Racism 2.0

To start my discussion I want to be clear that racism isn’t only against African Americans. However in the world we live in today it would appear that way. From the riots in Fergusson to all of the stories we hear of white cops shooting black people. The reason it exists is because we continue to talk and make a big deal out of the skin color rather than the human being as a person. But don’t get me wrong, we have come along ways since the days of slavery and real racism where we had bathrooms for white people and colored people. I am glad to have had the experiences in life I have had with people from other races. I myself have been racially profiled as well. Think about the last time you were in a basketball gym watching a pickup basketball game. Captains are picking their sides for the first games of the evening, and I can’t blame them for overlooking me, I am an out of shape white boy who barely stands at 6’ tall. Of course I am going to take the more in shape African American standing next to me before I would ever choose myself. Studies and life show that African Americans are dominating the Professional sport of basketball, so why would you take a chance on someone who doesn’t have the appearance of a basketball player if you have never seen them play. Point and case is that you wouldn’t.(racial profiling, not exactly racist) (( I KNOW)) Racism exists and it exists everywhere. After 9/11 every time you found your self in an airport and you saw someone who had the appearance of an Arab, you caught yourself thinking and wondering. If you didn’t then good for you but it is a thought that everyone feared for quite awhile.  I don’t believe racism is ever going to go away, because people don’t stop talking about it. Things don’t disappear until people stop talking about them. And the world we live in now, just doesn’t allow for people to set aside race and look at each other as equals.

MY POSITION

I am a very open person, some of my very best friends are not white. In college my roommate was African American, I still consider him to be one of my very best friends. I am completely against any kind of racism whether it be hiring the help of Mexicans and paying them dirt cheap or being just ignorant and refusing to serve an African American at a restaurant. Sadly enough I have seen both of these situations in my life time. I am a landscaper in the summers and we have a Mexican who works with us named Navo and his other employer pays him dirt for the tremendous work he does. I still remember the first day he worked with me when I paid him at the end of the day he looked at me with the biggest eyes I have ever seen and said “I think you give me too much” and is said no I gave you what I give everyone who I hire. He looked at me and stared in disbelief. He had never been paid a fare amount in all of the jobs he had ever worked in the US. Made me sad but also grateful for the ability to look at ones soul and person rather than just looking at their color.