Unit Two Tatum PDF

Defining Racism

I found this article very informing and very interesting. I like how in the beginning of the article it states how some people do not even think racism still exists and are completely in the dark about the entire issue. I believe that racism is definitely more predominant in the South, and people up North might not be exposed to it as much as the citizens in the South. People also assume things that are clearly not true. For example, the student that said, “it wasn’t his fault they were no Black writers” is an idiot. This student has been uneducated and completely withheld from some of the greatest authors in history. I really enjoyed the statement of how “none of us would like to introduce ourselves as smog-breathers, but if we live in a smoggy place, how can we avoid breathing the air?” This statement is so true. If one person lives in a small town in Alabama they are more likely to view a Black person differently than if that said person lived in New York City. It is very true that in the United States that white people are definitely in higher power, and have more authority than ones of color. It is not right at all, but it is happening all around us all the time. The point made, saying that if you are white there are a lot of things you do not have to worry about if said person was black is painfully true. Parents do not have to worry about sending their children to school and having them be ridiculed because of their race, or have people follow them around a store thinking that they might steal something. Things like that is what makes racism very alive and kicking today. It is all around us. I recently wrote a paper about an experiment done with the difference between a white and black person shopping, and the outcome stunned me. Even to this day people have to worry about if they are going to be treated differently because of the color of their skin, and to be honest that really upsets me.