Talking Points #6

I thought that both the videos and article by Tim Wise were really interesting to read, as I found myself agreeing with a lot of the things that he had to say about racism in the United States. His main point that I really agreed with is that the United States has made progress in becoming a more diverse, less racist country, but that racism still exists in the United States, and is a huge problem.

As I was writing this, I had planned to tie the first two quotes together. After reading all three of them again, I think they all relate to each other.

1."White families, on average, have a net worth that is II times the net worth of black families, according to a recent study; and this gap remains substantial even when only comparing families of like size. composition. education and income status."

The first quote is about how much more money white families have in comparison to black families in the exact same circumstances (same number of kids, same level of education, etc.). It's almost unbelievable to think that another human being could make less money doing the same exact job because of their skin color/gender, yet this is what continues to be the case.

2. "Very telling is the oft-heard comment by whites, "If had only been black I would have gotten into my first choice college."

The idea behind this quote is that many white people are off-put by affirmative action. They feel as though this benefits everyone but them. However, looking back at the first quote, it's important to realize that there are "white privileges" that they might not even realize they have. I definitely know that sometimes it's hard to see these privileges - I'm a college student paying to live in my first apartment away from home, so I know how it feels to think that you're going through a lot of the same struggles with money issues and the like, but it's important to realize that these privileges do exist and need to be dealt with.

My last quote is a bit lengthy, so please bear with me. I tried just choosing a few sentences from this, but I felt that the whole paragraph was important.

3. "The President attacked Michigan's policy of awarding 20 points (on a ISO-point evaluation scale) to undergraduate applicants who are members of under-represented minorities (which at U of M means blacks, Latinos and American Indians). To many whites such a "preference" is blatantly discriminatory. Bush failed to mention that greater numbers of points are awarded for other things that amount to preferences for whites to the exclusion of people of color.
For example,Michigan awards 20 points to any student from a low-income background, regardless of race. Since these points cannot be combined with those for minority status (in other words poor blacks don't get 40 points), in effect this is a preference for poor whites. Then Michigan awards 16 points to students who hail from the Upper Peninsula of the state: a rural, largely Isolated, and almost completely white area."

I think that this is a good quote to wrap up this blog with. As a general summary, this quote is showcasing that although affirmative action may come across as discriminatory against whites, this is not the case. Many white people also benefit from affirmative action; that's not the issue. The issue is that many white people are resentful of this, and continue to form misconceptions about the black community as a result.