Race has been,and will always be, a point of contention in America. It’s quite interesting to think that an entirely constructed concept can dictate your life the minute you are born. See, we were raised to believe that America’s idealistic “melting pot” backstory was for the betterment of marginalized communities. However, as we all get older, we realize that this could not be further from the truth. Race is a tool that categorizes people into boxes. It’s something that can exclude people from positions afforded to others. It’s a detail that can end an innocent individual’s life. Currently, our society is confronting these systemic issues and trying to unlearn previous toxic behaviors. Yet, to do this, we must first understand the relationship between race and American history.
Christopher Columbus is said to be the man who “first discovered” America. What bullshit! As we know, many indigenous tribes inhabit and own the lands that we walk on. Some of these places are more familiar than others, such as our college campuses. The college that I go to, UMass Amherst, is on native territory. I would not have known that unless my professor added that to the end of her syllabus. We seem to have this odd fixation of erasing and compartmentalizing non-white groups. What’s worse is that we try to damage these coalitions at any level we can. Many reservations are struggling and not receiving government funding, even though we are on their land. Additionally, there are many modern cases of the government trying to ask these tribes to pay them reparations. We conquer their land, their habits, enslave their people, and still dictate their livelihoods. And that’s just a brief overview. Another body of people who are disproportionately affected by our societal assignments is black individuals. Our history is full of violent crimes, enslavement, sterilization, and segregation. In any way, if there could be an obstacle, there would be. All solely based on the fact that people are darker-skinned than the Anglo-Saxon standard. The Civil War’s reconstruction period is a major historical event that shows this resurgence of racism. In this time, “Black churches and schools were burned, teachers were attacked, and freedpeople who refused to show proper deference were beaten and killed.” This statement still applies to our modern world. Recently, many people have lost their lives to police brutality or mass shootings. America’s relationship with violent oppression is a long one that continues to this day.
The one thing that all of these problems have in common is the aggressive reassurance of white privilege. To maintain their longstanding power, white people have used race as an advantageous asset. It’s also the excuse that many people use to justify their horrific actions against these communities, such as, “the suspect ‘had a bad day.’” Furthermore, these demeaning/false stereotypes that permeate our culture make it even harder to break these racial barriers. America is nothing without race. Fundamentally, we need to acknowledge the inequities present and educate ourselves on racialized issues. If not, then we can’t truly understand our country.