Post 5

In order to properly absorb information, one should consider reflecting upon his or her recent experiences. My father grew up in Warren Michigan, just outside Detroit; quite possibly the most racist of all northern cities inside the United States. Lynching’s, police violence, and race riots were a part of life for minorities in Detroit. Looking back, my dad does not blame any of them for the race riots. The police really did treat minorities in a terrible fashion. I found it simultaneously amusing and horrifying that people in general are so unaware of the world outside their little box. Can people truly be blamed for their ignorance to matters that do not concern them? I say they should be, but it is not practical to do so. Unless society was to undergo a radical change, most people will continue to only see the world inside their own little box.

In my family history paper I learned that my family was not held back by any racial prejudice at all. My family did well due to the efforts of Bernard Spero after the Civil War. His wise land investments and farming allowed the family to prosper. I believe he was able to get his farm going without any trouble because he was a white protestant. His family was anything but a target for prejudice. My grandmother was only allowed to attend nursing school due to the women’s rights movement in the 1800s. Because of the courage of those women, my grandmother became the first person in my family to graduate college. I have come to the conclusion that as of today, race is no longer the problem; the problems of society are caused by poverty. Many minorities live in low income and poverty stricken areas. I should know, as most of my friends are minorities. It was quite hard for many of them to pay attention in school with an empty stomach and possible untreated medical disorders such as ADHD. Survival always comes first, and education came second. The hundreds of years of oppression will likely take another century to fully dissipate. The wounds of racism in this country have clotted but by no means are healed. When the final true race riot occurred after Rodney King was beaten by the police in L.A. the wounds of racism clotted. They have slowly began to heal ever since.

As a white, Christian male I face very little prejudice. The only real prejudices I have experienced were comments about being Catholic, specifically me being called a “fish eater” and I recall age discrimination at a gas station. The station manager would only allow two students inside at a time. Naturally I was pissed, so I took the appropriate action and wrote to the customer service representatives of Speedway. I did not see the same employees working at that station after that so I can only assume the company took action. I cannot imagine dealing with that sort of crap on a daily basis as so many minorities did for so long. I can understand how minorities can make racist jokes about their own race so easily. It is actually quite fun to do so. I recall making jokes about white people while in High School and it caused many of my black friends to roar with laughter. Strangely, they eventually allowed me to use one of the N-words among them. [I say one of the words because nigga means brother while nigger is a word that will get you jumped.] I recall someone making a comment about priests after the molestation incidents in New England, so I retorted, “Shut up before I have you locked in a room with a bunch of nuns, and their rulers…” I ended up living in a world of racial indifference where no one cared about race including the minorities. I recall my physics teacher relating a concept to a children’s game called “crack the whip.” Naturally my friend Mark who is black had to make a comment. “Crack the whip? I don’t know if this is a game black people should play.” Racial tensions had become a laughing matter. However this was not the case up in Bowling Green, Ohio and it may have been part of the reason I did not fit in. The people were too different. I noticed that people were either super careful not to offend anyone racially or they were racist themselves. Granted, I had a limited stay up at the University but I believe I saw no middle ground like I did back in Columbus. It may just be that I only saw a small part of the town, but in my limited experience, it is what I saw.

I have come to the conclusion that the problem is no longer a racial problem but a monetary one. The problems in this world come from greed and the will to hold on to power by any means necessary. What’s the cost of a few lives if they get in the way of absolute power and wealth? In today’s world, the cost is pretty low. I believe the only way to get rid of the problem of poverty is to actually eliminate the monetary system much like they did on Star Trek. However, we are a few hundred years from that time. So it is doubtful that the problem will be solved anytime soon.