Two Recent Articles: Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System

THIS IS A MAKEUP BLOG POST

I saw two news articles on my Facebook newsfeed today. The articles outraged me, independently of one another because I think they both speak to failures on the part of our criminal justice system. However, what outraged me even further was the ABSURD disparity between the treatment of these two men. 

"Unarmed man shot at by NYPD has been charged with assault because bullets hit bystanders"

"Ethan Couch Sentenced to Probation In Crash That Killed 4 After Defense Argued He Had 'Affluenza'"

Take a wild guess at which man is white, and which is black.

Glenn Broadnax, unnamed in his headline, is a 35 year old man from Brooklyn, where the incident occurred. The article states:  "Instead of apologizing, the New York Times reports that the city has charged Broadnax 'with assault, on the theory that he was responsible for bullet wounds suffered by two bystanders.'" (http://raniakhalek.com/2013/12/05/unarmed-man-shot-at-by-nypd-has-been-charged-with-assault-because-bullets-hit-bystanders/)

In stark contrast, Ethan Couch is very privileged, white teenager. Couch was driving with a BAC of .24, three times the legal limit for an adult. I am going to quote from the article directly, because I simply have no words for this.

"As part of his sentence, Couch will be sent to a private counseling center that costs $450,000, which will be paid for by his father.

Money and privilege has helped defendants avoid serious prison time for violent crimes before.

In a particularly clear example, cited by journalist Glenn Greenwald, hedge fund manager Martin Joel Erzinger served just 90 days in jail after driving the car that seriously injured a bicyclist and fled the scene of the accident in 2010.

The district attorney in the case charged Erzlinger with two misdemeanors instead of a felony, noting that "felony convictions have some pretty serious job implications for someone in Mr. Erzinger's profession."" (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/11/ethan-couch-sentenced_n_4426722.html?utm_hp_ref=tw)

We know, from reading The New Jim Crow, how being poor and black is practically a crime in the eyes of the law, however to see these two headlines nearly side by side on my newsfeed illuminated this disparity in a way I never could have imagined. I can't believe this shit actually happens in our world. 

Reflections on being fingerprinted

THIS IS A MAKEUP BLOG POST.

I am studying abroad in the Spring, and for part of my Visa application I have to get an FBI background check. This required me to get fingerprinted, which I did today at the Collegeville Police Dept. When I arrived at the building I was told by the secretary to knock on the police door. Inside there was a detective, in plainclothes and an officer in uniform. I explained that I needed to be fingerprinted. The detective was on the phone, and told me to have a seat in the waiting room. I wasn't sitting for more than 30 seconds, when the officer came out and told me to come with him, he said that I didn't need to wait, he would fingerprint me. 

We went into the room, and the detective reappeared. He said that he would do my fingerprints, and the officer agreed, saying that the detective was better at it anyway. I have two tattoos on my left hand (ring and middle finger), and the detective asked me what they were. Without thinking, I replied, "prison tattoos". As soon it came out of my mouth I realized how inappropriate that is to say while getting fingerprinted, but the detective was already cracking up, he thought it was hysterical. 

Throughout the process, he remarked and kept remarking that my hands were sweating (they were--I had my winter coat on, and I was nervous too; I'd never been fingerprinted). He also made some comment about how I must be an alright kid since I'm a junior and have never met him. He also confessed to being the "bad cop". You know--cop humor. 

After the fingerprinting, we went pack into the room with the officer. I noticed that he was watching something that looked like an instructional video about testing and bagging drug evidence. A pair of gloved hands were shown sealing a joint in a small plastic bag. As the detective made a photo copy of my fingerprint card. He told the officer,"Look how much she was sweating! Look at her, she's nervous... I'll bet she's carrying dope!" They both laughed raucously like it was the funniest thing they'd heard all day.

Leaving the station, all I could think was: He never would have made that comment if I was a black man.

I reflected on the whole experience. The fact that I walked in there with a backpack, and the fact that I was sweating were all potentially suspect things.

