Matthew's Honors FYE Blog: Week 9 : Moving Forward

Introduction

Book Burning. White Privilege. Jennine Crucet's Lecture(1). Minorities. The media. These are some of the things that have lingered on our minds from last week. This blog is going to be about all of this, as well as moving forward together in understanding each other's differences so that we can grow together in an improved environment.

Class Discussions

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Before Monday's class, I was excited to hear what everyone had to say but also worried that the class discussion would consist of all us 'venting' our opinions in a disorganized manner. That wasn't the case. Instead, we were asked to fill out an anonymous quiz on Crucet's Lecture and Book Burning in which we wrote our opinions about thoes topics. Afterwards, we discussed Crucet's Lecture and the effects it had on the audience. We talked about how some of the white people, after the lecture, were crying with guilt: those people felt sad because they didn't ask to be white nor did they want to put other races at a disadvantage. We all came to general consensus in class that Crucet's tone was not suitable in an academic setting. We were handed a sheet containing excerpts taken from Crucet's Lecture , and we spent the rest of the class talking about it.

For Wednesday's class, I was initially upset that we still had to continue talking about the incidents of the prior week. I was wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed Wednesday's class because I got a new perspective on white privilege as well as, a lesson about society's negative perceptions and beliefs about other races. We also read a list about the way white Americans avoid talking about race which illustrates the fragility of some people. Dra. McGrath made it easier for us to understand white privilege by equating the struggles of an African-American with the differences in men and women's thought process when doing an action such as walking alone in the dark night with headphones in your ears. Because of the news and the internet, I had some knowledge about racial profiling and unfairness. But, to hear these examples described in class is really depressing. Black people can't wear their hoodies up, they can't wear bandannas, there hands must be out their pockets, they need to keep some distance away from white people in order to not scare the white person or be seen as a threat, etc. This made me realize that white privilege does not provide much additional benefits, but they don't have to think and live in fear like other races.

Unfairness

Coming back from a 1956 trip photographing South Carolina’s segregated beaches for Jet magazine, Cecil J. Williams stops at a filling station, closed at the time, and drinks from a “WHITE ONLY” water fountain.
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You would think after the ending of segregation and the abolition of slavery, everyone would be treated as equals. As much as I wished that were true; that isn't the case because many people are being treated unfairly based on their race.
Some of the systematic inequality can be seen in the difficulty for black people and minorities to to move to the suburbs or get a housing loan application because of the effects of red lining and former Levittown homes' Policies. This video (4) offers a brief explanation on the issue.
Another systematic inequality was caused by the "War on Drugs" (5) and the "Just Say No" campaigns which resulted in mass incarceration of African Americans for simply owning a minute quantity of drugs. Some believe that this was done to target black people.
Another systematic inequality is the justice system in dealing with cases of racial profiling, police brutality and hate crimes. Ever since the Trayvon Martin - George Zimmerman case, I have seen countless other stories of innocent African American kids getting shot, killed or arrested because the officer thought whatever object the kid was holding in their hand was a weapon. As a result,many black people live in fear of the same thing happening to them or a loved one.

The next example is a bit shocking and contains explicit language. I wanted to share this one with you because of how it illustrates the effects of race on criminal justice and sentencing. It's about Mark Wahlberg( the actor).

Mark Wahlberg (6)

"In June 1986, Wahlberg and three friends chased after three black children while yelling "Kill the nigger, kill the nigger" and throwing rocks at them.The next day, Wahlberg and others followed a group of schoolchildren taking a field trip on a beach, yelled racial epithets at them, threw rocks at them, and "summoned other white males who joined" in the harassment.In August 1986, civil action was filed against Wahlberg for violating the civil rights of his victims, and the case was settled the next month.

In April 1988, Wahlberg assaulted a middle-aged Vietnamese man on the street, calling him a "Vietnam fucking shit" and knocking him unconscious with a large wooden stick. Wahlberg attacked a second Vietnamese man later the same day, punching him in the eye. When Wahlberg was arrested and returned to the scene of the first assault, he told police officers: "I'll tell you now that's the mother-fucker whose head I split open." Investigators also noted that Wahlberg "made numerous unsolicited racial statements about 'gooks' and 'slant-eyed gooks'". Wahlberg was charged with attempted murder, pleaded guilty to felony assault, and was sentenced to two years in jail, but served only 45 days of his sentence." (7)

The fact that he wasn't severely punished for racist hate crimes while black people get sent to jail for petty crimes says a lot about racial discrimination. I would also like to note that Mark Wahlberg had sought a Pardon and forgiveness from his victims in 2016. Another interesting case is the Philadelphia Police Bombings (8) which is worth checking out. I could go on and on about this unfairness and not provide any solutions or treatments to this unjust society.

Final thoughts

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There is no political solution to stop systematic inequality and society's negative perceptions of other races. I believe that we, together, can change our attitudes and behaviors on the individual level to stop this. We can simply research examples of the struggles other races experience and talk with people of different races about the struggles they face because of their race. If we get a better understanding of each other, we can move forward together in harmony. That is why I placed some examples of the unjust treatment of African-Americans in this post in order to educate the viewer on this issue. I acknowledge that many other minorities feel the same way in America and that most of my examples were centered around African-Americans. After rereading, my classmates anonymous answers, I gained a better understanding of these issues faced. Furthermore, even though some of their answers varied, they contained a reasonable explanation to it. Overall this week really changed my method of dealing with these issues faced by my peers.