I See Color

Every night before I go to bed, I find it absolutely necessary to scroll through the Discover page on Snapchat.  My favorite articles are usually found in Buzzfeed, People, Cosmopolitan, or Refinery 29.  While flipping through last night, I came across an article that directly related to this class, and to a topic we have discussed quite a lot.  This page (found in Refinery 29) was titled “Here’s What NOT to Say to Interracial Couples”.

One of my very best friends (who is white) dates a black guy, and a lot of my friends and I joke around with her, saying that she’s more attracted to men of color than the rest of us.  A girl in this article dealt with a similar situation, saying that she was tired of people always joking with her, commenting things such as, “Oh, Black guys are totally your type, huh?”  She claims that her relationship is not just about the color of her boyfriend’s skin, but instead about his personality traits, values, etc.  While I agree that she has a point, to go to the extent of calling this remark racist doesn’t quite make sense to me.

It is a psychological fact that humans make judgements based on appearances.  In addition, humans tend to fall for those who they consider to be of “equal attractiveness” as them.  Therefore, this girl is wrong in saying that physicality plays no role whatsoever in her relationship.  Also, I don’t think there is anything wrong with someone having a “type” of guy or girl they like to date.  My friends often tease me that both of my two serious boyfriends I’ve ever had were blonde-haired, blue-eyed, with the Macklemore haircut.  It doesn’t bother me, and instead I find it quite comical.

This makes me think back to McKenna’s post from a couple of weeks ago, discussing the sociology behind race, and how it is a man-made concept.  What if people decided to discriminate based on hair color and style?  Would my friends teasing me for the boys I choose to date then be considered racist?  I think it is important to distinguish between comments that are harmful and those that simply state a fact: That girl’s boyfriend is black, and she has a history of dating black people.  We cannot treat the issue of color as if it is a taboo.  We are allowed to talk about it, and sometimes, I think people are too afraid.  I see color – we all do – and that is okay.

Take Responsibility

As I am sure everyone knows, the United States of America very recently elected Donald Trump as their next president.  With these results came quite a lot of controversy.  Many people claim that Trump is a racist, and those people began to wonder how a racist could possibly be elected as the president of this cultural mixing pot of a country.  Quite a few know-it-alls claimed to have answer: “The minorities didn’t all go out to vote, and that’s how Trump got elected” or “If more of the minorities took the time to place their vote, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Well, I am here to say that it is NOT the minorities fault that Trump was elected president.  As it has been said many times throughout this class, racism is systemic, and therefore, only whites can be racist, as they are the only ones to reap the benefits.  By this definition, therefore, wouldn’t it be the whites’ job to recognize racism and do something about it?  Aren’t they the ones in the positions of power required to make a drastic social change?

It is easy to make the minorities of our country a scapegoat for this election.  However, if someone is truly upset by the outcome of this presidential election, I would advise them to first look to themselves, and then those other whites who may have voted for Trump, despite the fact he is openly racist.  If they could overlook his blatant racist, and still consciously choose to elect him into a high place of power, they are the reason this election went the way it did.  It is not the minorities fault, regardless of how many or few of them voted last Tuesday.  I think that is an issue that needs to be addressed.  Don’t place blame on easy targets for the conscious decisions made by those in the highest positions of power in this country.

Where Should You Draw the Line?

With every major celebration, event, or holiday comes a vast assortment of controversial articles and opinionated responses on the happenings of the day before.  The most recent holiday, Halloween, was no exception.  On the days following October 31^st, and influx of articles came into circulation discussing discriminatory costumes of celebrities, and even those of some random college students.  Many of these made headline news.

Brock Denton, a student of the University of Central Arkansas, decided to dress up as Bill Cosby at Sigma Tau Gamma’s Halloween party.  Ignorant to the discrimination and racial hate associated with blackface, Denton painted himself with black paint and posted a picture on Instagram of himself and a few of his brothers in their costumes.  The backlash was immediate and intense.

Denton claims to have received threats from people wanting to kill him and burn his house to the ground.  He says he is scared for his life.  Denton was recently expelled from his fraternity and the chapter of Sigma Tau Gamma at UCA was suspended.  If Denton is being honest, if he really was naïve to the true meaning of blackface, is this response from the public really deserved?

Hilary Duff, a household name for many girls born in the 90s, faced a similar backlash for her and her boyfriend’s Halloween costumes this year.  She dressed as a pilgrim, while her beau went as a Native American.  Many responses focused more on him than her, saying that his makeup and headpiece were offensive to Native American culture.  Now, I can understand and respect the issue of blackface more than I can with this one.  Because, who’s to say that his intent wasn’t to celebrate the Native American culture rather than make fun?

This is the issue in our society today.  People think so fast, make judgments so quickly, and jump to conclusions, all without stopping to take a minute to look at the situation and really think before they speak.  I agree that the blackface was an issue, but Denton received what I believe to be a proper punishment for his actions.  Is it really necessary to continue to bombard the child with death threats and insults for a mistake that could have be due to young ignorance?  Either way, he has now learned his lesson, and that is all that matters.

Everyone else can also learn a valuable lesson from these mistakes (as well as the responses to them).  As a society, we need to strive to be more understanding of one another, and less quick to judge.  Sometimes people make mistakes, but that doesn’t make them a bad person, and it doesn’t even make them racist.  Odds are that the people reaming Hilary Duff and Brock Denton have made a few mistakes of their own, so who are they to judge?

I am going to finish with some wise words from Alyson Noel, “There is an old and very wise Native American saying: Every time you point a finger in scorn—there are three remaining fingers pointing right back at you.” 

Works Cited

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/10/31/this-years-offensive-costume-white-college-student-dresses-as-bill-cosby-in-blackface/

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/10/30/hilary-duff-halloween-costume-controversy

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/pointing-fingers