I COULD have had "dope" in my backpack-- but since I am a white woman, this possibility seemed so ludicrous to the officers, so hysterically funny, that they did not even entertain it.  

 

11-24 Bonner Discussion Reflection

On November 20^th, Jamie, Aastha and I led a Bonner class discussion around Tim Wise's White Like Me, and in particular Chapter 6, which deals with the institutional colorblindness that can be found in the world of non-profits. We thought it would be both appropriate and necessary to bring this conversation to Bonners. We spend 8 hours a week in volunteering in communities such as Norristown and North Philadelphia. This racial divide is quite apparent (for example, CASA is an after school program for 5th and 6th graders in Norristown, and all of the children are black with the exception of one Hispanic girl) However, none of our community partners mention race in their mission statement-- or seem to address the issue at all. Racial justice cannot be achieved through service if our service is colorblind.

            We opened the class by showing a 10-minute video of Tim Wise speaking; the video is titled The Pathology of White Privilege, and it pointedly deals with the ways in which privilege can blind us to the realities that non-whites in the United States face on a daily basis. After the video, we asked for general reactions. I was surprised that a few people expressed that they had never before heard the term “white privilege”, and I gathered that some were still unfamiliar with its true meaning. One student expressed that she did not feel particularly privileged because she comes from a lower-middle class household. I emphasized that because she is white, she is afforded benefits that non-whites are not allowed in our society. The term “privilege” can be easily confused, especially if one is used to operating from a colorblind perspective.

            One of the discussion questions we had come up with dealt with the idea of service as an exercise in privilege. I came up with this question mostly as a though experiment, but some students seemed almost offended by the idea. This was actually a huge point of contention and disagreement in our discussion. I had prefaced this question by reading a passage from White Like Me in which Wise discusses the school service trips he encountered in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina:

"Occasionally the answers I would receive suggested a very high level of critical engagement, which was heartening. By this I mean, the persons who had organized the trip had recognized the importance of preparing the students for the experience by having pre-arrival conversations regarding racism, classism, the history of the city, and the political and cultural context within which the tragedy had occurred. In those cases, the volunteers were not simply going to New Orleans to "get their help on," or perform some version of perceived Christian duty; rather they were going to bear witness to inequality, learn from local leaders about their experiences, and work in real solidarity with the people struggling to rebuild the city--working with, not for" (230). 

Wise goes on to note that most of the service trips lacked this sort of preparation. I wanted to connect this to the idea of us going into communities we know very little about (e.g. Norristown or North Philly) in order to help and serve.  Is this not an exercise in privilege to some extent? There was disagreement. Here is a section from one student’s reflection:

I still don’t see local service as an “exercise” in privilege. An exercise means that something is being used and the implication is that without the privilege I cannot possibly perform the action. I certainly concede the point that our privilege becomes evident when we get out of a school-provided van with Hollister clothing and an institute of higher education to return to, but to be an exercise would mean that I am required to use my privilege to perform the task.

Another student wrote:

Also, i agree with X on her statement as service trips to Norristown not being considered a service trip. I do agree that our white privilege is made known in these areas, but i do not believe it is a direct result of our white privilege.

Another wrote:

It is unproductive to be ashamed of the white privilege, instead I feel as though we should take advantage of the privilege we have and help those who are not privileged. This sounds idealistic, but it is possible, and that is evident in the work we do as Bonners. While we are all privileged is some way or another to be able to go to college and to have to time to devote to volunteer work, we are at least using this to help others.

And yet another wrote:

With the very little I understand about the black children at CASA, I am still feel absolutely horrible leaving those kids to drive home to my wealthy college knowing they may never even have the chance to live the life that I almost take for granted.  So conversation is an incredibly insightful task, but it is just a start.

