Talking Points # 6

Connections: Between Barack and a Hard Place and Brown vs. Board of Education
Author: Tim Wise


The article, website and videos are telling racism truly how it is. Unfortunately racism has been going on for many years. In the Website, it has information dated back as far as the 1800s. In class, we have been talking about racism for most of the times we meet. I fell like even if the discussion isn't focused on racism, at some point we talk about it. I come from a town where most of the people are racist, but i am totally against it. People shouldn't make fun of other people because of their skin color. There are also songs in the media that are very racist and i don't understand how they can be produced.


Some of the articles that I think are connected to racism is "White Privilege" by Peggy McIntosh and "Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us" by Linda Christensen. These texts are similar to the readings/videos this week because they are either all about racism or have racism in them. Obviously just from reading the title of "White Privilege" you can tell that it is going to be about racism. In the article "white Privilege", there is a quote that really stands out to me about racism. "In my class and place, I did not see myself as a racist because I was taught to recognize racism only in individual acts of meanness by members of my group, never in invisible systems conferring unsought racial dominance on my group from birth" I feel like the author is saying that she only thought being racist is saying individual acts of meanness against people because of their race. I feel that being racist can be about anything as long as you are making fun or not liking someone because of their race. In the article, "Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us", it isn't all about racism, but it touches upon the subject. The author talks about how the media influences us. A connection I made about this article and racism is that there has never been a black princess until recently, or the last election was the first election for a black president. People need to start being more equal so we don't have to be stuck in the era of racism. If people can stop being racist to other people, i feel the U.S. as a country can accomplish even more.