Questioning Racism-Skeptics
When someone says, “people are where they want to be in life” or “everyone has a chance to be what they want to be,” I’m often too flabbergasted to respond productively. I’m all about constructive communication these days, but how do you say, “Are you fucking kidding me” nicely?
Well, earlier this year, I took a seminar with Dr. David Campt, a man colloquially known as the “White People Whisperer,” and I learned that asking questions is a good way to open a dialogue with racism-skeptics.
So, here’s my question: If people are where they want to be in life, how do we explain the race gap in a way that doesn’t inadvertently declare all non-white races to be universally lazy, unintelligent, unhealthy, and lacking in ambition?
If we say that the black mother of two who’s working three jobs to support her children while their father serves time for being too poor to pay for traffic tickets is exactly where she wants to be, what are we actually saying?
If we say the Mexican-American man who continues filing for unemployment, because he can’t find work that pays more than his unemployment checks despite his high school diploma and technical skills, is exactly where he wants to be, what does that say about us?
The truth is, Black and Latino Americans are more likely to be sick, poor, less educated, unemployed, and in more debt. This is a proven fact that has persisted since America’s inception.
So, since we’re doing the question thing: Why?
If minorities have the same opportunities as white folks, if slavery and Jim Crow, and all the other legal forms of racism that have existed (and still exist) in this country have truly been vanquished, why are white people still consistently richer, healthier, safer, and more educated?
There really is only two ways you can answer this question:
1.) White people still benefit from both seen and unseen privileges that must be examined and addressed; or 2.) White people are simply better than non-white people.
This is obviously an extremely loaded question, and I wouldn’t recommend asking it until you’ve established a good rapport, but it really is that simple. The conversations and solutions that need to be had surrounding this subject are certainly not that simple, but understanding and accepting the existence of systemic racism really shouldn’t be a brain buster.
Accepting that systemic racism exists doesn’t mean you have to change your life. No one is asking you to fix racism. Certainly there are behaviors you could change and legislation you could support, but your day-to-day activities won’t change just because you admit the system is broken and Black and Latino Americans are the ones who suffer from it.
So, the question’s out there. Does white privilege exist? Or are white people simply better than non-white people?
It may be a difficult question to ask, but it shouldn’t be a hard one to answer.