            It seemed as though, while Bonners were willing to acknowledge the disparity between Collegeville/ Ursinus and the communities we serve, many were reluctant to fully recognize the role that privilege has in our ability to do service. The conversation went to examining how we were selected for the Bonner program, which is a highly selective scholarship. Someone made the point that students whose families were well off would have had the opportunity to do more volunteer work in high school, as opposed to say, working a part-time job. This would have increased their chances of being selected for Bonner. This made another student angry. She said that her family was not well off; they were on food stamps, but she still made the time to volunteer in her community. This is where the discussion got a little dicey, in my opinion. I think that some students felt as though they needed to shout that they were an exception. But the point was to prove exactly that this was an exception. We weren’t trying to generalize—but one look around the room and it is evident that white privilege had to have had some part in being selected for Bonner. There are no black Bonners this year. Not one.

            All in all, I think that the conversation was important and necessary. People clearly took something away from the discussion, and I could tell that we laid a foundation for people to interrogate their privilege as well as personal biases. Wrote one girl:

It was upsetting to realize that, growing up the way I did, even though I never thought of myself as racist, there are these really small ways--like locking the car doors in a black neighborhood-- that I express and continue those stereotypes. In our small groups, I definitely agreed that education is a systematic thing that needs to be addressed; both in the way that it needs to be bettered in poorer areas and that we need to change how racial issues are taught in schools.

Another wrote:

I have learned an enormous amount about myself through the presentation. Though the term "white privilege" has always been somewhat of a buzzword in that it carries certain negative connotations, I never quite understood what exactly that meant. The video made me aware of what privilege entails and the extent by which it applies. Privilege does not just encompass the economic advantage, but the idea that simply being white carries a privilege of not being discriminated for being black. White privilege applies to the fact that we can not only receive an education, have a generous food supply, and have access to all of the knowledge we want, but to the point of anxiety. We impose our beliefs because white privilege has told us that we are right. Most importantly, it has told us that the concept of white privilege often resides exclusively in our subconscious, which is dangerous considering it takes awareness to realize what is in our subconscious. You can affect your awareness, so by ensuring that you maintain conscientiousness, you can start to overcome the societal influences that affect your subconscious. 

            One of the questions we addressed in our small group breakout segment was what we can do to address systemic racism. A lot of people agreed that being aware of our own privilege is a good place to start. Our faulty education system was also discussed. Many felt that they had been robbed, and misinformed—and that schools need to implement a more diverse, holistic curriculum that does not gloss over racial injustices in history. One student thought we need to go even bigger—and attempt to affect policy change and organize communities. He wrote in his reflection:

Unless work is done to affect the governmental policy, we will continue to live in a society that is blatantly divided by race.  I may be thinking too straight forward, but I think our action needs to be directed towards provoking change.  I think that raising awareness, through conversation or events, is awesome because it grows the number of people behind the cause and ready to act.  But I am not sure that I have ever seen an opportunity, on campus at least, that promoted direct action upon the government.  Why aren't we writing to representatives?  Why aren't we linking up with people like Tim Wise and picking their brains about the direct action that could occur?  Only then does raising awareness make sense, because there is a positive and direct outcome coming from enlightenment.  And I think that this lack of action stems from a lot of things, such as distrust in the government to listen and act, making the task appear futile.  But for now, it seems like the most effective action we can take.

            On the whole, I’m very glad that Bonners seemed to take the discussion to heart. Race can be an uncomfortable topic, especially for those who are not accustomed to discussing it. I’m proud of the Bonners for engaging in such an open dialogue, and I am thankful for Aastha and Jamie for being great co-teachers/ discussion mediators. 

