by Chris R.W.

Created on: October 26, 2009

There is a difference between racism and prejudice that most people are unwilling to acknowledge either out of honest or willful ignorance. Prejudice against a race is a personal bias towards a specific race, and this occurs on an individual basis operated by the individual. Racism is a systematic favoring of a specific race in a specific legal or cultural system. Clearly, racial prejudice can occur in any individual of any race against any other race they interact with. But racism, which only can happen in a system of structures, cannot happen against the majority race it favors.

A nonwhite person who is "racist" against whites is not truly acting in a racist manner, because they can't. They don't control the structures of society to impose any racist infrastructures. When they do or say something "racist," this can only be an example of individual prejudice because the are not favored by any standard in American society today.

To declare that Americas cultural, societal, economic, or legal structures are in anyway racist against whites is absolutely absurd. In fact, every one of these structures systematically favor whites. White is the "norm" of American culture, and when a nonwhite minority deviates from this set of norms, they are subtly or not so subtly condemned by the culture it is apart of. Socioeconomically, every nonwhite minority is well behind whites in income, wealth, and every other indicator of equality within society (with the only exception being Asian Americans). Legally, it's clear that nonwhites are often the targets of legal efforts, as the rate of imprisonment and time spent imprisoned for a similar crime is astronomical compared with the rates whites face.

Every aspect of the American experience favors whites, and it's absolutely absurd to claim that America is an equal playing field for each and every race. Opponents will quickly point to examples such as reparations for slaves and affirmative action policies in colleges and employment as examples of a surging structural racism against whites. The arguments are totally unfounded simply because it operates under the assumption that America is an equal playing field right now. But it obviously isn't, and every structure in society proves this. Just look at politics in American. The overwhelming majority of power holders are white males! An equal playing field is not attainable without equal representation in government.

Policies like affirmative action are justifiable because of the

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>