I didn't blog last week and would like to use my credit for attending the Michelle Alexander lecture in lieu of that absence.
I was raised to believe that all people should be treated
equally. My mother also has her PhD in sociology and psychology and informed me
of the facts that while equality should exist, the reality is not so. Racial,
gender, sexual and economic disparities were all among our family dinner
discussions. However, I am a white person benefitting from a historical and
current racial project. While I was mildly informed, I did not have the
experiential background that made me truly aware of the weight that race has in
shaping everyone’s life. This book has provided insight that has enabled me to
value the current necessity of racial discourse which I did not previously
have.
I still believe that all people should be treated equally,
but just that we need to talk about, question, and oppose the racist systems in
place today to move towards equality. Prior to this book I would have been in
favor of an eventual post-race society. If we could do that, would we be in a
post-race society? I doubt it, considering the historical significance of race
even if those systems could be abolished over time. I have very limited
experience with philosophical discourse (this is my first philosophy class),
while I am trying to move past my current limitations, there is still something
that irks me about readings such as this. The need to acknowledge race has been
made clear, but we are left with minimal direction/opinion as to what we do
next. I assume we want racial equality (equality of all kinds for that matter),
but even though I am correcting some of my racist biases and indirect racist
contributions, is that enough to effect any change? I may be improving myself,
but what about everyone else? Where do we go from here?
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