Capt., do you acknowledge/understand that there is a fundamental difference between personal racial prejudice and systematic racism? Yes, most people casually put them under the general umbrella of "racism" but that is misleading because they are very different things with drastically different nuances and consequences.
It's like... strep throat and pancreatic cancer are technically both health ailments, but blending them together isn't logical.
I'm not an academic, just a person who uses the english language as my main means of communication. How does the meaning of the above statement change if you were to juxtapose racial prejudice and racism? I posit that the meaning is the same, which to me, means that racism can be a universal practice among any group towards another. I don't think this view should be used to downplay the existence of structural inequalities in society that facilitate advantages for some races or classes of people over others. It's very real and has been for all of human history. It's undeniable that white Americans have generally had significant advantages over black Americans, Latin Americans, aboriginal Americans, etc. To deny this is to be historically illiterate.
I think there are a few reasons many white people bristle at the idea that white privilege diminishes their own personal struggles and accomplishments. I know that when I was younger and less open, I felt this way, in part because of how the topic was debated when I was a student at SU (87-91 - yes, it was an issue then too). After all, i worked hard to earn money for college starting at the age of 13, I worked all 4 years while at SU and frankly, if I didn't have an ROTC scholarship, I would not have been able to stay at SU. Life experience has shown me that despite my own personal "struggles" to succeed were more than likely positively impacted by factors that were the result of deeply rooted social inequalities. It doesn't mean i'm a bad person and i'm not ashamed, but I acknowledge it.
Another impediment, I think, to progress is the fear of white people of forced reparations if we acknowledge the inequalities. This is not a simple or easy topic and one that is too complex and volatile to be properly discussed in an online forum, but I feel it needs to be mentioned as a hurdle to productive race relations.
I'm rambling a bit, so I will try to wrap up quickly. This country has race issues. I don't think that's a controversial statement. The underlying causes are myriad. I feel as long as we as a country spend most of our energy debating definitions and trying to figure out who is to blame for how we got to our predicament and not on trying to understand and acknowledge differing views, we won't get anywhere. (There are idiots on both sides of ththe argument as well as reasonable, thoughtful people and a lot in between). In fact, we very well may make things worse. It would also help if government leaders (on both sides) stopped trying to divide everyone and actually made an effort.
I'm sick and tired of all of the round and round honestly. I would rather spend my free time watching and talking about sports.
I hope this made sense and resonated with someone. I don't have the energy to go back and proofread it.
Peace, health and happines,
Dollarbill yall