Talking Points #6

Tim Wise
"Between Barack and a Hard Place" and Brown vs. The Board of Education

I really liked watching these videos. I agreed with a lot of what Tim Wise said about the issue of racism in America. He said that it is an issue that has been present for a very, very, very long time, and it still exists no matter how many white folks deny it.
I especially liked what he said about asking the people who are directly effected how they feel about it. In the statistics he shared, he told how white people were the ones who were polled about how they perceived racism and how they perceived black people. White people have the privellege, just like we have learned through almost every reading we have done so far. When someone has the upper hand, they rarely notice, or choose to overlook, the downsides that the other party has. That is why when these people, white people, were polled on this issue of course they said that they thought that whites and blacks had equal opportunities.
I feel like we are only a little above the place we were in back during the time of Brown vs. The Board of Education. I also belive that we are only in this place because of the fight people put up from Brown vs. The Board of Education. We have removed segregation, but the opportunities are not equal between people of color and white people. Like Wise said, people of color have to be exceptional and extraordinary for them to be approved of or accepted into higher power roles such as Obama.
We are a lonnnnnng way from finding an end to racism. I might sound like a pessimist, but I feel like it will be an on going issue for as long as people walk the Earth. However, I do wish that people had the strength, patience, understanding, and care in their hearts to put this issue behind us.
I was so intrigued by this interview, I really want to read Wise's book!