Lauren L.
Long Island, NY
I notice that there are an overwhelming number of white people who refuse to accept that they have racial biases. This is certainly NOT the case with every white person out there at all, just to be clear. But when a black person says something about race, they immediately want them to stop “bringing race into everything”. Mostly this is because they don’t want to believe that there’s any possibility that they could be racist. They insist that race has nothing to do with things…which shows me just how stubborn they are. How can a person be absolutely positive that race is a non factor? We look back at 50 years ago and think about how much progress has been made since then, and believe that blacks are just holding resentment inside to still say that race matters. But not until you walk a day in the shoes….having to follow certain guidelines to protect yourself from the police who are supposed to be protecting you….being followed around in stores and denied entry in restaurants (yes still in 2013) will you understand that it’s still very much present. And this is not the only form that racism comes in. Most times, racism has more to do with your thoughts and presumptions about people of a certain race…it can be as simple as a stereotype that you believe applies to a person before you know anything about them beyond what you see. Put your pride aside…be honest with yourself. Stop refusing to believe that you may be racist. Blacks and whites alike need to embrace the biases they have so that they can start to work on changing them.