Plans to bring "White Like Me" to Bonner Leaders

My blog post this week is going to serve as a space to plan a lesson around Tim Wise's White Like Me, and in particular Chapter 6, which deals with the institutional colorblindness that can be found in the world of non-profits. As Bonner Leaders, Jamie, Aastha and I thought it would be both appropriate and necessary to bring this conversation to Bonners. We spend 8 hours a week in volunteering in communities such as Norristown and North Philadelphia. This racial divide is quite apparent (for example, CASA is an after school program for 5th and 6th graders in Norristown, and all of the children are black with the exception of one Hispanic girl) However, none of our community partners mention race in their mission statement-- or seem to address the issue at all. Racial justice cannot be achieved through service if our service is colorblind.

p. 230-231: Wise discusses the different service trips that came through New Orleans in the wake of the hurricane, and how many of them lacked the adequate preparation to think critically about the community they were engaging with.

"Occasionally the answers I would receive suggested a very high level of critical engagement, which was heartening. By this I mean, the persons who had organized the trip had recognized the importance of preparing the students for the experience by having pre-arrival conversations regarding racism, classism, the history of the city, and the political and cultural context within which the tragedy had occurred. In those cases, the volunteers were not simply going to New Orleans to "get their help on," or perform some version of perceived Christian duty; rather they were going to bear witness to inequality, learn from local leaders about their experiences, and work in real solidarity with the people struggling to rebuild the city--working with, not for" (230). 

He goes on to note that the above was not usually the case. I'd like to use this passage in the text to spark critical thinking regarding our own approach to "service trips" in the past, as well as our regular service.

Some questions:

In which ways do you feel you are "in solidarity" with those you are serving?

When did you become aware of the racial divide within our community partners--when you became aware, did you think about why that might be?

A service trip, in essence, is an exercise in privilege. What are the potential positives and negatives of such an exercise?  Consider both sides (i.e. the travelers as well as the community being served) when formulating a response.

Golden Cages

"Yet the sleepwalking is slowly but surely coming to a close as more and more fellow citizens realize that the iron cage they inhabit- maybe even a golden cage for the affluent -- is still a form of bondage." - Cornel West

Cornel West's point in his foreword to The New Jim Crow struck me as particularly resonant, and also relates to the point I was making in last week's blog. Privilege, affluence are still results of systemic injustice and bondage. A cage is still a cage, even if it is golden, and even if you crafted it yourself our picked it out from a custom cage boutique. The very existence of cages at all is a testament to the structural issues that pervade our society, especially when it comes to racial inequities. Alexander's mention of white indifference to black suffering, but simultaneously the indifference from black leadership to poor black suffering illustrates the intersectionality of oppressive forces (i.e. race and class in this case), and also the lack of solidarity needed to make effective change.

Michelle Alexander's point in her introduction (I remember she also told this story during her talk at Penn) about seeing the orange flyer with the radical proclamation also resonated. She reflects on how counterproductive it seemed to the cause that these "radicals' would make such a claim. I think the reason she reemphasizes and retells this story is that she recognizes the need for people to be peripheral and radical in their thoughts and activism. It must be incredibly gratifying for a radical activist to see an idea take hold in the mainstream; to become fundamental to popular discourse, and ultimately inspire others to act. We need radical thinkers, because without them we can so easily become "well adjusted to injustice", a fault to which even Alexander admits guilt.

Lonely at the Top

"To define yourself by what you're not is a pathetic and heartbreaking thing. It is to stand bare before a culture that has stolen your birthright, or rather, convinced you to give it up; and the costs are formidable, beginning with the emptiness whites often feel when confronted by multiculturalism and the connectedness of people of color to their heritage" (Wise 180).

Tim Wise addresses the "dependency upon privilege". It's an interesting concept to grapple with-- the notion that an entire culture could circulate around the idea of "not" being this and "not" being that.

In Jean Rhys's novel, Voyage in the Dark, the protagonist Anna (who was a white minority during her childhood, growing up in the Dominican Republic) expresses her feelings explicitly: "Being black is warm and gay, being white is cold and sad" (Rhys #). She connotes envy of black culture, the love she received from her black nanny.  Minority culture, like Wise says, is marked by pride and connection to heritage. Many whites (read: Irish, Italian, Jewish immigrants etc.) relinquished their culture--sacrificed their heritage in order to assimilate into the United States of white normality. The power structure that would become white privilege was contingent upon "viewing the tradition of resistance with suspicion and contempt" (180). Whites on top, alienated from everyone else, and as Wise puts it, apparently each other as well.

