Wednesday, October 28, 2009
There’s no such thing as minorities,” my friend’s roommate eloquently once said. “If there used to be such a thing, there isn’t anymore.” She had chosen to proudly voice her views in the company of, in my opinion, minorities. We all laughed the comment off as naivety and a lack of experience.
I often find myself coming back to that story because of what it illustrates and says about our society.
Despite our African-American president and our country’s progress regarding same-sex marriage, there is still ignorance and denial of our treatment toward “the other.”
The line, “I don’t discriminate because I have a gay or a black friend,” has become, “There’s no such thing as prejudice in our country anymore because we have a black president and allow same sex marriage.”
Just to clarify something, having a friend who is homosexual or African-American does not mean you don’t hold or exhibit racist or prejudice characteristics and views. The same holds true for our country.
Let’s face it. As humans we have had an unfortunate tendency of being oblivious to the most obvious social distinctions. Historically those distinctions, created by us, have led to some of the most horrendous injustices. The Civil wasn’t that long ago (150 years), neither was the Holocaust or the gruesome beating and murder of Matthew Shepard.
More recently, Louisiana Justice of the Peace Keith Bardwell has forced himself into the national spotlight by refusing to marry an interracial couple.
“I’m not a racist,” Bardwell said in an Associated Press article. “I just don’t believe in mixing the races that way. I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else. There is a problem with both groups accepting a child from such a marriage. I think those children suffer and I won’t help put them through it.”
On the USA Today Web site where the story was posted, comments on the story ranged from cries for immediate suspension or resignation to support of Bardwell claiming he’s just saying “what most people believe.”
Regardless of whether you’re a blissfully naive “minorities don’t exist” type of person or you know that they do but still fear and refuse to accept “the other,” I’m going to state a harsh truth for you: Minorities do exist and at some point in your life you are going to have to interact with those you either fear or disagree with.
Minority groups, cultures, relationships and beliefs should be celebrated and acknowledged, not oppressed. Our country has been growing increasingly diverse ever since it was founded. The effects and possibilities of minority influences are limitless, as long as we allow them to be.
— McNaughton is a Topeka senior in journalism and English.
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Comments
McNaughton: Fear of ‘the others’ still exists
Angelique, while you are correct that racism exists, you are merely pointing out the problem rather than suggesting any solution. The opinion of your friends roommate, that you call 'blissfully naive', is actually the solution to ending racism. Racism is based on the idea of distinguishing people from each other, most often in negative terms but also positive distinctions. We must then eliminate this base distinction from our minds. Being a minority is subjective to who and where you are at any point in time. The trick is to not make such general claims about people that racism makes, and not to fall into that pattern with positive distinctions as well. Basically, judge the individual, not the broad ideas surrounding their appearance and thoughts. We are all minorities after all, since no one is just like us.
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