded systematic privileges to whites over non-whites. Since students of color are actual or potential deviants of the institutionalized white privilege system, the majority works hard to hide it (Lewis 88). Racial ideology consists of racially-based frameworks used by individuals to explain and justify or challenge the racial status quo. As a person of color, I feel that to challenge racism and hierarchical oppression it is necessary to understand the dominant racial group whose power and privilege are dependent on how it normalizes and makes unnoticeable the ways it gained, maintains, and perpetuates white supremacy.
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Cultural racism is another way whites justify the modern deracialized society (Bonilla-Silva 2006). Since race as a biological phenomenon has been disproven, racial differences among individuals still need to be explained, and, consequently, culture is looked at as a marker of social, political, and economic inequality. This frame of colorblind racism relies on culturally based arguments to explain the socioeconomic standing of minorities, an example being that blacks do not succeed because they are lazy. Whites can maintain the status quo and their white privilege by not taking responsibility for the racial disparities they created and perpetuated in society; instead, whites blame minorities who are the victims. Cultural racism blames the social status of minorities on cultural values, which lack emphasis on education and hard work. My family, however, strongly stresses the importance of a higher level of education and working hard. I am proof that not all blacks are lazy individuals who want everything handed to them. Cultural racism inappropriately applies some unfounded generalizations or stereotypes about the entire minority group
Minimization is another way for the dominant racial group to explain that racism no longer exists (Bonilla-Silva 2006). Minimization allows whites to ignore claims of racial inequality from individuals and communities of color who are personally experiencing it. In essence, minimization gives whites another reason to disregard the racial disparities in society as complaints from minorities about their lack of social and economic success. I have heard whites say, in regard to the African-American community, that if blacks worked hard instead of complaining about nonexistent injustices, we would not have to beg for help. The minimization of racism suggests that discrimination is no longer a central factor affecting minorities’ life opportunities with sayings such as “It’s better now than it was in the past.” “Many whites admonish blacks for being ‘too race-conscious’ in a world that would be better off if everyone would be ‘color-blind”’ (Jaret and Reitzes 1999:732). Minimization also allows whites to be racist through the rhetoric of colorblind racism, by silencing the voice of the oppressed, telling those who are experiencing racism that they are being “hypersensitive” and allowing the oppressor to analyze and determine what is and is not considered to be racist (Bonilla-Silva 29).through the rhetoric of colorblind racism, by silencing the voice of the oppressed, telling those who are experiencing racism that they are being “hypersensitive” and allowing the oppressor to analyze and determine what is and is not considered to be racist (Bonilla-Silva 29). There are times, even at home when I feel that I have to censor myself to prevent myself from becoming the “‘hypersensitive’ African-American” woman. Most whites believe that discrimination only exists in isolated pockets, not affecting society as a whole. Few whites claim to be racist, asserting that they do not judge by race, but by character. In contemporary society, minorities lag behind whites in almost every area of life, including education, wealth, and housing. Whites rationalize this disparity by saying that it is the product of market dynamics and naturally occurring phenomena, which is not the case. Racial disparities are the result of white privilege. My immersion in black environments, however, left me frustrated that I had to deal with race daily when so many of my black friends rarely did. In seventh grade, I remember coming home at least once a week for months crying to my parents to let me look at other schools for eighth grade or at least high school. I begged them to let me transfer somewhere where I could have “normal” black experiences, where I could be around people who were like me and appreciated me for exactly who I was. Even though the black friends I gained through my youth organization didn’t understand some parts of me, like my love for musical theatre or why I always spent so much time on homework, I felt much more comfortable around them than some white girls in my classes that thought I was dirty because I only had to wash my hair weekly or bi-weekly, or that referred to everything from overcooked chicken tenders to an outfit they didn’t like as “ghetto”. My group of friends at school was diverse and I can’t deny we had some great middle school memories. We were all females, one black, three white, a Japanese girl, and an Indian girl. However, the other black girl and I were the only two friends who did not grow up in the same social circles as our friends.
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