These differences are worth examining. Are white people jealous of non-whites? Why is drug use and addiction more prevalent among whites in our country? There are legacies, traditions and structures that come with being historical oppressors. This is also true for the historically oppressed. Are whites miserable (intentional overstatement) because we are paying the cosmic toll for our oppressive actions? Is self-alienation an inherent part of our historical, cultural makeup?

A friend of mine once joked that every time something bad happens to her, or if she feels depressed it's because she's "paying for the Holocaust". It's silly, and trivializing to the magnitude of such a large scale atrocity...but there's something to be said for acknowledging the potential ramifications of lingering collective guilt (no matter how unconscious).  

I'm not saying that problems and consequences of alienation among whites can be linked to their historical role as oppressor, but I'm not saying they can't be either. Cultures of resistance have to be strong, and survival, as an oppressed person necessitates identifying with, bonding with, and forming alliances with others who are oppressed.

The NARAL's refusal to become involved in the fight against David Duke's Nazi-esque efforts to demonstrates and reinforces the ideas of poor blacks (especially women) as "untouchables" --a true undercaste. Involving or advocating for this group is seen as politically detrimental or detracting from a larger issue.

This IS the larger issue though. Attempts to mainstream or make policy more palatable by appealing to a more conservative, white audience will always keep poor blacks on the periphery. I am frankly disgusted with the racial apathy that has existed in the feminist movement. As Wise notes, racism, classism and sexism intersect constantly (140). To isolate one form of oppression is to be dishonest.

There has been sexism in the fight for racial equality, and racism in the struggle for women's rights. According to Wise's account, there is a fair amount of classism in the feminist movement as well. I would argue that classism and racism are the most closely associated forms of oppression, because we are trained to view black as synonymous with poor, and vice versa.

Examining my pretty white girl privilege

This weekend I was privileged enough to sit in on a rehearsal for a Hampshire College, a Division III production that my close friend has been costume designing for. Aside from being introduced to aspects of theater I had never even thought of (the concept of a dry tech rehearsal, and idea about lighting and set design) I was really struck by the show's conceptual underpinnings. The piece is titled, “Fat, Black and Ugly". Here is a description of the piece by creator Eshe Shukura:

"A performance installation that displays my personal Fat Body. Considers my brown, St Louis born, Atlanta raised skin. Remembers my female body.

Explores other fat. Connects to other fat. Exposes, critiques, and invites. Stories are captured. Multiple identities are awakened. Bodies are moving through around, under, above, and between textured spaces. Creating connections that are daring to exist.

This show contains nudity and is not suitable for children. As the title suggests, this show deals with issues of fatphobia and anti-black racism."

In a particularly salient sequence, the three women on stage sing an almost seductive manner, about the allure of fried chicken. The cultural meaning that the grease holds for them. One woman also addresses "fat phobia," and how people shame others who embody what they themselves are afraid of becoming.   

It got me thinking about how powerful the tools of shame are in the preservation of our society. Shame for being fat- lazy, no good, not productive, why don't you get lipo or a tummy tuck?. Shame for being ugly- why don’t you wear makeup? Shame for being poor- why don't you work harder?

As I watched the rehearsal, the spectacle of Eshe and the other actresses, conveying images and experiences of "fat" "black" and "ugly" I became acutely aware that I am a walking inscription of the opposite. I am "thin" "white" and "pretty". 

In White Like Me, Wise discusses his lineage, and acknowledges that his past includes slave owners. He also takes solace in the fact that his bloodline also includes a woman who was active in anti-slavery activism during his time. I used this line of thinking to examine my place as a white American.

