I AM RACIST AND SO ARE YOU

On Race Relations
By: Cornelle D. Carney
9/25/10

My name is Cornelle D. Carney, and I am a racist! Racism not only involves oppression and prejudicial acts toward a race, but it also includes promotion and preferential treatment of a race as well. Per this definition, if it is valid, I am a racist.

Some of my minority leaders and I started a conversation around race relations. The conversation was interesting in that it took us to different extremes, some of which I never knew existed. Just accounting for the A.D. period (2010 years), slavery and oppression just recently started to subside around the 1960s to 1970s. In that, oppression of the black man in particular had been happening for some 1,960 years.

This race math was presented by a staff sergeant who displayed a certain feeling, almost like he wanted to and start crying. He went on to question how can society fully expect black people to assimilate after having a slave-like mentality (this should be a discussion for another time) for almost 2,000 years?

The conversation then turned to a conversation about how some white people just have the need to oppress other individuals (to me, some blacks and browns have this same trait as well). Another soldier asserted that the need to oppress might be genetic—passed down from earlier generations. This spawned the conversation around success.

In America, whites have always been the most successful race. Blacks, Hispanics and Asians are playing catch-up; but, ultimately whites still control most of the economy and policy. Their successfulness is a matter of opportunity. Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Outlier, declares that most success is based on opportunity. What distinguishes the successful folk from individuals that are not as successful is the number of opportunities they have had. Since the whites in America have always had more opportunities than any other race is this the measure of their success?

The Uncommon Common Ground (2010) cites that according to the United States Census Bureau there will be no majority race in America in the year 2050. Is America ready for this transformation now? What steps should we be taking to become prepared to accept this new reality?