On Racism

Racism is a tricky thing. I once had a class (part of my teaching ESL training) in cultural diversity. My teacher held the position that racism is about power. His position was that white people hold the power in America (in particular white males), therefore, only they could be racist. At first I resisted this notion having had negativity thrown at me from black people and thinking I was the victim of racism. But then I got to thinking about it - about the history of the U.S. and how black people were first slaves and later "freed," but freed into what? It wasn't like a freed slave could then run for president. There have been so many obstacles to overcome. The hill to climb has been so high. I was so pleased to have the opportunity to vote for Obama (twice) whom I respect so much. But think, he wasn't descended from slaves. His mother was white. He was given opportunities that most black people aren't. I don't say this to downplay his achievements. However, I want to say that the structure of society is racist so long as there is a disproportionate number of white people as high ranking government officials and CEOs of companies and doctors and lawyers, etc and a disproportionate number of black people in prison and unemployed, etc. I'm not saying there are any easy answers to these imbalances, but that we need to be aware of them and our history to better understand what "racism" really means.