I am the first generation born in the U.S. on my mother’s side, and second generation on my father’s side. My lineage does not have a place in the estadounidense  history of anti-black racism. Does that make me exempt from the white burden in this country? My mother has done fairly extensive investigations of our lineage on her side. I asked her whether our past included slave owners, and to my dismay she admitted that this was likely. Her maiden name, Passos, is a royal bloodline from Portugal. It is likely that our family was one of the first to colonize Brazil. However, our bloodline also includes indigenous Brazilians, and possibly (though no one will talk about it, or ever entertain the idea) Afro-Brazilian blood.Members of my family have been the exploiters and the exploited. This is my unique position in the world. Our inclination, as people. is to spin narratives which placate us, which reinforce our sense of self, and ultimately our privilege.  

 

Despite not being connected, by blood, to the structures of inequality that helped construct our nation… I am still a beneficiary of this stratification. I am a pretty white girl in a culture that values whiteness. Sometimes, I have been given things for free. People often assume that I am more competent, more capable of performing jobs and tasks than I feel I truly am. I am given more trust, and more responsibility than I feel I deserve. So, how do I contend with that? I feel that my station in life has not yet been earned.

 

As I reflect back to the rehearsal, I remember being envious of Eshe’s bravery. For her to strip down, and put her “fat” “black” “ugly” body on display in order to address important issues, is a type of courage I will never know. She dares the audience to find contradiction in her statements.

 

“Don’t call me beautiful, because I’m not.” She states defiantly, at one point. And that gesture, in and of itself,  was startlingly beautiful. 

Obama and Taylor’s “Post-Racial Exuberance”

“We can’t possibly be racist, just look at our president!”

          Barack Obama, with a self-proclaimed “Muslim-sounding name” and mixed heritage began his first term as President in 2008 (read: post 9/11). This ushered in a new, optimistic attitude towards perceptions of racial progress in the United States.  Taylor cites a journalist who writes; "In the post-racial era personified by Obama… Americans start to make race-free judgments about who should lead them" (Taylor 184). He also discusses something he terms, “post racial exuberance.” In this case, exuberance and ignorance seem to go hand in hand.

Touting Obama is the post racial thinking in respect to Obama makes us blind to issues of mass-incarceration and profiling. This type of thinking also creates a space where we are not obligated, prompted or feel it is necessary to examine our own attitudes surrounding race. We do not challenge the stereotypes that permeate the media. We can agree that overt racism is bad, but avoiding race talk as a whole stagnates us as a society. Some view Obama as a signpost for a progressive, “post-racial” society, but this view is problematic. Obama as president encourages some to approach systemic issues with more colorblindness than ever.

                On the flipside of all this, I remember that last class we talked about the concentration of black athletes in professional sports, and the effect this could have on black youth considering their future options. If they see themselves represented in athletics and the music industry, for example, and not in politics it will affect how open different career paths seem. Barack Obama, while problematic if he is viewed as a landmark for a new “post-racist” era, can serve as an inspiration for the next generation of black youth in impoverished areas who want to be lawyers, politicians, and generally well-educated adults.

Blog entry 9-22

Reading Taylor’s discussion of interstitial people coincided with a visit to Florida to visit my grandparents. The day I read the section about “illusions of purity”, my Grandfather renounced his Brazilian-ness.

“I am American, I have an American passport” he proclaims adamantly (in Portuguese nonetheless).

“I’m not Brazilian anymore.”

Taylor notes that identity is “dialectical”… constantly informed by interactions with others, with society.

I’ve noticed that for my grandfather, adopting the American way meant essentially assimilating to “white” America.

Taylor observes that, in Brazil, “marrying someone lighter is treated as a blessing for you and your progeny.” (144). My grandmother is a light, white Portuguese woman, while my grandfather used to be mistaken for mulatto.

Taylor notes that there is a “pro-white” colorist continuum and that “wealth and prestige can whiten” (144). Brazil, which rhetorically purports a more fluid model of racial-thinking still demonstrates hierarchy.  

