Blog #9: Lawrence, "One More River to Cross;" Wise, "Whites Swim in Racial Preference"

Authors' Arguments:
In "One More River to Cross", Charles Lawrence argues that despite the dominant cultures idea that desegregation ended segregation laws, this is far from the truth. He asserts that it was not the physical separation of black and white children that needed to solely be fixed, but rather the extremely more massive wound which started the cyclic, contagious, system in which black people were labeled as inferior to whites. He argues that the band aid of desegregation is not enough to heal this greivous wound. It is infected, and is but one of a hundred other festering sores that if only tended on the surface will still rot and eat away what is beneath.

In "Whites Swim in Racial Preference", Tim Wise (along with Johnson, and McIntosh) asserts that White culture is not even aware of how much an advantage it has in American society merely because of their skin color. He claims that White cultures generally is extremely critical of affirmative action programs, and as such are not only reinforcing their own ignorance and privelege, but insulting all those who have fought to bring about such corrective movements.

Passages of Interest:

1) It was enlightening to see how Charles Lawrence claimed cultural ignorance was present in our society. This privilege isn't just ignored, but often hidden in plain sight under a pretty blanket. This passage really jumped out at me in regards to this assertion:

"The refusal of white Americans to accept responsibility for the relative education, economical, social and political disadvantages of blacks is legally and intellectually justified by ignoring the continuing vitality of the Institution of Segregation and their own role in its maintenance."

2) In reading Charles Lawrences piece, something kind of dawned on me. While certain companies may not outright say "No Black People Allowed", they still adopt laws that will exclude the majority of black people due to the fact that their minority culture has put them at a "ignorable" disadvantage. The following quote made a giant light bulb go off:

"Now the District of Columbia Police Department was using a method of selecting its employees that measured not what kind of police officers the applicants would make but measured instead the proficiency of their verbal skills. Like the defendants in Green, the defendants in Washington v. Davis could count on the continuing effects of their never completely destroyed system of segregation to maintain their mostly white police department. There was no need to initiate new non-neutral acts."

I may be misreading, but this is the big click that went off in my head. Since statistics show that most black people are in a disadvantaged minority culture, they do not have as much access to the codes of power (in this case better verbal skill training in schools) privileged individuals do. There for, by having this police department accept applicants based on verbal skill, which the disadvantaged do not necessarily possess, than the disadvantaged do not get the job, the disadvantaged being black, leads to black people not getting as many jobs. Everything perpetuates.

It would be like not wanting people with brown hair in your club. You can't downright say you don't want brown haired folks in, that would cause public outcry. But you tell a secret to mostly just non brown haired people. You then make admission to your club based on how well someone knows the secret, not their outright hair color. Therefor most brown haired people do not get in.

I find this idea kind of disheartening and interesting.

3) Tim Wise's article seems to focus more on the consequences of those expressed in Charles Lawrence's piece. He looks at the many other wounds still infected despite the supposed cure all of desegregation. One that really made me pause was this one:

"A full time black male working in 2003 makes less in real dollar terms than similar white men were earning in 1967. Such realities are not merely indicative of the disadvantages faced by blacks, but indeed are evidence of the preferences afforded whites -- a demarcation of privilege that is the necessary flipside of discrimination.

Discussion:
Out of all the pieces we have read thus far, my favorite has been the above mentioned one by Charles Lawrence. After reading it and jotting tiny notes in the margin I came to a 'Holy Crap' moment where I got it. That being sad, I got a piece. I am not going to stake my stance on a single idea, as I have been for the past bunch of blogs talking about being fluid and adaptable. Still though, this was the reading which moved me the most.

It really made me see the system in a different light. Racism doesn't have to be Klansmen burning a cross on the front lawn, or White Only diners. It can be programs which seem completely seperate from racial discrimination, but which cater to strengths which by societal functioning, just aren't as easily attainable to minority cultures. This could be due to poor education, lacking social programs, probably a bunch of things. I can't put into words how impacting it was when this all kind of clicked together in my head. MCAT, standardized testing, they aren't tests just for whites, but whites do well on them because they test on white, or rather, privileged knowledge! I feel like I have been hammering at some walls in my brain over the past few weeks, and tonight one just unexpectedly fell down.

Yet at the same time, I felt vulnerable. It is like I got comfortable thinking about some of the issues we have been talking about, and then took the next step. And I got a little unsure. Am I just eating this stuff up? I am starting to feel really bad about being in this priveleged culture. Goldberg would hate me! Am I becoming too open minded a loosing my identity?

These two pieces, while really good (especially Lawrence's), really read to me with a tone of "You should be ashamed of yourself" and it really made me feel bad. Is that the point? Should I feel bad?

As I am typing this I get the feeling that this all is indeed the point. Rock you out of your comfort zone, and get the brain working.

Regardless of being on some unsteady ground right now, I still really enjoyed the articles.