Race in America
See the Staggering Statistics Here
Although this section is primarily focused on Black Americans, I absolutely recognize that many other communities in America experience significant racism and discrimination. These are all addressed elsewhere on this website (see Issues section).
First, I must admit that, genetically, I am as White as a White girl can get. In fact, I recently received my Ancestry.com DNA results and it’s even worse than I thought. I was hoping for maybe a little Native American (I heard from an early age that my maternal great-grandfather was literally carried off a Cherokee reservation by his White mother, which I always thought was the coolest story ever!) or (let’s get crazy!) Middle Eastern blood — but no. The results were a blah 98 percent European Caucasian.
Although I’m disappointed to now be Ancestry.com-certified blah, I must say that being born an upper middle class, White Christian has been the greatest thing ever! Because of these apparently “preferred” traits, I’ve never been unjustly detained by a police officer, or been spit on, yelled at, beaten up, or shot because of the color of my skin (or for simply wearing a hoodie or just jogging around my neighborhood). But I assure you, I’ve been around the block enough to know that not everyone in this country is afforded this luxury.
It’s awesome — and much safer — to be part of the group that seemingly holds most of the current cards, but always remember: It’s all fun and games until it happens to you or your kid.
Let’s take a minute here to define racism. In my mind, it all comes down to Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream that people “not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” To me, racism is the belief that the color of someone’s skin somehow determines their level of competency or the content of their character. This belief inevitably creates a social system that puts some at a terrific advantage and others at a tremendous disadvantage…and that is unfortunately where we find ourselves today.
In many ways, I find racism more dangerous than ever because — as opposed to crosses openly burning on lawns — racial inequality is now intricately woven into the fabric of our nation, perpetuating division, desolation, and damaging patterns and cycles that are difficult to identify and harder still to solve.