Centuries of “social engineering” put whites on top. Even in Brazil, where an individual’s ethnicity is more dubious, and everyone is more or less a shade of brown, lightness is still equated with superiority and, like here in the United States, there are disproportionately more blacks living in extreme poverty than whites.  The darker you are, the poorer you are, and the less represented you are in media and government. It seems that even when everyone is mixed, a history of slavery informs attitudes about literal skin color.

Which brings me to a provocative question: if such dramatic racial stratifications (with whites consistently on top, and blacks consistently on the bottom) can be traced to origins of slavery, shouldn’t whites be enslaved for a period in order to achieve a more egalitarian society?

Ontologically subjective// epistemically objective.

If you’re thinkin’ bout my baby it don’t matter if you’re black or white”

-Michael Jackson being a little post-racial

               

 Taylor, in illustrating the metaphysics of race, uses the example of money, to demonstrate the way that race, like money, is ontologically subjective, and epistemically subjective. To quote him; “Just as institutional context turns a properly produced piece of paper—a paper with the right ancestry and appearance—into legal tender, institutional context turns a person with the right ancestry and appearance—the right causal history and physical features—into a member of, say, the Asian race” (111). This was a very helpful way to contextualize what the heck he meant by "ontologically subjective and epistemically objective." Those words stuck out to me as crucial in further comprehension of Taylor's race-talk. The money example was very helpful as well.   

According to Taylor, post-modern racialism, color-blind racism, and racial neoliberalism are all just different names for covering our eyes and claiming that we are past our egregious past. Claiming that the ills caused by racial thinking can be assuaged by moving forward, by being a “post racial” society, is an erroneous, eliminativist view. It doesn’t help to be “post-racial” (as an individual or a society) when the architecture of inequality is already in place.

Saying that we shouldn’t engage in race-thinking because race is a social construct is a dangerous line of thinking. Claiming that race is socially constructed does not undermine the power of this construction itself. Birdcages are birdcages, whether you believe in them or not. 

From where I'm standing

"Many people have wondered how I could stomach doing an interview with a man whose beliefs were so hostile toward people of my own race. Besides the fact that I erect a wall of professionalism when doing my job, there was nothing shocking about what he said. I knew that these were his beliefs. I'm often more taken aback by the subtle racist attitudes and suggestions when I don't expect it." 

- John Eligon on his New York Times interview with a white supremacist.

I remember, as a child, thinking about language. My mother taught me the Portuguese words for "water" and "cat", and I remember thinking that English was the main or principle language of the world. Every other language, in order to be understood, was to be translated from English. Since my standpoint was that of a native English speaker, I could not comprehend the starting point of someone whose native language was something other than English. I can't possibly understand  what it's like to occupy a different language as my native one. Just as I can't possibly understand what it is like to be born a different race.

"What is it like, you know, being black?" or "How does if feel to be white?" are not questions we can regularly ask each other. 

We censor our thoughts and questions too much. We're afraid of being wrong, of offending, of possessing incorrect or unpopular opinions. This is problematic because it breeds stagnancy of thought, and a table of friends (there is a recent Onion article that pokes fun at this http://www.theonion.com/articles/group-of-friends-engage-in-passionate-incoherent-d,33500/) who throw out buzzwords and collectively nod while discussing current events. It's wonderful to agree, to feel social affirmation, but it's even more wonderful to disagree, or even to examine why we might agree. Otherwise, our opinions stay the same. They are not shaped, only cycled through a process of affirmation, reaffirmation and shelving.

I feel as though white people in our society so quickly declare themselves "not racist" or "colorblind". This brings me back to John Eligon's point about his interview with Paul Craig Cobb. "Subtle racist attitudes and suggestions" seem to be the problematic product of the societal taboos we place around race topics. As long as we don't speak openly about these subjects, we are in danger of allowing social and systemic racism to pervade. I hope that, moving forward in this course we are able to speak candidly, and examine our own thoughts and experiences in relation to the topic.