The Blame Game
I am currently taking a course titled US Law & Society in which we analyze societal ills such as poverty and discrimination.
I have become extremely irritated with white students when they say something silly like “if you live in a poor neighborhood, you should move” or “if you work hard, you will escape poverty”.
Comments such as these are made from their comfortable position in society. They assume that people of color are in their current precarious position simply because of bad choices. They refuse to accept the possibility that past bigotry has an affect on the present state of society.
When trying to explain such an emotional issue such as poverty, people of color usually cite bigotry or discrimination as ‘one’ source of their misery. This day and age, bigotry is more covert. The golden age of bigotry has long since passed.
In response to such comments from people of color, younger white people usually make such comments as “you are poor because you want to be”. What they are trying to say is do not place blame for your situation on other groups, specifically ‘us’. I ask this otherwise controversial question—who else is their to blame?!
To put my situation in perspective, imagine us sitting in class, surrounded by students of different races. For the sake of discussion, we will assume that in order to get into San Jose State University and more specifically in US Law & Society, each student must jump 20 ft. high. Students of color and white students alike need to jump to the same level of 20 ft. This seems fair enough.
Now imagine that the students of color are jumping from within a 10ft hole and are expected to jump the same height and if they don’t, they are seen as lazy. This hole represents bigotry, poor schools, poor libraries and a host of other issues.
Does this seem fair? Now as you sit in class and look over to the student of color, imagine what it took for this student to get where he/she is to be sitting in the chair next to you.
It is time that in classes such as these and in society in general, we begin to recognize that a large part of the reason people of color find themselves struggling is because of White people’s past actions, their covert bigotry and a system of government and economy that is geared to benefit them and only them—usually at the expense of people of color and less fortunate white people.
I have become extremely irritated with white students when they say something silly like “if you live in a poor neighborhood, you should move” or “if you work hard, you will escape poverty”.
Comments such as these are made from their comfortable position in society. They assume that people of color are in their current precarious position simply because of bad choices. They refuse to accept the possibility that past bigotry has an affect on the present state of society.
When trying to explain such an emotional issue such as poverty, people of color usually cite bigotry or discrimination as ‘one’ source of their misery. This day and age, bigotry is more covert. The golden age of bigotry has long since passed.
In response to such comments from people of color, younger white people usually make such comments as “you are poor because you want to be”. What they are trying to say is do not place blame for your situation on other groups, specifically ‘us’. I ask this otherwise controversial question—who else is their to blame?!
To put my situation in perspective, imagine us sitting in class, surrounded by students of different races. For the sake of discussion, we will assume that in order to get into San Jose State University and more specifically in US Law & Society, each student must jump 20 ft. high. Students of color and white students alike need to jump to the same level of 20 ft. This seems fair enough.
Now imagine that the students of color are jumping from within a 10ft hole and are expected to jump the same height and if they don’t, they are seen as lazy. This hole represents bigotry, poor schools, poor libraries and a host of other issues.
Does this seem fair? Now as you sit in class and look over to the student of color, imagine what it took for this student to get where he/she is to be sitting in the chair next to you.
It is time that in classes such as these and in society in general, we begin to recognize that a large part of the reason people of color find themselves struggling is because of White people’s past actions, their covert bigotry and a system of government and economy that is geared to benefit them and only them—usually at the expense of people of color and less fortunate white people.
posted by idealist at 9:08 PM
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