by Paul Schingle

Created on: February 24, 2009

While I agree with the notion that everyone shows prejudice, and probably shows it on a regular basis, I disagree with the notion that everyone is a racist. Perhaps I'm making too fine a distinction but there is a difference. Prejudice, from the Latin (to pre-judge), means to make assumptions based on appearances. The assumptions can be positive or negative; based on race, gender, height or any other characteristic. What makes something prejudicial is the assumption. Racism, on the other hand, is a belief that one race is superior to others. I will agree that racism continues to persisit in America and that it's a systemic problem. I just won't go along with the theory that everyone is a racist. The system? Well, that's a different story.

Studies have shown, time and again, that people of color are discriminated against in almost all aspects of life-whether it's for a job, an apartment or anything that can improve or change quality of life. One example would be a study that compared treatment of whites versus treatment of people of color when trying to rent an apartment. In the study, a black couple (and you can substitute any other race, aside from white) would look at an apartment and show interest. They would show references and income verification showing they were more than qualified to take on the payments. In short, they were relatively affluent. A white couple would then be shown the same apartment and have a number of marks against them (bad credit, bad rental history, etc.). In well over half the cases, the white couple was given the apartment. This is an example of systemic racism. It is an unfortunate, but true problem.

Worse yet, people of color still have to prove themselves on a regular basis. We now have a black president for the first time, and that's a good thing. It's a small step forward to true "color-blindness." But, make no mistake about it. President Obama is under a microscope more powerful than any that has been applied to any president in history. And the reason for this? Simply because he is (at least partly) black. Now, I think all presidents should remain under scrutiny at all times when in office. That's there job. They work for us. But, I can't help but think that a large protion of white America is just waiting for Barack to stumble and say, "See, he couldn't handle it." I actually believe the Republicans want this economic stimulus package to fail, just so they can say, "See? We voted against it and it didn't work?" Now, part of this is because president Obama is a Democrat. But, I can't help but feel that a large part of this is because he is African-American. How sick is that? A lot of Republicans would actually like to see the recession worsen, than to admit that our president had a good idea. Yeah. America still has some serious racial issues.

Racial inequality or oppression: Do they truly exist in today's society? If you look all around, I don't see how you can come to any other conclusion. Of course oppression still exists today. And, isn't that a sad state of affairs?

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